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CHICAGO (AP) – Jury selection Federal Trial of R. Kelly Beginning Monday, judges and lawyers were quick to focus on whether would-be jurors watched a 2019 documentary about sexual abuse allegations against the R&B singer.
After rejecting plea by Kelly’s lawyers to automatically exclude jury members Six-Part Documentary Series “Surviving R. Kelly” U.S. Magistrate Judge Harry Leinenweber asked potential jurors how much they watched, what they could recall and whether they would remain impartial if they were selected.
Jurors were asked if they watched the documentary in a questionnaire they had already filled out. In one instance, a woman who didn’t answer admitted she’d watched a few episodes. However, she was not immediately removed from office.
Overall, the judge dismissed at least half of the roughly 60 prospective jurors he questioned on Monday. Among those fired were an elementary school teacher who said he struggled to be impartial given the subject of the trial, a man who said many of his closest friends were Chicago police officers, and a woman who said she used to be in Kelly’s Children who have had martial arts classes at school.
Among the possible jurors was a man with a graduate degree in classical music, and several others said they had seen part of the documentary about Kelly but assured the judge they could give the singer a fair trial.
Jury selection is expected to resume on Tuesday.
The trial centers on whether Kelly threatened and paid a girl he allegedly had sex with when he was in her mid-30s and she was no older than 14. Jurors in the 2008 child pornography trial acquitted Kelly, with some later explaining they felt they had no choice because the girl didn’t testify. The woman, now in her 30s and referred to only as “Minor 1” in the documents, will be the government’s star witness in a federal trial expected to last four weeks.
Kelly also faces multiple charges of producing and receiving child pornography.
Kelly, 55, has Sentenced by a New York federal judge Sentenced to 30 years in prison 2021 convictions Allegations that he used his fame to sexually abuse other young fans.
Dressed in a light grey suit, yellow dress shirt, tie and black-rimmed glasses, Kelly waved to potential jurors as his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean introduced him. As part of the COVID-19 protocol, Kelly also wore a surgical mask for everyone entering the courthouse.
Kelly, who Escape Poverty on Chicago’s South Side Facing multiple charges in a federal trial for becoming a star singer, songwriter and producer. That included four counts of inducing a minor to engage in sexual activity — one each for the other four plaintiffs. They will also testify in court.
Sentenced in New York alone, Kelly will be eligible for early release around age 80. The Chicago conviction could add decades to Kelly’s sentence in New York, which he is appealing. Convicted only on one count of making child pornography, with a minimum sentence of 10 years.
Two of Kelly’s colleagues, Dreyer McDavid and Milton Brown, were co-defendants in the Chicago trial. McDavid is accused of helping Kelly fix his 2008 trial, while Brown is accused of accepting child pornography. Like Kelly, they also deny wrongdoing.
two A state case is also pending. one is one Multiple sexual assault cases in the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago.the other is a Bidding in Minnesota. Neither has a trial date set.
Minor 1 is expected to testify that she had sex with Kelly in the video. The recording was the centerpiece of a month-long trial in 2008 and was played for jurors almost every day.
Minor 1 first met Kelly in junior high school in the late 1990s. She went to Kelly’s recording studio in Chicago with her aunt, who was a professional singer with Kelly. Soon after, Minor 1 told her parents Kelly would be her godfather.
Prosecutors said Kelly later threatened and tried to repay Minor 1 and her parents so they would not testify in 2008. None of them did.
The double jeopardy rule prohibits the prosecution of someone for the same crime for which they were previously acquitted. That doesn’t apply to a federal trial, as prosecutors charged Minor 1 with different crimes, including obstruction of justice.
Follow Associated Press legal affairs writer Michael Tarm on Twitter https://twitter.com/mtarm
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