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R. Kelly's attorney guided his electric scooter down a hallway outside the courtroom where his client is on trial for child pornography, exclaiming as he sped past several reporters, "In the morning, we attack!"
That battle cry last week from Ed Genson, who suffers from a neurological disorder that makes it difficult for him to walk, was apt: After two weeks of prosecution testimony, the R&B star's lawyers have a lot of ground to regain.
After launching their defense days ago, Kelly's lawyers are endeavoring to breathe life back into several key claims when the case continues this week, including that a mole on Kelly's back proves his innocence and that a sex tape at the heart of the case could have been doctored, possibly as part of an extortion plot.
Kelly, who won a Grammy Award in 1997 for "I Believe I Can Fly," has pleaded not guilty to child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with a female prosecutors say was at young as 13. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Defense attorneys say neither Kelly nor the alleged victim are on the videotape, pointing to what they said in opening arguments was the absence of a fingernail-sized mole on the man's back in sex tape. Kelly, they noted, has such a mole.
But the mole defense took a hit when a prosecution witness froze frames on the tape that showed a spot on a man's lower back — located in the same place as a mole on Kelly's back as it appears in 2002 police photos.
On Thursday, however, the defense played their own frame-by-frame footage of the man's back for jurors.
"Do you see a mole?" Kelly attorney Marc Martin asked defense witness Charles Palm.
"I see a black mark but it doesn't appear to be a mole," the video expert replied.
Palm also told jurors the spot appeared only intermittently — proof, he said, that it was likely a mere glitch on the tape.
Kelly, who at times appeared dejected as prosecutors presented their case, seemed more at ease as the defense got into the thick of their case, even occasionally nodding his head in agreement as witnesses spoke.
He seemed particularly buoyed by three relatives of the alleged victim who took the stand for the defense to say they didn't recognize her as the female on the graphic tape. Four relatives testified earlier for the prosecution to say it was her.
"It definitely wasn't her," one relative, Shonna Edwards, told jurors emphatically on Wednesday. Edwards said she saw the tape for the first time a few days before, saying the female's body in it was too developed to be her relative at the time.
Among the most surreal testimony of the trail to date came when Palm, the defense video expert, sought to counter testimony that doctoring the nearly half-hour video — 100,000 frames on the entire footage — would be practically impossible.
To demonstrate it was doable, he played an excerpt he digitally altered where just the heads of the man and woman disappeared as they had sex. At other points, their bodies fade in and out completely, as if they were ghosts.
"I created most of that over a couple of spare hours," he said. Asked in cross-examination if anything indicated the tape had actually been fabricated, Palm conceded, "Nothing jumps out at me at being obviously faked."
When they continue their case this week, Kelly's lawyers were expected to call a witness who came forward after the trial began to claim he could discredit Lisa Van Allen, the last witness for prosecutors before they rested their case Monday.
In her potentially damaging testimony, the 27-year-old told jurors she engaged in three-way sexual encounters with Kelly and the alleged victim on several occasions, including once on a basketball court.
She also described how Kelly allegedly carried a duffel bag stuffed full of homemade sex tapes. "Wherever he was at, the bag would follow him," she said.
The defense has already begun trying to impinge her potentially devastating testimony.
A law clerk for the defense, Jason Wallace, told jurors Wednesday that Van Allen's fiance sought $300,000 from Kelly in exchange for her silence. Van Allen also has admitted she once stole Kelly's $20,000 diamond-studded watch from a hotel.
The blonde singer has sparked further rumours the group are to disband after confirming she is collaborating with nu-ravers Filthy Dukes for the soundtrack of forthcoming film 'Wild Child'.
A friend of the star told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "She was thrilled to be approached and recognised as a singer in her own right. The 'Wild Child' soundtrack is a pretty cool album with some big names on it including Rihanna, Robbie Williams and Nelly Furtado, so it promises to be a springboard to other things."
Sarah, 26, is the latest member of the band to branch out on her own, although her pal insists she is still committed to Girls Aloud.
The friend added: "She loves Girls Aloud and has no desire to for the band to split - but that doesn't mean she's not willing to expand her work."
