June 10, 2008 3:49 PM
Testimony comes to an end
Chicago Tribune

Testimony officially ended in the R. Kelly trial this afternoon as the judge ordered jurors to report back Thursday for closing arguments.

The jury was dismissed without any mention of a faulty stipulation regarding the accuracy of a DVD shown in court.

The prosecution learned Monday night that images from the sex tape at the center of the child pornography trial were compressed and lost significant detail when they were transferred to the DVD, Assistant State's Atty. Shauna Boliker said. The prosecutors blamed the error on "dumb lawyers" who simply wanted the DVD to more easily show shortened clips from the original video. The state swore to its veracity in a stipulation, a statement read to jurors in which both sides of the case agree on an item.

The situation was further complicated by the fact that the defense already presented testimony based on the supposed accuracy of both the DVD and the stipulation.

Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan called the stipulation "a rotten tomato in the barrel" and took an hourlong recess to consider the matter. After reviewing the transcripts, the judge said it was clear the defense had access to an uncompressed, unaltered copy of tape, in addition to the disc.

Gaughan asked the prosecution and defense to work together to resolve the matter. The two sides huddled for nearly an hour before returning to court and telling the judge they intended to put their agreement in writing.

Details of the resolution were not announced in open court.