R. Juries in Kelly’s federal child pornography trial on Tuesday heard a story from a B-movie script: Clandestine Hotel Meetings torn apart. sex tape. Cash-filled bags. Tough guys with guns.
But it wasn’t a movie, according to Charles Freeman, a key prosecution witness, that was at the center of it all.
Instead, Freeman said, it was a real-life cloak-and-dagger scheme hatched by Kelly and his associates to recover video footage of the R&B superstar allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. . He said Freeman was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for getting at least one tape back.
The plot described by Freeman spanned nearly a decade, and unfolded at Kelly’s music studios, concerts, and even the singer’s sprawling Olympia Fields mansion, from Chicago to Kansas City and Atlanta, where Freeman stated that She was told to get naked and get it. In a pool to prove that he was not wearing strings.
Lawyers for Kelly and his co-defendants Darrell McDavid and Milton “June” Brown are due to begin cross-examining Freeman on Wednesday. It must be lively: In the opening statement last week, defense lawyers told jurors that Freeman was a con artist, extortionist, liar, and criminal.
Freeman is testifying under an immunity agreement from prosecutors. His testimony is crucial to allegations that Kelly, McDavid, and Brown conspired to cover up Kelly’s misdeeds while they were being investigated and prosecuted for child pornography.
Freeman entered a packed courtroom on Tuesday wearing a blue suit and dark glasses. He took off his glasses and black face mask before testifying.
During his three hours on the stand, Freeman spoke bluntly about the business he was involved in, acknowledging that the bodyguards brought him “muscle” in meetings with Kelly’s associates and his life. spent nine years trying to “get that money”. which was promised to him.
Freeman’s vivid but often-frequent recollections of events from years earlier left many in the courtroom—including lawyers, and at times, some jurors—with astonished expressions, whether it was “rinky-dink excuses”. Kelly’s camp kept giving her, failing to pay, or failing to tell the jury how, in a meeting with them, she pulled out a videotape she called “between my pants and my butt cheeks.” “It was hidden.
Meanwhile, Kelly was animated as he listened to testimony, leaned in to whisper his lawyers and at one point appeared to laugh as Freeman tried to be friends with him after a misunderstanding about the jacket in the early 1990s. described.
Their friendship began when Freeman was merchandising for a tour featuring Kelly’s first group, Public Announcement, he said. He said they bonded over basketball and “became really cool and friends.” Then, in 2001, he got a call from Kelly, who said he wanted Freeman to “recover some tapes.”
Shortly after, he heard from McDavid and private investigator Jack Palladino testified, who said there would be a “bounty” if he could get the stolen video back. He said that at the time of the phone call, he did not know what was in the tapes.
“Darrell said it was a performance tape that they really needed to recover, and they would take care of me if I recovered the tape,” Freeman said. “Those were his exact words.”
Freeman was told that Kelly’s ex-girlfriend, Lisa Van Allen, had stolen the video and given it to some people in Atlanta, he testified. He signed a contract in August 2001 to recover the tapes for more than $100,000 in expenses—not the million dollars he had agreed to, he said.
McDavid told her he’d get the whole million, “but how do we know what you’ve got is what we want? We need the original and make sure it’s the actual evidence tape,” Freeman said.
According to Freeman’s testimony, McDavid said, “If we give you a million dollars for a tape it’s going to sound bad and it’s not the tape we want.”
Freeman moved into a house in Georgia a few days later. He said he “figured out they weren’t going to hand over anything” and would have to “muscle”.
“A young lady came to the door and I said ‘I’m here to recover the MF tapes you stole from Robert Kelly.’ Those were my exact words,” Freeman said. He said he could see in the living area, where there was a “swing for a baby” and a TV and VCR with three video cassettes nearby.
Freeman got three tapes from home, then went to Wal-Mart and bought blank tapes and a VCR recorder, he said.
One Tape was a Disney movie. There was another type of family video. The third was a tape of Kelly “having sex with a young woman,” Freeman said.
“What age do you look woman?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannis Apanteng asked.
