Prosecutors Drop Seven Charges Against R. Kelly
WMAQ-TV
Updated: 6:44 p.m. ET Feb. 27, 2004

11:41 a.m. CST February 27, 2004 - Saying it was a matter of routine strategy, prosecutors Friday dropped seven of 21 child pornography counts against singer R. Kelly.

Kelly, 37, whose legal name is Robert S. Kelly , was indicted in Cook County on June 5, 2002, on 21 counts of child pornography stemming from a widely-distributed videotape allegedly showing him engaging in sex acts with an underage girl. Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine said the video was shot inside Kelly's apartment on the 1000 block of West George Street sometime between Nov. 1, 1997 and Feb. 1, 2002.

In December, Kelly's attorney, Ed Genson, filed a stack of motions, including one to dismiss counts 15 through 21 of the indictment, which pertain to solicitation for child pornography, arguing that particular statute was passed after the tape was allegedly shot.

At a status hearing Friday before Criminal Court Judge Vincent Gaughan, the lead prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Ellen Mandletort, dropped any objection to that motion, and formally dropped the solicitation counts.

Mandletort called the move routine, and said the counts would have dropped prior to trial anyway.

"As a matter of trial strategy, the state always reviews an indictment prior to trial and proceeds to trial on selected counts of the indictment," Mandletort said. "In an effort to save the court's time, there is no reason to litigate a motion now that would later be moot."

Kelly, with his hair styled in his trademark cornrows and dressed in an understated navy blue suit, did not speak during the hearing. Genson denied comment on the dropped counts.

Arguments were still forthcoming on the remainder of the defense's pretrial motions, to which the state filed responses Friday.

A status hearing was set for Gaughan's 9:30 a.m. call April 2.

In addition to the Illinois charges, Kelly was awaiting trial in Florida on a 12-count child pornography indictment filed on Jan. 22. One of his attorneys, Mark Martin, called that case "piling on," and added the Florida indictment contains no evidence distinct from the Chicago case.

Kelly, a Chicago native, began recording in 1992 with his backing group Public Announcement before going solo the next year. He had more Top 40 hits than any other male solo performer in the 1990s, including the Grammy award-winning "I Believe I Can Fly."

Most recently, the singer released a best-of compilation called "The R in R&B Collection: Volume One."

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Not really that important if you ask me but who am I to say what is important to other posters, right?

DS