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R. KELLY TRIAL ACTUALLY BEGINS: Singer in court Friday for jury selection. Plus, was 'three way' witness paid off?
*After six years of numerous delays, jury selection is finally underway in Chicago for the child pornography case against Robert "R" Kelly.
Dressed in a suit and sporting cornrows, the singer arrived at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse Friday to both cheers and jeers, including protesters calling him a pedophile.
In the courtroom, Judge Vincent Gaughan began by introducing Kelly to the 150-member jury pool. According to Reuters, he bowed his head slightly, smiled and said, "Hello."
Gaughan next read the 14-count indictment against the music star. He has been charged with videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. Prosecutors argue he knew, or should have known, the girl was a teenaged minor, at least 13- or 14-years-old.
According to the Associated Press, "the initial session with potential jurors in Gaughan's stately, colonnade courtroom lasted only about 30 minutes, and reporters were not allowed in; one court official said there weren't enough seats.
"Some of the potential jurors looked uncomfortable, and at least a few placed their hands over their eyes as the judge read some of the more graphic sections of the indictments, said Verna Sadock, a sketch artist who was in the room.
"The potential jurors — some carrying bags and coats, many looking serious and even glum — later filed out of the fifth-floor courtroom to fill out questionnaires for the next stage of jury selection. The questionnaires were not made public."
Kelly, 41, faces 15 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Before jury selection began Friday, Gaughan rejected a defense motion to again postpone the trial because of intense publicity surrounding the case.
Defense attorney Marc Martin said the jury pool had been "irrevocably poisoned" by a front-page story in Friday's Chicago Sun-Times that cited unnamed sources talking about a potential witness. Many of the potential jurors would have read the article on the way to the courthouse, Martin said.
Gaughan, however, accepted the prosecution's argument that jury selection could weed out any tainted jurors.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that the potential witness referred to by the defense – an Atlanta woman who will reportedly testify that she engaged in a ménage a trois with Kelly and the alleged underage girl – was paid off by one of the singer's aides to return an incriminating sex tape to the R&B star.
According to the newspaper, Judge Vincent Gaughan was informed of the development during four closed-door hearings last month. It is not clear how much Kelly's aide allegedly paid the woman, who is described by a source as having been in love with the singer.
The woman has received immunity from state and federal prosecution in exchange for her testimony, sources said. Federal immunity was necessary to protect her from charges of transporting child pornography across state lines.
During the April hearings, Gaughan was told that the Kelly aide offered the Atlanta woman money for a sex tape featuring Kelly. At one point, the aide arranged for her to take a polygraph test to determine whether she was telling the truth about having the tape, sources said. Eventually, the woman received money and arranged for the tape to be sent to Kelly's aide, who is not an attorney, sources said. It is not clear whether Kelly knew about the alleged deal.
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