The Trail Has Begun.Michael Jackson

MICHAEL Jackson wore all white yesterday as he began his battle to prove he is all right.

The defiant superstar chose the colour of innocence for the opening day of his child sex trial.

But he was BANNED from taking the message one step further by wearing an armband featuring the number 777.

It is a Hebrew figure representing purity and love of God — and prosecutors claimed it could influence jurors.

Jacko, 46, smiled and looked relaxed as he arrived at the Californian court that will decide if he is good or bad.

He wore a buttoned-up shirt, tight white trousers and sunglasses as he made a less than grand entrance.

Only 300 fans — far fewer than the 5,000 anticipated by nervous cops — turned out to support him.

As he stepped from a blacked-out Jeep to be greeted by his lawyer Thomas Mesereau, Jacko gave his supporters a brief wave and V-for-victory sign.

Then he walked quickly into the Santa Maria court flanked by two minders, one holding an umbrella to shield the him from the sun.
Jacko vanished from sight after security gave him the once-over with a scanner.

But before entering the courtroom he CHANGED into a more elaborate outfit of glittering jewel-encrusted vest and belt covered by a white jacket with gold armband.

Court reporter Linda Deutsch said: “The scene was quite theatrical. He was joking with his lawyers as they waited for about an hour for things to get started.

“He walked over to the clerk of the court to introduce himself by shaking her hand.When the jurors came in, he stood smiling at them.”

Jacko later emerged for a lunchbreak wearing the jacket and armband and surrounded by minders and lawyers.

The star denies molesting a 13-year-old cancer sufferer, now 15, plying him with booze and plotting to abduct him.

Only the three-week process of selecting 12 men and women from 750 prospective jurors began yesterday.

Jacko smiled at potential jurors as they filed in but concentrated hard as they were questioned for suitability.

Earlier mum Katherine, 72, blasted the charges against her son as “ridiculous” and said she was praying for him.

Sitting next to hubby Joe in a TV interview, Katherine said: “My son is very generous, very giving, very loving. He would never hurt a child. It's OK to love children.”


What are your thoughts.

They say this trial will last about 6 months and will take about 3 weeks to select the jury. I'm sure I'll read updates on it. It's not televised is it???

Did anyone see and tidbits of an interview with Jackson's parents with I think, an English lady named Daphne something????? I don't know if it aired already or will be aired, but Joe Jackson was very outspoken in his opinions. He said that he made "no" mistakes with his children; and of course that Michael was innocent. What troubled me is in his words, the reason why they are picking on Michael all comes down to one thing..."race". :rolleyes: I have a hard time buying that, since his son "was" loved, admired by all races.

He also said regarding Michael's plastic surgeries that there is too big a deal made out of it, and again paraphrasing him, he said, "you know who has a lot of plastic surgeries? Jews. He said almost every Jew has plastic surgery. His wife and him were arguing to a degree. She told him to "shut-up."

Does anyone know of this interview and if it's been aired, has anyone seen it?

TIS

It has been aired in the U.K but ididn't see it.The trail is being aired on ITV News in the U.K but i don't know about the US sorry

I don't know the facts, so I can just tell you my impressions. Celebrities are somehow vulnerable and may be victims of greedy people who do not hesitate to tell anything just to blackmail them. In this specific case, if it is all true, MJ is sort of a monster, that's it. Hope the trial will let us understand the facts. Anyway, it is obvious that he's not completely sane.

Mad, sad or bad??? Possibly none, possibly all. I think a defence of not guilty by reason of insanity would be a good bet.

I wonder how long potential jurors stayed in the shower after meeting him. Thank god I'm not 18 and in San Fernando.

TIS--I believe it will be on Court TV...

I think Jackson is innocent in my opinion. The mother scammed money from hospitals using her son's illness, and all. Not that I think Jackson is playing with a full deck though, I believe his mind did not mature the right way and he simply came to fear sex from seeing his father/brothers have sex with the fans of the band, etc. IMO, he's trying to make a fantasy land to escape from reality.

