CHICAGO — The attorney for R. Kelly urged the jury in her closing argument Tuesday to put aside any preconceived notions they may have about the R&B superstar and see “the humanity” in him when deliberating charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice.
Jennifer Bonjean began her final presentation to the jury by asking them to treat Kelly like a “John Doe,” as some of his accusers have been, not what they may have heard about him in the news or at the office.
“We are asking really the impossible of you, right? To put that all aside and decide this case based only on what was put into evidence,” Bonjean said.
Bonjean told the jury that much of the “unflattering evidence” that has been presented about Kelly over the four-week trial has absolutely nothing to do with the charges, including accusations in lawsuits brought by an attorney with an “industry of suing R. Kelly,” and mention of sex tapes involving backup dancers, a baseball player’s wife “and even a man.”
Bonjean said prosecutors are “banking” on the jury relying on “labels like sex predator” instead of the actual evidence in the case, which was built on the testimony of liars and criminals and accusations that “are a quarter-century old.”
“It’s meant for you to lose your humanity for this man and prevent you from really scrutinizing this evidence,” Bonjean said. “They want you to throw up your hands and say ‘Ahh, it’s R. Kelly. I want to go home and have dinner with my kids. Let’s just sign this guilty verdict.'”
Bonjean likened some of the witnesses in the case, many of whom received immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony, to finding a cockroach in your soup.
“You don’t just toss the roach and eat the soup,” Bonjean said. “You throw out the whole soup. ... There are just too many cockroaches with these witnesses.”
Bonjean also said that unlike most trials, prosecutors are “getting some help from the co-defendants” in this case. Lawyers for both Derrel McDavid, Kelly’s former business manager, and ex-employee Milton “June” Brown, both argued on Monday that their clients were unaware that Kelly was sexually abusing his underage goddaughter, “Jane,” or other minors back in the 1990s and 2000s.
“In various ways throughout this trial there has been this undercurrent of, ‘Well, R. Kelly may have abused “Jane” or may have abused young women, but we didn’t know anything about it,” Bonjean said. “You cannot consider that.”
Instead, Bonjean suggested Kelly was the one who was in the dark. He struggled with his own serious sexual abuse trauma on his way to becoming this superstar, she said, and was “someone who was entirely unequipped to handle all that comes with it.”
“He had to rely on other people to handle the business of R. Kelly,” Bonjean said. “And it was quite a business.”
Bonjean has been given about two hours to make her case to the jury. When she concludes, prosecutors are expected to give about an hour of rebuttal argument, after which jurors would be formally instructed on the law and begin to deliberate.
The arguments come as Kelly’s trial has stretched into its fifth week at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. Jurors have heard from nearly three dozen witnesses since mid August.
Toward the end of Monday’s closing arguments, one juror informed authorities she was having a panic attack and she could not continue. Judge Harry Leinenweber dismissed her and replaced her with an alternate.
Kelly, 55, faces an indictment charging him with 13 counts of producing and receiving child pornography, enticing minors to engage in criminal sexual activity, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Also charged are former Kelly associates McDavid and Brown, who are accused in an alleged scheme to buy back incriminating sex tapes that had been taken from Kelly’s collection and to hide years of alleged sexual abuse of underage girls.
The arguments began Monday with a scathingly methodical presentation from prosecutors and a fire-and-brimstone statement on behalf of Kelly’s former business manager.
Prosecutors in the packed ceremonial courtroom started by reminding jurors of their strongest evidence against the singer: The multiple videos they viewed showing Kelly sexually abusing his 14-year-old goddaughter, “Jane.”
“Kelly and his team, they did their level best … to cover up the fact that Robert Kelly, R. Kelly the R&B superstar, is actually a sexual predator. They did their best, but in the end, they failed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Pozolo said.
“We are here today because those tapes that they concealed for 20 years are no longer their secret. You have seen the tapes. You have seen what Kelly did to Jane.”
Meanwhile, the attorney for McDavid, told jurors in his closing argument that the prosecution was riddled with reasonable doubt and based on untrustworthy witnesses, and that McDavid had no way of knowing whether Kelly was really sexually abusing minors.
“The man didn’t know,” lawyer Beau Brindley said. “They’ve got nothing! ... Their case can’t be trusted.”
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