After six years of repeated delays, the R&B star R. Kelly is to stand trial on child pornography charges; jury selection will begin on Friday in Chicago, The Associated Press reported. Contributing to the delays were more than 30 pretrial motions, the multiple fractures suffered by Judge Vincent Gaughan in a fall from a ladder at home and Mr. Kelly’s emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. Mr. Kelly, 41, was indicted on June 5, 2002, after the appearance of a videotape police and prosecutors say shows him having sex with a girl as young as 13. But the woman identified as the victim says she is not the one in the video. Mr. Kelly, a Grammy Award winner who has settled three lawsuits accusing him of having sex with under-age girls, faces as many as 15 years in prison if convicted. The judge has ruled that the videotape may be shown in open court.




http://www.nytimes.com/20...ref=slogin

R. Kelly trial judge hints jury selection will start Friday
Gaughan suggests defense will not be granted another delay

By Stacy St. Clair | Tribune reporter
2:13 PM CDT, May 8, 2008

R. Kelly shouldn't count on getting his child pornography trial delayed.

During court proceedings Thursday, Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan made repeated references to jury selection beginning Friday as planned. On more than one occasion, he told lawyers in other cases that his calendar would be filled for the next several weeks.

"We're starting a pretty big trial tomorrow [Friday]," he said. "It looks like we are."

The R&B superstar's defense team filed a motion Wednesday asking Gaughan to shelve the trial temporarily because of "a torrent of publicity surrounding the case." The motion, which is being kept under seal, cites recent media coverage of the judge's decision to allow a woman to testify that she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the girl shown in the videotape at the center of the case.

The singer, whose name is Robert Kelly, faces child pornography charges stemming from a 15-minute videotape that law-enforcement officials say was made between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The judge gave the prosecution until Friday morning to respond, but courthouse activity Thursday seemed to suggest the trial would proceed. Law-enforcement personnel did their final security walk-through, while courtroom benches were restained and press credentials continued to be issued.

In anticipation of the trial, officials have summoned 150 Cook County residents to serve as potential jurors. The candidates will be ushered into the courtroom Friday morning, where they will listen to the charges against Kelly and fill out questionnaires. The actual selection process will not begin until Monday.

Kelly's attorneys want to delay the trial because of newspaper reports Sunday that included information about secret hearings on whether the woman involved in the threesome could testify. Gaughan had closed the proceedings and later said the secrecy was to preserve Kelly's right to a fair trial and prevent the jury pool from becoming tainted.

With salacious details from the private sessions now available for public consumption, the judge may be hard-pressed to explain how the damaging information no longer infringes on Kelly's rights, experts said.

Several news agencies—including the Tribune, Sun-Times, Associated Press and Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ—filed a legal challenge to the secret proceedings and requested transcripts from those hearings. During arguments on the matter Thursday, media attorney Damon Dunn said the defense request for a delay wouldn't have occurred if Gaughan had kept the proceedings open in the first place.

"The publicity wouldn't have happened over the weekend," Dunn said. "The publicity would have been in March and Mr. [Kelly's defense team] would have had a chance to respond in open court."

---
I just hope for R&B's sake that the judge does NOT allow the defense a chance to get their way again. But it looks like it's going to go on.
[Edited 5/8/08 14:36pm]

I nominate myself to be on the jury!

bboy87 said:

You wouldn't be alone. Most of the ORG would wanna be jury members.

It's about fuckin time.

musicjunky318 said:

u got that right

I wonder how many albums he will release DURING the trial...
I also have a very bad feeling, R. Kelly won't end up in jail for this. He will probably get off and people will compare him, UNFAIRLY and UNJUSTLY to MJ. Makes me pissed just thinking about it!!!

Vanilli said:

meh. he'll just find a way to incorporate it into that "trapped in the closet" shit and make more chapters outta this.

BSK3478 said:

From the courtroom?

Timmy84 said:

Hopefully from a jail cell. If there's a God that nucca will have to call in his vocals from a jail cell like Shyne.

SCNDLS said:

That would only send him to solitary confinement. Inmates wouldn't take all of that yelling about guns and shit from another person's cell. In other words, they'd had to tie the motherfucker and put him in a mental ward. Then we can have his new hit, "Trapped in the Confinement".

Timmy84 said:

SCNDLS said:

amen.

Timmy84 said:

Timmy84 said:

More like "Trapped in the Shower" or "Trapped in Big Ray's cell"

bboy87 said:

"Trapped in Big Bubba's Snake". Hey he did have a song called "Snake", now.

Timmy84 said:

I think you mean Trapped On Big Bubba's Snake(ooh i like it) the Debarge mix

This is excellent news. Time to but the Pied Piper of Dog Shit to trial so his lame ass can FINALLY see a jail cell! !

banks said:

6 fuckin' years later and a columnist had the NEVER to write that shit?

And plus, had them girls been white - His ass woulda went to trial 3 days after the tape come out. Then the trial would've taken 1 week. And his ass woulda been in jail for 5 years already.

banks said:

Only 13?
Sick-o!!!

MuthaFunka said:

Or if he had been a broke black teenager on the way to college, had consensual sex with a girl only two years younger than him and both of them were underage and he gets sentenced to ten years for statutory rape before they finally came to their senses and finally released him and NOW he's on his way to Morehouse when he could've been there already.

See how our justice system is?

Timmy84 said:

that was fucked up what they did to that kid... and they only had oral sex...
[Edited 5/8/08 17:40pm]

Timmy84 said:

Yep!

Timmy84 said:

Every celebrity could make this "torrent of publicity" argument.

The defense is just hoping to delay things long enough that no one remains who cares or wants to remember what they did 20 years ago as a child!

And to already be delayed for 6 years, you need lots and lots of money and or influence.

Brendan said:

Money can make you do some stupid things.

Timmy84 said:

Exactly. And on both sides (the justice system and those who are charged with a crime).

And if your poor, or even worse, poor and without much influence (minorities), guilt or innocence is probably going to be the least of your concerns.

Brendan said:

So damn true. They don't give a damn about the common folk but they're more careful with folks who got money.

banks said:

That kid participated in gang rape.

They couldn't get him on that because like a lot of victims the girl just wanted to forget it happened and was also dealing with pressure and threats.

So instead they went after him on the other act.