MJ, being so popular is an easy target to either extort money from or accuse of such despicable crimes that's true, and from what I've read (if true) the mother of this boy has been accused of that. The fact that the other family "settled" from the first case could also work in Jackson's favor.

Keep in mind too, we will not hear all of this case, and like discussed before during the Scott Peterson trial, only the jury will know all of the facts.

However, even if you had to disregard his "weirdness" (for lack of a better word), his lifestyle and adoration for children, what about the fact that by his own admission, he sees nothing at all wrong with sleeping with children? In my mind, the average 46 year old (or any adult for that matter), would find this suspicious? Don't you think???

If he is innocent and just being targeted, it is about the lowest thing you can do do any person. He'll always be under suspicion, even with a not guilty.

But, on the other hand, if he is quilty, he deserves to be punished to the extreme.

Keep in mind though, that the jury will have to go by certain guidelines. Even if they thought he was guilty, but it was not proven, the verdict would have to be not guilty.

TIS

I feel sorry for him in a way cuz his father took away his childhood and messed with his head. BUT if what they say is true he needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law insane or not.

Lets hope he gets a fair trial

I don't care if he's innocent or guilty. But one thing we know for sure is that he's a nutjob.

I take it you dont like his music He is a nutjob

I actually like his older music, when he was actually black. He did a few good songs after his transition though.

He's a fruitcake.

I think he went to pot after the "dangerous" album

I think he's smoking too much pot.

My favs are Thriller and Billy Jean. Can't think about other.

My fav's Man in the Mirror

Day 2

MICHAEL Jackson’s ex Debbie Rowe is to be a star prosecution witness in his child sex trial.

The pop superstar’s former wife is mum to his kids Prince Michael and Paris and is expected to knife Jacko by telling all about his weird lifestyle.


She will testify in revenge for his decision to stop his annual million-dollar payout to her.

Wacko Jacko agreed to give former nurse Debbie the cash after she signed over custody of their two kids to him following their 1999 divorce.

The pop superstar also bought her a £1.5million Beverly Hills mansion.

But the couple’s pact was blown apart last year when determined Debbie — horrified by the scandal surrounding Jacko — launched legal action to take custody of Prince Michael, seven, and Paris, six.

The 46-year-old singer halted his payments. And now Debbie, 44, will be a star prosecution witness at Jacko’s trial in Santa Maria, California. Her testimony could be dynamite as she is expected to lift the lid on his bizarre lifestyle.

Diane said there was no word on whether Jacko’s first wife Lisa Marie Presley will take the stand.

Elvis’s girl branded the singer a “freak” in 2003 but said she never saw him in bed with a child.

Jacko denies molesting a 13-year-old, now 15, and plotting to abduct him.

The star, who wore “pure” white for the first day of his trial, chose BLACK for Day Two.

His suit bore the British Army’s Royal Engineers badge, which Jacko used as a symbol of innocence.

Its French motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense, means “shame on him who thinks this evil.” The hearing was adjourned to Monday, when 250 people identified as potential jurors will be questioned for suitability.

Day 3

EXPLOSIVE tapes in which Michael Jackson’s first accuser Jordy Chandler tells how the star abused him have been broadcast on US TV.

It was the first time Jordy’s voice has been heard by a public gripped by Jacko’s child sex trial.

The boy, then 13, sobbed as he told a top psychiatrist that the singer:

GROPED him as they slept together at the singer’s Neverland ranch and in hotel bedrooms as they travelled together around the world.

KISSED him on the lips.

CRIED and said “You don’t love me any more” if Jordy objected.

KEPT him loyal and quiet by saying their secret was locked in a “little box” that only they could look inside.

Jordy is said to be one of seven boys prosecutors want to call as witnesses at Jacko’s trial, which resumes on Monday in Santa Maria, California.

His claims in 1993 triggered a police investigation. But the case never came to court after the pop superstar allegedly paid his family £12million in exchange for silence.

