After the surprising close to the defense case early Monday after just two days, the prosecution will begin its rebuttal to the defense's case Tuesday.
The prosecution plans to again call Grant Frederics, a forensic video analyst who found what appeared to be a mole on the back of the sex tape's male participant.
During opening statements, the defense dropped a potential bombshell when it told jurors that Kelly has had a mole on his back since childhood and that since there was no mole on the back of the male participant in the video, Kelly could not be the man on the tape.
Frederics is expected to rehash some of his earlier testimony and to rebut testimony from the defense's forensic expert, Dr. Charles Palm, who said in his examination of the videotape that he could not find a mole.
The prosecution also plans to call an assistant district attorney from Atlanta. Robert Wolf is expected to deny suggestions that Lisa Van Allen, who testified she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the alleged underage victim, was given a deal to testify in the Kelly case.
During the trial, the defense not so subtly suggested that Van Allen's boyfriend, a felon who was recently arrested for the possession of a loaded AK-47 and drugs in his suburban Atlanta home, was given probation by the Fulton County district attorney's office because Van Allen testified in the trial.
Court will resume Tuesday with defense motions at 10 a.m., before the prosecution begins its rebuttal.
Azam Ahmed
June 9, 2008 12:28 PM: Much to everyone's surprise, the defense rests
Much to the surprise of the courtroom gallery, R. Kelly's lawyers rested their case Monday morning after three days of testimony in defense of the R&B singer.
For about 15 minutes, attorneys for both sides handled a few housekeeping matters.
Then Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan informed the jury that there would be no testimony today. He told them they were free to stay and have lunch on the county's dime or go home. He told jurors that, if the case stays on course, they should expect closing arguments on Thursday.
With the jury dismissed, the judge began hearings on various motions in the case.
June 9, 2008 10:29 AM: Defense to hit 'play' on altered-tape theory?
As part of R. Kelly's defense, his lawyers have floated the idea that someone doctored the sex tape at the heart of the child pornography case by placing the R&B superstar's head on another man's body.
The high-priced defense team likened the film-editing trick to the technology used in "Little Man," the 2006 film in which Marlon Wayans was digitally manipulated to look like a 1-year-old baby. (He actually played a diminutive thief whom Shawn Wayans mistakes as his newly adopted son, but we'll spare you the rest of that painful plot summary.)
MTV News caught up to Shawn Wayans recently and asked him how difficult such an endeavor would be. The actor seemed to agree with the prosecution's expert witnesses, who said the process would be extremely expensive and wholly time consuming.
"It's not easy and it's very complicated," Wayans told MTV. "It takes a lot of special effects guys to plot that out."
Wayans said he didn't want to get involved in the trial and described the so-called "Little Man" defense as "very creative." Indeed, it may be the best press the movie has ever received, given that one critic called the widely panned film "fatuous, unfunny and profoundly unentertaining."
"I just hope Little Man don't get subpoenaed into court," Wayans said, laughing. "He wouldn't be a good alibi."
