R. Kelly federal trial in Chicago opens with lawyer telling jury not to accept portrayal of singer as ‘monster’
- Kelly faces multiple charges, including enticing of minors for sex, producing child porn and rigging his 2008 child porn trial at which he was acquitted
- A conviction in Chicago could add decades to a 30-year prison sentence he already received from a New York federal judge
R. Kelly kept an ugly side of his life hidden as he escaped poverty in Chicago and rose to pop music stardom, a prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday at the singer’s trial on charges accusing him of enticing girls for sex and rigging a 2008 child pornography case.
Kelly’s lead lawyer implored jurors during her opening statement at the federal trial in Chicago not to accept what she said was the prosecution’s portrayal of her client as “a monster.”
Going back to the 1990s, much of the world knew Kelly solely by his hit songs, including the chart-topping inspirational anthem “I Believe I Can Fly,” US Assistant lawyer Jason Julien said. But “Kelly had another side … a hidden side, a dark side,” he added. “This trial is about Kelly’s hidden side.”
Kelly, 55, faces multiple charges, including enticing of minors for sex, producing child pornography and rigging his 2008 child pornography trial at which he was acquitted. Kelly, who has denied any wrongdoing, has been trailed for decades by complaints and allegations about his sexual behaviour. The scrutiny intensified after the #MeToo era and the 2019 six-part documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” that detailed sex abuse allegations involving women and teenage girls.
Defence lawyer Jennifer Bonjean told jurors that Kelly, in part because of intellectual challenges that included illiteracy, was forced to rely on others as his career took off and that he was sometimes led astray by those in his circle of associates.