R. Juries at Kelly’s federal trial on Friday viewed graphic clips of three separate videos that allegedly showed the late 1990s R&B superstar sexually assaulting his young granddaughter.
While the scenes were obscured from view, courthouse observers could hear most of the audio. A woman testifying under the pseudonym “Jane” in court Thursday identified herself as the girl in the tapes and Kelly as the man, testifying that she was 14 when they were filmed.
On the clip, Jen was heard speaking out loud and in a very young voice. In one clip, she repeatedly referred to her “14-year-old” genitals. On the other he repeated the phrase, as the man alleged to be Kelly.
“Get down on your knees,” Jen was told in another clip. “Dad, do you still love me?” He replied.
“Of course I do,” was the answer.
Jane can be heard getting instructions on what she should do at various points.
“I said don’t move,” the man accused of being Kelly said over a clip.
“I’m sorry,” replied Jane.
Kelly’s defense has so far not directly stated that it is Kelly on the video clip, saying only that her authenticity cannot be verified and that Kelly had previously been acquitted of conduct related to her. . Nor has the defense given jurors an alternate version of Jane’s story about events related to the video. Instead, defense lawyers are trying to sow doubts by telling the panel that Jen denied being on the clip for more than two decades.
Prosecutors asked US District Judge Harry Leinenweber to vacate the media and audience courtrooms while the tapes were being played because they contained alleged child pornography.
But Leninweber declined, saying that forcing everyone to skip public testing was too extreme and that people listening to the audio were not “problematic”. Instead, they were brought in by courtroom personnel with large, black screens so that the audience could not see the jurors or their monitors as they were. Due to the COVID-19 vacancy protocol, the jury is seated in the courtroom gallery instead of the jury box.
Meanwhile, spectators and journalists in the courtroom were asked to sit in specific areas so that they could not watch the video as they walked on monitors at the defense and prosecution tables.
Just before playing the video, Leninweber, at the request of prosecutors, ordered the audio feeds to be cut off to the overflow courtroom and media room. No explanation was given for that move.
The videos are at the center of the case against Kelly and his two co-defendants, who are accused of conspiring to cover up years of alleged sexual abuse by Kelly to victims and witnesses.
Earlier on Friday, Kelly’s attorney cross-examined the victim allegedly depicted on the video, who is being referred to by the pseudonym “Jane.” The woman, now 37, spent nearly four hours on Thursday testifying in direct examination that Kelly had a secret sex with her when she was an impressionable young teenager in the 1990s.
However, Jennifer Bonzen, Kelly’s main attorney, focused her initial cross-examination on Jane’s adulthood. He also showed Jen a long series of dating messages from 2018 and 2019 between Jen and Kelly, establishing that the two had relatively recent contact.
The texts were friendly, Jane invites Kelly to the birthday celebration and the two exchange New Year’s wishes. After Lifetime’s explosive “Surviving Are Kelly” documentary series premiered in January 2019, Jen sent him messages of support.
“I love you, don’t let the devil win you,” she texted him. Kelly replied “Yeah, I was on a major breakdown but now I’m on a major buildup.”
“He wasn’t trying to impress you into doing anything, you were just praising,” said Bonjin, which Jen confirmed.
And in February 2019, the Cook County state attorney’s office contacted Jane—it was reportedly in possession of more videos involving her and Kelly. Jen texts Kelly: “You need to call me right away or I’m making decisions on my own.”
Bonjean asked Jane if this meant she was demanding Kelly pay for her continued silence. In response, Jane slowly put the cap back on her water bottle, stopped and calmly said into the microphone, “That’s not right.”
“The decision I was going to make was to cooperate with the authorities because I no longer wanted to push their lies,” she said.
Jane remained under questioning from Bonzen, maintaining eye contact as each question posed and often gave brief one-word answers.
In Jane’s initial interview with federal prosecutors in 2019 she declined to discuss the relationship with Kelly and refused to watch any videos, she testified. Bonzen asked repeatedly whether it was his own decision, and he admitted that it was.
Bonjin also aggressively hinted that Jane only changed her mind about cooperating with federal officials in 2019 after learning she could seek reinstatement. Prosecutors objected to this line of questioning and called for a sidebar before the timeline was fully worked out.
Jen, for her part, said she has yet to make up her mind about whether or not she will seek restitution if Kelly is convicted.
After about an hour, Bonjin’s questioning turned to Jane’s teenage years; She testified Thursday that she began sexual contact with Kelly when she was just 14 years old, and had intercourse with Kelly “innumerable” times when she was 15 to 18 years old.
Bonjean clearly suspected that Jane’s parents would not know and, as Jane testified, Kelly may have relied on other underage girls to keep her and Jane a secret.
“You’re still adamant that your parents were unaware of the relationship at the time, right?” Bonjin asked after noting how much time Jane would be spending away from him.
“Yeah, because they thought I was around (Kelly’s) family,” Jen replied. “They didn’t know I was spending time with them separately.”
The two women are expected to testify at a later trial that they had sexual contact with Kelly and Jane while they were young; Bonjin said in early statements this week that he was lying and that he had sex with Kelly only after legally consenting.
Bonjin’s cross-examination ran into a technical snag when she was trying to get Jane to show her text messages with Kelly, without disclosing some identifying information like her phone number.
After thinking through all the necessary fixes, Kelly’s defense team put the text on the screen, but apparently forgot to black out a portion containing Jane’s first and last name.
After being on the screen for a few seconds, there was a loud whisper on the defense table and the exhibition was quickly taken down.
At cross-examination, Jane reiterates that it was her Aunt Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards who inspired her to get closer to Kelly. It’s also Jane’s understanding that Edwards is the one who initially leaked the porn tapes to former Sun-Times journalist Jim DeRogatis, she says.
“You think Sparkle was pushing Kelly on you… used you as bait with Kelly,” Bonjean said, and Jen confirmed.
When prosecutors questioned her on the redirected exam, Jane admitted that most of her lessons pertained only to scheduling matters.
After about two and a half hours on the stand, Jane was dismissed.
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Kelly, 55, is charged with 13 counts of production of child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Some cases carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted, while others carry between five and 20 years in prison. Prosecutors are also seeking to forfeit $1.5 million in personal funds from Kelly.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)