Transcript
In the 1990s, Aaliyah was one of the most promising and successful singers in the world. I was a huge fan. Her debut album, age Ain't nothing but a number sold more than three million copies when she was only 15, the follow up to that record sold more than eight million copies. The Recording Academy nominated her for Grammy Awards. She starred in feature films. She was even slated to star in the two Matrix Sequels. She recorded music with some of the biggest stars of the era, Missy Elliott DMX timberland. She affectionately earned the nickname the princess of R and B. And when music writers and commentators would spell out her history, some of the credit for her success fell not only to her but also to an older man. The hugely successful R and B singer, R Kelly, the singer behind songs such as I Believe I Can Fly and his collaboration with Michael Jackson. You are not alone. After appearing on Star Search at such a young age, she signed her first record contract with Jive Records at the age of 12. Her uncle then introduced her to R kelly, perhaps the best known Jive Records artist in history who acted as a mentor for her. He helped her write and produce Age Ain't Nothing but a number. The album was a huge success and R kelly received much of the acclaim Aaliyah and R kelly would become close, very close. They'd be seen together in public. They'd attend events together to outsiders. Their relationship appeared to extend beyond business and music. Soon rumors started to gain traction that when Aaliyah was just 15 years old under the age of consent for any state in the country, R. Kelly got her pregnant and they married in a secret ceremony. Aaliyah denied the rumors to Inside Edition three years ago. There was this terrible room around. What is the deal with you and R kelly? Are you all married or not? No, I'm not married. Um roberts did his thing. I'm doing my thing. He's a great producer, great artist who had to admire and um there's there's nothing, nothing at all. The rumors persisted however, but Aaliyah was never able to tell a deeper story about what really happened between her and R kelly. On August 25, 2001, tragedy struck ACC seven New York was among the first to report it. The plane crash that killed a rising star in the world of music and film reaction today after Aaliyah and eight others were killed when their plane went down. Aaliyah died at the age of just 22 in an airplane accident in the Bahamas. But as time went on, that didn't stop the rumors about Aaliyah's relationship with R kelly because rumors about r kelly's relationships with other underaged kids grew louder newspapers, printed articles from anonymous and named sources, commentators confronted the rumors in public discussions and critiques, lawsuits were filed and settlement agreements were reached In 2000 to an anonymous tip led investigators to a videotape where R. Kelly was allegedly sexually abusing an underage girl who was said to be 14. He was indicted on 21 counts of making child sex abuse materials. In 2008, he went to trial, but the jury reportedly felt that it hadn't been proven that the girl in the video was underage and so he was acquitted on all counts. But years later, a lifetime documentary collected all of those allegations into one damning series, surviving R kelly, Pressure mounted on him in an interview with Gayle King in 2019. He lost his composure. I'm fighting for my life, Y'all, killing me with 30 years Robert. Then in the summer of 2019, R. Kelly finally came under scrutiny from law enforcement again that year. Not one but three different jurisdictions filed serious charges against him alleging that he abused Children. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office in Chicago and Two Federal District Courts, one in New York, the other in Illinois. Today we'll explore those cases. But this episode is a little different than most court junkie episodes. We don't have audio from the trials or transcripts, but we do feature a journalist who was there for every step of the way. This is Jillian and in partnership with law and crime. You are listening to court junkie episode 2 16. 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Psyche Daily is a new podcast that gives you a quick 10 minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds, psychopaths and cold blooded killers You read about in the news host Candice Delong draws on her years as an FBI agent and criminal profiler to break down the cases for you on killer psyche. Daily Candace will give you insight into cases like Ryan Grantham and the Stockton serial killer. She will also invite expert guests to dive deeper into the details share what it's like to work at quantico, answer some killer trivia and even host virtual Q and A's that allow you to ask her questions. I think this podcast is a really cool concept that hasn't really been done before. Like this short consumable episodes that you should incorporate into your daily lives. Hey Prime members listen to amazon music exclusive podcast killer psyche. Daily in the amazon music app, download the app. Today Jon Seidel is a journalist and author in