Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
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Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Both sides presented opening arguments today in the ongoing media circus that is R. Kelly's kiddie porn trial. The jurors will be shown the now-infamous tape that shows two people engaging in sex acts; the prosecution says those people are R. Kelly and an underage girl, and the defense says it's not R. Kelly, nor has the prosecution correctly identified the girl on the tape.
Assistant State's Attorney Shauna Boliker argued for the prosecution that "the child pornographer that sits before you is Robert Kelly," saying common sense would lead jurors to convict, but defense attorney Sam Adam, Jr. said Kelly has a large mole on his lower back, and the man in the video has no such mole. "No such mole" = the best phrase I've typed in weeks.
An article in the New York Times today draws a parallel between Al Capone's tax-evasion conviction and Kelly's child pornography charges, calling both a "sideways approach to crime-busting." And according to Leonard L. Cavise, a professor at DePaul University’s College of Law, that might not be the legal legacy we ought to embrace.
"This is a very weird case," Mr. Cavise said. "It makes Chicago look like a laughingstock. It's as if they said, 'Let's spend millions of dollars and six years, shut down an important courtroom, cause a media circus and end up either convicting him of nothing at all or on some charge that has nothing to do with what you really should get him on if he's guilty: sex with children.'"
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lol whut?
Who is R Kelly and why are we talking about him?
No really. What the hell are these people talking about?
Al Capone was charged with tax evasion by the Feds. It had nothing to do with Chicago.
And let's try to remember the circumstances surrounding the charges being reduced - and let's try to remember that the media has done nothing but lionize this pedophile shithead.
From the NYT article:
Wow. Ther American dream.
Meanwhile, the usual people willing to stand up for rape victims have kept their mouth shut because...well if you go after "R Kel", you'd better be prepared for millions of accusations even if the case is a dead ringer for guilty. And that lack of support amongst vocal women and the black community at large has resulted in the victim keeping her mouth shut.
Dan the victim isnt just keeping her mouth shut she says it's not her. R.Kelly has spent alot of money on this case and not just on lawyers. I dont see a guilty verdict.
And why would the victim say it's not her?
because she was paid a lot of money?
this guy has such a pattern of this. i find it so gross. ick. i only wish i didn't see this thing ending up in a not guilty verdict or a hung jury or something. blah.
Yeah. Or scared. Or both.
That would be awesome if Trapped in the Closet was somehow presented as evidence.
Yeah, we're a hilarious laughingstock with all of our crazy prosecution of alleged child pornographers based on a videotape that is evidence of same. Just nuts!
You prosecute the case you think you can win, when you have evidence of a crime. That's about as straightforward as you can get when it comes to "crime-busting."
It is a laughingstock that it's taken six years for this alleged crime to come to trial.
This doesn't reflect on Chicago anymore than O.J. reflected on L.A. Aren't the real issues here celebrity, race, influence and bangin' kids?