Jury selection begins for R Kelly’s Chicago trial on charges that he rigged his 2008 child pornography case by threatening and paying off a girl who ‘he filmed himself having sex with when she was just 14’
- The jury will met at Dirksen US Courthouse in Chicago to discuss R. Kelly’s charges that he fixed his 2008 child pornography trial
- Prosecutors claim the R&B singer paid off a minor and her family to not testify at the trial more than a decade ago, allowing him to be free of charges
- The sex tape was played for jurors in 2008 and now the young girl in the video will participate in the upcoming trial as a witness
- The identity of the girl, now 30, was not immediately released
- Kelly, 55, was transferred to a jail in Chicago in July from Brooklyn, just two weeks after he was sentenced in New York to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking
The jury selection for disgraced singer R. Kelly’s 2008 child pornography scandal is was underway in Chicago on Monday following allegations the singer fixed his 2008 child pornography trial where he was found not guilty of having sex with a 14-year-old.
The 55-year-old R&B star was handed a 30-year prison sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking in June. He was being held at a Brooklyn jail and was recently transferred to Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.
The jury will now commence at the Dirksen US Courthouse to discuss the singer’s charges after he was found not guilty in a 2008 child pornography trial when he allegedly threatened and paid off a girl who says he filmed them having sex when she was about 14-years-old.
He is accused of allegedly conspiring with two associates to rig a child pornography case in Cook County and hiding a slew of sexual assault allegations against minors. The sex tape was played for jurors in 2008.
The jury selection for R. Kelly’s Chicago trial on charges that he fixed a 2008 child pornography case begins on Monday. Above, Kelly pictured during his sentencing on June 29
The jury is commencing at the Dirksen US Courthouse (above) to discuss the singers charges 2008 child pornography trial when he allegedly threatened and paid off minor he allegedly filmed having sex with
Prosecutors say that Kelly had sex with the girl hundreds of times over the years in multiple settings, including his homes, tour buses, and recording studios, according to the Associated Press.
The films allegedly shot by Kelly between 1998 and 2000, included a log cabin room at his home in Chicago.
The girl who was about 14-years-old at the time, can be heard in the video calling the singer ‘daddy.’
The unidentified, now woman in her 30s, will testify at the upcoming trial that will take place in the singers hometown of Chicago after not doing so in 2008. She alleges that she met the singer in 1990s when she was in high school when her aunt used to work with Kelly, according to the Associated Press.
It is believed Kelly threatened the girl and her family to avoid them appearing in court. When the girls parents were shown a copy of the video in the early 2000s, they confronted Kelly. The singer told them, ‘You’re with me or against me,’ according to a government filing.
Derrel McDavid and Miton Brown, associates of the R&B singer are co-defendants in the upcoming trial, according to Fox News. McDavid, Kelly’s former manager, is accused of assisting Kelly in rigging the 2008 trial. Meanwhile, Brown is on trial for receiving access to the child pornography.
Four witnesses are anticipated to speak at the trial. Kelly faces potential counts of luring minors for sex. If convicted, decades may be added to Kelly’s 30-year sentence.
Meanwhile, the disgraced singers attorney warns it ‘will be difficult’ for the jury to give a fair trial due to the ‘media war’ on Kelly.
‘To those inquiring… jury selection commences Monday,’ Criminal Defense Attorney Jennifer BonJean wrote on Twitter. ‘Will be difficult to find 12 people who can be fair given the media war on my client. The government starts with an incredible advantage but we are going to fight like hell to get a jury that will follow the law.’
Disgraced R&B star R Kelly was transferred in July from the federal jail in Brooklyn to the Metropolitan Correctional Center. He is pictured above leaving the Leighton Criminal Court Building in 2019
Derrel McDavid (above), will appear as a defendant in the upcoming trial. McDavid, Kelly’s former manager, is accused of assisting Kelly in rigging the 2008 trial
PICTURED: Derrel McDavid (left) arriving with Kelly at the Cook County Criminal Courts building for the 2008 trial
Prosecutors say that Kelly threatened the girl and her family around 2008 to avoid them appearing in court. PICTURED: Kelly at Brooklyn’s Federal District Court at the start of his NY trial
Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (pictured) where the disgraced singer was held after sentenced to 30 years in prison
What was R Kelly found guilty of at his NY trial?
R Kelly stood trial Brooklyn federal court last year after he was accused of being the ringleader of a sex ring involving women and underage girls and boys.
The charges were first brought in a five-count superseding indictment in Brooklyn federal court in July 2019.
In March 2020, he was slapped with additional charges upgrading the case to a nine-count indictment.
The charges relate to allegations involving six alleged victims – five women named as Jane Does in the indictment and the singer Aaliyah. These charges are:
ONE COUNT OF RACKETEERING – GUILTY
The racketeering charge includes 14 underlying acts including: one act of bribery, three acts of sexual exploitation of a child, one act of kidnapping, three acts of forced labor and six acts of violating the Mann Act.