Chicago. My name is john Siddle and I cover federal courts in Chicago for the Chicago sun times I got started on that beat in april of 2015. So it's been about 7.5 years now, John is also the author of a book, 2nd City Sinners, which dives into the stories of Chicago's most infamous criminals. More on that later. But we start today digging deeper into another infamous character. R kelly john got a front row seat to the singer's most recent criminal trial. It was in the northern district of the federal court system. In Illinois, john had been aware of rumors about R kelly for years prior to covering that trial, one of his colleagues at the Chicago Sun Times, jim DeRogatis had been reporting about r kelly and accusations against him since the mid 19 nineties. And in 2002, Deer, a goddess received a major tip. It was a home video recorded onto an unlabeled VHS tape. He, he says he does not know where it came from. There have been theories out there about where it came from, but he says that he does not know Who dropped it there and that he, he took the video out of his mailbox. He, he put it in the VCR and it depicted R. Kelly sexually abusing a 14 year old girl. Journalism norms can often be messy. Reporters might withhold tips or materials involving potential crimes from police and prosecutors in the interest of public disclosure. They might do this, especially if those tips could get an innocent person in major trouble in this case. Debra Goddess and his editors at the Sun Times felt that this videotape needed to be in the hands of law enforcement. The newspaper. Once they realized what they had turned the turned the tape over to police Deciding that they had evidence of a felony and it was a responsibility to tell the police about it. That was in 2002 and later that year, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office did bring a child pornography case against R. Kelly. The pre trial phase of that case dragged on for years, motions and meetings, pre trial sessions between attorneys and the judge assigned to the case. Questions about discovery and the veracity of the home video itself. It is generally acknowledged that that delay was good for the defense. It it meant that the alleged victim continued to grow older, you know, and people's memories faded. Things like that. So the longer it dragged on, the better for R kelly and it did finally go to trial. In 2008, cheers and jeers greeted R and B singer R kelly as he arrived at Cook County court for jury selection Kelly faces child pornography charges. From a 2002 indictment authorities believe they have a videotape showing Kelly having sex with an underage girl about eight years ago. The delays did seem like they ended up benefiting R. Kelly's defense team. The 2008 case in Cook County against him failed to convince the jury he was found not guilty and the primary reason that was cited then by the by the jury for for their decision was the the alleged victim, the girl on that tape declined to testify during the trial. So the jurors were left with accusations from the prosecutors. They had this tape. I believe a family member of the girl also testified during that trial. I want to double check myself, but I believe a family member testified and said it wasn't her while others testified that it was, the family denied that it was her. She did not testify and I do believe I have, I did speak once to the foreman of that jury and I think that they just felt like the prosecutors just did not bring them enough evidence. They didn't have what they needed to convict. And so they felt like they made the right decision for what they had to work with. The failure to convict R. Kelly on those charges in 2008 kept him out of prison. But rumors continued to Swirl. Then an unrelated series of news stories and a movement that those stories helped to inspire put R kelly's actions back in the national spotlight. In 2017, public on the record accusations emerged alleging that the film producer Harvey Weinstein abused dozens of women over the course of decades. Those accusations led to the me too movement which became a viral call to action around this time journalist and filmmaker Dream Hampton began putting together a team to research and contact people who had both publicly and privately spoken about unsettling encounters with r kelly. Her efforts resulted in the 11 episode Lifetime Docuseries surviving R. Kelly Released in January 2019. It accomplished something that no prosecutor had previously been able to do. It compelled victims and witnesses to share an unprecedented number of horrifying stories about R. Kelly often using their real names rather than speaking anonymously. The series also revealed more information about the underaged girl at the center of the 2008 prosecution and I should say, I mean, we we've seen evidence since there's been testimony that actually the relationship between kelly and that girl and her family continued on even including up until the time when surviving r kelly aired and the series highlighted another example of r kelly's criminal past that had been hiding in plain sight. His rumored marriage to Aaliyah. The