R. Kelly trial: defense rests case after third day of testimony from co-defendant and former manager Derrel McDavid
Defense attorneys rested their case in R. Kelly's federal trial in Chicago on Friday, after a third day of testimony from the singer's co-defendant and business manager, Derrel McDavid, who prosecutors suggested had significant financial interest in protecting Kelly's reputation amid sexual abuse claims in the late 1990s and early 200s.
McDavid spent more than 14 hours on the witness stand over three days, repeatedly telling jurors he had no reason to believe Kelly's accusers, who claimed he'd sexually abused them when they were girls. He testified that he believed Kelly's accusers were simply trying to extort him.
He also has said, at the time of Kelly's child pornography trial in 2008, at which he was acquitted, he believed the sex tape allegedly showing him having sex with a 14-year-old girl was a fake.
But at the end of McDavid's second day of testimony, as his lead defense attorney was wrapping up his direct examinaiton, McDavid said it wasn't until the current federal trial in Chicago that he began to have doubts about Kelly's innocence, saying he's learned a lot of things he had no idea about in 2008.
"As I stand here today, I'm embarrassed, sad," McDavid said.
McDavid said he "absolutely" wanted to believe Kelly through the end of that 2008 trial, because he loved him.
When federal prosecutors got their chance to finally question McDavid on Thursday, they suggested he was too close to Kelly during the years he worked for the singer to be ignorant of his actions, and noted he had significant financial interest in keeping Kelly's reputation clean.
Prosecutors pointed out McDavid was fully aware Kelly was settling multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct, and suggested McDavid was interested only in protecting Kelly's reputation and his own pocketbook, rather than getting to the truth of those cases. McDavid angrily denied that.
Kelly, McDavid, and former Kelly assistant Milton "June" Brown face federal charges accusing them of conspiring to cover up Kelly's alleged sexual abuse of children by buying back incriminating videotapes, and paying off or intimidating witnesses at his 2008 trial on child pornography charges. McDavid was the only defendant to take the stand at the trial.
During the trial, jurors have seen snippets from three different videos that allegedly show Kelly having sex with his 14-year-old goddaughter, "Jane," who has testified that Kelly sexually abused her hundreds of times when she was a girl.
Jane and her parents denied the sexual abuse claims for years, but during the trial she and her mother testified Kelly and his team pressured them to lie about it, and paid them off to keep silent.
After defense attorneys rested their case Friday afternoon, prosecutors said they were considering presenting a possible rebuttal witness, but U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber said he's under pressure to get the trial finished, and declined to give prosecutors more time to prepare for a rebuttal.
Closing arguments are now set for Monday morning.
Kelly already has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after a conviction on sex trafficking and racketeering charges at his federal trial in New York last year. If convicted of the federal charges in Chicago, he could face decades more in prison.
He also still faces sexual assault and sexual abuse charges in Cook County, involving four women. Those trials have been delayed multiple times due to the pandemic.
Read more about Friday's testimony below
McDavid reiterates that he believed sex tape at center of 2008 trial was fake
McDavid's defense attorney, Beau Brindley, returned for redirect after prosecutors' cross-examination. Brindley asked McDavid about the prosecution's questions about McDavid not believing women who came forward with accusations against Kelly.
McDavid said he'd had no doubt Tiffany Hawkins – the first girl who publicly came forward with an abuse accusation against Kelly – was lying during her deposition. McDavid also claimed in testimony that Barry Hankerson, Kelly's former manager, had offered people to lie for money about having had underage sex with Kelly.
Brindley asked McDavid about a prosecution claim that attorney Gerry Margolis was hired to "beat the case." McDavid said that was not true, and Margolis was hired long before the case began.
With regard to the tape that Charles Freeman said he was paid to retrieve, McDavid said private investigator Jack Palladino had never indicated the girl on the tape was the same one he interviewed. McDavid also said no one indicated the woman on the tape appeared to be underage.
Brindley also asked if attorney Ed Genson had ever suggested hiding "Jane" from Kelly's 2008 trial. McDavid said no – and reiterated that GEnson did not want Jane to testify because he wanted to protect her.
McDavid said Genson knew and proved the Kelly sex tape at the center of the trial was fake, so he knew the trial would be won.
McDavid confirmed again that he had never seen two other videos involving Kelly before the current trial began.
McDavid also said Genson, Margolis, and Palladino would not lie about the tape, and reiterated that after the investigation, he himself believed the sex tape at the center of the 2008 trial was fake.
