Criminal Law
A Witness Accuses R. Kelly of Sexually Assaulting Her at 16
Federal prosecutors in New York began their case against R. Kelly with graphic testimony from a woman who says the R&B singer sexually abused her when she was 16 years old, and that she has a T-shirt with his semen on it.
Jerhonda Johnson Pace, now 28, testified Wednesday that she was such a big fan of Kelly’s that she attended the singer’s Chicago trial for state child pornography charges in 2008. Kelly was acquitted of the charges in June 2008.
The year after the trial, Pace said Kelly invited her to his home in the suburbs of Chicago where Pace testified that she had a sexual relationship with the singer for about six months when she was 16. When the relationship ended months later, Pace said she gave a T-shirt that had Kelly’s semen on it to an attorney who was representing her.