lifetime series brought her story and her relationship to R kelly back into public consciousness. We also had Probably shouldn't get lost in this conversation. The episode with the singer Aaliyah, who R. Kelly married when he I believe he was 27 and she was 15 years old at the time. That was another episode that went public involving R. Kelly and an underage girl. So, so we all of this stuff was kind of right out there for for the public to see. But the are the surviving R kelly documentary. Just turned out to be so powerful and right amid the rise of the me Too movement. At least one prosecutor took notice in the Cook County State's Attorney's office where the failed 2008 prosecution originated. There was a new lead prosecutor in charge. Her name was kim Fox and she held a press conference following the release of surviving r kelly in it. She called for victims to come forward A month later in February 2019. She brought new state charges against R. Kelly yesterday, robert kelly was indicted before a Cook County grand jury on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims. R kelly skipped his preliminary hearing due to an unspecified medical condition but soon he wouldn't be able to make excuses for not showing up in court. He'd be delivered there from jail court, junkie is brought to you by progressive insurance. 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After Cook County state's attorney kim Foxx filed felony charges against r kelly related to producing and trafficking child sex abuse materials. He posted bail and walked free. He spent only three nights in a Cook County jail Kelly's entourage picked him up from jail on the last Monday afternoon of February 2019 and took him to get fast food. They went to a popular Mcdonald's in Chicago's river north neighborhood. He ordered food and ate inside. Then when he finished, he and his entourage went to a cigar bar. This was of course reported on by the local news. R kelly remained free for the next five months, but his freedom didn't last long. In july 2019, prosecutors in two federal district courts, new york's eastern district and Illinois. Northern district brought multiple felony charges against him in new york. He was facing charges of sexual abuse, racketeering, bribery, forced labor kidnapping racketeering for purposes of sexual exploitation of a child and sex trafficking across state lines. The charges in Illinois were similar with two key differences. First, federal prosecutors honed in on his exploitation of Children for the purpose of filming them in videos. The federal charges in Illinois included four counts of producing and conspiring to receive child sex abuse materials. And second Illinois, prosecutors charged him with conspiring to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial in Cook County. The final indictment said that he did so by paying two people $140,000 to locate any copies of his videotapes containing child sex abuse materials that might have been in public circulation to ensure that Cook County prosecutors couldn't find them. The federal prosecutions pushed kim Foxx is Cook County efforts into the background, effectively putting that case on hold while the federal proceedings played out. First, federal jailers took r kelly into custody and housed him at the Metropolitan correctional center in lower Manhattan. A judge denied him bail, agreeing with prosecutors that he was a flight risk and a danger to the public. John Sydell remembers first hearing about all the indictments. I remember very clearly I was at home. Um, I think this was a thursday night, but at the time I had, I was, I was working sunday through thursday. And so I, I thought my week, my work week had ended, we started hearing rumblings that r kelly had been arrested by the feds and you know, started making phone calls, doing the job and you know, pinned down that yes, indeed R kelly had been indicted here in the Northern district. Then as the proceedings moved forward, the pandemic hit and so from the get go, there were questions about how these two cases which became public at the same time, we're going to proceed where R kelly, you know, he was held in custody, where he was going to be held, where they gonna ship him back and forth across the country for hearings. What was going to happen and of course, Covid then hit COVID significantly delayed the beginning of R. Kelly's cases. A judge initially set his federal trial in Illinois to begin first in April 2020 with the New York proceeding set to begin three weeks later. Neither trial went forward until much later and the order of the cases flipped. The new york case went to trial first beginning on august 18th 2021. The new york case proceeded first in the new york case was a racketeering case, which was very unusual for the use of, of the racketeering statute to allege some kind of criminal conspiracy and it really was the the allegation in new york was that the whole r kelly, the whole business of being r kelly was the Criminal enterprise and that Criminal enterprise was designed to steer young girls boys and young women into criminal sexual relationships, abuse