R. Kelly’s attorneys got their chance to cross-examine a woman who alleges she had intimate intercourse with the singer when she was 14 years old on Friday. In court, clips of sexual interactions were also shown.
When videos deemed child pornography by the government were played in Courtroom 2525 of the Dirksen Federal Building, the public had a limited view.
According to a federal agent, the videos show R. Kelly and the woman identified as “Jane” when she was a teen.
Kelly can be heard in the clip giving instructions and threatening Jane to perform sexual activities and telling her to speak about her 14-year-old body.
Embed from Getty ImagesJane, now 37, testified for the second time earlier in the day. Kelly groomed her beginning at the age of 13 and became intimate with her when she was 14, she told jurors, and Kelly told her to hide the truth about their sexual activity until she testified, saying “I became exhausted with living with these lies.”
On Friday, under cross examination by Kelly’s attorney, Jane admitted to text messaging Kelly up until 2019. Jane contacted him again after being contacted by the US Attorney’s office.
“You had opportunity after opportunity to not carry his lies… and the first person you call is Robert?” asked Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney.
Embed from Getty Images“Yes. Because that’s what I was used to,” Jane responded.
Kelly was charged with child pornography in Cook County in 2002, but she was acquitted in 2008 after the girl and her family denied it was her in the clip.
Jane testified that she maintained a relationship with Kelly after she moved out of his house and the alleged abuse stopped.
Embed from Getty ImagesKelly, along with his co-defendants and former employees Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown, is accused of attempting to pay off a minor seen in a pornographic film and her relatives in order to avoid criminal charges in Cook County.
It’s unclear whether Kelly will testify in his own defense.
The trial is scheduled to end by mid-September.
