The first of the disgraced R&B singer’s accusers testified against him Wednesday following opening statements in the high-profile trial.
R&B star R. Kelly masterminded a decades-long sex trafficking plot and used his fame to exploit girls, boys and young women, prosecutors alleged as his in New York Wednesday. “This case is about a predator,” Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement. The 54-year-old Kelly, who also has pending criminal cases in and, faces 10 years to life in prison if he is convicted in the New York case. His racketeering indictment includes underlying counts of sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and violations of the Mann Act, which criminalizes the transportation of women and girls for any “immoral purpose.” He has pleaded not guilty. Jerhonda Pace was the first of Kelly’s accusers to take the stand, testifying she was a 16-year-old fan of Kelly’s when he invited her to his house in 2009. Pace and five other women in the indictment are referred to in court filings as “Jane Does,” but Pace has spoken publicly about her accusations. Pace recounted an incident at Kelly’s home that year when he ordered her to walk back and forth while in her bathing suit and then to take the suit off. “I felt uncomfortable,” she said. She testified she eventually had sex with Kelly, and when she told him she was a virgin, he replied, “That’s good.” Pace said she initially told Kelly she was 19, but when she revealed her true age, Kelly told her to continue telling people she was 19 and act as if she were 21. Kelly has steadfastly maintained his innocence, including in an Kelly appeared in the Brooklyn federal courtroom wearing a gray suit before an anonymous jury of seven men and five women as proceedings started Wednesday morning.