of sexual relationships with r kelly, you know, just like the whole thing was, was just about that and Aaliyah was, was part of that case In New York. The rumors about R. Kelly's secret pregnancy and marriage with Aaliyah finally received attention from prosecutors, Kelly's former manager just took the stand, he told the jury that the Grammy winner confided in him back in 1994 that Aaliyah was pregnant with his baby shortly after they had a quickie and prosecutors say illegal marriage R. Kelly was 27 and Aaliyah was just 15 years old. Unlike the Cook County case from almost a decade and a half earlier, the new york federal criminal trial against R kelly went in favor of the prosecutors. The result was that R kelly for the first time was convicted, he was, he was convicted at the end of that case and He was sentenced earlier this year to 30 years in prison. As a result of that conviction, R. Kelly's federal trial in Illinois, proceeded next in August 2022, a month and a half after he gets this 30 year prison sentence, he's going to trial all over again in Chicago and in fact Chicago trial began pretty close to the one year anniversary of the start of his new york trial. These two trials started almost exactly a year apart in Illinois. The focus wasn't on R kelly's criminal enterprise, It was actually more focused on the 2008 trial, john describes the Illinois federal charges fitting into three main buckets of alleged offenses. So the first bucket is kind of the, the most serious charges was, was, was four counts alleging that R kelly produced child pornography through his Sexual abuse of the victim from the 2008 trial. Remember this is the victim who did not testify, That's the first set of charges. The second set of charges were conspiracy, were generally conspiracy charges alleging that he obstructed the 2008 trial securing that acquittal illegally and also that he conspired to To receive child pornography. But really what what, what that one was about was the fact that in the midst of the attempt to prosecute him in the early 2000's that he was, the allegation was that he was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to hunt down any other tapes that that might incriminate him, which again would amount to child pornography. So, so those conspiracy charges are kind of like the second bucket. And the third is a series of allegations that he enticed minors into criminal sexual activity. There were, there are five different victims alleged to have been abused by r kelly. And so one, so this all goes back to the 2000 and trial where they first tried to hold R. Kelly Accountable. But there were key differences between the case from back in 2008 and the federal criminal case in Illinois, but the biggest one was that the victim who declined to testify in 2008 testified against him this time. This time she took the stand and this time she said that she had been abused, you know, hundreds. Uncountable numbers of times by R kelly when, when she was a teenager. And that not only that was that tape from the 2008 trial. Not only was that her, but there were two other trials. I'm sorry to other to other videos, uh that prosecutors had secured that she said also depicted her being abused by r kelly. And then interestingly enough, the feds also tried to present evidence of 1/4 video. They didn't have it, they couldn't show it to the jury. They claimed that it exists and R kelly was also charged because of that video. And so r kelly would have another day in court alongside co defendants. Darryl McDavid's and Milton june brown prosecutors alleged that they had helped kelly by concealing those tapes showing him with the victim known in court as jane the entire weight of the federal criminal justice system was falling on r kelly and people with whom he had worked for years. R. Kelly's federal trial in Illinois began on August 15 and ended on September 14 of this year, John Seidl was there for the whole thing, he set the scene. So the way they had this set up that the trial took place in the, what they call the ceremonial courtroom in, in the Dirksen building on the 25th floor. It's the largest courtroom in the entire building. The jury is not in a jury box. The jury is actually seated in the center part of, of the, what's normally the public gallery. The well of the courtroom is full of lawyers and r. Kelly and his two co defendants. As the trial began, federal prosecutors brought forward their case. The argument that they made was that R kelly was a superstar with a dark side. They argued that not only did he have that he sexually abused Children, but that he and Daryl McDavid and Milton Brown sought to cover that up and sought to protect R kelly from from prosecution In the 2000s that they intimidated this, this victim who The 2008 trial was centered around that they intimidated her family. They sent her, sent them away to foreign countries to get them away from the press and from authorities and that this was a conspiracy that lasted two decades. We know who R kelly is, who were the two men prosecuted alongside of him in Illinois. Well, Daryl McDavid's was kelly's former accountant and then business manager, he was in a accountant. He was a manager and he had other clients in in addition to r kelly, but he got connected with R kelly in the early days and helped manage R kelly's business. Milton Brown. R kelly's second co defendant was another former employee of kelly's who played a more hidden but disturbing role in kelly's actions according to prosecutors. The interesting thing about Milton Brown was how he kind of faded into the background throughout this entire trial. He was kind of a driver and a gopher and and the big thing about him, you know, the feds say he carried this duffel bag. He was trusted by R kelly to carry this duffel bag that was supposedly full of VHS tapes depicting R kelly's sexual encounters, including alleged child pornography. In their opening statements. Assistant U. S. Attorney Jason Julian told the jury that R kelly made videotapes of himself having sex with Children and that his co defendants, Darryl McDavid's and Milton Brown knew about it. In their opening statements, kelly's defense said that jane, the victim who was at the center of the 2008 case along with her family had denied that kelly had done anything to her for more than two decades. They said that prosecutors waited to bring this case in a mob justice climate where hashtag movements tell us what we should and should not believe the prosecution called a compelling list of witnesses, including jane. She was the most compelling witness. According to john Jane was now 37 years old. She told the jury that she met R. Kelly when she was 12 or 13. Her aunt introduced her to him because Jane wanted to be an R&B singer and was in a band with her cousins. After they met kelly came to one of their performances and complimented her. She said she was excited that such a successful person was telling her that she was gifted. At one point, her aunt encouraged her to ask kelly to be her godfather and he said yes. In the weeks that followed, she spent more and more time with kelly alone and their conversations turned sexual. Then he began abusing her. She told the jury how kelly would also crush on her friends and ask her to get them to join them. She detailed how she started consuming a lot of alcohol which took her away from the moment This time on the stand, she confirmed that it was in fact her with Kelly. In the videos, she told the jury that Kelly abused her hundreds of times from when she was 14 until she was 18, he was around 30 at the time. She described an incident in which after R. Kelly learned that their video was about to go public in 2002, he met with Jane and her parents at a hotel. During that meeting, Jane said, Kelly dropped to his knees, grabbed his head and apologized for sexually abusing her. She said he begged for her dad's forgiveness and as the family was leaving Kelly followed them to the elevator and asked them not to turn on him. She said, her dad told him I can't help you. But she said her parents ultimately sided with kelly. She testified that they couldn't afford lawyers and didn't want to lose her. When asked why, she finally decided to come forward after declining to testify in 2008 and after lying to a cook county grand jury, she said she became exhausted with living with his lies. She testified that she was ashamed. She said she had planned on taking her secret encounters with Kelly to her grave On cross Kelly's defense attorney, Jennifer Ban gene asked about contact Jane continued to have with Kelly up until 2019 jane agreed that she began living with kelly and his wife when she was 17. A legal age in Illinois ban. Gene pointed out and that she had sexual relations with both of them. When she moved out at the age of 24 she said she received financial help from him and continued to be intimate with him. Kelly paid her rent and gave her a used suv. She could drive ban. Gene also pointed out that jane's dad who plays guitar, continued working with kelly even after kelly was first charged and in the years after his acquittal Ban, gene introduced text messages to the jury between Kelly and Jane from 2018 where they exchanged happy birthdays and made plans to meet up. Then in 2019 after surviving R. Kelly had aired, they continued to talk over text Jane at one point texted him, I'm super worried about you. When jean asked her if she was testifying for financial reasons and asked if she was going to be paid for her story after the trial, you decided to cooperate, not because you needed to get something off your chest, but because there were benefits jane denied this, prosecutors also reintroduced the videotape from the 2008 trial along with others and then jurors actually viewed three of the 17 snippets of the three tapes that were at issue and that was I think of just a very sobering moment and so that was kind of how the first week of that trial ended. Very powerful, sobering stuff. Jane's mom. Susan also testified. She said she thought kelly being jane's godfather was kind of strange and that jane already had godparents. She told the jury that she believed jane was spending time with kelly and his family going to the movies shopping or just hanging out with