Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Years in the Making, R. Kelly Sex Abuse Trial Gets Underway
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
August 18, 2021

Share

NEW YORK (AP) — R&B star R. Kelly is a predator who lured girls, boys and young women with his fame and dominated them physically, sexually and psychologically, a prosecutor said Wednesday, while a defense lawyer warned jurors they’ll have to sift through lies from accusers with agendas to find the truth.

The differing perspectives came as the long-anticipated trial began unfolding in a Brooklyn courtroom where several accusers were expected to testify in the next month about the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer whose career has been derailed by charges that have left him jailed as he goes broke.

Prosecutor Says Kelly Used Famed to Abuse Women and Children

“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez told the Brooklyn jury as she explained the evidence to be revealed at his federal trial. “This case is about a predator.”

She said he distributed backstage passes to entice children and women to join him, sometimes at his home or studio, where he then “dominated and controlled them physically, sexually and psychologically.”

The prosecutor said Kelly would often record sex acts with minors as he controlled a racketeering enterprise of individuals who were loyal and devoted to him, eager to “fulfill each and everyone one of the defendant’s wishes and demands.”

“What his success and popularity brought him was access, access to girls, boys and young women,” she said.

Kelly’s Attorney Says Victims ‘Knew Exactly What They Were Getting Into’

But Kelly’s attorney, Nicole Blank Becker, portrayed her client as a victim of women, some of whom enjoyed the “notoriety of being able to tell their friends that they were with a superstar.”

“He didn’t recruit them. They were fans. They came to Mr. Kelly,” she said, urging jurors to closely scrutinize the testimony. “They knew exactly what they were getting into. It was no secret Mr. Kelly had multiple girlfriends. He was quite transparent.”

It would be a stretch to believe he orchestrated an elaborate criminal enterprise, like a mob boss, the lawyer said.

Becker warned jurors they’ll have to sort through “a mess of lies” from women with an agenda.

“Don’t assume everybody’s telling the truth,” she said.

Defense lawyers have maintained in court papers prior to the trial that Kelly’s alleged victims were groupies who turned up at his shows and made it known they “were dying to be with him.” The women only started accusing him of abuse years later when public sentiment shifted against him, they said.

Victims Emboldened by #MeToo Movement and Lifetime Documentary

Kelly, 54, is perhaps best known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.

The openings came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago. It was a reprieve that allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

The women’s stories got wide exposure with the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” The series explored how an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing the federal racketeering conspiracy case that landed Kelly in jail in 2019.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn have lined up multiple female accusers — mostly referred to in court as “Jane Does” — and cooperating former associates who have never spoken publicly before about their experiences with Kelly.

Testimony to Expose How Kelly’s Supporters Recruited the Victims

They’re expected to offer testimony about how Kelly’s managers, bodyguards and other employees helped him recruit women and girls — and sometimes boys — for sexual exploitation. They say the group selected victims at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly in the New York City area and elsewhere, in violation of the Mann Act, the 1910 law that made it illegal to “transport any woman or girl” across state lines “for any immoral purpose.”

When the women and girls arrived at their lodgings, a member of Kelly’s entourage would set down rules about not speaking to each other, how they should dress and how they needed permission from Kelly before eating or going to the bathroom, prosecutors say. Also, they allegedly were required to call him “Daddy.”

An anonymous jury made up of seven men and five women was sworn in to hear the case. The trial, coming after several delays due mostly to the pandemic, unfolds under coronavirus precautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.

The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Kremlin Apologist Tucker Carlson Interviews Vladimir Putin

DON'T MISS

RIP, Toby Keith: Country Singer-Songwriter Packed a Lot of Living and Singing in His 62 Years

DON'T MISS

X Pauses Some Taylor Swift Searches as Deepfake Explicit Images Spread

DON'T MISS

Norman Jewison, Acclaimed Director of ‘In the Heat of the Night’ and ‘Moonstruck,’ Dead at 97

DON'T MISS

Arnold Schwarzenegger Stopped by Customs Over a Luxury Watch After Arriving in Germany

DON'T MISS

David Soul, The Actor Who Portrayed the Blond Half of TV’s ‘Starsky and Hutch,’ Dies at 80

DON'T MISS

Jimmy Kimmel Threatens Lawsuit Against Aaron Rodgers Over Epstein Remarks

DON'T MISS

Cher Wants Court to Give Her Conservatorship Over Adult Son

DON'T MISS

Cher Wants Court to Give Her Conservatorship Over Adult Son

DON'T MISS

The Leaders, Influencers, Entertainers, and Notorious Who Died in 2023

No data was found

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

12 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

16 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

17 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

18 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

19 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

19 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

19 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

19 hours ago

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

20 hours ago

Corrupt Process? Bullard, Edison Parents Blast Handling of Superintendent Search

20 hours ago

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

The federal government will provide a $1.5 billion loan to restart a nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, officials announced Wedne...

22 mins ago

22 mins ago

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

37 mins ago

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

Animals /
4 hours ago

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

12 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

Composite image of President Trump and Devin Nunes
16 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

17 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

18 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

19 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend