R. Kelly acquitted of all charges: the trial in review

The child pornography trial of R&B singer and songwriter R. Kelly concluded in Chicago this week. After being acquited, the singer left the Cook County Courthouse Here is a look at key developments in the final two weeks of the R. Kelly trial.

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2008
Atlanta resident and prosecution star witness Lisa Van Allen took the stand, giving explosive testimony of sexual trysts with R. Kelly and a videotaped threesome with the R&B singer and the allegedly underage girl at the center of the case. Testifying with complete immunity, Van Allen said she was 17 when she met Kelly on the set of his "Home Alone" video and that day began an affair with the married singer that lasted from 1998-2001. Van Allen appeared as Kelly's hair-braider in the video for his song "I Wish."

Van Allen testified Kelly paid for her travel and lodging to Chicago to see him and first met the alleged victim in 1998 where Kelly videotaped a threesome in the "log cabin room" of his former Lake View home.

TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 2008
Van Allen, on the stand for a second day of testimony, dropped bombshell accusations:

- that Kelly carried a bag of homemade sex videos with him at all times.
- that Kelly told her the allegedly underage girl at the center of the case was 16.
- that during a second videotaped threesome, Van Allen began crying and Kelly stopped videotaping the encounter.
- that R. Kelly flew Van Allen and her fiance Yul Brown to Chicago in an attempt to buy back the first videotaped threesome with the alleged underage victim. She said she'd given the tape to a Kansas City man named Keith Murrell and Kelly's reps arranged a meeting where the R&B singer's manager Derrel McDavid paid her and another man $20,000 each for the return of the tape. Van Allen said McDavid promised $250,000 for the return of the original videotape.
- that she had a total of three sexual encounters with Kelly and the allegedly underage girl.

Sam Adams Jr., of Kelly's defense team, painted Van Allen and Brown as extortionists. Adams Jr. noted that both Brown and Van Allen's ex boyfriend had criminal records. Each had been convicted of fraud. Adams Jr. noted Van Allen and Brown had not contacted Cook County prosecutors until Brown had recently been arrested for illegal firearms possession and drug possession in Georgia. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Vincent Gaugan ordered Chicago Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis to testify for the defense. DeRogatis wrote for the Sun-Times about Kelly's alleged sexual trysts and payoffs to underage girls. DeRogatis received an anonymous copy of the videotape at the center of the case and alerted Chicago Police of its contents.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2008
It was reported that two Kansas City men allegedly paid by R. Kelly's representatives for the return of a sex tape, would arrive in Chicago to offer more information about the tape at the center of the case. Murell and Charles Freeman were accused by Kelly's reps of faking a sex tape and trying to exort money from the singer. Records show in 2002 Freeman sued Kelly for failing to pay him $140,000 for the return of a videotape.

Judge Gaugan ordered Sun-Times columnist DeRogatis did not have to testify for the defense because he was protected by the 5th Amendment from giving self-incriminating testimony. Kelly's defense team wanted DeRogatis' testimony to refute claims made by prosecution witness Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards, a former Kelly protegé and an aunt of the alleged victim. In the trial's first full week, Edwards testified that her niece was the girl in the sex tape. Kelly's defense team wanted to question DeRogatis why he received the tape on Feb. 1, 2002 and Edwards testified she viewed the tape with DeRogatis on Feb. 4, 2002. The defense team said DeRogatis' testimony was crucial because he reported on Kelly with "extreme bias."

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2008
The Chicago Sun-Times released notes of the interview between "Sparkle" Edwards, aunt of the alleged victim and Sun-Times reporters after viewing the anonymous videotaped alleged sex encounter between R. Kelly and the alleged underage victim at the center of the case.

Private investigator Jack Palladino, hired by Kelly, testified that in a meeting with Van Allen and Brown, Brown mentioned a possible $300,000 book deal advance for Van Allen to write about the R. Kelly controversy as a payoff amount to keep Van Allen quiet about the case.

Relatives of the alleged victim testified that she was not the girl in the videotape. Shonna Edwards, cousin of the alleged victim and also a member of the same singing group with her, Leroy Edwards, uncle of the alleged victim, and Charlotte Edwards, aunt of the alleged victim, all said she was not the girl in the sex tape at the center of the child pornography case.

Charles Palm, a forensic video specialist for the defense, refuted that the mole located on R. Kelly's lower back and to the left of his spine, is identical to the mole prosecuters allege is on the man in the sex tape. Palm testified that the marks on the tape are actually "artifacts" that only appear on two frames and different from Kelly's mole. Palm also gave the court a demonstration where video can be doctored, though he also conceded the alleged sex tape appeared not to be doctored.

FRIDAY, JUNE 6
No testimony

MONDAY, JUNE 9
In a surprising move, Kelly's defense team rests its case. Pundits see the choice as belief by the defense that the prosecution had not sufficiently proved either Kelly or the alleged victim were participants in the sex tape.

TUESDAY, JUNE 10
Jurors learn that the version of the sex tape shown them on DVD by the prosecution comes from a compressed version of the original tape. The compressed version lost significant resolution and detail. The prosecution blamed the mistake on "dumb lawyers." The quality of the video and the apparent lack of a mole matching that on R. Kelly's back was a central argument by his defense team that Kelly wasn't the man in the sex video.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11
No testimony.

THURSDAY, JUNE 12
Each side gave closing arguments in the R. Kelly case. The prosecution replayed for jurors the sex tape at the center of the trial. The prosecution advised the jury to treat the case as if it was a first-degree murder case— as in a a case absent of victim testimony. The defense team hammered repeately about what it thought was reasonable doubt in the prosecution case.

The defense countered that if the alleged victim resembled the girl on the tape, the prosecution would have subpoenaed her to testify. The defense team added that if she was the girl on the tape, it is impossible that she would not have told anyone about an illicit relationship with R. Kelly.

The jury began deliberations and requested a trial transcript and a copy of Van Allen's testimony. Both requests were denied. The jury adjourned deliberations until Friday morning.

FRIDAY, JUNE 13
R. Kelly is acquitted on all 14 counts of child pornography. Upon hearing the acquittal announcement on the first charge, the R&B singer lowered his head and began dabbing tears with his hankerchief. He then stood and gave his attorneys a bear hug.

In interviews afterward, jurors revealed that at one time, five of 12 jurors wanted to convict Kelly, but the lack of victim testimony and the inability to positively identify the alleged victim lead to their decision.

Sources: Windy Citizen staff, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune