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Another witness mentioned the movieSpace Jamin discussing his familiarity with Kelly.This is the sixth week of the trial.
Hood said he left the police department in 2007 in good standing and with his pension.
Did you ever see Robert Kelly acting inappropriately with Aaliyah?
Calvin Scholar, one of Kellys attorneys, asked.
No, I did not, Hood replied.
Did he see anything inappropriate with Angela?
No, sir, Hood said.
Did you ever see him with underage women?
Did you ever see Kelly lock a woman in a room?
Hood again answered in the negative.
I never had to take any action.
I was never made aware of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors next line of questioning didnt bode well for Hoods believability.
Isnt it true you left the police department in 2007 because you were convicted of felony forgery?
Hood admitted that he had pleaded guilty to forgery charges.
The prosecutor asked if the forgery was related to the use of counterfeit $100 bills.
Hood said yes, but added that he was not aware the money was fake.
Youre in court, under oath, here today?
Yes, he said.
Before Hoods testimony, Kellys longtime associate Dhanai Ramanan took the stand in the singers defense.
Hes like a mentor to me, a friend, a good friend, Ramanan said.
The defense asked, During that entire time, did you ever see him abuse a woman?
Did you ever see him lock a woman in a room?
Did you ever see him strike a woman?
Did you ever see him deny a woman food?
He started as an intern, working his way up to the role of assistant audio engineer.
Meeks responded, No.
Meeks also said that when he was working the phones, he took IDs.
Asked whether he had ever seen an underage female, Meeks again said no.
While he didnt inspect every ID, he said he didnt recall any underage girls.
During Meekss testimony, his demeanor was that of a talk-show guest.
He leaned back in his chair and held the mic.
On the small video screen, Meeks appeared to have a balding ponytail.
He gave short answers when he could and confusing ones when he couldnt.
On cross-examination, the prosecution asked whether Kelly ever had more than one female guest.
I suppose, Meeks replied.
Do you recall telling federal agents that Kelly sometimes had three or four female guests?
I mean, I believe you, he responded.
I just dont remember.
The prosecution asked whether he had asked a colleague, What do we do?
I do remember that, he said.
The prosecution asked if, after the colleague told Meeks to let the person leave, You were relieved?
Im sure I was a lot of things, but I guess relieved was one, he replied.
The prosecution then asked Meeks whether he knew about Kellys conduct before they worked together in 2002.
Meeks said he had heard of Kelly.
I mean, everybody did rememberSpace Jam?
In total, the defense called five witnesses.
Kelly did not testify.
Kelly faces one racketeering count and eight Mann Act counts.
The Mann Act counts relate to Kellys alleged shuttling of victims across state lines for illicit sex acts.
Federal prosecutors called 45 witnesses to make their case.
Eight of these witnesses were former employees.
And several described having misgivings about Kellys treatment of his girlfriends and their suspicion of his misconduct.
Aliciette Mayweather, another former Kelly assistant, testified last week.
Diana Copeland, another former Kelly assistant, also took the stand last week.
She testified that Kellys girlfriends did not freely roam his homes.
I saw Robert and Aaliyah in a sexual situation.
Alex, the second male accuser to publicly make allegations against Kelly, took the stand as well.
Alex claimed to have met Kelly in 2007, when he was 16.
A friend of Alexs at the time, Louis, introduced him to Kelly.
But it remains unknown what exactly jurors heard or saw.
Kelly didnt use his headphones while these recordings were presented, which would have allowed him to hear them.
The conclusion of the prosecutors case did not have the jaw-dropping power of its first few weeks.
Everyone elses head and face are the size of quarters.
(Vulture measured.)
The only glimpse of jurors happens when the camera catches them shuffling into the courtroom.
Jurors could have seemed riveted, convinced, or bored by this weeks proceedings.
There is no sense of how any of this will land.
Another key unknown factor is how the jury interpreted Copelands cross-examination.
No, they did not, Copeland said.
The defense also tried to use Copelands cross-examination to undermine claims that Kelly ran a criminal enterprise.
Robert did not have control over his bank accounts.
He didnt even know his own social-security number.
He had no control over that; he had no idea where his royalties were going.
That was a huge problem.
This post has been updated throughout.