the kids. As for the meeting, jane had testified about in the hotel where jane had said kelly cried and asked for forgiveness. Susan said that kelly never admitted to the abuse but said he was sorry and was crying. She said they were told that they needed to leave town right away and that kelly and Darrell McDavid asked, are you with us or are you not As for her testimony before a cook County grand jury back then. She said, kelly wanted them to paint a picture to let them know that it wasn't jane on the tape. She admitted that she lied and told the grand jury that it was kelly on the tape, but not her daughter. When asked why she lied, she said they feared for their lives and were intimidated. She said jane had threatened to harm herself and to run away and never talk to them again. Uncross. Susan acknowledged that she and her family have an immunity deal with prosecutors and that they have to tell the truth. Susan said she and her family were harassed and that kelly was a powerful man, but she conceded that kelly himself never did the harassing someone who was so intimidated and scared and threatened as you are telling this jury here, you wouldn't have maintained a relationship with mr kelly for the next 20 years. Would you have kelly's attorney jennifer Ban Gene asked her Susan replied that their family didn't have any other income, but she agreed that they owned a shoe store from 2001 to 2010, prosecutors also introduced testimony from lisa Van Allen Charles Freeman and keith morale lisa Van Allen is a former girlfriend of R kelly's. She's a longtime accuser of of his and she was very prominently featured on surviving r kelly Charles Freeman is as a guy who did merchandizing for R kelly and others back in the day, he gave very colorful testimony about supposedly being hired to hunt down videotapes for for r kelly. Remember we talked about this effort to track down the tapes lisa Van Allen testified first she was newly 18 when she started a relationship with kelly. She told the jury that sometimes their sexual relationship would include others, including someone kelly had told her was a 16 year old neighbor, kelly would videotape them. One day she said she came across videotapes of kelly having sex with various people. One of them was her kelly and the neighbor who she said she later found out was younger than she had been told. She testified that she didn't want kelly to be able to watch the video and that she didn't want it either. Lisa Van Allen claimed that she found a tape that featured, there were two sex scenes involving jane and a third involving her Van Allen jane and R kelly and that she stole that tape and sent it to her friend keith Morel who lived in Kansas city. And from there there was a story about how this tape, how how lisa later found out that the tape could be for sale and she wanted to get it back and so she she called r kelly because she thought r kelly could get it back because he had the power to do so And how R. Kelly gave her 200, offered her $250,000. I think it was to get the tape back by whatever means necessary. She testified that Darryl McDavid's told her they should have killed her from the beginning. Other efforts to track down tapes weren't cursory operations, Charles Freeman helped to contextualize it for the jury. Speaking for the prosecution, here's a guy who, who he claimed that he was, I believe he said that he originally got a phone call from r kelly and then he met with Daryl McDavid's and a private investigator named Jack paladino. He told the jury that he was hired by Darryl McDavid's and Jack Paladino in 2001 to track down another videotape for Kelly. He signed a contract for $100,000 plus $40,000 in expenses. He tells the story about going to this home outside Atlanta pounding on the door saying This woman answered the door and he says, give me the MF tapes that you stole from R. Kelly. And then he burst in there. The tape he's looking for is sticking out of a VCR and he just grabs it and then he goes and watches it and realizes that it's a sex tape involving R. Kelly at a female who claims that she's 14 years old. Freeman said he took precautions immediately. He tells the jury. The first thing he does is make copies of it so that he, because he doesn't trust the people who are hiring him to track down these tapes. So he gives this very colorful testimony about trying to track down these tapes Hands with with McDavid and Paladino for money. He wanted $1 million. They said they weren't going to give him that much as for why he didn't go to the police. Freeman said he knew the police weren't going to pay him $1 million. The prosecution then brought on witnesses to prove the three counts of enticement. one alleged that he enticed Jane into criminal sexual activity and the other alleged that he enticed victims named pauline and Nia into criminal sexual activity. Pauline was a friend of jane's. Their time with R kelly overlapped pauline told the jury a troubling story. Pauline was over at R kelly's house or studio with jane. She discovered jane naked with with R kelly and that's when R kelly kind of began his grooming and eventual sexual