Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Opening Arguments Begin for R Kelly

Opening arguments began yesterday in the R Kelly child pornography case, but not without a little controversy...
Remember that one witness who had been identified as a rape victim? She left the trial because her job would not pay her for the time she would have to take off to serve on the jury and she said it would cause her sever financial hardship. But after that was over, prosecutors got right down to the crux of the case and showed the tape, allegedly made by Kelly, showing him and a 13-year-old girl. Courtroom witnesses say at the start of the 27-minute video, a black man, who prosecutors claim is Kells, hands the female, a wad of cash and she says, "Thank you." They say they engage in oral relations, which escalates near a hot tub. The video ends with the man relieving himself on the girl who sometimes calls him "Daddy." The defense countered that the man in the video is not R Kelly, their proof, they say, is the R has a significant mole on his lower back and that the man in the video does not.