R. Kelly acquitted

Chicago Tribune ^ | 6/13/08 | Stacy St. Clair

[RogerD]

Something is seriously wrong here. Could the prosecutor really not obtain identifying information on the (now 23 y/o) women sufficient to either confirm or refute the identification? Pathetic. If they had enough of a case to prosecute for 6 1/2 years, they had enough of a case to send an investigator out to observe the goddaughter and take whatever pictures (in public so no warrant required) are needed of the woman while she's in public so they could either confirm their assumed identification or discover their mistake. I've seen how 23 year-olds dress, and in warm weather there's usually a lot of visible skin. They should have been able to spot a distinguishing pattern of moles or some other feature that an honest jury would have accepted. Of course, this is Cook County ...

As for the now 23 y/o woman and her family, I can't imagine any explanation for their lack of cooperation other than hiding this singer's guilt. If someone told me that I could help put a pedophile in prison, I'd fly there at my own expense to help. If I thought it was a case of mistaken identity, I'd help resolve the error so that, like OJ, they could start looking for the real victim. I want nothing to do with any of these losers, including with the prosecutor who went through the motions so ineffectively.

[wolfcreek]

If an entire religion (fill in appropriate religion) can get away with it why not R Kelly?

[rednesss]

All I know is that it is too bad that Chappelle Show isn’t still on the air. I’m sure he could come up with a hilarious encore to his R. Kelly skit.

[Stoat]

I'm noticing that nowhere in the linked Chicago Tribune article does it indicate the racial composition of the jury, something that's instantly and shrilly pounced upon whenever it's a matter of, for example, a white person who is the defendant in a matter that involves a black accuser or victim.

[T. Jefferson]

He don’t did it!

[Shade2]

This link says that there were 8 whites and 4 blacks on the jury.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1587585/20080515/kelly_r.jhtml

[Perdogg]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2030729/posts

[frankjr]

I did search on “Kelly” but for some reason, nothing popped up. You be fast P-Dogg (keeping with the R. Kelly hip hop theme)!

[DCBurgess58]

It only takes a couple of people to hang a jury. If the jury doesn't end up hung, it's usually because the other people in the jury gave up because they want to finish the trial and go home.

My god there was video of the offense! Care to bet that all 12 people on the jury thought he was innocent? I'm betting that this was classic jury nullification.

Mind you, I have some great and decent friends in the African-American community. There are tons of hard working, kind and decent African-Americans out there. There is however another group who are angry, nasty and dishonest. These people are no better than the nasty racists from the south who were lynching blacks and getting off scott free in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

[sasafras]

Do we know the race profile of the jury? Its obvious that blacks and whites have a different belief system. OJ jury was predominantly black and 80% of all blacks at the time believed he was innocent vs. only about 25% of all whites.

Most Black pastors are supporting Obama eventhough he believes in infantacide and homosexual marriage??????????????? There is a real disconnect between blacks and everyone else - the race baiting diversity mongers have made a real impact on our society.

[Trajan88]

The “bump and grind” dude gets off... surprise, surprise.

[rabidralph]

It’s not the justice system that’s broken. It’s all the black people who love to “circle the ‘hood” when a black celebrity is accused of a crime.

[aruanan]

OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, R. Kelly. What do these three have in common?

Weak cases brought by inept and over-eager prosecutors against black men?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

The OJ case was weak? Yeah, right.

[aruanan]

The OJ case was weak? Yeah, right.

Having watched virtually all of it, I can say, yes, it was weak and Marcia Clark and Chris Darden didn't help matters any. Richard Dawkins makes a stronger case against God than they did against Simpson.

[newzjunkey]

No surprise. It's truly sad. Another celebrity buys his way out of serious criminal charges, this time pedophilia!

The jury decided he was on the tape but because the victim didn't testify they acquit? When I've served, the judge instructed specifically not to read anything into the victim not testifying and not to give it any weight.

[newzjunkey]

Great answer!

[Shade2]

So who are they angry at, the alleged black victim? You are making a ridiculous, far fetched assumption. If an all white jury acquitted a white celeb under the exact same circumstances, you would not say that is was because the celeb is white, yet if any black person says that it was because he is white, you would yell, “race baiting” and “race card”.

[Shade2]

8 whites on the jury. 4 blacks.