The tapes were recorded by eminent psychiatrist Dr Richard Gardner — and handed to US show The Insider by Jordy’s uncle Raymond.

Jordy’s mum took the boy to Dr Gardner as he was an expert on false child abuse claims and could tell if a kid was lying.

He was convinced Jordy was telling the truth.

On the tapes, Jordy says his mum confronted Jackson after he shared a bed with him at a Las Vegas hotel.

The star began weeping as he denied anything sexual had happened.

Jordy said: “He got my mum feeling so guilty that she broke in tears and decided, ‘OK, I believe you’.

“And so from that point on I was in his bed until the end of the relationship.”

Dr Gardner asked the boy about how the alleged abuse began, saying: “What kind of kiss was it?”

Jordy replied: “Just a peck on the cheek.” Then he added: “He graduated to kissing me on the lips.”

The boy said he shared “sexual activities” with Jacko but did not realise it was wrong at the time.

Asked if he did think it wrong now, he replied: “Of course.”

The US broadcast went much further than last week’s Channel 4 documentary on Jacko, in which only a tiny portion of the tapes was played.

The singer, 46, is on trial charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy, which he denies.

Jordy, now in his early 20s, is said to be reluctant to testify. Jacko has always dismissed his allegations.

FINGERPRINTS of a teenage boy and Jacko found on a porn magazine seized at Neverland are set to become a key issue in the star’s trial.

Prosecutors will argue they support the boy's claim they looked at the mag together.

Defence lawyers will say Jacko just took it away from the lad.

Details of the questionnaire given to potential jurors emerged yesterday.

Among the questions was one asking if they knew anything about Jordy Chandler’s 1993 allegations.

Man this is going to be a circus. I don't know if Jackson is guilty or not (although my gut says not for some reason) but he's never going to escape this even with an aquittal. He's weird and creepy and there are always going to be people who will prey on that (this is not to say that he might not be guilty as hell, I have no idea).

All I know is if a 46 year old grocer down the street only hung with boys and had sleep overs with them they'd be spending a couple years in the pokey getting butt f*cked every night.

I absolutely see your point Beth. It's completely inconcievable to me why I think the guy is innocent, I should know better, but for some reason I don't.

Day 4

MICHAEL Jackson paid his ex-wife $1million a year to stop her speaking about his sexual behaviour, mental state or alleged drug abuse.

Debbie Rowe, 44, signed the confidentiality agreement when she gave Jacko’s custody of their kids Prince Michael, eight, and Paris, six before they were born.

The details came out after Jacko’s lawyers dropped a bid to keep them secret.

Jacko, 46, stopped paying her last year after she confessed to fears for their kids.

She is to be a star prosecution witness at his child sex trial in Santa Maria, California.

He denies molesting a 13- year-old boy, now 15. In a new interview on US TV Jacko has insisted: "The bigger the star, the bigger the target."

He added: "People come at celebrities, we're targets. But truth always prevails."

The whole porn magazine issue should be enough to convict the idiot. It's too suspect and the upcoming defences argument is likely to be weak by saying Jacko took it away from the lad. Firstly if Jacko didn't want the kid seeing the magazine the kid WOULD NOT see the magazine. Things like that are usually well hidden when kids are around.

Anyway, even exploring the possibility that he's innocent, which he may actually be. He's still made bad decisions and for crying out loud you'd think he'd learn from them. If I could say a few words to the fruitcake I'd simply tell him that “As long as you keep inviting kids to your house you are forever going to get cases like this against you. This stupidity alone should have you locked up, you're a danger to yourself, even if you are innocent.”

Day 5

MICHAEL Jackson has vowed never to share a bed with children again.

He told US TV reporter Geraldo Rivera he now knows it was wrong.

Rivera said on his show: “However innocent it is, he now realises that it violates the social norm.”

Jackson, 46, made the promise in an hour-long interview to be shown on Fox News tonight.

The singer is currently on trial for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old boy. He admitted in a Martin Bashir documentary sharing a bed with the boy and his brother, then 11.

Jackson told Rivera that he is bearing up under the strain of the court case in Santa Maria, California.

