R. Kelly trial nears end as closing arguments begin Monday
Closing arguments in singer R. Kelly’s current federal trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges begins Monday. In this June 2019 file photo, Kelly appears at a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago on state-level charges.
E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune pool
After four weeks of testimony by more than 30 witnesses, closing arguments are set to begin Monday morning in the trial of R&B star R. Kelly on federal child pornography and obstruction of justice charges.
Arguments from the government and defense attorneys are expected to take seven hours, making it unclear if jurors will also begin deliberating Monday.
With a case built around decades-old video that purports to show the Chicago-born singer sexually abusing an underage girl — who testified during the trial’s first week that Kelly began abusing her at age 14 — prosecutors have charged that Kelly groomed young girls for sex, and paid out a fortune to hide his crimes.
The victim on the sex tape, known to jurors as “Jane,” denied she appeared on the tape two decades ago when questioned by authorities, but now says that she lied to investigators to protect the singer.
Several other women have also testified during the trial that Kelly sexually abused them when they were minors.
Lawyers for Kelly and his two co-defendants — former business manager, Derrel McDavid, and former assistant, Milton “June” Brown — have attacked the credibility of Kelly’s accusers and that of witnesses who have admitted they concealed evidence of alleged child pornography in exchange for payoffs from the star.
Prosecutors also allege that Kelly, along with his co-defendants, used the payoffs to help the singer beat child pornography charges that he faced during a 2008 trial in state court, after which Kelly was acquitted.
McDavid, who parted ways with the singer in 2014, spent three days on the witness stand, insisting evidence available at the time made him believe the allegations leveled against Kelly — by Cook County prosecutors and multiple women who filed lawsuits against Kelly — were false.
Kelly, 55, was convicted last year on child trafficking and racketeering charges in federal court in New York, and is already serving a 30-year prison sentence.