R&B star R. Kelly will not take the stand in his trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges, the singer said in court Thursday, though his co-defendant former manager will testify.
Kelly’s decision was not unusual for defendants in a criminal trial, and the singer also opted not to testify last year while on trial in federal court in New York, where he was convicted on child trafficking and racketeering counts.
Kelly also did not testify in his 2008 trial on child pornography charges in Cook County court, a case in which he was acquitted — though federal prosecutors have alleged that Kelly and his co-defendants conspired to rig that trial by buying off key witnesses and rounding up incriminating videotapes.
Derrel McDavid, Kelly’s co-defendant and former manager, said he will testify. McDavid’s lawyers have argued that, at the time Kelly was under investigation in the early 2000s through to his trial in 2008, McDavid and Kelly’s legal team believed the denials by Kelly and his alleged victim and her parents. That victim and her mother both took the stand during the first week of this trial and testified that Kelly filmed himself having sex with her when she was 14 years old. Co-defendant Milton “June” Brown, a former Kelly assistant, said he would not testify.
The trial is nearing the end of its third week at the Dirksen Federal Building, with lawyers for the defendants calling their first witnesses. Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday, and defense attorneys have said they will wind up their case as soon as this upcoming Tuesday.
Prosecutors put more than 20 witnesses on the stand against the singer, including multiple women who testified they were sexually abused by Kelly when they were as young as 14.
First thing on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber denied defense motions to throw the charges in the case. Motions for acquittal traditionally follow after the government rests its case and are seldom granted.
Leinenweber has yet to rule on a motion by McDavid’s attorneys to introduce records from the files of Jack Palladino, a Los Angeles-based private investigator hired by Kelly’s defense team back in the early 2000s. Palladino died last year.
Legal experts told the Sun-Times that the government’s case against Kelly is stronger this time around, compared with his 2008 trial on similar charges in state court that resulted in the singer being found not guilty.
Still, there are areas where the defense could make strong arguments for Kelly, including raising questions about the authenticity of videotapes that allegedly show him abusing an underage girl, the experts said.
