R. Kelly defense pushes back against woman’s New York trial testimony that the singer taped her as a teen having sex

NEW YORK – A lawyer for R. Kelly on Thursday sought to discredit a a woman at the center of sexual abuse allegations against the singer, asking detailed questions about her claims that Kelly had slapped and choked her in his suburban Chicago mansion during their final sexual encounter more than a decade ago.

Jerhonda Johnson Pace, the first witness testifying for prosecutors in Kelly’s long-awaited racketeering trial in New York, has recounted for the jury over the past two days how the superstar singer recorded them having intercourse when she was 16 after they’d met at his first criminal case in Chicago in 2008.

During a lengthy cross-examination Thursday, Kelly attorney Devereaux Cannick sought to portray Pace as a starry-eyed Kelly superfan, displaying photos of her taken during his 2008 criminal case. In one, she is walking next to Kelly outside the Leighton Criminal Court Building, beaming, leaning around him trying to catch his eye.

Cannick also asked a series of extraordinarily detailed questions about what Pace said was her final sexual encounter with Kelly in January 2010.

Did she fall down when he slapped her, Cannick asked? Which side of her face did he slap? Did it leave any marks or swelling? Did he slap her first or choke her? Where was she when he spat on her?

Pace, who has spoken publicly about the alleged abuse numerous times, testified in the same distinctive voice familiar from her television appearances: high-pitched, slightly hoarse. She answered Cannick’s questions in unembellished, almost monotone sentences, even as he asked if she was a groupie or a stalker or a liar, or if she had a sexual relationship with one of Kelly’s associates.

In an effort to poke holes in Pace’s story, Cannick noted that in a photo she took of herself at Kelly’s mansion, she was in heels and tight-fitting clothes, not baggy clothes as Pace has alleged Kelly required. She did not take photos of herself after Kelly allegedly slapped and choked her, she said, and she went to civil lawyers with her allegations first, instead of police.

Pace has previously testified that she contacted attorneys because she wanted to press charges, but they advised her against doing so.

Pace testified she was usually confined to one of two rooms when she was at Kelly’s Olympia Fields mansion, and could not use the bathroom without his permission.

Cannick asked her how long she usually had to wait.

“Generally it was fast if I was on his good side,” Pace said. “The longest period was three days.”

But one of the bedrooms where she was staying had a bathroom attached, Cannick pointed out.

“You’re in the mirror room, there’s a bathroom right there,” he said.

“Yes,” Pace said, and Cannick changed the subject.

Cannick also had Pace read from a settlement agreement she reached with Kelly, in which the singer denied all wrongdoing and maintained that she showed him an ID proving she was 19. Bringing up the settlement could perhaps be a way to get Kelly’s side of the story in front of jurors without having to put him on the witness stand.

Cross-examination is expected to continue Thursday afternoon.

In earlier testimony, Pace, now 28, told jurors Kelly had sex with her repeatedly over the course of six months in 2009 and 2010. During their time together, his abuse and control of her escalated, she said, and he made her follow manipulative “rules” that prosecutors said are the hallmark of his criminal scheme.

Pace alleged sex, abuse and control by Kelly after she met him as a teenager at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse in 2008, where she had gone to show support during the singer’s first criminal case.

On direct examination by prosecutors Thursday, she said Kelly at least once he made particular requests about her wardrobe when they had sex.

“He wanted me to put my hair up in pigtails and dress like a Girl Scout,” told the jury.

Pace said she had given media interviews about her experience, but was not paid for them. However, she made more than $25,000 from a self-published book about her experiences on Amazon, she said.

Kelly’s defense has repeatedly accused the witnesses of coming forward only because they want to cash in on their accusations.

Cannick later had her confirm on cross-examination that she lied about her age at least twice during her relationship with Kelly: First during Kelly’s 2008 criminal case, when she told court officials she was 18; and then again before her first sexual encounter with Kelly in 2009 when she told him she was 19.

Pace also reiterated on cross-examination Thursday that she first told Kelly her true age after he performed a sex act on her and she became uncomfortable — the same thing she told prosecutors during her direct testimony a day earlier.

“But you were not so uncomfortable with the situation that you said ‘hell no, I’m not taking off my clothes, I’m going home’?” Cannick asked.

“That’s correct,” Pace said.

The defense’s cross-examination of Pace is expected to be lengthy. In opening statements, Kelly attorney Nicole Blank Becker reserved some of her harshest criticism for Pace, saying she is a self-admitted liar and former Kelly “groupie” who only started making accusations when she thought it would be profitable.

Prosecutors allege Kelly’s abuse of Pace was part of an operation that spanned decades, leveraging Kelly’s fame to target young victims, groom them, abuse them, and manipulate or blackmail them to keep them under his control. Kelly is “a predator” who hoarded girls including Pace “like objects.”

Not everyone who watched was so impressed.

A small group of middle-aged women — Kelly’s die-hard supporters — was first in line outside the courthouse Thursday.

They began to arrive just after dawn, vowing to get some of the limited spots in the overflow room set aside for the public. The day before, they complained, most of those seats had been taken up by the family of another woman who has claimed Kelly abuse.

This time, they said they had to make it in to watch — especially to see the rest of Pace’s testimony.

“We’re going to find out she’s a liar,” said Terri Speaks, who flew in from St. Louis to watch the proceedings. “Just wait till it come out! They shamed this man.”

Speaks has loved Kelly’s music for years, she said. “Step in the Name of Love” is a staple at every family birthday party. But it was Kelly’s infamous interview with Gayle King that really made her sympathize with the singer. “I was like, ‘oh, he’s saying his truth,’” she said.

And once he was locked up on the federal charges in July 2019, she wrote him regularly, sent him study bibles and religious books. Once, he even called her from jail to thank her for her support, she said.

“He touched my soul some type of way, he really did,” she said.

“I ain’t going to say he innocent (of everything), that he never, like, slapped a girl. Who don’t?” She said. “Like he said, he isn’t perfect. But he didn’t do nothing to deserve to be in no jail.”

Speaks and her fellow fans on Thursday echoed many of the themes of the defense’s opening statement: the witnesses against him are lying, motivated by money or spite, and that if you listen carefully the truth will come out.

Kelly faces a racketeering charge more commonly used against mob bosses. If convicted he could spend decades in prison.

Also reportedly slated to testify Thursday is Demetrius Smith, Kelly’s former tour manager, who prosecutors allege paid a $500 bribe to get a fake ID for 15-year-old Aaliyah so Kelly could marry her. Kelly and the now-deceased singer allegedly married after the pair thought Aaliyah was pregnant.

The trial is expected to last up to a month or more.

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(Crepeau reported from New York and Meisner from Chicago.)

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