R KELLY PORN CASE REMAINS ALIVE IN ILLINOIS

You may remember that popular R&B/Hip Hop vocalist Robert Sylvester Kelly, a/k/a R. Kelly, was busted in June, 2002 at a home he rented in Davenport by Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies on a fugitive warrant from Cook County, Illinois charging him with 21 counts of possession of child pornography. Earlier in the year a videotape of Kelly allegedly having sex with an underage girl was given to the Chicago Sun Times, and eventually showed up widely online.

During that arrest, sheriff's detectives searched the rental home and came across a digital camera with 12 photos, again showing Kelly allegedly having sex with an underage girl. He was eventually charged in Polk County with possession of child pornography, which were dropped in March of last year when Circuit Judge Dennis P. Maloney ruled the pictures could not be used as evidence based on what he noted was the lack of probable cause for the search.

Some of the Illinois charges were eventually dropped as well, but Cook County Criminal Court Judge Vincent Gaughan Friday refused to drop the remaining 14 charges against Kelly, stating that “the evidence is sufficient for Mr. Kelly to prepare a defense.”

Prosecutors claim the videotape in the Chicago case was made between January, 1998 and November 1, 2000, and that the girl in question was 14 at the time. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his attorneys say that the girl will refuse to testify against their client.