R. Kelly’s federal trial starts Monday, and he could look at decades added to his 30-year-sentence if a then-minor accuser gives a critical testimony during the trial.
The specific trial being looked at is his 2008 state child pornography trial. The difference between his acquittal in 2008 from jurors and now is that the prosecutor will testify. That’s right, the underage girl in the sexually explicit video with 30-year-old Kelly will testify.
Besides charges of producing a video of having sex with a minor, Kelly also faces serious charges.
The Grammy Award winner faces federal charges of “conspiracy to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, including by paying off and threatening the girl to ensure she did not testify,” according to AP News.
The woman’s testimony will be prominent in deciding if Kelly will ever be released from prison. Though, Kelly won’t be eligible for early release until his 80s.
Prosecutors plan on using the same VHS tape that was used in a trial for the 2008 trial on Monday and will play the tape in court. In addition, prosecutors are prepared to use at least three other videos that offer strong evidence against Kelly.
AP News reports, “Prosecutors say Kelly shot the video of Minor 1 in a log cabin-themed room at his North Side Chicago home between 1998 and 2000 when she was as young as 13. In it, the girl is heard calling the man “daddy.” Federal prosecutors say that she and Kelly had sex hundreds of times over the years in his homes, recording studios, and tour buses.”
Kelly would carry his videos around in a duffle bag, but bootleg copies of the tapes appeared on the streets in the U.S. after some recordings from his duffle bag went missing and got distributed.
Jurors granted Kelly his freedom in 2008, and a long deliberation acquitted him of his previous convictions. Kelly was emotional after the hearing, repeatedly saying, “Thank you, Jesus.”
There’s no official say on what Kelly’s legal team will present during the trial.
