R Kelly Acquitted Of All Charges!

After all the controversy, fanfare and drama, a Chicago jury has acquitted R. Kelly of all his child pornography charges.

Kelly cried tears of joy as the verdict was read. Kelly faced 15 years behind bars if found guilty. The way Kelly beat the case? By convincing the jury that the man in the now infamous video having sex with an underaged girl was not him. The "mole" that R. Kelly has on his back was not on the back of the man who was alleged to be Kelly in the video. That - and the alleged victim denying that it was her in the video - basically left the jury no choice to acquit the Grammy-nominated singer of all charges. It only took two days for the jury to deliberate.

The 41-year-old was charged with 14 counts of videotaping himself having sex with a girl who was said to be as young as 13.

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Defense In R.Kelly Trial Rests

The defense has rested in the child pornography trial of Grammy Award-winning singer R. Kelly in Chicago, according to the Associated Press.

Reports say that Kelly looked relaxed as defense attorney Ed Genson rested the case, despite not calling any witnesses for the day.

Jurors will be back in court today (June 10), during which time prosectuors plan on calling two rebuttal witnesses.

The closing arguments are likely to begin Thursday (June 12).

Various witnesses, including R. Kelly's former assistant and a former lover, have testified against the singer. He faces up to15 years if convicted.

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4 witnesses ID alleged victim in R. Kelly trial

Prosecutors trying to prove that a woman appeared in a sex tape with R. Kelly when she was underage — over her protestations that she didn't — have turned to one of her childhood friends, the friend's father and two relatives.

The R&B superstar is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a girl who may have been as young as 13. His attorneys have said Kelly is not on the tape and the alleged victim, now 23, denies she's the person in the video.

To try to make their case, prosecutors put Simha Jamison, 24, on the stand Wednesday. She said she and the alleged victim were best friends for about 10 years, until their junior year in high school, and that she recognizes her friend as the one in the tape.

When prosecutors asked Jamison if she recognized the man in the tape, she leaned forward in the witness stand, peeked around the corner of the judge's bench and identified Kelly.

She testified that she and her friend visited Kelly at his recording studio and at a Chicago basketball court dozens of times, starting when they were around the age of 12.

Her friend first introduced her to Kelly as "her godfather," Jamison said, adding that the singer frequently gave her friend cash gifts — "no less than $100 and no more than $500."

She said the two also visited the home where authorities say the sex tape was filmed between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000. Jamison said her friend never mentioned a sexual relationship with the star.

Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. said the reason the alleged victim never told the witness she was having a sexual relationship with Kelly was because there wasn't one and "because it's not her on the tape."

"Are you asking or telling me?" Jamison shot back.

Adam also showed pictures of a shirtless Kelly and asked Jamison how she knew it was his body on the video. "His head was attached to it," she responded, drawing laughter from several jurors.

During the cross-examination, the defense revealed another of its strategies may be to suggest Kelly's image was computer-generated.

"Something could have been done to put a different head on that body," Adam said. He also referred to movies where characters had been digitally altered.

The singer, who appeared grim-faced Tuesday when the sex tape was shown to jurors, looked more relaxed during testimony Wednesday, listening carefully to the witnesses. Jurors also appeared more at ease, taking detailed notes during some five hours of testimony. The 41-year-old Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted.

An aunt and an uncle of the alleged victim also identified the female on the tape as their niece on Wednesday. Jamison's father, Peter Thomas, testified that the alleged victim's involvement in the video was the talk of their neighborhood.

The most highly charged cross-examination came after the aunt of the alleged victim — and a Chicago police officer — described how she and other relatives viewed and discussed the tape in late 2001, several weeks before someone mailed the tape to the Chicago Sun-Times, which turned it over to authorities.

Adam repeatedly asked the aunt, Delores Gibbon, why she didn't immediately go to authorities with the tape if she suspected it was child pornography. Gibbon said she was torn between her job and concern for the alleged victim and her parent.

At one point, Adam pounded his fist, saying the aunt didn't go to authorities because someone in the family wanted to "get back at Mr. Kelly" for a business dispute and hoped to "extort Kelly" in a possible civil lawsuit.

The aunt said she didn't know anything about an alleged extortion plot.

R. Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for the gospel-tinged "I Believe I Can Fly," and also is known for such songs as "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition," and "Trapped in the Closet," a multipart saga about the sexual secrets of a lively and ever-expanding cast of characters.

Sex Tape Screened for R. Kelly Jurors

Now playing in a Chicago courtroom....People's Exhibit 1. And it may be the worst video of R. Kelly's career.

Prosecutors kicked off their opening arguments in Kelly's kiddie-porn trial by screening the 26-minute tape responsible for the whole mess, as enrapt jurors stared at a tiny monitor showing what authorities claim is the mega-selling R&B star engaged in sex acts with a minor.

The grainy tape shows a man handing the female money. Throughout the session he gives her commands and she calls him "Daddy" to a soundtrack that includes the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys from a nearby radio. His face is never clearly visible.

Before showing the footage, which has been widely disseminated online since the tape first surfaced in 2002, lead prosecutor Shauna Boliker told the panel what they should look for.

"You will see the sex acts he commands her to do," she said. "Acts you have never seen before. Vile, disturbing and disgusting sex acts, actions that were choreographed, produced and starred in by Robert Kelly.

"The case will unfold before you frame by disgusting frame," she continued. "There's no feeling in her face. It is clear she is an underage girl."

The 41-year-old "Bump N' Grind" singer has pleaded not guilty to charges he solicited a minor for child pornography, recorded himself engaging in sexual relations with the girl and producing child pornography. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years behind bars.

"A child doesn't choose to be violated and placed on a videotape," the prosecutor insisted, "a videotape that will live on forever—long after this child becomes an adult."

Authorities say the video was recorded sometime between January 1998 and November 2000, when the girl was 12 or 13.

Boliker also said she had no intention of calling the alleged victim, a 23-year-old woman whose identity has been undisclosed. The point was pounced on by Kelly counsel Sam Adam Jr.

Noting that the D.A. doesn't plan to call the alleged victim to the stand, Adam suggested in his opening remarks that the prosecutors don't even have the right person (as the woman herself jas stated) and the alleged minor in the video—if she's even underage at all—was "paid with money."

"She is a prostitute," he said.

Adam asserted his client is not the man in the tape, which concludes with the man urinating on the girl. Adam said Kelly has a distinctive mole in the middle of his lower back, while the man in the footage does not.

"Robert Kelly is not on that tape," Adam told jurors. "I stand before you...to tell you [the alleged victim] is not on the tape."

The attorney also cast skepticism on the tape's authenticity, noting it's a "copy of a copy of a copy" and was sent anonymously to the Chicago Sun-Times, which turned it over to police.

"It has gone through five or six generations and there are no identifying marks," Adam concluded.

Earlier this morning, Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan replaced one juror, a white female, after she voiced concerns a lengthy trial—proceedings could take more than a month—presented a financial hardship. She was replaced with the first alternate, a white male, keeping the racial balance of the jury intact, with eight whites and four blacks. Three alternates remain.