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Page 1
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Why doesn't it matter if he's been set up? ...
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Page 2
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Is the man in the tape R. Kelly — or could it be someone else? ...
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Page 3
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Does R. Kelly have a thing for underage girls? ...
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Page 4
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"I am confident people will see that I'm no criminal."
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The Girl — Was She Underage?
People often ask — why hasn't Kelly been charged with statutory rape? That's most likely because child pornography is considered a more heinous crime. Plus, when it comes to statutory-rape charges, it is more effective to have an accuser pointing a finger. In this case, there isn't one: The girl has testified before a Chicago grand jury that she is not the girl on the tape.
But others disagreed — some 50 others. The grand jury heard testimony from 50 people who know the girl and claim that it's her, including teachers, schoolmates and friends — not to mention the girl's aunt, Sparkle, herself a former R. Kelly protégé (In all, the prosecution has a list of some 200 witnesses it wants to call, a number that Kelly's lawyers complain is excessive.)
The prosecution can also submit both photographic and video compare-contrast images, because the girl posed for school yearbook photographs around the time the tape was allegedly made. She also appears in a little-known, professionally shot music video, which MTV News has obtained: She was a member of a fledgling musical group that had a hit single outside the U.S. The clip shows her singing, dancing and standing next to some of her relatives. The prosecution can use this tape to compare her voice, her movements and her body measurements with those of the girl on the Chicago sex tape.
The prosecution will also call sex-abuse experts, who are likely to testify about the common phenomenon of denial in children who have been molested or abused. And to establish that there have been previous claims of Kelly abusing the girl in question, four caseworkers from the Department of Children and Family Services are on the witness list, probably to reveal the yet-undisclosed results of its investigations.
"We've had two investigations into Mr. Kelly and the minor," Chicago DCFS spokeswoman Jill Manuel said. "At least one of the calls was about the tape, before it surfaced. And we have one investigation pending into the family, whether they knew their daughter and R. Kelly had engaged in some activity; whether or not anything inappropriate happened." However, the defense will be sure to point out that the two prior investigations turned up nothing conclusive.
The prosecution also plans to call a top forensic-pediatrics expert, Dr. Sharon Cooper. As a specialist, she might be able to establish the age of the girl on the tape — if the defense contends that the girl looks too old to be 14, she'll state that black girls often develop earlier than other girls do. The defense has already disputed Cooper's proposed testimony, since some of the methods used to approximate age (such as the controversial Tanner Scale) aren't widely accepted by the medical community. They may counter with pediatrics experts of their own.
Of course, the prosecutors could also summon the girl herself. However, since she's already denied that she's the girl on the tape, she may not be helpful on the witness stand. In any event, the defense is likely to argue that the girl on the tape is not the girl in court; and that the girl on the tape was actually older at the time than the prosecution contends she was — and therefore, it would not have been a crime for someone to have sex with her, or to tape sexual acts with her. "There is no videotape of Robert Kelly having sex with an underage girl" has long been the mantra of Kelly's camp.
A Pattern of Behavior?
Does R. Kelly have a predilection for underage girls? There are at least three other women whose testimony could bolster the prosecution's contention that Kelly preys upon young girls, particularly those with show-business aspirations. These women filed civil suits against the singer — each alleging criminal sexual conduct, and each claiming that they met him and had sex with him when they were underage. One even claimed that he coerced her into having an abortion.
All three women settled their cases with Kelly out of court: Tiffany Hawkins for a reported $250,000, Tracy Sampson for a reported $50,000 and Patrice Jones for an unknown amount. In addition, more low-profile claims about Kelly have since been made by four or five other women, and it's possible the singer also may have already settled with these women before they filed suits.
The young women who settled with Kelly all had to sign non-disclosure agreements — which means they agreed not to talk about or disclose details of their cases or settlements. But a court can still compel them to testify. "They are on the witness list," said Chicago attorney Susan E. Loggans, who represented many of the young women who filed civil suits against Kelly. "I'm on the witness list, as well."
However, Loggans feels that her clients might not be very good witnesses for the prosecution.
"Each one of them would be honest and would describe what happened to them," Loggans said. "[But] they were in love with R. Kelly, and they found him to be a very charming, charismatic individual. Rightly or wrongly, they don't want to see him go to jail."
Kelly's lawyers will also be sure to question the girls' credibility — after all, none of them filed criminal charges, and all of them sought money from the singer. That money, they can argue, was offered not out of an admittance of guilt, but rather, to make a nuisance go away. Kelly, who has denied that he has a pattern of seeking out underage girls, told MTV News that he regrets having settled the lawsuits out of court — it makes him appear guilty, he said.
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Photo: Jive
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