I Rest My Case: R Kelly Trial Update

R Kelly

Well, that was over a lot quicker that I expected for certain.

There were no major revelations, no new evidence, and no conclusive explanations during the two days of argument in favour of the R&B star in the Chicago courts, simply family members of the girl alleged to be in the sex tape at the heart of the case denying it is her, a couple of experts discussing whether or not the man in the vid had R Kelly's mole, and a few attempts to discredit the prosecution's star witness, who claimed to have had threesomes with Kelly and the underage girl.

Of course the defence's relatively brief case can be interpreted two ways - either they are a bit short of any arguments or witnesses that run in their favour, or they are so certain they will win there is no need to drag things out. Certainly Kelly's lawyers seem to have put more effort into picking holes into the testimonies of the prosecution's witnesses rather than presenting compelling witnesses of their own, but that may be strategy rather than necessity. Commenting on the short defence, the Chicago Tribune quote New York attorney Paul DerOhannesian who says: "The goal of the defence isn't to prove what happened. Why assume that burden if you don't have to?"

The one thing that some commentators reckon has weakened the defence's case is their failure to present the alleged victim as a witness. The 23 year old alleged, by the prosecution, to be in the ten year old sex tape - aged 13 at the time it was recorded - continues to deny it is in fact her, and has gone on the record to say so in a grand jury investigation earlier on in the case. But with some gossipers claiming the close links between Kelly and the girl's family - her father reportedly is a guitar player who sometimes works for the R&B star or his associates - may be behind her denial of involvement in the tape, some reckon it would have been good for the jury to hear the denial directly from the alleged victim, so they could form their own conclusions. Instead the defence are relying on three family members to deny her involvement in the tape, against the fifteen friends and associates who the prosecution presented who say they are certain the named girl is in the tape.

The prosecution are now expected to call two rebuttal witnesses, before summing up begins. The jury could be deliberating on it all by Thursday.