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Old 06-17-2008
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Default R Kelly Not Guilty

After six years of trial delays then just four short weeks of testimony a Cook County, IL jury has acquitted R&B superstar Robert Kelly on all 14 counts of child pornagraphy charges. The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for 7 ½ hours before finding Kelly not guilty on all counts, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Neither Kelly, the alleged victim, now 23, nor her parents testified during the trial. All three denied her involvement in the tape to a grand jury in 2002.

The prosecution used other witnesses to describe the relationship Kelly shared with his goddaughter--an aspiring rapper who witnesses said became a member of his entourage while in junior high school. Only one witness testified to having direct knowledge of an inappropriate relationship between Kelly and the alleged victim. Lisa Van Allen told the jury she engaged in a series of sexual encounters with the singer and his goddaughter when the girl was a minor.

The defense tried to undermine Van Allen's testimony by accusing her of concocting the story to extort money from Kelly. The singer's attorneys contended the young woman in the tape is not the alleged victim but a prostitute. They called three family members of the alleged victim who testified that they saw no resemblance between their relative and the female in the video.

Without testimony from Kelly or his alleged victim, the singer's attorneys built their case around a caterpillar-shape mole along his spine. They argued that the man in the recording has an unblemished back, meaning Kelly couldn't be the man in the video.

If you don't see the mole, the defense told the jury, then Kelly cannot be convicted. If found guilty, the singer would have faced up to 15 years in prison.


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