“Youth,” he replied.
According to prosecutors, the video shows Kelly sexually abusing her 14-year-old granddaughter “Jane” at her former home in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. This differs from the tape for which Kelly was criminally charged in Cook County, although it includes the same alleged victim. According to federal prosecutors, Kelly was eventually acquitted of the Cook County charges in 2008 after she persuaded the victim not to cooperate.
Freeman “immediately” made three or four copies of the Georgia tapes, he said, because he didn’t trust McDavid or Palladino to pay. He still had copies of the tapes in early 2019, he testified.
Freeman initially didn’t tell police about child pornography “because the police weren’t going to pay me a million dollars,” he said. In early 2019, Freeman’s attorney told him “the police were coming to pick me up because my name surfaced that I was holding child pornography for Robert Kelly.” Freeman gave the tapes to his attorney, who gave them to law enforcement, he said.
Freeman handed a copy of the tape to McDavid and Palladino, who had him pass a polygraph test about it. Later, Palladino called and said he knew he had another tape, and arranged another meeting for him to return it and get paid.
Freeman handed over the tape and received a bag of cash in return. It wasn’t a full million, but they told him he’d pay in installments—every other year “until Rob came to court,” Freeman said. Freeman made extensive efforts over the years to get the full amount, he said, including filing two lawsuits, he testified.
In late 2003 or early 2004, McDavid reached out to Freeman again about obtaining a different tape, Freeman said.
“Darrell said it’s another performance tape, the sex tape is what he described,” Freeman said. “Lisa Van Allen, with Robert and the Maiden on Tape.”
Prosecutors have described a similar video as Video 4 of the indictment, which prosecutors have said never recovered and cannot play for jurors.
Freeman then contacted his friend, Keith Murrell, and found that Murrell had made a side deal with Kelly’s team regarding that tape, he said. Freeman copied part of the footage to a cellphone but did not recover VHS, he testified.
Freeman believed Kelly was owed the balance of his payments just before the trial, he testified. In late 2007 or early 2008 he met Kelly alone at the singer’s Olympia Fields mansion and talked about tapes he had found in Georgia, he testified. The conversation took place at a replica ice cream parlor next to the spacious home’s indoor “rainforest” pool.
“(Kelly) said he wanted to make sure I wasn’t dealing with the police or anything,” Freeman said.
While he was at the Olympia Fields home, he also spoke to McDavid alone in Kelly’s swimming pool, he said. McDavid initially said he wanted them both to get into the pool naked to make sure Freeman was not wearing strings, Freeman said. Freeman said both men took off their clothes, but left their underwear on.
And after McDavid jumped into the water, he assured Freeman that he would get the rest of the money just before the trial.
But by the time of Kelly’s 2008 trial, Freeman still hadn’t been paid in full, he said, so he began calling on reporters to announce a news conference “because I know a lot about the case.” was,” he said.
The next day, Freeman said, she got a call from Brown, who picked her up in her car and handed over a phone. Kelly was in line.
“(Kelly) said ‘I know you’re not going to have a press conference and I’ve given you my word after I did it, I was going to pay you,'” Freeman said.
Freeman said Kelly had promised him money, but said it was difficult to “take any steps” during the trial. Brown gave her $10,000 as a show of good faith, and Freeman ultimately didn’t go through with the news conference, he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, two lie-detector trial administrators testified that they had been hired to ask someone if he had made copies of a certain videotape. It was never specified for the jurors whether the man was in fact Freeman.
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Lawrence Burkeland said that he was hired by a lawyer in August 2001 to test someone whether he had made copies of a certain videotape, and whether it was the only videotape he had. Burkeland gave the unidentified man three tests and he passed all three, he said.
On Tuesday morning, Polygraph Administrator John Harlock testified remotely from Missouri that he, too, was hired the same month to let anyone know if he had any other copies of a certain tape. The test subject also declined to give Harlock his name or signature, saying “call him ‘Showtime.
Harlock didn’t actually remember giving the subject a polygraph test.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)