Witness says girl on sex tape underage

A singer and one-time artistic collaborator with R. Kelly cried on the witness stand Thursday at Kelly's child pornography trial as she described introducing the R&B superstar to a relative of hers -- the alleged victim in the case -- when the girl was only around 12 or 13 years old.

"He liked her spirit. She was a very jolly person," said Stephanie Edwards, who is best known for the 1998 duet "Be Careful" with Kelly. When she added the girl "was my heart," Edwards began to cry, pausing to wipe tears from her cheek.

Edwards, whose stage name is "Sparkle," said the introduction occurred about 10 years ago at a music studio in Chicago. Later, she and the girl watched a Chicago Bulls basketball game with Kelly at his home, Edwards testified.

Her relative was fond of Kelly and "took to him as a father figure," said Edwards, who said she never suspected the two had a sexual relationship until years later.

Edwards said she watched the sex tape at the center of the trial just before taking the stand, saying she was certain her relative appeared on it having sex with Kelly.

Asked how she was so sure, Edwards responded, "You know your blood ... you just know your family."

She also leaned forward to identify the Grammy-winning artist sitting across the courtroom as the same man she saw on a sex tape at the center of the trial.

The testimony is part of prosecutors' attempt to prove to the jury that the two people on the 27-minute homemade video are Kelly and the alleged victim. Both he and the woman -- who is now 23 years old -- have denied they are in the footage.

Kelly, 41, is charged with 14 counts of child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Kelly was attentive, his eyes darting back and forth from the witness stand to attorneys asking questions from a podium in the stately courtroom. As testimony wound down Thursday, though, he appeared tired, rubbing his hands over his face.

Cross examination got heated, with the defense grilling Edwards about a falling out she had with Kelly around 2000, two years after Kelly produced her 1998 debut album, "Sparkle." In 1998, she also sang backup vocals on Kelly's album, "R."

Defense attorney Ed Genson, a leading criminal lawyer in Chicago, suggested Edwards may have hatched a plot aimed at "getting Robert," referring to Kelly's given name.

"Of course not, " Edwards responded. "I was cool with Robert."

Genson and Edwards started talking over each other at one point, both raising their voices as some jurors looked on wide-eyed. Genson suggested Edwards may have tried to squeeze money out of the R&B superstar.

She shot back: "Sweetie, I'm not trying to get money out of this."

"I'm not your sweetie!" a visibly angry Genson retorted, shouting into a courtroom microphone, the room booming.

The judge intervened and told both Edwards and Genson to calm down.

"This is a court of law," Judge Vincent Gaughan said.

Several other witnesses also testified Thursday that they recognized the alleged victim in the tape.

Adra Gengler, the mother of the woman's childhood friend, said prosecutors had her watch the video before she testified, but she had to switch it off part way through because she found it too disturbing.

"It's very upsetting to me and my family," she said, her voice breaking. "It's disgusting." As she left the witness stand, she sighed deeply and said, "Oh my God."

Earlier Thursday, Audrey Hampton, who played basketball with the alleged victim and went to school with her for several years, told the jury "there's no question" that the female on the tape is her childhood friend at around the age of 13 or 14.

Asked how she knew it was her friend, the 23-year-old said she recognized the girl's face, voice, as well as some of her mannerisms in the tape, including "the way she licked the bottom of her lip."

Hampton's mother, Mary Kay Jerit, testified earlier in the day and said she found the sex tape in her daughter's room in early 2000. She said she viewed parts of it herself, and then threw the tape into the garbage.

Just before testimony got under way on Thursday, police arrested a 48-year-old woman who screamed "Free R. Kelly" at the jurors in the case as they stepped off an elevator near the courtroom.

Police immediately grabbed Debra Triplet and led her away in handcuffs. Gaughan later ordered the mother of three held on contempt charges in lieu of $50,000 bond.