Lisa Van Allen testified Monday that Kelly is the person in the videotape at the center of the prosecution's case. The singer claims he is not the person on the tape having sex with an underage girl.
At times, Van Allen cried on the witness stand, and at times she laughed on the stand. She is from Atlanta. She is the mother of a 5-year-old daughter and has another child on the way. She held her own against a tough cross-examination where the defense called her a liar and an extortionist.
R. Kelly walked into court Monday ready to hear some explosive testimony from a woman who has become known in the media as "the threesome witness." Van Allen told the jurors about three different three-way sexual encounters she had with R. Kelly and the alleged victim, two of which, Van Allen said, were videotaped by Kelly.
Van Allen met the recording star on a video shoot in Georgia 10 years ago when she was just 17 years old. Van Allen would travel to Chicago frequently to see Kelly over the past few years. Now 27 years old, the Atlanta woman testified she met the alleged victim in this case in late 1998. Van Allen says their first three-way sexual encounter took place at R. Kelly's North Side home, in the log cabin room, the same place where he allegedly taped the video at the center of this case. Van Allen says the second encounter took place at Kelly's home on his basketball court. In both encounters, Van Allen testified, Kelly taped the three-way sex. At this point in her testimony Van Allen began to cry. She told jurors that she also cried during the videotaped session with Kelly and the alleged victim because she didn't want to do it.
Van Allen testified that Kelly put all his homemade porn in a duffel bag and carried it with him wherever he went.
Despite his arrest six years ago, and several delays at the start of the trial, Van Allen did not come forward to tell her story to prosecutors until a few months ago. Defense attorney Sam Adam Sr. suggested that Van Allen has cooked up a scheme with others to make a tape with someone who looks like R. Kelly in order to extort money from the singer. Van Allen did testify that Kelly offered her $250,000 for the original copy of the tape that he shot of one of the three-way sexual encounters.
Van Allen admitted on the witness stand that she stole a $20,000 Rolex from Kelly in 2001. She was given immunity from the state and U.S. attorney's office. The prosecution rested its case following Van Allen's testimony.
The tape was originally sent to Sun-Times reporter Jim DeRegotis. The defense wants DeRegotis to take the stand to ask him how he got the sex tape back in 2002. The reporter passed the tape on to police. On Friday, the judge ruled that he will have to testify. DeRegotis is expected to appeal that decision.
So far, eight prosecution witnesses have identified the girl on the tape and claim she was 13 or 14 at the time it was made.
R. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography.
