R. Kelly trial: prosecution witness breaks down into sobs during heated questioning from defense attorney

Lisa Van Allen's friend, Keith Murrell, testified Friday that Kelly's team offered him a payoff to return an incriminating sex tape Van Allen had taken from the singer.

Van Allen has testified, after having threesomes with Kelly and his underage goddaughter on videotape, she took one of the tapes from Kelly's duffel bag, and sent it to Murrell.

Murrell, who is testifying under an immunity deal with prosecutors, said he watched the tape right away after Van Allen mailed it to him, and saw her having sex with Kelly and a young girl.

He said he stored the tape at his mom's house, and years later made copies of it. He also admitted showing the tape to a few other people, because he was excited he had it.

Murrell told the jury he was stunned when he got a call from Kelly's business manager, Derrel McDavid, in 2007, saying he knew he had the tape. At the time, Kelly was facing an upcoming trial in Cook County on child pornography charges, and was acquitted after his 2008 trial.

According to Murrell, Kelly's assistant Milton "June" Brown contacted him to come to Chicago in 2007, and Kelly's team flew him to Chicago to get the tape. He said he made a copy of the tape an 8- to 10-minute portion of the tape, showing the threesome, before he went to Chicago.

Asked why he only made a copy of part of the tape, Murrell said, "because I didn't think they would know the difference," claiming he didn't think Kelly's team would know how long the tape was. He planned to bring that copy to Kelly's team, because he wanted the original as backup.

He said he later gave the full-length tape to Charles Freeman, who previously testified at trial that Kelly's team agreed to pay him to recover that tape from Murrell.

Murrell said he and Freeman took the tape back to Chicago, where they met with Brown, McDavid, and Van Allen, and took lie detector tests about the tape, which they handed over to McDavid.

After handing over the tape, Murrell said McDavid and Van Allen went into another room to watch it while he waited on a couch with Brown and the polygraph examiner.

When he was given the lie detector test, Murrell said he lied about making copies of the tape, adding he didn't believe "a lie detector was really true."

Murrell testified McDavid paid him $20,000 for the copy of the tape, and told him to go back to Kansas City to get the original, and he'd be paid again. He said he didn't make any more copies and brought back the original tape, telling Brown he had "the golden egg."

He said McDavid instructed him to take another lie detector test, and then gave him $80,000 cash in a bag before he returned to Kansas City. He testified he didn't remember what he did with all the cash.

Under cross-examination from McDavid's attorney, Beau Brindley, Murrell laughed when Brindley called Freeman a "hustler."

Brindley also asked Murrell if he'd asked to see the tape after Van Allen first told him about it, and that's when she sent it to him. He said yes.

Murrell also confirmed Van Allen never mentioned anything about the tape being improper or illegal, and didn't ask him not to watch it.

"Looked like a regular threesome to you, right?" Brindley asked. "Only difference was it had a superstar in it, right?"

Murrell said yes to both questions.

Brindley went on to question claims that McDavid watched the tape. Murrell said he knew McDavid had watched the tape, because McDavid had told him he was going to do so.

Brindley also insisted McDavid had never threatened Murrell when it turned out Murrell had not handed over the original tape. He said McDavid had instead just given Murrell $20,000 and told him to bring back the original.

Murrell said this is not true, and mentioned a bodyguard who was present. He said McDavid told him if he didn't come back, "this guy would come see me."

Brindley then addressed a claim by Van Allen that there was a threat to her life over the missing sex tape. Murrell agreed with Brindley that at a meeting about the missing tape, Van Allen was crying not because of a threat, but because she and Murrell would not be paid because Murrell didn't bring the original tape.

Murrell agreed with Brindley's statement that Van Allen never told him about any threat from McDavid until Van Allen asked him about it years later in Facebook messages in 2018.

Murrell testified that he responded to the Facebook messages by typing, "Wow, that's crazy," but never told Van Allen that he remembered her life being threatened – because he did not remember it that way.

