R Kelly defence team concludes arguments in sex tape case
Defence team rests its case in sex tape trial involving singer R Kelly
Tuesday, 10, Jun 2008 03:53
The defence team has rested its case in the sex tape trial involving singer R Kelly.
The court was suspended on Monday morning, with the I Believe I Can Fly star accused of filming himself engaging in sex acts with a girl who prosecutors say may have been as young as 13 at the time.
Three relatives of the girl allegedly shown in the footage testified last week that she was not the female seen in the video.
However, four family members had earlier testified for the prosecution that their relative was indeed the girl on the tape.
Judge Vincent Gaughan dismissed jurors on Monday but they will return to court today with the prosecution expected to recall a number of rebuttal witnesses.
George Skaluba, a Forensic Video Examiner with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, said he believed the tape showed "real people in a real environment", while fellow analyst Grant Fredericks had shown the jury potentially incriminating freeze frames from the video.
Kelly's lawyer Samuel Adam Jr said that while Kelly has a "significant" coin-sized mole on his back - going so far as to show the jury pictures of the singer's blemish - the man in the footage did not appear to have a mole.
However, Fredericks compared a still photo taken of Kelly's back, which showed the mole, with frames from the footage which showed a dark spot in the same position.
The girl allegedly shown in the footage has not been called for testimony by either side and has previously denied that she is the female in the video.
Kelly faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of some 14 counts of making and owning indecent images of children.