abuse of pauline and Nia. She testified that she met R kelly at a mall in Atlanta. Nia testified that when she went to get his autograph, she got a phone number as well. She said kelly arranged for her to travel to see a concert in Minneapolis that he did and after the concert, she said he came to her hotel room, abused her and and just left. Nia also outlined another incident. She also spent a summer with family in Chicago where she said she visited R kelly's studio and was abused by him there as well. In all, four women took the stand to testify that R kelly had abused them when they were minors with all the information available to the public. By the time kelly went to trial in Illinois, one would imagine the prosecution's case would be very strong. So how did R kelly's defense present their case? They did it by taking the testimony of lisa Van Allen and chuck Freeman and keith morale and pointing out inconsistency after inconsistency after inconsistency in these stories, the defense had a point. The stories were problematic, john noticed it too. I remember listening to chuck Freeman's testimony and trying to keep the timeline straight and consider how it would line up with other evidence in the case. You know, granted that I I think at that point we had, there was still more to come, but there have been plenty of court filings so we knew what to expect and a lot of it really did not line up R kelly's co defendant, Darryl McDavid's also took the stand for the defense, but also Daryl McDavid's took the stand. He spent more than two days testifying and telling his version of events. McDavid testified that he evolved from R kelly's accountant and then into his business manager. Someone not only in charge of kelly's finances, but also with keeping him happy. McDavid's said that R. Kelly flew a lot of women to meet him in hotels, but that they were all adults further. He told the jury that he believed all the accusations against Kelly were cookie cutter cases, all modeled after the same lawsuit filed and settled in 1996. McDavid's said he asked kelly if jane's claims were true and that kelly angrily denied it and because jane's family also denied the allegations, McDavid's said he believed him by early september, the trial began to veer towards its end, but when it finally came time for closing arguments, one thing that jumped out at me was how little a defense R kelly's attorney, jennifer Ban Gene gave to the first three counts in the indictment. Those counts were the most serious against r kelly relating to the videos with jane. She questioned whether the tapes actually crossed state lines, which was a reason why the case fell into federal jurisdiction in the first place. There was also the question of whether or not kelly intended to produce child sex abuse materials when he made these videos where kelly's defense excelled. According to john, however, was in refuting testimony about the alleged wide ranging effort to collect videos that R kelly had filmed in summary. The defense attorneys for for Darryl McDavid's Milton Brown and R kelly. They tore apart these, this, this evidence of this conspiracy and they did it successfully. The jury acquitted kelly and his co defendants of those counts relating to conspiracy. But what about the other more serious charges against kelly? R kelly was convicted on three counts of production of child pornography involving jane as well as three counts of enticement of a minor into criminal sexual sexual activity. One of those dealt with jane. Other two dealt with two other victims, Nia and paulie, it was a victory for the prosecution As for sentencing. That has yet to happen. The Illinois federal conviction could potentially triple the 30 year sentence that he received in his New York federal trial. And I believe the result of that is that he faces at sentencing Anywhere from like 10-90 years in prison. And it all just depends on how the judge decides he wants to structure the sentence. But then it's going to be kind of a complicated issue when we get to sentencing because the real question, I think that people are going to be watching for is not so much his sentence in Chicago, but will it add time to the sentence he's already serving Answers to that big question await our Kelly, he's already serving a 30 year sentence in New York likely to keep him in prison until his late 70s. So now will the judge, whatever sentence he gives to him in Chicago, is that a sentence that kelly will have, will he be able to serve those concurrently or simultaneously meaning, you know, it might not effectively at any time at all or will he he do one on top of the other. And r kelly doesn't get to start serving the second sentence until he's finished with the first sentence. It's, I think that's going to be the bigger question is, sentencing. Sentencing is set for February 23, 2023. You know, I've heard from some who think this case itself was overkill. You know, he had already been sentenced once, why we have to do this again. But of course you have a case that needs to be resolved. This was a trial that sought vindication for additional victims who deserve just as much