US judge insists on R Kelly trial

R Kelly's career has not suffered due to the charges

A US judge has refused to dismiss charges against American singer R Kelly for allegedly engaging in videotaped sex acts with an underage girl.

Judge Vincent Gaughan rejected defence arguments in the Chicago court that prosecutors were too vague about when the alleged crime took place.

Judge Gaughan's decision takes Mr Kelly closer to trial in the three-year case. His next court date is on 9 December.

The singer, 38, has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography.

Prosecutors originally said the videotape in question was made during a nearly three-year span between January 1998 and October 2000.

Other charges dropped

But they modified their timeframe, making it 18 months shorter, after a judge agreed in June it was too broad.

Mr Kelly's defence lawyer Ed Genson was unavailable for comment.

In March 2004, prosecutors in Florida dropped all 12 child pornography charges against the singer.

A judge had ruled that photographs seized from the singer's home allegedly showing him with an underage girl were seized illegally.

Despite legal worries hanging over the performer for more than three years his career has not suffered.

He took top honours at 2004's Billboard's annual R'n'B/Hip-Hop Awards, winning seven out of the eight categories he was nominated for.

The double-Grammy winner, famed for his song I Believe I Can Fly, has sold more than 23 million albums.

He has worked with the likes of Michael and Janet Jackson, Mary J Blige, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion as well as a host of rap stars.