The singer, who denies all charges, added: “The bigger the star, the bigger the target. Truth always prevails.”

Jackson could only make a few comments about his case because of the judge’s gagging order.

But he admitted he will parade his three children in front of cameras during the trial to portray himself as a family man. He usually hides them behind masks and veils.

A source on the Rivera show said: “Michael has always tried to hide his children, but now he knows he has to pull out every stop to win over the world.”

IMHO he's guilty as hell but he'll get out of it ALA O.J. Simpson. But that's a completely different story.

Hell he should've been locked up when he dangled his newborn baby over a balcony in germany.

But like others have said he is a celebrity and celebrities are targets for extortion.

The parents should also be on trial for letting there kids sleep at his house.

Do you plan on doing updates every day De Niro? This is going to take a while, they're only down to 250 jurors out of 4000 as of yesterday.

I guarantee that I will have finished this academic year before this trial is over. Hell I bet Christmas comes before the end of this soap opera.

Yes i am thinking of that.Get my info from newspapers and just type all the info down.

Yes i am thinking of that.Get my info from newspapers and just type all the info down. [/b][/quote]It would be good if you could as it doesnt get as much media coverage over here.

Yes i am thinking of that.Get my info from newspapers and just type all the info down. [/b][/quote]It would be good if you could as it doesnt get as much media coverage over here.

Update

There's an adage around most courthouses that a trial is often won or lost in jury selection -- and that may never be more true than in Michael Jackson's child molestation case, legal experts say.

"It's the whole ball of wax. It's going to decide if he wins or loses," Stan Goldman, a professor at Loyola Marymount Law School in Los Angeles, said of the 46-year-old pop star.

That's partly due to Jackson's fame, which creates the potential for "stealth" jurors -- people who want to get on the case with an agenda to either convict or acquit the self-styled "King of Pop" or win some notoriety for themselves.

And it's partly because, with little physical evidence and two wildly opposing accounts of the case -- one of them hanging on the testimony of a 15-year-old boy -- the verdict may ultimately depend on who the jury is more inclined to believe.

Questioning of potential jurors had been scheduled to start on Monday in the central California coastal town of Santa Maria but it was delayed over the weekend for several days because the sister of Jackson's lead attorney had become gravely ill.

Prosecutors say Jackson sexually abused the boy, then 13, at his Neverland Valley Ranch near Santa Maria, then conspired to commit extortion, false imprisonment and child abduction. Defence lawyers say the boy lied to police to help his mother extract money from the self-styled "King of Pop."

Legal experts say prosecutors will look for jurors who are older, more conservative, less enamoured with celebrity, willing to accept authority and appalled by child molestation. Jurors with their own children would be a natural choice.

The prosecution should avoid anyone who is a devoted fan of Jackson, as well as jurors who might want to overly analyze the case or second-guess authorities. "You want someone who is going to say, 'Yeah, I think he did it. Bang!'" Goldman said.

Jackson's attorneys may look for jurors who have advanced degrees, critical thinkers who question authority. The perfect Defence juror may be "a left-winger who just moved from San Francisco with a lot of education and who is willing to forgive Michael Jackson his idiosyncrasies," Goldman said.

SPECTER OF THE O.J. SIMPSON TRIAL

Both sides face the problem of Jackson's international fame and the saturation news coverage of his trial. In fact, the six-month trial of a defendant as famous and controversial as Jackson on lurid sex abuse charges in relatively small, conservative Santa Maria may be the perfect storm for complicating jury selection.

Sensational trials, especially those involving a celebrity, breed special problems for attorneys trying to pick a jury because they attract would-be jurors with hidden motivations.

Court watchers point to the "Trial of the Century," in which former football great O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend despite what prosecutors called a "mountain of evidence" against him.

Despite nearly around-the-clock news coverage in the weeks leading up to the trial, prosecutors were exasperated when many prospective jurors claimed to be only vaguely aware of Simpson or the sensational crime. When the case was over, several jurors wrote books about their experiences.

