R Kelly child sex tape trial to begin after six-year delay

It’s almost as if they don’t care

IT HAS been six long years but Grammy award-winning singer R Kelly is finally set to go on trial today on multiple counts of child pornography.

The rhythm and blues superstar was first charged in 2002 with child pornography after a video tape surfaced allegedly showing the singer in a sex act with a young girl, who prosecutors say was 13 or 14 at the time.

Seven charges were subsequently dropped but the 41-year-old Chicago native still faces 14, all of which he denies. He faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

He is accused of making the video that prosecutors claim shows the singer urinating and ejaculating on the young girl.

Jury selection is set to begin today for a trial expected to last a number of weeks.

But only if presiding Judge Vincent Gaughan, of Chicago’s Cook County Criminal Court, throws out the defence motion for another delay.

Lawyers for the singer have argued it should be delayed following a fresh flurry of publicity, including a report that a woman will testify she had a threesome with Kelly and the alleged victim.

If the trial does proceed, it will give a unique insight into what prosecutors will claim is the seedy and disturbing underbelly of the lifestyle of one of America’s most popular singers.

Kelly is best known for his 1997 hit I believe I can fly, for which he won three Grammys.

The long wait for his trial has not dented his prolific output as he continued to record and perform while at the same time developing the cult internet hit series Trapped in a Closet.

His 2007 album Double Up, the title song of which is essentially an ode to threesomes, went straight to number one in the US pop chart.

The trial has been delayed for various reasons, in the beginning largely because the singer waived a right to a speedy trial, allowing his defence team to lodge close to 60 motions.

But as the years went by the postponements were made for a range of reasons.

These included the singer suffering a burst appendix on the eve of one trial date, while the judge badly injured himself after falling off a ladder.

In addition, the judge spent much of last year presiding over a high profile multiple murder trial while Kelly’s lead defence lawyer, Ed Genson, was also unavailable as he was busy representing the former newspaper tycoon Conrad Black, jailed for more than six years after being convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice.

Full details of the manoeuvrings in this case are not known as the judge has shrouded the process in secrecy, holding a series of closed-door hearings, keeping documents sealed and issuing gag orders against all his staff and lawyers on both sides.

Kelly was charged in 2002 some months after a Chicago Sun Times story revealed details of the video on the very day the singer opened the Salt Lake city winter games.

The video had been sent anonymously to the Sun Times music critic, Jim DeRogatis.

It allegedly shows Kelly engaged in sexual activity with the young girl.

But the alleged victim, now in her early-20s, denies it is her in the video and might even take the stand to testify on Kelly’s behalf.

Other witnesses will testify the girl is the person prosecutors claim to be the alleged victim.

A key witness likely to emerge is singer Stephanie Edwards, stage name Sparkle. She is the alleged victim’s aunt and is expected to testify it is her niece on the tape.

While Kelly was first charged with child pornography in 2002, accusations of his alleged interest in underage girls were circulating for many years before.

In 1994, Kelly married the singer Aaliyah. She was only 15 at the time and, when her family swiftly moved to have the union annulled, it emerged the marriage certificate claimed she was 18 at the time.

Aaliyah went on to forge a hugely successful music career before dying in a plane crash in 2001.

Kelly has also settled a number of law suits, including one lodged by a woman who claimed, in court documents, that she began having sex with Kelly at 15 and that he “encouraged her to participate in group sex with him and underage girls”.

When Kelly was arrested in Florida to face charges in Chicago, police officers confiscated a digital camera that allegedly contained incriminating photographs.

He was charged in Florida with 12 counts of possession of child pornography but these charges were dropped after a judge ruled the evidence had been illegally obtained.

The Chicago-based singer, songwriter and producer has pumped out an album a year since he was arrested in June 2002 and has collaborated with everyone from Celine Dion to Kid Rock.

“A hit record makes you forget about the bad stuff and he’s had six years worth,” said Dion Summers, director of urban programming for XM Satellite Radio.

“It’s not that his fans don’t recognise it or acknowledge it. It’s almost as if they don’t care."