The second week of R. Kelly’s Chicago federal trial is slated to continue Tuesday, when jurors could learn more about the alleged conspiracy by Kelly and others to buy back and cover up incriminating videotapes while authorities were investigating accusations of sexual abuse.
Testimony will resume with cross-examination of Lawrence Berkland, a lie-detector test administrator. He took the stand late Monday and said he was hired to give a test to someone about whether they had made copies of or edits to a certain videotape.
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The centerpiece witness Monday was a mother whose young daughter was allegedly sexually assaulted by R. Kelly on videotape in the 1990s. She testified that Kelly threatened them and sent them out of town after the allegations of abuse first surfaced more than 20 years ago.
The woman, who is being referred to under the pseudonym “Susan,” echoed some of the explosive claims her daughter “Jane” gave made in court last week, a watershed moment in the R. Kelly saga after years of denying any sexual misconduct by the R&B superstar. But Susan’s testimony, unlike Jane’s, was disjointed and confusing at times, and she contradicted her daughter on a few key points.
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Kelly, 55, is charged with 13 counts of production of child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Some of the counts carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars if convicted, while others have ranges of five to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors are also seeking a personal money forfeiture of $1.5 million from Kelly.
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The trial is expected to last at least through mid-September, and jurors are likely to hear from more women who say Kelly had sexual contact with them when they were minors. Prosecutors also allege Kelly and his team took extensive measures to conceal Kelly’s misdeeds, ultimately leading to his acquittal on state child-pornography charges in 2008.
Jurors on Friday watched graphic clips of three separate videos allegedly showing the R&B superstar sexually assaulting 14-year-old Jane.
Jane testified last week that she was the girl seen on the videos and that Kelly had sex with her “innumerable times” when she was underage, then paid her and her family to keep quiet.
Kelly’s defense so far has not directly contested that it is Kelly on the video clips, only saying that their authenticity could not be verified and that Kelly was previously acquitted for conduct related to them. Nor has the defense given jurors an alternate version of Jane’s narrative of events related to videos. Instead, the defense lawyers are seeking to sow doubt by telling the panel Jane denied it was her on the clips for more than two decades.
Regardless of the outcome, Kelly is still facing decades in prison. In June, he was sentenced to 30 years on federal racketeering charges brought in New York. He is appealing both the jury’s verdict and the sentence in that case.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