On Tuesday, Van Allen had testified that after two earlier meetings at which she passed lie detector tests about the whereabouts of the tape, and was paid a total of $70,000 for returning the tape she had found, McDavid told her at a meeting in July 2007 that she'd get the rest of the money after the trial, and continued to blame her for having to pay out any money at all.

After telling her she had failed a third lie detector test, McDavid told her "they should've murked me from the beginning," testifying it was her understanding that meant they should have killed her.

"I never knew they were thinking about killing me," she testified.

Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, then cross-examined Murrell. In answering questions from Bonjean, Murrell testified it was Van Allen who suggested that he get paid for delivering the sex tape.

Debra Rosenblatt, a travel agent for R. Kelly and his company Bass Productions, testified Friday afternoon about hotel and other travel arrangements he paid for for his ex-girlfriend, Lisa Van Allen.

The trips -- some of them arranged by Kelly's business manager Derrel McDavid or assistant Milton "June" Brown -- came as Van Allen and her friend, Keith Murrell, were coming to Chicago to take lie detector tests regarding a sex tape she had taken from Kelly.

Van Allen has said the tape showed her having sex with Kelly and his underage goddaughter, and he offered her $250,000 to return it.

When Rosenblatt was questioned by Kelly's defense attorneys about the payments, she confirmed she didn't speak directly with Kelly, and that it wasn't Kelly himself who booked the travel.

Lisa Van Allen broke down sobbing on the witness stand Friday as R. Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, questioned her about her claims she and Kelly had threesomes with Kelly's underage goddaughter, "Jane," in the late 1990s.

Van Allen, 42, admitted at the start of her testimony on Friday that she was "exhausted" and didn't want to come to court, after spending several hours on Friday testifying that she and Kelly had sex with his goddaughter, and that Kelly filmed their encounters.

After she took one of those tapes and gave it to a friend in Kansas City, Kelly and his team offered to pay her $250,000 to get it back, and his business manager, Derrel McDavid later told her she failed a lie detector test about the tape, and told her "they should have murked me from the beginning," meaning they should have killed her, she told the jury.

Upon Van Allen's return to the witness stand on Friday, Bonjean noted that Van Allen was essentially  testifying she sexually abused Jane.

"I'm not proud of that," Van Allen said as she broke down into tears. "I don't know what woman would be proud of it."

As Van Allen wept on the witness stand, Bonjean said, "Cross-examination is hard, but that's how it works."

Later during questioning, Van Allen confirmed she got a job on Kelly's concert tours, when he would pick her out of the crowd for a simulated sex scene on stage. 

"You were able to put your acting skills to use, right?" Bonjean noted, and Van Allen agreed.

Also for the first time during the trial, it was revealed Van Allen had a sexual relationship with Keith Murrell, the man to whom she later gave a sex tape of her with Kelly and Jane. Van Allen said that relationship started after she left Kelly. 

Pressing Van Allen on previous testimony that Kelly abused her during their relationship, Van Allen said it happened twice, and was more emotional than physical.

Bonjean later questioned Van Allen on how many threesomes she had with Kelly and why. 

Van Allen confirmed she had different threesomes with Kelly and 10 or more women, including Jane. She told the jury she took part in the threesomes because she felt sorry that Kelly had been molested as a child, saying they bonded because she also was sexually abused.

Bonjean also questioned Van Allen extensively about a Rolex watch Kelly left in a hotel room. Van Allen said she gave it to a friend "because I can't wear a man's Rolex," and doesn't know if the friend pawned it.

As for the tape Van Allen took from Kelly, Bonjean asked why she would entrust her friend Keith Murrell with it for years, insisting it was because Jane was an adult at the time, meaning there was no crime, which Van Allen repeatedly denied.

Bonjean also questioned Van Allen about McDavid's "murking" comment regarding the missing sex tape, implying Van Allen was actually upset and crying because she had learned Murrell had made copies of the tape she'd given him.

When prosecutors questioned Van Allen on redirect, they referenced her testimony at Kelly's 2008 child pornography trial, reinforcing that she described her threesomes with Kelly and Jane in the same way as during the current trial, rebutting Bonjean's claims during cross-examination that the Jane wasn't involved in the threesomes on video.