Childhood pal IDs girl in sex tape at R. Kelly trial

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A childhood friend of the alleged victim in the R. Kelly child pornography case testified Wednesday that she recognizes her longtime friend as the one in the explicit video at the center of the trial.

The R&B superstar is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a girl as young as 13.

His attorneys have said Kelly is not on the tape and the alleged victim, who is now 23 years old, also denies she is the person in the video.

Prosecutors showed the footage within hours of opening statements Tuesday and now they are working to prove their claim that Kelly and the alleged victim are indeed in the video.

On Wednesday, Simha Jamison, 24, said she and the alleged victim were best friends for about 10 years until their junior year in high school. She knows her best friend's face like she knows "the back of her own hand," she said.

She testified she and her friend visited Kelly at his recording studio and at a Chicago basketball court dozens of times starting when they were around the age of 12.

Her friend first introduced her to Kelly as "her godfather," Jamison said, adding that the singer frequently gave her friend cash gifts -- "no less than $100 and no more than $500."

She said the two also visited the North Side home where authorities say the sex tape was filmed. Jamison said she saw the tape in 2002 and again just before testifying.

Defense attorneys planned to cross-examine her later on Wednesday.

The 41-year-old Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted.

The prosecution's first few witnesses were geared toward identifying the alleged victim on the tape that prosecutors say was made between January 1, 1998, and November 1, 2000.

Jamison's father, Peter Thomas, testified that the alleged victim's involvement in the video was the talk of their neighborhood. When his daughter heard about it in 2002, he said she would cry herself to sleep but would not discuss it.

He watched the video for the first time before testifying Wednesday and identified the girl, guessing that she must have been around 14 or 15 in the video. Watch a witness's reaction to seeing the tape in court »

Earlier Wednesday, John Kelly, a retired investigator with the Cook County state's attorney's office, testified that a room in a Chicago home once owned by the singer strongly resembles the distinctive room in the video.

John Kelly said he visited the sprawling red brick home on Chicago's North Side in 2002 and saw what he described as a "hot tub room" with the same log-cabin theme as the room in the video.

During cross examination, the defense countered that Kelly moved out of the home at least several weeks before the investigator arrived.

R. Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for the gospel-tinged "I Believe I Can Fly," and also is known for such songs as "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition," and "Trapped in the Closet," a multipart saga about the sexual secrets of a lively and ever-expanding cast of characters.

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