I believe that he committed all 14 offenses with which he is charged.

However, the ability to delay the case for six years and influence the victim and her family made it possible for him to create something that the jurors felt constituted "reasonable doubt".

Grammy-award winning rhythm and blues superstar R. Kelly broke down and wept Friday as a jury cleared him of 14 charges of child pornography.

The hugely successful Chicago-based star had consistently denied the charges since his arrested in 2002 after an incriminating video tape was sent to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"There wasn't enough evidence," jubilant defense lawyer Edward Genson told a press conference saying they were "ecstatic" that Robert Kelly was cleared of all the charges against him after the jury deliberated for less than a day.

"What happened today when those verdicts started (was) you got to see the real Robert Kelly. He sat there and he was contrite. He sat there and he was crying," said another defense lawyer Sam Adam.

"He sat there and was thanking God. All I heard the entire time those 14 verdicts were being read was thank you Jesus," Adam said, adding: "He is a deeply religious man."

Sorry, you pedophile bastard, Jesus didn't have anything to do with your skating on these charges. It was your money and a different spiritual powerhouse -- Satan.

And I can't help but notice that one of kelly's lawyers sort of gave away his client's guilt in that passage above -- "He was contrite."

Let's consider what "contrition" actually is. It is a sadness and remorse for having done wrong -- often understood as carrying with it a sense that one is facing eternal damnation. R. Kelly could not be contrite today unless he was also guilty of the acts in question.

And let's be honest -- this isn't the first time he has used an underage girl as his sexual plaything. Can we say Aaliyah?

Remember, they lied about her age (she was really 15) to get married and the marriage was later annulled for that reason.

Of course, there is also the issue of the videotape. Either Kelly and his young victim on the tape, or someone somehow just happened to get a dead ringer (in appearance and voice) for Kelly AND a relatively unknown child who R. Kelly just happened to have access to. I'm no math whiz, but I can't help but believe that the odds of this collusion of circumstance is so small as to defy reasonable belief.

In a court of law, R. Kelly may be not guilty. However, in the court of common sense the verdict must be something else.

And I hope that the twelve jurors who let this platinum predator go will recognize their guilt WHEN R. Kelly sexually abuses his next victim -- and there will undoubtedly be a next victim.

And may I point to this article which talks about the biggest scandal that this case highlights?

It wasnÂ’t that they couldnÂ’t believe that Kelly, a grown man, had engaged in sex with a girl who may have been no older than 14. They just didnÂ’t see a problem. For an apparently large number of Americans, adult men having sex with young teen girls is no big deal.

The numbers donÂ’t lie: Almost 66 percent of nearly 280,000 babies born to teen mothers in 2005 were fathered by men who were 20 or older, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Most of those men were 20 to 24 years old.

WhatÂ’s going on here? Some, pathetically, blame the young girls. It takes two to tango, they say. But a 14-year-old girl is not psychologically or emotionally equal to a manipulative, preying older man.

And if this is the case, why are we as a society so willing to allow our daughters, nieces and sisters to be sexually exploited in this fashion?

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Posted by: Greg at 02:21 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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