R. KELLY: Trial Enters Second Week

We’re entering the second week of the R. Kelly trial in Brooklyn. If convicted for sex trafficking, kidnapping and forced labor, he could face 10 years in prison or more.

On Friday, his former manager admitted to securing a fake ID for R. Kelly’s underage girlfriend. The late singer Aaliyah was pregnant at the time and just 15 years old.

The manager was forced to testify against his will. Demetrius Smith said he bribed a Chicago city employee for a fake ID so R. Kelly could marry Aaliyah. Marriage could have shielded him from charges of underage sex and Aaliyah testifying against him. 

Prosecutors called a former assistant to the witness stand. Anthony Navarro said working inside R. Kelly’s Chicago mansion was surreal. (quote) “The things you had to do was just a bit uncomfortable. It was like a different world, just a strange place.”

Navarro gave R. Kelly’s phone number to young girls at his concert. Many of them were enticed to move into the mansion but faced strict rules and were forced to “submit to the singer’s sexual whims.” Navarro said the girls “sometimes would get envelopes of money when leaving.” (Billboard)