R.KELLY TRIAL UPDATE

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6/02/08 Prosecution rests after the testimony of a key witness.

The final witness Lisa Van Allen told jurors that Kelly last year offered her $250,000 to recover a tape of one of his sex trysts.

Under cross-examination, the witness said Kelly was obsessed with videoing his sex-ploits.  Van Allen swore under oath that Kelly kept his sex tapes in  a travelin’ duffel bag.

"He carried it everywhere with him," she testified.

"Wherever he was at, the bag would follow him."

When questioned, she was asked if she knew of other copies of Public Exhibit 1 — that tape, Van Allen jabbed a finger at Kelly,  calling him by his birth name.

"Robert would know."

MYSTERY WITNESS ON WAY
5/29/08 Judge Vincent Gaughan abruptly adjourned yesterday when defense attorney received a surprise call from a mystery witness.

Gaughan said the witness could impeach someone’s prior testimony but didn’t give further details.

Sam Adam Jr., R.Kelly’s attorney, said the witness was flying into Chicago from an undisclosed location. 

After the defense interviews the witness, he or she could be on the stand as early as tomorrow morning.

Rumors are off-the-hook as to who it might be.

CONFLICTING WITNESSES
5/28/08
After a Memorial Weekend recess, the trial resumed as additional witnesses testified against R&B superstar R. Kelly in the Chicago child porno trial.

A former assistant, who worked for Kelly between 2005 and 2007, identified Kelly in the graphic XXX video.

An anxious Lindsay Perryman said, "I didn’t want to think it was them" but then became "110 percent sure" after prosecutors repeatedly showed her People’s Exhibit 1 — the grainy bootleg tape. 

Some witnesses were a lot more positive than others.

One witness, Benny Edwards Jr., who sang in a youth group with the alleged victim said he couldn’t be sure just who was on that tape and couldn’t tell if either participant was Kelly or the victim. 
             
KELLY ID-ED
5/22/08
: Attempting to prove an underage girl was a key player in a XXX video alleged to have been made by R&B superstar, R. Kelly, the prosecution has placed her best friend on the witness stand.

Robert Kelly denies filming himself having sex with an underage girl and his lawyer said neither his client nor the alleged victim are on the video.

Simiha Jackson
, now 24, said she and the alleged victim, 23, were BFF for ten years.  She claims her friend is the one in the video.

The alleged victim has repeatedly claimed she is not.

The video in question is a grainy multi-generational dubbed copy that the FBI didn’t even bother to investigate after it was sent anonymously to The Chicago Sun-Times.

An aunt and uncle also identified their niece as the girl on the video. 

The aunt, Delores Gibbon, who just happens to be a member of the Chicago police force, was badgered during cross examination why she didn’t go to authorities.  Gibbon testified she was torn between her job and concern for the victim and her family. 

Defense attorney, Sam Adam Jr. angrily countered, saying the family wanted to "get back at Mr. Kelly" and hoped "to extort" big b ucks in a civil lawsuit. 

Kelly, who won a Grammy for "I Believe I Can Fly", faces 15 years in prison if convicted of child pornography.