"That's what you get with celebrity juries," said Harland Braun, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented actor Robert Blake among other well-known defendants. "There are people who think the most important thing in their entire life will be as a juror on one of these cases. There's fame, there's importance, there's the possibility of money involved. They have agendas."

Braun added: "The normal reason we have jurors is that it's supposed to be 12 people from the community just trying to do the right thing. That gets distorted in a celebrity trial."

Some legal experts saw red flags when more than half of those summoned to the Jackson trial by Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said they were willing and able to serve, a remarkably high number for a child molestation case that was expected to last six months.

Former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer said the fact that more than 50 percent of those summoned agreed to participate "suggests that people want to be on this jury."

FYI - There's plenty of info on CourtTV.com and surely most news sites on the Net.

Let the show begin... Michael Jackson is an anomoly. I spent years defending him when the first allegations came out. Granted, my hearty defense didn't mean squat to Jackson, didn't change the balance of my bank account, didn't change anyone's mind, but, I defended the guy. Figured he was being targeted because of his fame, fortune and general strangeness. That was until I saw him and his, then wife, Lisa Marie on an awards show, lip-locking and putting on a show for the fans and nay-sayers. Ugh. That did it for me, now I see him as crafty, manipulative and quite possibly capable of attempting to pull the wool over our eyes. Innocence lost.

Update

Jury selection in the Michael Jackson molestation case will be delayed for a week because of a death in the family of the pop star's attorney, a judge said Monday.

Monday's scheduled questioning of prospective jurors had been postponed last week because Thomas Mesereau Jr.'s sister was gravely ill. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said jury selection will resume on Feb. 14.

In another development, Melville also agreed to a request from various news organizations, including The Associated Press, to see the questionnaires filled out last week by prospective jurors.

A pool of about 250 prospective jurors was formed after the first round of questioning by the judge to determine which people would be able to serve on the expected six-month trial. The next round of questioning will involve defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Update

Former child actor Corey Feldman, who has publicly defended Michael Jackson in the past, said in a recent interview the pop star once showed him a book of nude photos when Feldman was a young teen, ABC News has reported.

ABC News reported on Thursday that Feldman, now 33, went to authorities late last week after conducting the interview and has since been subpoenaed as a witness and placed under a gag order in the criminal case against Jackson

Did anyone see Feldman on 20/20 last night? He said that MJ never touched him and/or seduced him in any way. His main point seemed to be that at 13, when he was at MJ's home, MJ had a book of naked men/women on his coffee table, with info on STDs and according to Feldman, MJ went through the book with him explaining it. He said at that age, he didn't think it was really a big deal, but looking back now, as an adult, found it highly inappropriate. Gee. ya think????

Although IMHO, the info he gave last night isn't enough to convict MJ, like Feldman said, the fact that MJ's accuser made the same accusation, and the fact that both MJ's and a childs fingerprints were found on a porn magazine, put the "what if" doubt in Feldman's mind, because this is what happened to him. He said he was so infatuated with MJ and defended him constantly, in the past, and wouldn't believe the accusations were true. Even now he doesn't come out and accuse him but says "He could be a child molester."

He sounded sincere, and it must have been difficult to get involved in this case. Even though the info he gave isn't the smoking gun, it may very well bring other former child celebrities (McCauley Caulkin comes to mind)that Jackson hung out with, to come forward and defend or accuse, giving the case more power, one way or the other.

TIS

Update

Feb 14th

The defense witness list in Michael Jackson's trial includes Jackson's own children and a variety of celebrities, among them Kobe Bryant and Elizabeth Taylor, his lawyer told jury prospects Monday.

The glimpse into defense plans came as questioning began of potential jurors in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial.

As the process got under way, prosecutors and defense attorneys immediately agreed to dismiss an 81-year-old man who said he has a serious health condition.

Michael Jackson's attorney, Thomas J. Mesereau Jr., told the prospects that the defense witness list includes NBA star Bryant, Taylor, illusionist David Blaine, TV newsman Ed Bradley, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and relatives of actor Marlon Brando.

