R. Kelly trial: Testimony phase draws to close

Testimony officially ended in the R. Kelly trial this afternoon as the judge ordered jurors to report back Thursday for closing arguments.

The jury was dismissed without any mention of a faulty stipulation regarding the accuracy of a DVD shown in court.

The prosecution learned Monday night that images from the sex tape at the center of the child pornography trial were compressed and lost significant detail when they were transferred to the DVD, Assistant State’s Atty. Shauna Boliker said. The prosecutors blamed the error on “dumb lawyers” who simply wanted the DVD to more easily show shortened clips from the original video. The state swore to its veracity in a stipulation, a statement read to jurors in which both sides of the case agree on an item.

The situation was further complicated by the fact that the defense already presented testimony based on the supposed accuracy of both the DVD and the stipulation.

Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan called the stipulation “a rotten tomato in the barrel” and took an hourlong recess to consider the matter. After reviewing the transcripts, the judge said it was clear the defense had access to an uncompressed, unaltered copy of tape, in addition to the disc.

Gaughan asked the prosecution and defense to work together to resolve the matter. The two sides huddled for nearly an hour before returning to court and telling the judge they intended to put their agreement in writing. Details of the resolution were not announced in open court.

Stacy St. Clair

June 10, 2008 3:49 PM: Quality of copied tape now at issue

A problem surfaced in the R. Kelly trial Tuesday as prosecutors acknowledged they erred by telling the jury that a DVD used during testimony was an exact copy of the sex tape at the heart of the case.

The prosecution learned Monday night that images from the tape were compressed and lost significant detail when they were transferred to the DVD, Assistant State’s Atty. Shauna Boliker said.

The prosecutors blamed the error on “dumb lawyers” who simply wanted the DVD to more easily show shortened clips from the original video. The state swore to its veracity in a stipulation, a statement read to jurors in which both sides of the case agree on an item.

The stipulation also misrepresented who made the copy of the tape. It said a prosecution expert witness created it, when it was actually done by an employee of the state’s attorney’s office.

The controversy is further complicated because the defense already presented testimony based on the supposed accuracy of both the DVD and the stipulation

Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan called an hourlong recess to consider the issue.

“The stipulation is not true,” the judge said. “This is the rotten tomato in the barrel.”

After the stipulation had been read earlier in the trial, the defense used the DVD to show jurors that a mark on the male participant’s back appears and disappears during the quarter-second that the camera catches his bare back. The defense has told the jury that Kelly cannot be the man on the tape because the R&B superstar has had a dark, caterpillar-shaped mole along his spine since childhood.

Rather than tell the jury the stipulation was incorrect, prosecutors Tuesday called a forensic video expert who ridiculed a defense expert for relying on the DVD.

Kelly’s defense team cried foul, telling the judge that the prosecution made the error--and then called a witness to make the defense look foolish and dishonest in front of the jury.

“The stipulation is wrong,” lead defense attorney Ed Genson said. “We put a man on based on that and they put [another expert] up there to rebut him and that’s not right.”

Stacy St. Clair

June 10, 2008 5:29 AM: R. Kelly defense seeks curbs on playing the video

By now, the R. Kelly jury has become quite familiar with the sex tape at the heart of the child pornography case.

They’ve sat through a full screening of the 27-minute video. They’ve seen it broken down into short clips and freeze-framed on several occasions. Heck, they’ve even seen what it would look like if the participants didn’t have heads.

And apparently the defense thinks that’s more than enough.

In a motion filed Monday, the defense asked Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan to keep both a VCR and the sex tape out of the jury’s hands during deliberations. Kelly’s attorneys argue that allowing jury-room screenings could be extremely prejudicial and lead the jurors to playing the tape over and over again.

The motion also suggests the tape could be destroyed with repeated playings, potentially jeopardizing any future legal action in the case.

“To permit the jury to play [the tape] in the jury room would highlight the exhibit, would overemphasize one piece of evidence (and) possibly endanger the exhibit such as by inadvertent erasure,” the motion reads. If the jurors need to see the tape again, the defense suggests they watch it in the courtroom so the judge can ensure it’s not played repeatedly. Under this plan, the defense and prosecution would be present, but not allowed to address the jury.

The prosecution is expected to respond this morning. Following the judge’s ruling, prosecutors will present two rebuttal witnesses before officially ending testimony in the high-profile case. Closing arguments are expected Thursday.

Stacy St. Clair

June 9, 2008 1:27 PM: More mole testimony expected

After the surprising close to the defense case early Monday after just two days, the prosecution will begin its rebuttal to the defense’s case Tuesday.

The prosecution plans to again call Grant Frederics, a forensic video analyst who found what appeared to be a mole on the back of the sex tape’s male participant.

During opening statements, the defense dropped a potential bombshell when it told jurors that Kelly has had a mole on his back since childhood and that since there was no mole on the back of the male participant in the video, Kelly could not be the man on the tape.

Frederics is expected to rehash some of his earlier testimony and to rebut testimony from the defense’s forensic expert, Dr. Charles Palm, who said in his examination of the videotape that he could not find a mole.

The prosecution also plans to call an assistant district attorney from Atlanta. Robert Wolf is expected to deny suggestions that Lisa Van Allen, who testified she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the alleged underage victim, was given a deal to testify in the Kelly case.

During the trial, the defense not so subtly suggested that Van Allen’s boyfriend, a felon who was recently arrested for the possession of a loaded AK-47 and drugs in his suburban Atlanta home, was given probation by the Fulton County district attorney’s office because Van Allen testified in the trial.

Court will resume Tuesday with defense motions at 10 a.m., before the prosecution begins its rebuttal.

Azam Ahmed

June 9, 2008 12:28 PM: Much to everyone’s surprise, the defense rests

Much to the surprise of the courtroom gallery, R. Kelly’s lawyers rested their case Monday morning after three days of testimony in defense of the R&B singer.

For about 15 minutes, attorneys for both sides handled a few housekeeping matters.

Then Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan informed the jury that there would be no testimony today. He told them they were free to stay and have lunch on the county’s dime or go home. He told jurors that, if the case stays on course, they should expect closing arguments on Thursday.

With the jury dismissed, the judge began hearings on various motions in the case.

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