(continued)

The Suspect: Robert Sylvester Kelly, aka R. Kelly
The accused claims to be innocent of the charges against him, which in the current suit comes in at 14 counts of child pornography. And as simplistic as that sounds, it's a large portion of an argument the prosecution must overcome in order to get a conviction. But that won't stop them from highlighting R. Kelly's seedy history.

Kelly has settled three separate lawsuits concerning statutory sex-related accusations, but there's more to the story than that. Start with his marriage in 1994, at age 27, to aspiring 15-year-old singer Aaliyah Haughton, whom he also mentored and, well, "mentored." Her age was listed as 18 on the marriage certificate, but Vibe magazine obtained and published a copy of their doctored license, and the marriage was promptly annulled.

The earliest known case involving Kelly was settled in 1998 and stems from an illegal relationship from 1991; another suit alleged that a relationship ended in a coerced abortion; yet another case of sex with a minor was tossed out of criminal court in Florida after a judge ruled evidence (a digital camera) was illegally obtained; and so on. Of course, a settlement could simply indicate that Kelly hoped to excise the problem(s) before they became full-fledged incidents, and he's indicated in interviews that this is where he stands.

These past relationships—even that of the now-deceased Aaliyah—will likely be used by the prosecution in Kelly's current trial.