McDavid denies ever watching infamous sex tape from Kelly's 2008 child pornography trial
Questioning McDavid about R. Kelly's 2008 trial on child pornography charges, prosecutors asked if he watched the video allegedly showing Kelly having sex with an underage girl. McDavid said, while he attended the trial, he only "glanced" back and forth when the video was shown, and does not recall viewing sexual conduct.
McDavid testified during Kelly's 2008 trial, and when federal prosecutors in this trial questioned him about it, they suggested McDavid knew Kelly had won the trial because Jane wasn't going to testify. McDavid said that's not true.
Asked why Jane wasn't called to testify at the trial, McDavid said it was because Kelly's defense attorney, Edward Genson, didn't think it was necessary, and wanted to protect her from cross-examination. At the time, Jane repeatedly denied the sexual abuse allegations against Kelly, but has since said that was because Kelly and his team intimidated her and her family, and paid them off to keep quiet about Kelly's abuse.
After prosecutors completed their cross-examination, Kelly's lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, asked McDavid about the string of lawsuits Kelly faced in the early 2000s, and McDavid said he didn't know any of the details of the lawsuits, nor did he have any firsthand knowledge of any alleged victim's testimony.
McDavid's defense attorney, Beau Brindley, later asked McDavid about prosecutors questions regarding how much he made working for Kelly. McDavid said, if all of the payments he got from Kelly were included in 2006, it would have been more than the $1.6 million prosecutors estimated.
But McDavid denied that the money he made working for Kelly would be a justification for covering up child pornography.
Prosecutors suggest McDavid had financial motive to keep Kelly's reputation clean
As they began their cross-examination of R. Kelly's former business manager, Derrel McDavid, federal prosecutors noted the four people he talked to about sexual abuse allegations against the singer, and helped him form his belief that the accusers were lying, are all dead – attorneys Ed Genson and Gerry Margolis, private investigator Jack Palladino, and the father of Kelly accuser "Jane." McDavid acknowledged that means he's the only one alive who can say what they discussed.
Prosecutors also established that McDavid and Kelly were very close for several years, with McDavid confirming Kelly was his biggest client, and that he would accompany Kelly on his tours, and was with him when the first allegations surfaced that he had sexual contact with his 14-year-old goddaughter, "Jane," and throughout the subsequent 2008 child pornography trial.
McDavid confirmed he was paid 10% of Kelly's earnings, and while he disputed his earnings amounted to as much as $1.6 million in 2006, he did not specify how much he did make at that time.
Prosecutors seemed to be suggesting McDavid was too close to Kelly to be ignorant of his actions, and that McDavid had significant financial motivation to keep Kelly's reputation clean.
Turning to McDavid's previous testimony about Kelly facing a string of "cookie cutter" lawsuits from women accusing him of sexual misconduct in the late 1990s and early 2000s, McDavid acknowledged those claims could have been "deadly" to Kelly's career.
Pressed on previous testimony that he believed Kelly's accusers were lying because they were asking for money, McDavid said that was not the only reason he felt that way.
Prosecutors also challenged McDavid's previous testimony that he wasn't aware of the accusers' claims in this trial until he heard about them in court, noting McDavid was aware that two of those accusers, "Tracy" and "Nia," had sued Kelly and received settlements.
McDavid denied prosecutors' assertion that settling those lawsuits was about his own pocketbook and protecting Kelly.
When allegations that Kelly was sexually abusing his goddaughter, "Jane," first surfaced, McDavid testified he looked into the claims himself to see if there was any truth to the claims, but acknowledged he did so only by speaking to Kelly and his attorney. Asked if he started paying to more attention to Kelly's contact with Jane after the sexual abuse allegations surfaced, McDavid said no.
Turning to an agreement to pay Charles Freeman $65,000 to return a Kelly sex tape in 2001, McDavid confirmed it was important to get that tape, and recover any other sex tapes involving Kelly, but denied he was with Palladino when he met Freeman in Kansas City to recover the tape.
McDavid has testified that it was Freeman who approached Kelly's team to sell them a tape he had, rather than Kelly's team hiring him to find a lost sex tape. McDavid acknowledged he didn't call police to report an extortion attempt, but denied prosecutors' assertion that he simply didn't want the police to discover tapes of child pornography.
McDavid later testified he wasn't at a meeting in Oak Park with Jane's family -- a meeting which Jane has testified happened after a sex tape of her with Kelly was leaked in 2002 -- despite prosecutors' repeated assertions he was there.
Prosecutors noted McDavid has testified he attended psychiatric sessions with Kelly after he'd seemed "broken" by the growing sexual abuse claims he was facing in the early 2000s, questioning why he wouldn't be at an important meeting where he'd have significant in the matter as Kelly's manager. Still, McDavid asserted he wasn't at the meeting with Jane's parents.