R. Kelly

R. Kelly finally gets day in court

Los Angeles (E! Online) - It's been more than five years since his indictment—and possibly a decade since he made the sex tape that got him in this mess—but R. Kelly is finally ready to go to trial on a raft of child-porn charges.

A Chicago judge has announced Sept. 17 as the start date for the trial. The 40-year-old performer faces 14 counts of child pornography resulting from the video, which purportedly shows him having sex with an underage girl. Kelly, whose first name is Robert, has pleaded innocent across the board.

The case has dragged on as prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred over various issues, including the timeline when the X-rated home movie was made, and which evidence was admissible. In the interim, the "I Can Believe I Can Fly" crooner has released seven albums, including Double Up in May, and continued to tour.

Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan settled on the fall start after meeting Wednesday with the Grammy winner, his high-profile lawyer, Ed Genson, and Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Shauna Boliker.

"Kelly believes in our system of justice and is looking forward to finally having his day in court," Kelly publicist Allan Mayer told E! Online.

"He's confident that when all the facts come out it will be clear that he's not guilty of any crime."
While much of the hold up can be pinned on the defense, which has filed myriad motions challenging the validity of the charges and seeking to have the case thrown out, Gaughan is also partly to blame, albeit accidentally.

The trial appeared on track for last summer, but the judge slipped off an 18-foot ladder in his Windy City home and ended up hospitalized with multiple broken bones. The trial was postponed to allow him to recover, but his injury created a huge backlog of cases Gaughan had to work through before Kelly's.

Then in February, Kelly himself fell ill after performing at a Super Bowl bash in Florida and missed a court date to undergo emergency surgery for a burst appendix. He has since recovered.

All the various adjournments mean that by the time the trial is scheduled to kick off, the 13-year-old minor in the video will be 22.

Of course, with this case, nothing can be taken for granted. Boliker, the chief prosecutor, is expecting a baby at the end of this month, but she told the Chicago Sun-Times she should be ready to return to work before jury selection begins.

In the meantime, Kelly is preparing to release a sequel to his 2005 "urban operetta" Trapped in the Closet. The first 12 parts of the video series were hugely popular and his label announced Thursday that chapters 13-22 will be released on DVD Aug. 21.