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Log inConflicting pictures emerge of alleged R. Kelly victim
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Conflicting pictures emerge of alleged R. Kelly victim
by Outspoken on Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:25 pm
Conflicting pictures emerge of alleged R. Kelly victim
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO - She's been described over several weeks of testimony as a Christian singer and a point guard, a participant in three-way sex and as the goddaughter to one of the music industry's biggest stars.
Even the family of the alleged victim in the R. Kelly child pornography trial doesn't seem to agree about her, especially about whether she's on a 27-minute sex tape that could send the R&B star to prison for up to 15 year if convicted.
The alleged victim says it's not her on the tape. So testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses has sometimes painted contrasting pictures of the person who once called Kelly her "godfather."
Four family members have testified for the prosecution that she is the person on the tape; three have testified for the defense that she's not.
Asked by prosecutors whether the family has "split in half as a result of this incident," one relative, Leroy Edwards Jr., answered softly, "Yes."
Kelly, 41, has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography. His lawyers say it's neither him nor the alleged victim on the tape, suggesting the images could have been computer-generated — possibly in a bid to extort money from the singer.
Prosecutors say she was as young as 13 when the tape was made. Now 23, the woman has been identified at the trial, but The Associated Press does not name suspected victims of child pornography in most cases. She has not spoken publicly about the case.
Photographs of her when she was about 13 show a short, smiling, cherub-faced girl. In pictures shown to jurors, she's in uniform after basketball games, her arms around other players. Prosecutors also played a music video featuring the girl and three other teens in a R&B-tinged musical group that toured Europe several times in the '90s.
No one questions that Kelly and the alleged victim knew each other.
Singer Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards, best known for the 1998 duet "Be Careful" with Kelly and is a relative of the alleged victim, introduced her to Kelly at a music studio when the girl was around 13 and Kelly was around 30, Edwards testified.
"He liked her spirit," a teary-eyed Edwards told jurors. "She was a very jolly person." The girl was fond of Kelly "as a father figure," recalled Edwards, adding she didn't suspect a sexual relationship until news broke years later about the tape.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080609/ap_en_mu/r_kelly_trial_alleged_victim;_ylt=Agpy0.gQV.T60_mxTEpj_Ais0NUE
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)
By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO - She's been described over several weeks of testimony as a Christian singer and a point guard, a participant in three-way sex and as the goddaughter to one of the music industry's biggest stars.
Even the family of the alleged victim in the R. Kelly child pornography trial doesn't seem to agree about her, especially about whether she's on a 27-minute sex tape that could send the R&B star to prison for up to 15 year if convicted.
The alleged victim says it's not her on the tape. So testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses has sometimes painted contrasting pictures of the person who once called Kelly her "godfather."
Four family members have testified for the prosecution that she is the person on the tape; three have testified for the defense that she's not.
Asked by prosecutors whether the family has "split in half as a result of this incident," one relative, Leroy Edwards Jr., answered softly, "Yes."
Kelly, 41, has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography. His lawyers say it's neither him nor the alleged victim on the tape, suggesting the images could have been computer-generated — possibly in a bid to extort money from the singer.
Prosecutors say she was as young as 13 when the tape was made. Now 23, the woman has been identified at the trial, but The Associated Press does not name suspected victims of child pornography in most cases. She has not spoken publicly about the case.
Photographs of her when she was about 13 show a short, smiling, cherub-faced girl. In pictures shown to jurors, she's in uniform after basketball games, her arms around other players. Prosecutors also played a music video featuring the girl and three other teens in a R&B-tinged musical group that toured Europe several times in the '90s.
No one questions that Kelly and the alleged victim knew each other.
Singer Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards, best known for the 1998 duet "Be Careful" with Kelly and is a relative of the alleged victim, introduced her to Kelly at a music studio when the girl was around 13 and Kelly was around 30, Edwards testified.
"He liked her spirit," a teary-eyed Edwards told jurors. "She was a very jolly person." The girl was fond of Kelly "as a father figure," recalled Edwards, adding she didn't suspect a sexual relationship until news broke years later about the tape.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080609/ap_en_mu/r_kelly_trial_alleged_victim;_ylt=Agpy0.gQV.T60_mxTEpj_Ais0NUE
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
