R. Kelly surprised the judge in his child pornography trial by saying that he decided to make use of his right not to testify in his own defense.
     
On Tuesday, Judge Vincent Gaughan told the famous R&B singer that he had the right not to testify. When Kelly heard about it, he leaned forward at the defense table and, speaking for the first time in this trial, he said: 

"I decided not to testify."

The 41-year-old singer famous for his “I Believe I can Fly” super hit, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he had sex with a 13-year-old girl and videotaped the whole scene. The girl, who is now 23, also denied that she is on the tape.

The defense lawyers asked Judge Gaughan to forbid the jury the reviewing the graphic video
arguing that the jurors would overemphasize one piece of evidence. The judge denied the defense’s request on Tuesday. Prosecutors said the videotape was the primary subject of the trial and couldn't be kept from jurors. Prosecutors will call two rebuttal witnesses and the closing arguments will probably be delivered Thursday.

The defense attorneys rested their case on Monday. One of the 12 witnesses called by the defense in just two days was a forensics expert who testified that a mole on the back of the man in the videotape was missing. Kelly’s lawyers said he has a mole on his back which doesn’t appear on the videotape.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in the trial which started six years ago. The 41-year-old artist was charged in 2002 with 21 counts relating to child pornography. He was released on $750,000 bail and since then seven of those charges were dropped.