{"id":47452,"date":"2022-08-16T23:34:49","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T23:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jury-expected-to-be-empaneled-tuesday-in-r-kellys-federal-trial\/"},"modified":"2022-08-16T23:34:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T23:34:49","slug":"jury-expected-to-be-empaneled-tuesday-in-r-kellys-federal-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jury-expected-to-be-empaneled-tuesday-in-r-kellys-federal-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury expected to be empaneled Tuesday in R. Kelly’s federal trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The jury that will decide R. Kelly’s fate in Chicago’s federal court was selected Tuesday after more than 12 hours of questioning over two days that centered on potential biases over the onslaught of media coverage in the case.<\/p>\n

Opening statements in the hot-button trial are scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Dirksen US Courthouse.<\/p>\n

The jury of 12 regular members and six alternates was sworn in by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber, who questioned more than 100 potential jurors on Monday and Tuesday, nearly half of whom he dismissed for \u201ccause.\u201d<\/p>\n

The makeup of the regular jury is: Four white women, four Black women, two white men, and two Black men. They include a former attorney who is now a stay at home mom and a retiree whose two children are lawyers — one a prosecutor and the other a criminal defense attorney. Many of those on the panel said they’d heard of Kelly and the accusations against him before, but could remain fair.<\/p>\n

The final panel was selected after both prosecutors and attorneys for Kelly and his two-co-defendants used their peremptory strikes to further pare down the jury pool.<\/p>\n

Things got testy when Kelly’s lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, successfully challenged three of the prosecution’s strikes of Black jurors, alleging they were based solely on race.<\/p>\n

A total of 41 potential jurors were questioned Tuesday. Among those excused was a woman who said from a dizzy spell just as asking Leinenweber lived her how long she had in her current address. Emergency responders were summoned to the building, and the woman was dismissed from jury duty.<\/p>\n

Throughout the selection process, Leinenweber’s questions for each potential juror focused on what they might have seen or heard about Kelly in the news, and whether they’ve watched the Lifetime docuseries \u201cSurviving R. Kelly,\u201d which detailed many of the sexual misconduct that are part of the indictment.<\/p>\n

Seated at the defense table, Kelly took an active part in the selection process, putting headphones on to listen to sidebar conversations and whispering often with his attorneys.<\/p>\n

The singer has also visibly reacted to many prospective jurors’ answers, including one woman, a retired teacher, who had him laughing out loud when she proudly said she’d filled out the questionnaire \u201call by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly, 55, was charged with child pornography and obstruction of justice in a 2019 indictment alleging he conspired with others to rig his Cook County trial years ago by paying off a teenage girl whom he sexually assaulted on a now-infamous videotape.<\/p>\n

Also facing trial are Kelly’s former business manager, Derrel McDavid, and another associate, Milton \u201cJune\u201d Brown, who, according to the indictment, schemed to buy back incriminating sex tapes that had been taken from Kelly’s collection and hide years of alleged sexual abuse of underage girls.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to last about four weeks.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for McDavid filed a motion Monday arguing that the indictment should be thrown out altogether, saying prosecutors waited an \u201cinexcusable and unnecessary\u201d amount of time to bring the charges.<\/p>\n

In the decades since the alleged conduct occurred, the filing states, key witnesses who could help McDavid’s case have died. And important evidence related to Kelly’s 2008 trial in Cook County Circuit Court were destroyed after the standard seven years had passed, McDavid’s attorneys argue.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities have known about the central videotape for years, and about at least one agreement to try to take back another incriminating tape, the filing alleges.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Prosecutors) nothing while being fully aware the and possessing evidence for decades. As a result, they let substantial pieces of evidence get lost to time,\u201d the filing states.<\/p>\n

Potential jurors’ identities are being shielded from the public during the jury selection, and very little was revealed about them as Leinenweber asked each person to clarify answers they gave on a written questionnaire.<\/p>\n

The majority of those who have been dismissed \u201cfor cause\u201d by the judge have said they would have trouble being fair to Kelly due to what they already knew about the case. Others have claimed medical issues or other hardships would make it difficult to serve for such a lengthy period.<\/p>\n

Some judges, faced with a prospective juror who is iffy about their neutrality, will try to \u201crehabilitate\u201d them \u2014 reminding them of their civic duty to be fair, and asking pointedly if they can fulfill that obligation. But Leinenweber dismissed everyone who expressed even the tiniest doubts about their impartiality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinking about the case and the charges over the weekend, I no longer firmly believe that I can be unbiased,\u201d one woman said at the outset of the questioning. Leinenweber promptly excused her.<\/p>\n

Another woman said she went to Tae Kwon Do classes with Kelly’s children years ago, and the experience might keep her from being unbiased.<\/p>\n

Another woman said her job involves advocating for children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would do my best to be fair, be impartial. My only concern would be the defensiveness side kicking in, perhaps,\u201d she said before Leinenweber excused her.<\/p>\n