a vindication as the victims in new york. Do john highlighted jane's story, jane, her history here goes way back About 25 years here. She according to the testimony in this trial, she asked R kelly to be her godfather and then he sexually abused her and then, and, and and put it on tape and on what became a notorious videotape that people have talked about and frankly joked about for years. We'll keep track of R kelly's sentencing hearing as well as the state charges he is set to face not only in Illinois, but also now in Minnesota and talk with john again to get updates when all that happens and that's all for this episode as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this case. Let me know by joining the conversation on instagram at court, junkie on twitter at court junkie pod or you can email me at podcast at court junkie dot com. This episode was researched and written by matt stroud and a special thank you to john Sydell for helping us with this episode. Before we go, let's hear more about john's book newly out in paperback from Lyons Press. It's called Second City Sinners and it's about historic true crime in Chicago. It goes all the way back to 18 86 with the haymarket riots. Labor activists were pushing at the time for an eight hour work day. They had a big rally in Chicago where a bomb went off. Nobody really knew who who set off that bomb, but a group of individuals were put on trial for conspiracy because the bombing led to the death of a police officer. Four of those people eventually hanged in what was seen as a political trial. So we start with that and the book goes on to, to more traditional crime stories all the way up to the case of Richard Speck Who killed a large group of student nurses on Chicago's south side. I believe that was in 1966 and all sorts of cases in between. One cool thing about john's book is that he was allowed to take advantage of the archives from the old Chicago Daily News, which is the predecessor to the Chicago Sun Times. He said it was really interesting to see how the paper wrote about these stories back then. One fascinating story, John covers in his book is the murder of Bobby Franks from the summer of 1924, I believe he was 14 years old. And of course he was from a very rich family. He was found, his body was found naked in a culvert on the far southwest, southeast end of the southeast end of the city. And there was a massive hunt for for the killers. I believe his teachers were were interrogated interrogated in the way they interrogated people in the 19 twenties. And it was just something and then, you know, going through the Chicago Daily News archives, I mean, the Daily News was was really just kind of, it read almost like a Daily crime novel sometimes, like you you get the would be the big story about the crime and and then, you know, the follow up is going to be that, you know, every day the hunt, the new clues and and of course they're getting stuff that that you never see printed in the paper today. Some of us because the, you know, police are never going to reveal some of that stuff. And also just because they're just like, you know, maybe printing things, potential allegations about people that shouldn't be printed without them being charged or without a little bit more evidence. But but this went on for days and then the Daily News was actually involved in helping hunt down the 22 boys who were eventually charged and convicted for for the murders, Richard Leopold and I'm sorry, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who are also two rich boys who eventually admitted that they did it in part just kind of for the thrill of it and to see if they could get away with it. And because they were basically board second city centers is out in paperback now available on amazon Barnes and noble or any major retailer. It's also available on kindle and as an audiobook from itunes or audible. That's second city centers by john Seidel. I'll also include a link in the show notes. Thanks again for listening. Until next time he gave me a book on art forgery. I found myself drawn to these old masters. How did these artists take paint from a palette, arrange it on a canvas? I began to unlock the secrets. I was a storehouse of knowledge of how to create an illusion presented to a experienced expert, manipulate his mind and convince him and bring him to the inevitable conclusion that the painting is genuine. We flooded the market with my paintings and I couldn't believe what I did. I couldn't believe it. Then the dominoes started falling and eventually the FBI will lead to my door. They uncovered a mountain of evidence against me, but they never actually got you. At this point, you've sold a lot. You've got like $1 million 717,000. Why did it go away. Why did you never get indicted? And how are we having this conversation? I guess that's the greatest story of all to hear how ken Perine made millions in art forgery dodged the mafia and the FBI subscribed to the Jordan Harbinger Show and check out episode 2 82 in Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening now.
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