Earlier, Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville told the about 240 people to relax and to keep an open mind, saying a trial participant's greatest fear is that a judge or juror in a case has been "bought and paid for."

"I'm not bought and paid for. I have not made up my mind in this case and I want to select a jury that feels exactly the same way," Melville said.

"You might be able to relax a little bit if you think of this as a job interview," the judge added, eliciting laughter.

Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old former cancer patient, giving the boy alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive.

Last week, Melville released juror questionnaires that previewed some of the issues attorneys will focus on. Jurors were asked whether they or someone they knew had experienced improper sexual conduct, if they could judge people of a different race fairly, and if they had followed the 1993 molestation allegations involving Jackson.

Jury selection had been delayed a week because of the death of Mesereau's sister.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are trying to thin the nearly 250 potential jurors who filled out questionnaires into 12 panelists and eight alternates.

The prospective jurors' job titles range from engineer to student to janitor, and their ages spanned from 18 to the early 80s. The average was 46, which is also Jackson's age.

The possible jurors were predominantly white, and about a third Hispanic, with only a half-dozen black prospects.

Defense attorneys were expected to try to weed out parents of young children who might be especially afraid of child abuse. Prosecutors were likely to look for jurors who looked up to law enforcement.

During questioning of would-be jurors, each side has an unlimited number of challenges for cause -- challenges that let them remove someone because of obvious bias. In addition, each side has 10 "peremptory" challenges to remove jurors without explaining why.

update
Another Delay

MICHAEL Jackson was in hospital last night with flu-like symptoms after collapsing on his way to court.

The trembling pop star reported feeling faint and having trouble breathing.

Bodyguards rang Jackson’s lawyer Thomas Mesereau at court in Santa Maria, California — and he ordered them to divert their 4x4 to the nearest hospital.

Staff and patients were stunned when Jackson and his minders rushed in.

A flu-like illness was diagnosed, but there were reports the singer had a panic attack when he realised he was running late in heavy rain on his way to face child abuse charges.

Jackson fans wept at court. One woman wailed: “Michael’s collapsed.”

Many rushed to Marian Medical Center hoping to see him.

But his six police outriders waited outside and other officers and security guards were soon at every door.

Mr Mesereau told Judge Rodney Melville that Jackson was “very, very ill” and the case was adjourned for a week.

Jackson denies molesting a 13-year-old boy, conspiracy to kidnap, false imprisonment and extortion.

Last night Dr Chuck Merrill, who treated Jackson, said he suffered some vomiting. He was undergoing tests and being treated with intravenous fluids.

Who are these people? There are certain celebrities I like, but I would never cry if they died, let alone if they got a minor illness. The only celebrity's I can every remember even feeling remotely upset about was Phil Hartman, and that was mostly because it was such a tragedy. I just can't imagine crying because some muscian I liked (who hasn't put out a good album in many years) got a cold.

"Very, very ill" - My arse, he had the flu, probably a cold, it's another delaying tactic just like the earlier lawyer fake family death excuse.

And you're right, Cancerkitty. Those fans are almost as loopy as whacko J, I don't understand how people can be so deluded.

Update


MICHAEL Jackson put on an extraordinary show yesterday at the hospital where he is “seriously ill” with flu.

He waved teddy bears out of his window as his fans below screamed: “We love you!”

The star was well enough to get out of bed despite getting his child molestation case adjourned on Tuesday when his lawyer said he was “very, very ill”.

Jackson, 46, was taken poorly on his way to court and rushed to the Marian Medical Centre in Santa Maria, California — where he is now being treated in a room next to a CHILDREN’S WARD.

Yesterday, his face hidden by blinds, Jackson waved kids’ toys from his second-floor window as followers cheered and sang: “Michael, we love you”.

Then he reappeared with a handwritten sign saying: “I love More”, and flashed victory signs.

Meanwhile his ex-wife revealed she is trying to stop their kids appearing for the defence at his trial.

