Tuesday, June 10, 2008

THE DEFENSE RESTS IN R. KELLY CASE: Rebuttal witnesses expected today; closing arguments could begin Thursday.


*After two days of testimony, defense attorneys rested their case yesterday in R. Kelly's child pornography trial in Chicago, according to reports.
The singer's attorney, Ed Genson, wrapped things up early Monday without calling any witnesses to the stand. Jurors sat in court for several minutes before they were dismissed by the judge and sent home for the day.
Today, prosecutors plan to call two rebuttal witnesses. According to the Chicago Tribune, one is Grant Frederics, a forensic video analyst who found what appeared to be a mole on the back of the man in the sex tape.
The defense told jurors in opening statements that Kelly has had a mole on his back since childhood and that since there was no mole on the back of the male participant in the video, Kelly could not be the man on the tape. Frederics is expected to rebut testimony from the defense's forensic expert, Dr. Charles Palm, who said in his examination of the videotape that he could not find a mole.
The prosecution also plans to call Robert Wolf, an assistant district attorney from Atlanta who is expected to deny suggestions that Lisa Van Allen, who testified she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the alleged underage victim, was given a deal to testify in the Kelly case.
The defense suggested that Van Allen's boyfriend, a felon who was recently arrested for possession of a loaded AK-47 and drugs in his suburban Atlanta home, was given probation by the Fulton County district attorney's office because Van Allen testified in the trial.
Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan told jurors closing arguments are likely to begin on Thursday.

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