Kelly trial testimony called sad, shocking

CHICAGO, May 25 (UPI) -- The Chicago trial of R&B performer R. Kelly on child pornography charges has so far featured alternately shocking and saddening testimony, observers say.

Kelly, facing up to 15 years if convicted on the charges, remained mainly expressionless as he listened to witnesses accuse him of luring a 13-year-old girl into performing sex acts on him while filming them, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday.

Trial testimony is to resume Tuesday.

The newspaper said the emotional peak of the first three days of testimony came Wednesday when singer Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards, a relative of the 13-year-old alleged victim, took the stand and forcefully countered Kelly's claim that neither he nor the alleged victim actually appear in the video.

Edwards testified that she introduced the girl to Kelly and that Kelly had been helpful to her in her career for some time afterward, but then the help stopped. When challenged by defense attorneys that she was seeking revenge on Kelly and that it wasn't her relative in the video, she insisted it was, exclaiming, "I know my family!" the Sun-Times said.