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Testimony concluded in the R. Kelly child pornography trial Tuesday -- but not before defense lawyers accused prosecutors of misleading them about a key piece of evidence.
The dispute concerned a DVD copy of the videotape that allegedly shows Kelly having sex with an underage girl. Prosecutors gave the DVD to Kelly's lawyers and told them it was an exact copy of the original -- but it was a lower-quality reproduction. Kelly's lawyers used the copy when questioning their video expert.
"This is the rotten tomato in the barrel," an angry Judge Vincent Gaughan said.
Prosecutors recalled to the stand their video expert, Grant Fredericks, who previously testified the tape showed a dark spot corresponding to a mole on Kelly's back.
Defense expert Charles Palm said last week that in the DVD, dark spots came and went from different parts of the man's back and were caused by "video noise."
Fredericks said Tuesday the DVD was not an accurate reproduction.
"Half the information I was showing was not on Exhibit 78," Fredericks said. "None of the detail I was presenting in court would be present."
Defense lawyer Ed Genson said he had "no doubt that it was a mistake," but said "we used [the DVD] as a basis for putting Mr. Palm on the stand."
One defense lawyer, who is not tied to the case, said the prosecution's error was serious.
"If I were Kelly's lawyer, I'd be screaming for a mistrial," Steve Greenberg said.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers later resolved the dispute in private, but they did not reveal how.
Before final testimony, Gaughan asked Kelly if he understood he had the constitutional right to testify if he wanted to.
"I decided not to testify," Kelly told him.
Atlanta prosecutor Bobby Wolf took the stand to rebut defense assertions that a key prosecution witness, Lisa Van Allen, came forward only to get favorable treatment for her fiance in a criminal case.
Wolf said no one from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office contacted him about Yul Brown, Van Allen's fiance. Brown was arrested in February on gun and drug charges, and according to Wolf, faced up to 22 years in prison. Shortly after the arrest, Van Allen contacted Cook County prosecutors and alleged she had been in a threesome with Kelly and the underage girl who allegedly appears in the sex tape.
Wolf said he recommended prison time for Brown but an Atlanta judge gave him probation. "There was absolutely no connection" between Van Allen's cooperation and Brown's sentence, Wolf said.
