R U Serious?

Chicago, which is affectionately known as the Second City, in large measure because it could never quite capture the sophistication, national acclaim, or global je-ne-sais-quoi of New York, has been enjoying a sort of North Star status of late. In basketball, the Chicago Bulls have the Number 1 selection in tomorrow’s NBA Draft, and there is a good chance Chicago native Derrick Rose will be the first player selected.

In baseball, the Chicago White Sox have the best record in the American League’s Central Division, while the Chicago Cubs have not only the best record in the League’s Central Division, but the also the best record in Major League Baseball. In the cult of personality sweepstakes, Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey calls Chicago home, but of late has had to share the stage with Democratic Party presidential nominee, Barack Obama.

The above is all well and good, but for the last month, Chi-Town as well as other parts of the nation, has been abuzz as Southside Chicago native Robert Sylvester Kelly, familiarly known as R. Kelly, or Kells, or The Pied Piper, or The King of R&B…or simply R., has gone to trial and subsequently been acquitted of soliciting a child for pornography charges. For his part, Kelly has always maintained his innocence. His claims were not taken seriously in some circles because of the singer’s past alleged involvement with under aged girls, including the late Aaliyah (Haughton), whom he introduced to the music world, and is rumored to have illegally married when she was 15.

Kelly was charged initially in June, 2002, with 21 counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor. After much skillful legal maneuvering, the original charges were reduced. More delays ensued; it was six years before the case went to trial. The final 14 charges included seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography. It is instructive to note the charges were downgraded after it was determined there was no sexual activity on the tapes! What? No sex.

To complicate further the case for the prosecution, the alleged victim, her parents, and other family members all denied that it was her in the video. Of course, that is in addition to Kelly’s denials. Consider that after six years, the pubescent teen in the video is now an adult woman. A point the defense made sure to capitalize upon by arguing, if the woman were sitting in the court room among them, they would not recognize her. By the way, neither she nor Kelly testified.

So what does one make of this expedition in judicial fishing? I noted at the outset of the trial, there would likely be ample opportunity to revisit this matter. This post-verdict synopsis seems like the appropriate time.

There will be numerous efforts to explain what some will deem inexplicable. There are those who will say, as they said of O.J. Simpson, sympathetic blacks acquitted a popular, but guilty black defendant. Others will posit, the D.A. had no case, and was exposed during the trial. Others still will argue Kelly benefited from the best legal assistance his considerable wealth could afford, and the civil servants were simply overmatched.

After reading several accounts, I am still blown away that after all the ink, attention, rumor, innuendo and the like associated with the case, in the final analysis, there was actually no sex involved. None of the post-trial statements by jurors referenced that point, but given the initial charges, and the level of effort required by the defense to get them reduced, I can imagine somewhere along the line, seeds of doubt about the prosecution’s motives were planted that were never eradicated during the trial. If they took that much liberty at the outset, it is certainly conceivable that there was an effort underfoot to take down another one; a case of racial and class (black entertainer) profiling at the highest level.

Leonard Cavise, a DePaul University law professor said, “the optimistic way to look at the verdict was that this is a victory for the concept of reasonable doubt. The jury is saying, ‘We weren’t totally sure it was the girl, we weren’t totally sure it was him.’”

At this point what I am totally sure of is, it is a good thing R. did not get caught torturing any dogs on video! I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-r-kelly-verdictjun14,0,31829484.story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Kelly

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/arts/music/14kell.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/chi-rkellyjun20,0,5124289.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/chi-ap-il-rkellytrial,0,4373825.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-vp0617lettersbriefs3jun17,0,7177151.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/chi-rkelly18jun18,0,5113964.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-r-kelly-sidebar_bd15jun15,0,909801.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0614edit1jun14,0,7073261.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-sam-adam-jr-16-jun16,0,591008.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass_bdjun15,0,6587185.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-kelly-underage_thinkjun15,0,4960555.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-r-kelly-bd15jun15,0,2975826.story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/red-061608-eyecontact,0,4833804.column

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/red-061608-rkellyreaction-main,0,4800535.story