R. Kelly’s long-awaited trial began in a Brooklyn federal courtroom on Wednesday with the prosecution dubbing the R&B star a “predator.” “The defendant maintained control over these victims by using every trick in the predator handbook,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement shortly after the trial began in the morning.
Kelly was arrested in July 2019 and indicted on a total of 18 federal charges—13 counts in Chicago and five counts in New York, where the charges include racketeering and the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. He faces between 10 years in prison and a life sentence if convicted on all counts. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all accusations.
“Above all else, he demanded absolute obedience,” Melendez said, outlining rules that he allegedly forced victims to follow. She recounted Kelly’s brief marriage to the late singer Aaliyah and his alleged reason behind it: While on tour, Kelly came to believe the 15-year-old was pregnant with his child. “If she’s his wife, then she can’t testify against him, or so he thought,” Melendez claimed. Kelly allegedly flew to Chicago after a performance and began the proceedings, which included bribing a public official to produce a fake ID for Aaliyah that displayed her age as 18 so that they would be able to marry the next day.
The prosecution’s case rests on the idea that Kelly led a criminal enterprise for decades that ensnared scores of young women and girls in an extended pattern of sexual abuse. As the assistant U.S. attorney recounted how Kelly’s alleged victims were treated, the singer remained mostly motionless in a gray suit, flanked by two of his lawyers, Nicole Blank Becker and Thomas Farinella. Melendez said that the jury could expect to hear from alleged victims, former members of Kelly’s inner circle, and former assistants and runners, whose dealings with Kelly span from the 1990s to 2018.
In the defense’s opening statement, Becker sought to poke holes in the notion that Kelly could be considered the leader of such an organization. In a halting statement that lasted for several hours, Becker paced in front of the jury and argued that the government’s depiction of the singer was implausible.
“The fundamental reason we are all here today is the government wants you to believe that our client,” Becker said, “an internationally known singer, someone they want you to believe is the leader of a large enterprise, is similar to John Gotti.” She argued that it would’ve been impossible for Kelly to lead a “continuous, ongoing enterprise” revolving around his music career in part because he paused that career to pursue professional basketball between 1997 and 1999. Becker also argued that the forthcoming witnesses had an “agenda,” saying that former romantic partners “became angry, resentful, and even spiteful” after breakups with Kelly.
Following opening statements, prosecutors called their first witness, Jerhonda Pace, whose allegations against Kelly have previously been reported by BuzzFeed. Pace testified that she told Kelly she was 16, not 19, as she had originally told him, and showed him an ID. “What is that supposed to mean?” she said that Kelly replied, adding that he instructed her “to tell everyone” she was 19 and “to act 21.” In her testimony Pace reiterated her accusation that Kelly repeatedly had sex with her when she was 16 and slapped her. On one occasion, Pace said, Kelly spit on her and choked her until she passed out. After she awoke, Pace said, Kelly directed her to perform oral sex on him, and the prosecution presented as evidence a T-shirt that Pace said she used to clean up Kelly’s semen. As Pace began to be questioned about a series of civil settlements she made with Kelly in the early 2010s, the proceedings ended for the day.
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