Thread by @thisisinsider

Nicole Blank Becker, a former Michigan sex crimes prosecutor, remembers watching "Surviving R. Kelly" and being mortified by the allegations against the R&B star.

Now, she is one of Kelly's most public champions as the only woman on his defense team.

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In court, Becker has called the accusers "liars," characterized their relationships with Kelly as "beautiful," and suggested that the women who didn't like Kelly's behavior should have walked away.

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Prosecutors have alleged that the singer masterminded a decades-long operation to target girls and women and recruit them for sex.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Becker said her opinion on the singer has done a 180-degree flip.
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It's a seemingly inexplicable pivot for a veteran sex crimes prosecutor to defend a disgraced celebrity in one of the most high-profile federal trials of the year.

But for Becker, and those who know her, it's a natural move for an ambitious lawyer.

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She became a defense attorney and launched her private practice in 2017, after leading Macomb County's sex crimes unit and child abuse unit for years.

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Some of the warrants that crossed her desk over the years had her question whether Michigan's laws were fair to the accused.

There were too many times when, she said, her unit would investigate alleged victims' claims, only to discover they were untrue.

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Becker said a misunderstood part of sex crimes defense work is the notion that she goes to trial each day with the goal of getting sex offenders acquitted of heinous crimes.

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Defending Kelly has come with criticism: An essay in The Cut accused Becker and defenders of various Hollywood sex pests of throwing women "under the bus in the service of terrible men."

Becker laughed off the condemnation in an interview with Insider.

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"First of all, sometimes the victims are men," Becker said.

She's right: Two men were among the 11 accusers who testified in court that Kelly sexually abused them, many of them when they were underage.

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So far, Becker has had a lackluster start at trial according to Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who has been following Kelly’s trial.

During cross-examinations Becker came across as far too accusatory toward witnesses, Rahmani said.

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When questioning one accuser Becker repeatedly framed the allegations as the result of the accuser's own decisions, apparently faulting her for answering the singer's calls and consenting to sex.

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In-person, Becker is gregarious and confident, with a spirited laugh and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor.

It's easy to see how Becker could win over someone like Kelly.

But one of her former colleagues on the defense team was less charmed.

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Becker told Insider that Greenberg was simply disgruntled.

That kind of vitriol comes with the territory of being a sex crimes defense lawyer, she said.

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Follow @thisisinsider for more coverage of R. Kelly’s trial.

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