Debbie Rowe, 37 — who will give evidence for the prosecution — says she is “hell-bent” on making sure Prince Michael, eight, and six-year-old Paris do not give evidence.

Jacko denies molesting a 13-year-old cancer sufferer and eight other charges. The case is expected to resume on Tuesday.

Finnaly

Smoking Gun Smokes Out Jackson Case

Has the gagged Michael Jackson molestation case been unbound?

The Smoking Gun on Thursday published 805 pages of purported Jackson grand jury testimony--and said it was busy scanning more.

The postings come about a month after the Website, along with ABC News, first made public excerpted testimony of Jackson's young accuser. At the time, both the prosecution and defense teams decried the leaks, essentially confirming their authenticity.

As of Friday, there were no new condemnations of the latest Smoking Gun scoop, although Jackson's camp seemed to find comfort in some of its contents.

Jackson's official news Website posted a FoxNews.com story, based on the Smoking Gun documents, about how the singer's accuser told the grand jury that he referred to his alleged Neverland tormentor as "Daddy," or "Daddy Michael."

Jackson earlier blasted the grand-jury leaks. With the blessings of the court, the pop star released a statement on Jan. 30, saying that he deserved a fair trial and maintaining that the "information" heard by the grand jury was "disgusting and false."

California's Santa Barbara County convened a grand jury to hear testimony in the Jackson case last spring. The proceedings resulted in a 10-count indictment against the entertainer. Jackson has pleaded innocent to the charges, which include molestation, conspiracy and plying a child with intoxicating substances.

According to the Smoking Gun (www.thesmokinggun.com), the grand jury heard from 41 witnesses--from the accuser to the flight attendant, who told of Jackson's predilection for being served wine ("yucky Kendall Jackson") in Diet Coke cans, to the public-relations expert, who said a Jackson attorney gleefully talked of making the accuser's mother "look like a crack whore."

Chief among the new posts were 154 pages of testimony that the Smoking Gun says was delivered by the accuser--all but outed now, if not identified, as a former cancer patient who turned 15 in December--over two days on the stand in March and April of 2003.

The choicest contents of the boy's professed testimony are by now familiar to those with a working knowledge of the case: The boy says Jackson showed him naked pictures of women (cracking "Got milk?" at the sight of a woman's breasts), nicknamed him "Apple Head," spoke of the importance of masturbation and then masturbated him, got him woozy on "Jesus Juice" (wine in a soda can), Skyy vodka and Jim Beam bourbon and held the boy and his family against their will at Neverland Ranch.

one new detail contained in the boy's supposed complete testimony: Jackson kept a mannequin in his bedroom, and, on one occasion, pretended to have sex with it in front of the accuser and his younger brother.

The alleged molestation is said to occurred in the weeks after the boy taped an interview with Jackson for the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson, which aired on ABC in February 2003.

The Smoking Gun's mother lode of documents also includes the purported testimony from the accuser's brother, mother and sister, the attorney who represented the family of the accuser in the 1993-94 Jackson molestation investigation, and the therapist who turned authorities onto the family at the center of the current case. In all, the Website says it has obtained 1,903 pages of testimony.

Jackson was not called to testify before the grand jury.

Leading news organizations such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press, did not publish accounts of the professed leaks Friday, with the L.A. Times saying it could not confirm that what the Smoking Gun has posted is the same document that's supposedly sealed up at the Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

The Jackson trial, still in the early phases of jury selection, is on hold until Tuesday. Proceedings were suspended earlier this week when Jackson took ill with the flu, and required an overnight hospitalization.

Meanwhile, in another developent, music legend Quincy Jones, already on Jackson's star-studded list of possible defense witnesses, might not be the singer's best character witness, Celebrity Justice reports.

While Jones has told confidantes that he never saw any criminal behavior by Jackson toward children, the TV show says, the record producer was worried that his friend's "sleepovers with boys" would be his downfall.