Much of the questioning revolved around the 2019 Lifetime docuseries \u201cSurviving R. Kelly,\u201d which many potential jurors said they had watched or had at least heard of it.<\/p>\n

Kelly’s lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, had asked the judge to automatically strike any juror who’d seen the documentary \u201cfor cause, saying the idea that they could remain impartial after such exposure \u201cabsurd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leinenweber, though, said he would instead try to drill down on any potential biases through further questioning.<\/p>\n

On Monday, one woman said she saw all 12 episodes of the series, but insisted it would not affect her ability to be fair \u2014 prompting some audible snickers from a few Kelly supporters watching from the courtroom gallery.<\/p>\n

Another prospective juror said he watched part of an episode with his wife but didn’t remember anything substantive about it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think I might have even fallen asleep before the end of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leinenweber has said he wanted a winnowed-down pool of at least 40 potential jurors before moving to the peremptory strike phase.<\/p>\n

The trial is Kelly’s first criminal case to go before a jury in his hometown since his stunning acquittal 14 years ago on the Cook County case.<\/p>\n

Kelly faces a total of 13 counts, including production of child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Some of the counts carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars if convicted, while others have ranges of from 5 to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors are also seeking a personal money forfeiture of $1.5 million from Kelly.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the outcome, Kelly is still facing decades in prison. In June, he was sentenced to 30 years on federal racketeering charges brought in New York. He is appealing both the jury’s verdict and the sentence in that case.<\/p>\n

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com<\/i><\/p>\n

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The jury that will decide R. Kelly’s fate in Chicago’s federal court was selected Tuesday after more than 12 hours of questioning over two days that centered on potential biases over the onslaught of media coverage in the case. Opening statements in the hot-button trial are scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Dirksen US Courthouse. …<\/p>\n

Jury expected to be empaneled Tuesday in R. Kelly’s federal trial<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46920,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jury-selection-begins-in-r-kellys-federal-trial-in-chicago\/","url_meta":{"origin":47452,"position":0},"title":"Jury selection begins in R. Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago","date":"August 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Jury selection for singer R. Kelly's federal trial on of a child pornography and rigging his 2008 state trial kicked off Monday in Chicago trial that is expected to last up to four weeks.Prospective jurors are being questioned on whether they watched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46704,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/r-kelly-jury-selection-focuses-on-2019-documentary\/","url_meta":{"origin":47452,"position":1},"title":"R. Kelly jury selection focuses on 2019 documentary","date":"August 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Jury selection in R. Kelly's federal trial on charges that he rigged his 2008 state child pornography trial began Monday with the judge and attorneys quickly focusing on whether would-be jurors a 2019 documentary about sex abuse watched against the R&B singer.After denying a request from Kelly's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48297,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/opening-statements-begin-in-second-r-kelly-federal-trial\/","url_meta":{"origin":47452,"position":2},"title":"Opening statements begin in second R. Kelly federal trial","date":"August 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Opening statements in the case against disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly began Wednesday with prosecutors outlining their accusations in the plainest possible language.\u201cThe defendant, Robert Kelly, had sex with multiple children,\u201d Assistant US Atty. Jason Julien told the jury. \u201cHe made videotapes of himself having sex with children. And these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48070,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/r-kelly-chicago-federal-trial-jury-is-seated-opening-statements-set-for-wednesday\/","url_meta":{"origin":47452,"position":3},"title":"R. Kelly Chicago federal trial: Jury is seated, opening statements set for Wednesday","date":"August 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The jury is made up of four men and eight women. There are six alternate jurors, five women and one man. A pool of more than 100 jurors was questioned by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber beginning Monday morning. Jennifer Bonjean, an attorney for Kelly, took issue with prosecutors' decisions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55313,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/alleged-fixer-paid-to-recover-sex-tapes-to-be-cross-examined\/","url_meta":{"origin":47452,"position":4},"title":"Alleged fixer paid to recover sex tapes to be cross-examined","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday, Charles Freeman told a wild tale to jurors about how R. Kelly and his associates allegedly agreed to pay him up to a million dollars in the early 2000s to hunt down videotapes of the R&B singer sexually assaulting a young teen girl.But that account came under withering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45770,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/r-kelly-stands-trial-in-chicago-what-to-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":47452,"position":5},"title":"R. Kelly Stands Trial in Chicago: What to Know","date":"August 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"R. Kelly, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking earlier this year, will stand trial again starting this week, beginning the next chapter of prosecutors' efforts to hold him criminally responsible for of sexual abuse dating back more than three decades.The trial is in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/resizer\/upvx2K_Lio1Z7BZM7jDJj2L46nI=\/1200x630\/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/tronc\/BV6DNIAEYFBDNG6NFURWMWPKI4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}