June 13, 2008: A jury considering the charges against R. Kelly, acquitted the rapper of all charges.
The jury found Kelly not guilty of making a "porn video" that prosecutors claimed showed him having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
In February of 2002, a videotape allegedly featuring Kelly having sex with a girl as young as 13 was sent to police. Kelly was indicted four months later on multiple counts of child pornography.
Case Background
Reports say the alleged victim, who is now 23, claims it was not her on the videotape. Attorneys for Kelly asked the Judge Vincent Gaughan for a postponement, which he denied.
The judge in the case postponed proceedings on May 28, 2008, as the defense prepared to call a surprise witness. The witness is a woman from Atlanta, Georgia that is being brought in to shed doubt on the testimony of another woman regarding a threesome between R. Kelly, the prosecution's witness, and the underage minor.
Sealed Documents and Secret Hearings
Judge Vincent Gaughan held several closed-door hearings on the Kelly case in April of 2008.
The hearings reportedly concerned testimony from an Atlanta woman who claims she had sex with Kelly and the underage girl. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting the woman might have been paid off by a Kelly aide to return the videotape.
Gaughan ordered all records from those hearings sealed, but several media outlets are asking him to release the transcripts and unseal documents from the proceedings.
Opening Statements
In opening statements on May 20, 2008, Kelly's defense claims that Kelly can not possibly be the one depicted on the videotape with the young girl.
Kelly has a distinct mole on his lower back that he has had since birth and the man on the tape doesn't have that mole.
Sex Tape Identification
Lindsey Perryman, former personal assistant to the famous rapper, identified the man in the sex tape as R. Kelly.
Perryman, who worked for Kelly for seven years, said she did not want to believe that it was actually him in the video.
Perryman also identified the girl in the video and stated that the girl was a frequent visitor to Kelly's recording studio. A family friend of the girl in the video also made a positive identification.
Prosecutors believe that the victim was born in 1984, making her 13 years old at the time the video was made.
