R Kelly's Aquittal - page 2

14-06-2008 12:14

Kelly remains a popular figure in music despite his legal troubles. He comes from a background of poverty on Chicago’s South Side to before becoming a singer, songwriter and producer and it can even be said his popularity has arguably grown in recent years.

The singer has released seven hit albums, most of them selling over a million copies. He’s also had a multitude of hits and gone on tours. Kelly has a new song, "Hair Braider," out now, and is due to release a new album in July.

During the trial Kelly seemed particularly ill at ease when prosecutors played the sex tape in open court after opening arguments.

The issue of whether there was or wasn’t a fingernail-sized mole on the man’s lower back consumed many hours of testimony. A defence witness told jurors there was no mole on his back, proving it’s not Kelly, who has such a mole. But a prosecution witness displayed freeze frames of the video where a dark spot seemed to appear as the man turns to take off his pants.

Then in a bizarre development a defence expert played a segment of the tape he doctored showing two headless bodies engaging in sex. The defence said that backed their argument that Kelly’s likeness could have been computer-generated.

Cross examination was often angry and heated, often reducing witnesses to tears while giving evidence.

The main prosecution witness, Lisa Van Allen, was teary while giving evidence telling jurors that she had engaged in several three-way sexual encounters with Kelly and the alleged victim, including once on a basketball court, stating Kelly videotaped the encounters.

The defence produced several witnesses in a bid to discredit Van Allen, accusing her of trying to extort money from Kelly, at one stage during the trial Van Allen admitted she stole Kelly’s $20,000 diamond-studded watch from a hotel.