Chicago News: Benson, Kelly and Obama

Cedric Benson was driving in downtown Austin near the entertainment district when he drove his BMW through a red light at 3:15 a.m.
Officers performed field sobriety tests on Benson and based on his poor performance, they arrested him for driving while intoxicated and his refusal to take a Breathalyzer test or offer a blood sample. He posted bail.

Of course Benson and his girl refutes these claims….. don’t they get
it? Texas does not love you boo boo. Remember the boat incident??? Get your life together

*****

R. Kelly's defense team rested Monday morning. Jurors will not hear
from Kelly's "goddaughter" — the female who allegedly appears in the
tape.

Closing arguments are expected Thursday


Last week the defense team kicked off their case by calling three relatives of the girl who allegedly appears in the sex tape. All said the girl on the tape is not their relative.
*****

Michelle Obama is set to co-host The View on June 18th

"Shorty" is the alleged victim in the R. Kelly case

So it seems that I was wrong kiddies! Last week I stated that a witnessat the R. Kelly trial stated his son was in singing group with the victim. That’s true but and lo and behold the group did have ties to R. Kelly. The group, 4 the Cause was comprised of siblings Ms.Lady (16) and J-Man (15), and their cousins Shorty (13) and Bennie (15).

It seems Shorty is the girl in the R. Kelly sex video (and the pic above) ……
Shorty's father is a musician and producer who worked with R. Kelly. The focused teenagers also take part in some teenactivities: Shorty is the star of her basketball team, an actress andthe goddaughter of R. Kelly.

"Stand By Me," a perky rendition of the Ben E. King hit, has ignited abonfire of multi-platinum international success in Europe. MTV Europehas embraced them and the sales of this single are breaking records in Germany and other reaches far from the group's Chicago roots.

R. Kelly trial: Lisa Van Allen testifies of threesome and more

Lisa Van Allen (above) the Atlanta women who was suspected as the prosecution key witness testified today :

• met R. Kelly at the video shoot for "Home Alone," in which she appeared. She talked with Kelly in his trailer and ended up "having intercourse" with him in the trailer. She was 17 at the time.
• gave up her job in Atlanta to be with him full time. Kelly paid for her to stay in hotels and she spent most of her time with him at the studio
• In late 1998, he took her to his former home on the North Side of Chicago, where she met the alleged victim. Kelly taped them while they had three-way sex in his "log-cabin" room.
• She denied telling people that the tape at the center of the case was a fake and that she knew two men called "Chuck and Keith" had staged the tape at the center of the case to get money from Kelly.
• She identified R. Kelly's business manager, Derrel McDavid, as the man who paid her and another man $20,000 each to turn over a copy of an R. Kelly sex tape.

The state has rested its case. Now its the defense turn

R. Kelly testimony: pillows and sleepovers

Former Kelly assistant Lindsey Perryman testified this afternoon that she first met the girl allegedly shown in the sex video in 1999 at a Chicago recording studio. The girl showed up at the studio with her parents and little brother -- and "had a pillow and overnight bag with her," Perryman said.


She also described how the alleged victim would come to Kelly's studio "a couple of times a week... She would come there after school to do her homework."

Perryman would also sometimes be called upon to act as chauffeur for the girl, whom Kelly called his goddaughter. "I would just get a phone call to picker her up. There was a time when I took her out to Mr. Kelly's home in Olympia Fields."

R. Kelly testimony: Day 2, 3, and 4

Weds

A witness said his son was in a pop group with the alleged victim and two other relatives in the late 90s, and that they had toured extensively abroad.

So I guess this is where the rumor came about that the girl was
traveling with Kelly’s choir. In the trial the witness did not say it
was with any band/choir relating to Kelly, so we push those rumors to
the side.

Thursday

Sparkle (government name) - Stephanie Edwards clashed Thursday with defense lawyer Ed Genson when he accused her of testifying against R.Kelly for revenge and money.

December 2001- Sparkle received a call from a lawyer named Buddy Meyers, who wanted her to see a sex videotape that apparently featured a member of her family. An assistant showed her a tape at her apartment.
Sparkle stated she knew instantly it was her relative. Others in the family did not want to see the tape.


Aubrey Hampton, 23, said she first met the girl in the tape when they were in elementary school.
Later, they played basketball and went to high school together.
In 2001 or 2002, Hampton saw a sex tape featuring Kelly and her
friend
She recognized her by "her face, and like some of her mannerisms, and
at one point, her voice."
Hampton’s mother also identified the alleged victim and Kelly
because she discovered and watched the tape in her daughter’s room


Friday

The jury is off BUT Kelly's attorneys have asked that state's witnesses
be charged.

Boliker did not say which witnesses the defense wants charged, or with what, but Kelly's team has repeatedly questioned this week why witnesses who had seen the sex tape at the center of the case did not contact police sooner.

So it could be Hampton’s mother, the Sun Times reporter that the tape was sent to originally, a member of the alleged victim family who is a police officer but failed to report the tape

R. Kelly testimony: Day 1 and 2

First day of testimony:

• The 27 minute tape was shown to the jurors
• video showed two people engaging in a variety of sex acts in a
  log-cabin themed room with a hot tub and a bearskin rug. The poorly lit
  video makes it difficult to distinguish any birthmarks or moles on theman's back when played in real time
• jurors saw police photos that revealed a dark, caterpillar-shaped mole
  in the middle of Kelly's lower back. But defense lawyer Sam Adam Jr.
  told jurors the sex videotape at the center of the case shows a man
  without a mole.
• A woman juror was replaced by white man in 20s. She cited economichardship.
• doubts on the tape’s origins, noting it was not an original but a“copy of a copy of copy.”

Today May 21:

• Simha Jamison, 24, said she met Kelly at a gym called Hoops when she
  was 12. Her friend, the allegedly underage girl, was about six months
  younger and called Kelly --"Godfather."
• Kelly would sometimes give the girl money when they visited him
  downtown. "depending on the situation and the reason she needed it, no
  less than a hundred, no more than $500."
  
• "I kind of know her like the back of my hand," Jamison said. "We got
  our hair cut the same way together. It's a mullet. Short at the top,
  long at the back," Jamison said about the alleged girl in the video.

Quotes: Sun-Times