Prosecution Rests Its Case In R. Kelly Trial
Lisa Van Allen testified that she engaged in three-way sex acts with the R& B singer.
(Charles Rex Arbogast - AP)
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Tuesday, June 3, 2008
CHICAGO, June 2 -- A star prosecution witness at R. Kelly's child pornography trial cried Monday as she alleged several three-way sexual encounters with the R&B superstar and the purported victim, some of which she said Kelly videotaped.
Lisa Van Allen, 27, the last witness before prosecutors rested their case, also told jurors, in more than three hours of graphic and dramatic testimony, that Kelly last year offered her $250,000 to recover a tape of one of the trysts.
During cross-examination, a defense attorney accused Van Allen of plotting to extort money from the singer, a claim she denied. Under further questioning she admitted she once stole Kelly's $20,000 diamond-studded watch from a hotel.
Kelly, 41, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of child pornography on suspicion of videotaping himself having sex with a female who prosecutors say was as young as 13. He has pleaded not guilty, and both he and the alleged victim, now 23, deny being on the video -- which is separate from those Van Allen testified to being on.
The state, which called more than a dozen witnesses over two weeks, rested its case after Van Allen's testimony. Jurors have Tuesday off before the defense begins its presentation Wednesday.
Van Allen told jurors that Kelly offered her $250,000 last year to recover a tape of one of the encounters with the alleged victim. She said acquaintances of hers took the tape from Kansas City to a Chicago hotel, where it was handed over to a Kelly associate, who paid $20,000 in cash.
Before Van Allen took the stand, Judge Vincent Gaughan advised that she had been appointed an attorney, saying some of her testimony might be "self-incriminating." She was granted immunity by prosecutors.
Van Allen said she approached prosecutors about testifying in the case only several months ago -- six years after Kelly was charged. "It's the right thing to do," she explained to jurors.
But defense attorney Sam Adam Sr. said Van Allen had ulterior motives when she contacted prosecutors in March, including to help get a reduced sentence in a weapons case for a man she lives with.
