Opening statements delivered in R Kelly’s Chicago trial

completemusicupdate.com:

The latest R Kelly trial kicked off in Chicago yesterday, with the star this time battling charges relating to images of child abuse and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

And while there will be plenty of parallels between these proceedings and the trial that took place in New York a year ago, yesterday’s opening statements confirmed that there will be even stronger links to a much earlier trial involving the musician.Last year Kelly was found guilty in New York State of setting up and running a criminal enterprise in order to access and abuse women and teenagers, a conviction that resulted in a 30 year jail sentence.

But when the musician was first charged with sexually abusing a minor back in the 2000s, he was acquitted. This trial will review the incident at the heart of that 2000s trial, and the alleged efforts by Kelly and his team to hide evidence and silence witnesses as that case was being investigated and heard.The 2000s case – which ultimately ended up in court in Chicago in 2008 – was sparked by the leaking of a video that Kelly had seemingly recorded in the late 1990s in which he could allegedly be seen sexually abusing a teenage girl.The prosecution’s case first time around was greatly hindered by the victim – believed to be fourteen years old when the video was made – declining to testify, with the defence seeking to throw doubt on whether it was, in fact, Kelly and the victim who appeared in the video.However, this time around the victim – referred to simply as Jane – is expected to testify.

According to CNN, Assistant US Attorney Jason Julien told the court during his opening statement yesterday: “Jane’s going to testify.