Racketeering charges are used where there is an ‘enterprise’, mob or mafia running organized crime operations.
In this case, Kelly is accused of running a racketeering ‘enterprise’ for two decades made up of his ‘inner circle’ of managers, bodyguards and other employees who would help him recruit women, girls and boys for him to sexually exploit and traffic them around the US.
EIGHT COUNTS OF VIOLATING THE MANN ACT – GUILTY
The Mann Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to traffic people across state lines for prostitution or illegal sexual activity.
Four of these charges relate to an incident involving Jane Doe #5 in 2015 while the other four involve Jane Doe #6 in separate incidents in May 2017 and February 2018.
Three of these charges involve Kelly allegedly exposing the two women to herpes without informing them.
Kelly, 55, was transferred to a jail in Chicago in July from Brooklyn, just two weeks after he was sentenced in New York to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 in New York on charges that he sexually abused young fans, including children, in a systematic scheme that prosecutors alleged went on for decades.
On June 29, Judge Ann M. Donnelly handed down Kelly’s 30-year sentence in Brooklyn Federal Court. Kelly had appealed the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 in New York on charges that he sexually abused young fans, including children, in a systematic scheme that prosecutors alleged went on for decades.
On June 29, Judge Ann M. Donnelly handed down Kelly’s 30-year sentence in Brooklyn Federal Court. Kelly had appealed the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence.
Chicago is Kelly’s hometown and where many of his accusers live, so interest is expected to be especially intense.
Before being transferred in July, Kelly spent more than a year being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. Immediately following his sentencing, he was placed on suicide watch.
The US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn filed court papers saying Kelly remained on suicide watch ‘for his own safety,’ following a psychological assessment.
Kelly’s attorney, Bonjean, filed a lawsuit alleging prison officials placed Kelly on suicide watch ‘solely for punitive purposes and because of his status as a high-profile inmate.’
Bonjean argued the measure was in violation of Kelly’s Eighth Amendment rights as he had no thoughts of harming himself. The suicide watch was eventually lifted.
Kelly’s sentence in New York also included a $100,000 fine.
He was convicted of sex-trafficking and racketeering charges last September, following a six-week trial that amplified the accusations.
He has denied wrongdoing.
The ‘I Believe I Can Fly Singer’ committed the heinous acts for decades before he was convicted.
Kelly declined to speak at his sentences, after the court heard accusations from angered victims about how the singer preyed on them.
During the sentencing, the judge said Kelly created ‘a trail of broken lives,’ adding that ‘the most seasoned investigators will not forget the horrors your victims endured.
‘These crimes were calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years,’ she said. ‘You taught them that love is enslavement and violence.’
Lizzette Martinez, one of the victims at the June hearing, said she doesn’t think Kelly’s sentence is enough ‘but [was] pleased with it.’
Martinez, who described herself to the reporters as an ‘up-and-coming singer, a girl full of life’ before she met R Kelly and became ‘a sex slave.’
Lizzette Martinez, one of the victims who spoke at the sentencing, said she was a ‘girl full of life’ before she met R Kelly and became ‘a sex slave.’ She added that she doesn’t think Kelly’s 30-year sentence is enough ‘but I’m pleased with it’
The sentence caps a slow-motion fall for Kelly, who was adored by legions of fans and sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s.
Widespread outrage over Kelly’s sexual misconduct didn’t come until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the docuseries ‘Surviving R. Kelly.’
Kelly’s lawyers argued he should get no more than 10 years in prison because he had a traumatic childhood ‘involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence.’
As an adult with ‘literacy deficiencies,’ the star was ‘repeatedly defrauded and financially abused, often by the people he paid to protect him,’ his lawyers said.
Allegations that Kelly abused young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who alleged sexual battery and sexual harassment while she was a minor.
Kelly was convicted after the jury heard how he used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise.
Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
The accusers alleged they were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as ‘Rob’s rules.’
Some said they believed the videotapes he shot of them having sex would be used against them if they exposed what was happening.
Allegations that Kelly abused young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who alleged sexual battery and sexual harassment while she was a minor
Attorney Jennifer Bonjean comforts R Kelly at his sentencing hearing for federal sex trafficking at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn on June 29
According to testimony, Kelly gave several accusers herpes without disclosing he had an STD, coerced a teenage boy to join him for sex with a naked girl who emerged from underneath a boxing ring in his garage, and shot a shaming video of one victim showing her smearing feces on her face as punishment for breaking his rules.
Evidence was also presented about a fraudulent marriage scheme hatched to protect Kelly after he feared he had impregnated R&B phenom Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15.
Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time.
Aaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, ‘Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.’ She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.
The abuse continued for years while Kelly continued to sell millions of albums.
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