Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly’s child pornography trial Thursday amid contentious exchanges between prosecutors and defense attorneys, who accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines.

Of the 12 jurors who will open the case, eight are white and four are black. The four alternates include two blacks, one Hispanic and one white.

There are four African Americans: a man in his 40s who works as a chef; a self-described Christian in his 50s who knows of Barry Hankerson (the uncle of late singer Aaliyah who could potentially be called as a witness); a female teacher’s aide in her late 20s or early 30s; and a middle-aged woman who is married to a pastor and resides in Olympia Fields, the same neighborhood Kelly lives in.

The eight white jurors consist of a man in his 40s who previously served as a juror on a another case; a twentysomething female criminal-justice student; a compliance officer in his 30s; an executive and father of two; a man who says he’s seen faded-out clips of the alleged video on the news but can judge the case fairly; a male recent college graduate who was once arrested for possession of marijuana and underage drinking; a 68-year-old Romanian-American who said he’s “probably not the smartest guy but will do what is best and fair”; and a young female athletic trainer who admitted to having once been the victim of rape. [continue reading]