R. Kelly’s child pornography case now with jurors

CHICAGO (AP):

Jurors yesterday began deliberating at R. Kelly's federal trial in Chicago, sorting through a month of evidence and arguments on charges accusing the singer of producing child pornography, enticing minors for sex and rigging his 2008 child porn trial.

Standing at a podium a few feet in front of jurors, Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, told jurors in her closing earlier Tuesday that key government witnesses were admitted liars who testified with immunity to ensure they couldn't be charged.

At times sounding indignant and raising her voice, Bonjean likened their testimony and other evidence to a cockroach and the government's case to a bowl of soup.

If a cockroach falls into soup, she said, "you don't just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup," she told jurors. She said of the prosecution's case: "There are just too many cockroaches."

As Bonjean spoke, Kelly, wearing a gray suit and black mask, looked calm at a nearby defence table. As a prosecutor spoke later and repeatedly looked toward Kelly, he often averted his eyes. Later, when the prosecutor described him abusing minors, he shook his head.

Jurors withdrew to start deliberating early Tuesday afternoon, heading home without reaching a verdict several hours later. They were set to pick up where they left off on Wednesday morning.

Kelly, 55, was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison during a separate federal trial in New York where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. Convictions on just a few of the 13 counts Kelly faces at his current trial could add years to his imprisonment.