AP Photo/Jerry LaiThe jury had the day off. The judge—and possibly a few witnesses—weren't so lucky.
While court was adjourned Friday, Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan spent the day hearing arguments from both sides after he was informed that R. Kelly's camp wants charges brought against some of the prosecution's witnesses.
The R&B singer's lawyers are claiming that, if the people who testified they possessed a copy of the sex tape—which Kelly is accused of making with an underage girl years ago—did not ever alert authorities, then they are guilty of child pornography. (Despite the fact that the defense has argued that the tape may have been doctored and that the illicit intimate encounter never occurred at all.)
Prosecutor Shauna Boliker didn't reveal which witnesses the defense is looking at and she and Kelly's team met with Gaughan in closed chambers, but the Chicago Sun-Times questions whether Kelly's team is planning to point the finger at a woman who's planning to testify she had a threesome with Kelly and the girl said to be on the tape.
The defense has also requested a subpoena for Sun-Times reporter Jim DeRogatis, who first received the tape from an anonymous source and turned it over to police in 2002. Kelly's people are suggesting the journalist may have committed a crime by making and keeping a copy of the lewd video.
Meanwhile, adding to the four people who have already positively identified the alleged victim, another relative of the girl's (and a former Kelly protégé), Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards, testified Thursday she was the one who introduced her young relative to Kelly.
An attorney arranged for her to see the tape in 2001, she said.
Edwards also warded off the defense's accusation that she was testifying against the Grammy winner because she was bitter about the end of their business relationship after he produced her eponymous debut album in 1998.
"He was my homeboy. We were still cool," Edwards said.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.