R. Kelly’s Attorney: ‘He Should Not Be Stripped of All Humanity’

Lawyers for R&B superstar R. Kelly told jurors Tuesday that Kelly’s humble beginnings were “a young, shy, introverted kid who had dreams of making it in the music industry.” was unprepared for the success achieved by

Pointing to Kelly’s 1990s national anthem, “I Believe I Can Fly,” attorney Jennifer Bonjean said, “No matter what the jury room ultimately decides, this man is going to make music.” I did some beautiful things,” he told the jury.

“And he shouldn’t be stripped of all the humanity he has,” Bonjean said.

She also told jurors that, like the alleged victims who testified at Kelly’s trial last month at Dirksen federal court in Chicago, Kelly should have benefited from a pseudonym.

Bonjean said the pseudonym would remind jurors “that the lens they need to look at this evidence is as if he were John Doe. Anyone else. Not Robert Kelly.” Not R. Kelly.

Following Bonjeen’s commentary, Assistant U.S. Attorney Giannis Appenteng said, “R. Kelly had to get what he wanted.”

“All R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with a young girl,” Appenten said.

The lawsuit against Kelly largely revolves around an alleged victim known to jurors as “Jane.” An infamous video depicting Kelly’s alleged abuse of Jane surfaced during his 2000s and was central to Kelly’s early state court trial in 2008.

The federal government has accused Kelly of rigging the trial that resulted in her acquittal, and even intimidated Jane and her family into lying to authorities.

The 2008 trial video and three others are now central to Kelly’s current trial.

Bonjean claimed Jane’s family made a choice when she found out about the apparent relationship when she was 17. She is in her late 30’s now.

“She was 17,” Bonjean said. “And they didn’t care that she was having an affair with Mr. Kelly at the time.”

“With fists pumping and anger, the family made the decision they wanted at the time,” Bonjean continued. “And they lived with that decision … From that decision came a friendship that lasted for decades.”

Bonjean asked jurors whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation also proved Kelly’s abuse of four additional accusers, known as “Tracy,” “Pauline,” “Nia,” and “Brittany.” Encouraging the acquittal of Kelly across the board.

However, she noted that the first three counts in Kelly’s indictment, which accused Kelly of videotaping Jane’s sexual abuse, were the “most difficult and serious” in the indictment. Admitted.

Defense counsel focused on the technical aspects of the charge.

“Was his aim to create child pornography?” asked Bonjean.

She also questioned whether the video crossed state lines.

Appenteng later said that Bonjean “left no debate as to whether it was Jane or Mr. Kelly on that tape.”

“Use Jane as your base and guide,” said Appenteng. “In this case, everything happened to her. From start to finish. Kelly’s sexual abuse of her is clear.”

A jury on Monday heard closing arguments from two of the government’s and Kelly’s co-defendants, former business manager Derell McDavid and former assistant Milton “June” Brown.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Pozzolo, who filed the lawsuit against Kelly, described the trio as a “team” that had worked together for decades to cover up Kelly’s sexual abuse of underage girls. Did.

“They did their best to cover up the fact that R&B superstar Robert Kelly, R. Kelly, was actually a sexual predator,” Pozzolo said. I was.

She pointed to the government’s strongest evidence against the singer: a video that allegedly showed the singer having sex with an underage girl whom Kelly considered to be his unofficial granddaughter.

“They tried their best, but in the end they failed,” Pozzolo said. “We are here today because the tape they hid for 20 years of him is no longer their secret. You’ve seen the tape. You’ve seen what Kelly did to Jane.” There will be

At trial, which spanned four weeks of testimony, Jane herself took the stand and accused her and her parents of sexual abuse by the singer, including false statements made to Chicago police investigators and a state grand jury. He testified that he had lied for years about In 2002 she indicted the singer. She did not testify when the singer went to trial in 2008 and was acquitted by a Cook County jury.

During her testimony, Jane allegedly showed her abuse by the singer, including a tape in which Kelly and Jane can be heard repeatedly referring to her age when they had sex in the late 1990s. I identified myself in

On Monday, McDavid’s attorneys attacked the credibility of a prosecution witness who admitted he took a bounty to hide a video of suspected child pornography, similar to when an accountant spent three days on the witness stand. Did. McDavid testified that he believed the singer’s denials at the time.

“The information he had at the time was completely different from what he has now,” McDavid’s attorney, Bo Brindley, said.



https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/9/13/23349935/r-kelly-trial-chicago R. Kelly’s Attorney: ‘He Should Not Be Stripped of All Humanity’

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