R. Kelly's lawyer asked an accuser if she was a 'groupie' when she testified about having sex with the singer at age 16

• R. Kelly's attorney on Thursday cross examined the first accuser who took the stand.
• He focused his questioning on pointing out inconsistencies in the woman's stories, but fell short.
• He also peppered the witness with questions about her sexuality and R. Kelly fandom.

An attorney for R. Kelly spent Thursday morning trying to find inconsistencies in the testimony of one of the singer's accusers and attempting to paint the woman as a "groupie" who didn't turn down Kelly's advances.

The witness, Jerhonda Pace, testified Wednesday that Kelly first invited her to his home in May 2009, when she was 16. She said that when she arrived, Kelly instructed her to change into a bathing suit and walk back and forth in his pool room, stripping for him.

Kelly's attorney, Devereaux Leon Cannick, returned to that story during cross-examination Thursday.

"Did you say to him when he asked you to do this, 'no?'" he asked the now-28-year-old.

Pace responded that she had not.

"So you just took off your clothes?" the lawyer followed up.

"Yes," she said.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have accused Kelly of sexually abusing Pace and more than 20 other girls, boys, and women over a 30-year-period, six of whom are identified as victims in charging documents. Prosecutors allege that Kelly used his fame and entourage to recruit victims, who he would later abuse sexually, physically, and psychologically.

In the defense team's opening statement Wednesday, attorney Nicole Blank Becker repeatedly urged jurors to listen closely to Pace's testimony, warning that her story would change. But Pace remained specific and detailed on the stand.

Pace testified that she met Kelly - whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly - during his child pornography trial in 2008. Then 14 years old, Pace was a member of an R. Kelly fan forum on MySpace and showed up to the court to support the singer.

During more than two hours of cross-examination, Cannick repeatedly asked Pace if she identified as an R. Kelly "groupie." She said she didn't.

"You were, in fact, stalking him, weren't you?" he asked, which Pace denied.

Kelly's lawyer appeared to struggle with birthday math

Cannick spent a significant portion of his cross-examination grilling Pace about her age at various points in her story.

Pace admitted she told the singer initially that she was 19, but then disclosed to him that she was 16 after the first time they engaged in oral sex because she didn't feel comfortable about the lie.

Cannick struggled with birthday math in an apparent attempt to catch the accuser in a lie. He wondered how Pace could have been 14 on April 1, 2008, when she first met Kelly, and 16 in May 2009.

Pace told the jury that her birthday was April 19.

Pace shared additional details about how Kelly controlled her life during Cannick's cross-examination, including that she was required to ask Kelly's permission if she wanted to use the bathroom at his Olympia Fields, Illinois, home.

Pace testified that when she was on Kelly's "good side," he'd grant her permission within five minutes. When she was on his "bad side," she said, he sometimes would not allow her to use the bathroom for up to three days.

"You didn't relieve yourself for three days if he didn't give you permission?" Cannick asked.

"I did," Pace testified.

On Wednesday, prosecutors told jurors that Kelly's accusers were frequently denied bathroom access and were forced to urinate in cups.

The accuser sobbed as she read from her teenaged diary

Later Thursday afternoon, prosecutor Elizabeth Geddes presented Pace with a diary she kept as a teenager. Pace began to sob as she read aloud an entry about the last time she met with Kelly at his home.

"Rob slapped me three times and Rob said to me if I lied to him again it's not going to be an open hand next time," she read through tears. "He spit in my face and in my mouth. He choked me."

Pace read that she "became fed up with him and went home and confessed."

After finishing reading the entry, Pace asked the judge for a break.