R Kelly has been acquitted of all charges after less than a day of jury deliberations in his child porn trial, ending a six-year ordeal for the R&B superstar.Kelly dabbed his face with a handkerchief and hugged each of his four attorneys after the verdict - not guilty on all 14 counts - was read.The singer had faced 15 years in prison if convicted.Minutes later, surrounded by bodyguards, he left the courthouse without comment. Dozens of fans screamed and cheered as he climbed into a waiting sport utility vehicle.Prosecutors had argued a video- tape mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002 showed Kelly engaged in graphic sex acts with a girl as young as 13 at the time. Both Kelly, 41, and the now 23-year-old alleged victim had denied they were the ones on the tape. Neither testified during the trial.The prosecution's star witness was a woman who said she engaged in three-way sex with Kelly and the alleged victim.His defence attorneys argued the man on the tape did not have a large mole on his back; Kelly has such a mole.
The month-long trial centred on whether Kelly was the man who appears on a sexually graphic, 27- minute videotape at the heart of the case, and whether a female who also appears on it was underage.Over seven days presenting their case, prosecutors called 22 witnesses, including several childhood friends of the alleged victim and four of her relatives who identified her as the female on the videotape.In just two days, the singer's lawyers called 12 witnesses.They included three relatives of the alleged victim who testified they did not recognise her as the female on the tape.Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for I Believe I Can Fly, and is known for such raunchy hits as Bump N' Grind, Ignition, and for Trapped in the Closet, a multi-part saga about the sexual secrets of an ever-expanding cast of characters.Despite his legal troubles, Kelly - who rose from poverty on Chicago's South Side to become a star singer, songwriter and producer - still retains a huge following, and his popularity has arguably grown in recent years.The singer has released more than half a dozen albums, most of them selling over a million copies. He has also had a multitude of hits and gone on tours.Kelly has a new song, Hair Braider, out now, and is due to release a new album next month.Kelly, always meticulously dressed in a suit and tie, appeared tense at times during the trial, furrowing his brow. He seemed ill at ease when prosecutors played the sex tape in open court after opening arguments.In the video, entered into evidence as "People's Exhibit No. 1," a man has sex with a young female, who is naked for most of the recording. She is often blank-faced.The man speaks to her in a hushed voice, and she calls him "Daddy".In one scene, alluded to in one count of the indictment, the man urinates on the female. Cross examination was often heated and several witnesses cried on the stand.- AP
