Clock Ticking on Kelly Porn Case
 

If Johnnie Cochran were alive and representing R. Kelly, he might have told the judge presiding over the R&B singer's child-porn case: "If you can't say when, the case must end."

That's the sentiment, if not the rhyme, of Kelly's lawyer Ed Genson and his teammates, who contend that prosecutors have too wide a time frame in which the R&B singer allegedly videotaped a sexual encounter with a minor.


Kelly was arrested in 2002 and faces 14 counts of child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers say it's not him in the video.

In a partial victory for Kelly's camp earlier this month, Judge Vincent Gaughan said the prosecution's claim the 15-minute tape was made sometime in a 51-month-period was unfair to the defense.

In response to the judge's order, Cook County prosecutors on Wednesday said they believe the crime occurred somewhere between January 1998 to October 2000. They originally said the incident took place between Nov. 1 1997, when the girl was 13, and Feb. 1, 2002, when she was 17.

To comply with Gaughan's wishes, prosecutors spent the past weeks reinterviewing witnesses (a friend of the girl on the tape helped, saying, "We got that haircut in the eighth grade") and viewing commercials playing in the background on the tape to ascertain what date the alleged acts may have taken place.

Still, the prosecution contends all they really need to prove in court is that Kelly had sex with a minor--regardless of the exact date it may have occurred.

"Our burden is to prove the people on the tape are the defendant and the victim and that the victim is under 18," Cook County State's Attorney spokeswoman Marcy Jensen said earlier this month.

"Hopefully, this will clarify the issue and we can move on," assistant State's Attorney Robert Heilingoetter added Wedenesday.

Now that the prosecution has revised its case, Gaughan will make a final ruling on the defense's motion to dismiss the indictment next week. He is expected to allow the trial to go forward.

The case against Kelly, 38, has dragged on for nearly three years. It had been slated to get started this summer, but because of the latest delays, it now won't get started until the fall at the earliest.

But the criminal charges don't seem to affect Kelly's commerical appeal.

His latest disc, TP.3 Reloaded, debuted atop the Billboard 200 last week, moving 491,000 copies.

Thanks to his adultery-themed urban opera, "Trapped in a Closet," which is in heavy rotation as a single and video, TP.3 Reloaded remained number one Wednesday for second straight week by holding off new debuts by rappers Slim Thug and Bow Wow.

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,16986,00.html

I thought he had been declared innocent ? he's still in court for this?

interesting case