During The Trial, R. Kelly Is Not Anticipated To Testify.
Key Sentence:
- According to his attorney's list of witnesses, R. Kelly is not expected to testify in his human trafficking trial.
- The star's defense began Monday after men and women testified for a month accusing Kelly of molesting her as a teenager.
The first two defense witnesses said they had never seen Mr. Kelly misbehave with underage girls. The 54-year-old singer has denied all charges against him. These include racketeering charges and eight violations of the Anti-Trafficking Act, known as the Mann Act, which prohibits people from being transported through state lines to have sex.
Prosecutors described the singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, as a predator who groomed and robbed young women and girls in the mid-1990s, as songs like I Believe I Can Fly and She Got That Vibe brought him fame.
The alleged victims include singer Alia, who was 15 when Kelly illegally married her in 1994.
A jury in a Brooklyn court heard men and women say the star had controlled them by imposing draconian rules about when to eat, sleep and use the bathroom, and forcing them to perform the sexual acts he frequently filmed.
Several witnesses accused Kelly of failing to tell them she sexually transmitted herpes, which they later developed during sex with her. Kelly's lawyers described his accusers as blackmailers seeking collective revenge after their relationship with the R&B singer faded. The prosecutor's case ended Monday, but the star's defense began to destabilize after he cleared the list of possible witnesses at the last minute.
Instead, three new witnesses were summoned, one of whom was unable to appear in court. Kelly's lawyers said they were "busy raising funds" to bring the man to New York. The first to testify was Danai Ramnanan, an ambitious singer who has worked with Mr. Kelly since 2005.
Describing the star as a "mentor" and "best friend," he said he had never seen Mr. Kelly verbally abuse a woman or prevent anyone from eating or using the toilet. A prosecutor, Maria Cruz Melendez, attempted cross-examination to show that the witness was not very close to Mr. Kelly and wanted to stay on the good side to advance his music career.
The second witness was Larry Hood, a childhood friend of Mr. Kelly and a former Chicago cop, who testified that he had never seen the star with the teenager. "As a police officer, I have to take action," he told the court. "I never did anything. I was never notified of the offense."