CHICAGO (AP) — The woman at the center of R. Kelly’s legal troubles for more than two decades testified Thursday that the R&B singer sexually assaulted her “hundreds” of times before she turned 18 and that it was her and Kelly on the videotape that was at the center of his 2008 child pornography trial in which he was acquitted.
Jane — the pseudonym of the now 37-year-old woman, as she testified — stopped, tugged at her necklace and wiped her eyes with a tissue, saying publicly for the first time that the girl in the video was her and that the man was Kelly.
When asked by the prosecutor how old she was at that time, she quietly answered: “14.” 55-year-old Kelly was about 30 years old at the time.
In addition to charges of child pornography and child seduction, Kelly faces charges of in conspiracy to pervert a 2008 trial by intimidating and retaliating against the girl to keep her from testifying.
Some jurors who presided over the 2008 trial on state charges said they had no choice but to acquit the R&B star because the girl — who was an adult at the time — would not testify. On the stand Thursday, Jane admitted she lied to a state grand jury in 2002 when she said she wasn’t in the video.
“I was afraid something bad was going to happen to Robert,” she told jurors about why she didn’t tell the truth then, calling Kelly by his full name. – I protected him.”
She added that there was another reason she lied about the identity of the man in the video. “I didn’t want that person to be me either,” she told jurors. – I was ashamed.”
Dressed in a white coat and removing her mask before testifying, Jane remained on the witness stand for more than four hours for the government. Kelly’s attorney was scheduled to have an opportunity to question Jane beginning Friday morning.
Toward the end of the day Thursday, the prosecutor asked Jane why she decided in recent years to begin speaking candidly about what happened to Kelly, whom Jane said she continued to care for and sometimes live with until her 20s.
“I’m tired of living with his lies,” she replied. She added that federal prosecutors have assured her that she will not be charged with lying to authorities if she testifies truthfully in this trial.
Earlier, Jane also got emotional when asked to explain why the video showed Kelly handing her the money. She said it was a precaution against those accusing him of child abuse if the video ever got into the hands of authorities.
“If anyone saw the tape … they wanted it to look like I was a prostitute,” Jane said.
She said her parents confronted Kelly in the early 2000s about whether he had sex with their daughter. Kelly fell to her knees and begged her parents to forgive him, Jane testified. She said she later begged her parents not to do anything to get Kelly in trouble, telling them she loved him.
As she spoke, Kelly mostly stared at the defense table and rarely looked up at her. She also rarely looked his way.
She previously testified that Kelly sexually assaulted her “hundreds” of times before she turned 18, starting when she was 15. She said the video showed them having oral sex and that she was 14 at the time.
Jane told jurors that in the late 1990s, when she was 13, she asked the Grammy-winning singer to be her godfather because she saw him as an inspiration and a mentor.
She said that in a few weeks, Kelly would call her and say sexual things. She told jurors she was 15 when they first had sex.
When asked by the prosecutor how she would know what to do sexually, Jane replied, “He would tell me what to do.” When asked how many times they had sex before she turned 18, she quietly replied, “Countless times. … Hundreds.”
During opening statements Wednesday, prosecutor Jason Julien sought to prepare jurors for testimony from accusers, including Jane, reminding them that the main issue at trial remains the exploitation of often frightened and confused children — even though the accusers who will be speaking to jurors are grown adults.
Kelly’s lead attorney, meanwhile, pleaded with jurors to disagree that the prosecution portrayed her client as a “monster,” explaining that because of intellectual challenges, including illiteracy, Kelly was forced to rely on others as his career took off. sometimes loved ones lead astray.
Speaking quietly and confidently as she spoke for the first time Thursday, Jane described her upbringing in a musical family in suburban Chicago, including being homeschooled because she was in a touring band she joined when she was around 12.
Jane first met Kelly in the late 1990s when she was in high school. She went to Kelly’s recording studio in Chicago with her aunt, a professional singer who worked with Kelly. Shortly after this meeting, Jane informed her parents that Kelly would be her godfather.
Prosecutors said Kelly shot the video of Jane in a log-style room in his home on Chicago’s North Side between 1998 and 2000. On it, the girl calls the man “dad”.
In the early 2000s, Jane’s aunt showed her parents a copy of the video, which she said showed their daughter having sex with Kelly. When they confronted Kelly, he told them, “You’re with me or you’re against me,” the government said in a statement.
Parents took it as a threat.
Kelly, who rose from poverty on Chicago’s South Side to become a star singer, songwriter and record producer, knew the 2008 conviction would effectively end his life as he knew it, so prosecutors allege he conspired to organize a trial.
Kelly has been dogged by complaints and accusations about his sexual behavior for decades. Scrutiny has intensified since the #MeToo era and a six-part 2019 documentary “R. Kelly survived.”
Kelly also faces four counts of solicitation of a minor for sex in a Chicago court – one each for four other accusers. They must also testify.
Two of Kelly’s associates, Derrell McDavid and Milton Brown, are co-defendants. McDavid is accused of helping Kelly organize the trial in 2008, while Brown is accused of obtaining child pornography. Like Kelly, they also deny any wrongdoing.
https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/life_entertainment/entertainment/article_3e045e5b-cb09-519c-938f-0875e1355e85.html