Cheryl Cole recently provided backing vocals on will.i.am's track 'Heartbreaker', while Nadine Coyle has been dogged by rumours she wants to pursue a solo career.
'Wild Child' stars Julia Roberts' niece Emma and British actress Natasha Richardson.
Bobby Brown's son Brandon has revealed that he had a secret fling with Lindsay Lohan.
The reality TV star said that the Mean Girls star seduced him in a West Hollywood nightclub bathroom two years ago. “Me and Lindsay got really, really close. She followed me to the bathroom during a private party, and, well, we basically got together," The Sun quoted him, as saying. “I think she knew who I was when she first saw me. We were just staring at each other and she walked by. I walked into the bathroom and she followed me in," he added.
Brandon said that they dated briefly before parting ways and now, he is eager for a reunion. "It didn't end badly, but it did end weird. I'm actually trying to get back in touch with her - really soon," he said.
Hollywood actress Charlize Theron has revealed that she has no plans of ever getting married to her long-term boyfriend Stuart Townsend. The two of them have been through many marriage rumours throughout their seven-year long romance, but none of it has affected them and they are still as close and committed as any married couple. The only difference being that they are not married and they have no lans to change their situation.
"Even when I was a little girl I never dreamed of the white dress and all of that," Contactmusic quoted Theron as telling the July issue of Glamour magazine. "I want to be clear: I am not judgmental about marriage. I am judgmental about how our government doesn't want to see the reality of gay and lesbian marriages," she said. But she does not say that keeping a long relationship is easy, as it requires the same kind of attention as a marriage.
"I think if you are in a one or two-year relationship, love is enough. You can thrive on that. When you hit years three and four, you realise that if you're going to live with somebody ... you have to be nurtured emotionally and spiritually, and you have to be intrigued. Because if that intrigue runs out, you're not going to want to go home anymore," she said.
Being serious in a relationship does not mean that one loses their freedom to express, as according to Theron, letting each other flirt and develop crushes on other members of the opposite sex, adds spice to life.
"I've always said that I worry about being with a man who doesn't flirt. I love that Stuart can watch tennis and tell me that he's got a crush on a tennis player. We're not meant to just like one person. But (that) doesn't mean you go and build a life with another person," she added.
Jim Carry has praised girlfriend Jenny McCarthy's autistic son for 'teaching him how to love'.
The actor, in the US capital Washington D.C. to raise awareness of the presence of toxins in vaccines by leading the 'Green Our Vaccines' march, revealed that the five-year-old Evan had shown him a whole new side of the world.
"He taught me how to love. And without Evan I might never have seen the greatness of Jenny's spirit," Contactmusic quoted him, as saying.
The Hollywood funnyman was also all praise for ladylove Jenny.
"(Jenny is) the source of all that is good (in my life)," he said.
Carrey was accompanied to Washington by his 20-year-old daughter Jane.
Jane is the actor's daughter from his first wife, Comedy Store waitress Melissa Womer whom he wed in 1987, and officially divorced in late
When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies
The Pussycat Dolls film their new “When I Grow Up” Music Video along Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on Tuesday. Lots of writhing by lead doll Nicole Scherzinger and her pussycats Melody Thornton, Jessica Sutta, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt.
Here is some interesting news for all Paris fans. We hear that Hilton's and Joel Madden's dogs are dating.
According to Paris' boyfriend Benji Madden - who is Joel's brother and Good Charlotte bandmate - her Chihuahua Tinkerbell has been sniffing around Joel's pet Pitbull Terrier Eazy.
In a posting on the Good Charlotte website following a family party at Paris' house, Benji wrote: "There were lots of babies around and everyone brought their dogs and they were all dressed up.
"We just found out that Eazy, Joel's dog, and Tinkerbell are now seeing each other. She seems happy, we wish them the best..."
Benji and Paris have been dating for three months and are reportedly planning to marry.
Joel is engaged to Paris' close friend Nicole Richie and the couple have a five-month-old daughter Harlow.
Animal-lover Paris once claimed to have 600 pets in her various homes including Chihuahuas, a Rottweiler dog, a bobcat, a ferret and a kinkajou, though Tinkerbell is arguably her most famous pet after making regular public appearances with the socialite.
