R. Kelly Jury Complete, Race Arguments Begin

by Jarrett Martineau | May 15, 2008 at 03:11 pm

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Both for supporters of R. Kelly and for those who are already convinced of his guilt, the argument over a fair judicial process, and an equitable, racial selection of jurors, has officially begun. It's bound to get interesting.

Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly's child pornography trial Thursday amid contentious exchanges between prosecutors and defense attorneys, who accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines.
Of the 12 jurors who will open the case, eight are white and four are black. The four alternates include two blacks, one Hispanic and one white.

Defense attorneys objected several times as prosecutors used challenges to have several blacks dismissed from the jury pool.

"I think they're using these (challenges) to get rid of African Americans," said Sam Adam Sr., one of Kelly's attorneys. A little later, he complained that "they've used 50 percent of their challenges on African Americans."

Prosecutor Shauna Boliker shot back, telling the judge that the defense had "used all six of their preemptories (preemptory challenges) on whites."

The R&B superstar is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old.