May 27, 2008 4:23 PM: R. Kelly goes one-on-one ... with Tasmanian Devil
Chicago Tribune

The first witness Tuesday for the state was Alexandra Guerrero, an investigator with the Cook County state's attorney's office. She was brought in to describe R. Kelly's former North Side home, where prosecutors allege the sex tape was made.

But her testimony quickly turned into a play-by-play of a fantasy basketball game in which Kelly was the star player. Kelly had a hit with "I Believe I Can Fly," from the soundtrack to the animated movie "Space Jam." According to Guerrero, Kelly also believed he could play ball.

Guerrero described--and prosecutors provided photos of--a mural on the wall of a half basketball court in the lower level of the home. In it, Kelly is a Michael Jordan doppelganger, bald, shiny, muscles rippling, committing a flagrant foul against the Tasmanian Devil. Jordan himself is the referee. And the audience? A cast of Looney Tunes characters, from Elmer Fudd to Sylvester, cheering on the one-on-one game and holding signs that read "Go R. Kelly!" and "Go Taz!"

The "Go R. Kelly!" part is important because the defense has implied that since Kelly did not own the home at the time of the investigation, it's possible that its appearance was later altered by someone else, laying the foundation for it being someone else on the sex tape.

With a second on the shot clock, the score was R. Kelly 95, Taz-D 93. But it remains to be seen if the prosecution scored with this investigator's testimony.

-- Kayce Ataiyero