Chicago Tribune

Kansas City man testifies about returning copy of purported R. Kelly sex tape to singer’s associates for cash

Lisa Van Allen arrives at the Cook County Criminal Court Building to testify in the R. Kelly child pornography trial in 2008..

CHICAGO — The Kansas City man at the center of an alleged scheme to hide a sex tape showing R. Kelly in a threesome with a 14-year-old girl told a federal jury Friday that he only handed over a partial copy of the tape to Kelly’s associates because he “didn’t think they’d know the difference.”

Keith Murrell, 45, is a key witness for prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Kelly and his two co-defendants, Derrel McDavid and Milton “June” Brown, conspired to buy back incriminating tapes and hide Kelly’s sexual misconduct.

Testifying in a Missouri drawl, Murrell, who currently works at a Kansas City convenience store, said he met Kelly in the mid-1990s when he was in an R&B group named K-OS. After impressing Kelly with a song they sang into his voicemail, they were flown to Chicago to record with Kelly’s label in 1997, he said.

It was at that time he met Lisa

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