"We are told Quincy Jones actually did an intervention on several occasions. Going to Michael Jackson and saying, 'Look, this is inappropriate. It's wrong, and it could bring you down if you don't stop,'" Celebrity Justice executive producer Harvey Levin said on Thursday's program.

Jones worked with Jackson on his three biggest solo album hits, Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad, and also produced "We Are the World," which was cowritten by Jackson.

Will it ever get started

Update

MICHAEL Jackson pretended to have sex with a child mannequin in his bedroom, according to secret court documents.

The 14-year-old lad who says Jacko molested him claims the star giggled as he lay on top of the undressed tailor’s dummy resembling a girl of eight.

The cancer victim told a Grand Jury hearing held behind closed doors: “Michael was acting like he was having sex with it.

“He was like on his knees and trying to have sex with the mannequin.” And the boy's younger brother said in evidence: “The mannequin in his bedroom was a female child, African American, and she would be sitting at the back left of his bedroom. He picked it up and was pretending like he was humping it on the bed. He was on top.”

The California Grand Jury heard the boys’ statements last year — before deciding there was enough evidence to warrant putting Jacko on trial.

The evidence is meant to be secret but the transcripts were leaked to US website The Smoking Gun, which published them on Thursday.

They also include damning evidence from the lad’s mum and sister, ex-employees at 46-year-old Jacko’s Neverland ranch and a child psychologist who alerted cops to child abuse claims.

The boy also tells how Jackson plied him with alcohol — despite knowing he was still recovering from cancer. He said: “It wasn’t a good idea for me drinking because I only had one kidney.

“But he would just say, ‘It’s OK’. And he would just keep on telling me to drink because it would relax me.”

He also told jurors how the star wrote letters to him signing himself “Daddy Michael” — and that he called the kids names “like doo-doo head or apple head”. Jackson denies child abuse. Jury selection in Santa Maria is adjourned until next week while he recovers from flu.

Someone tell me if you can see this pic???




TIS

cant see it

Ok,

I saved it on my computer and tried repasting it. Is it showing now? If not, I'll just delete it.


TIS

TIS - I can see it, very funny.

Still cant see it,must be my computer

Now i can see it.

Update

Lawyers in the Michael Jackson (news) trial are preparing another round of questions for potential jurors returning to court after two weeks of delays in the child molestation case.

Jury selection was abruptly suspended last week when Jackson was rushed to an emergency room with "flu-like" symptoms. The 46-year-old pop star was treated and released Wednesday.


The week before, jury selection was delayed by the death of lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau's sister.

Judge Rodney Melville will try to get proceedings back on track Tuesday when jury selection was to resume. Jackson also was expected in court.

Of 242 potential candidates, attorneys will eventually select 12 jurors and eight alternates. Each side can challenge an unlimited number of jurors for any signs of bias and reject 10 jurors without cause.

Jackson is charged with molesting a teenage boy who was a former cancer patient and plying him with alcohol at his Neverland Ranch. He also is accused of conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive.

Jackson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Last week, Mesereau asked prospective jurors about their interest in the arts, their feelings toward Jackson and whether they believed young witnesses could be encouraged to lie.

The defense was expected to argue that the mother of Jackson's 15-year-old accuser has told him to lie.

Mesereau also offered a star-studded list of more than 300 possible witnesses in the case, including Kobe Bryant, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross and Jay Leno.

Update

Well ahead of schedule, a jury was selected Wednesday for the child molestation trial of pop star Michael Jackson.

"We have a jury," Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville announced.

The panel consists of four men and eight women, ranging in age from 20 to 79. The racial and ethnic breakdown appeared to be: seven whites, four Hispanics and one Asian.

After the jury was sworn in, attorneys moved on to the selection of eight alternate jurors.

Jury selection had been expected to last several weeks, but took only five court days, which were interrupted by a one-week break due to the death of an attorney's sister and another one-week break because Jackson was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.

Among the jurors were a woman who said her grandson was required to register as a sexual offender because of a crime; a woman who said she was related to the pilot of Flight 93, one of the planes that went down on Sept. 11; a 20-year-old man who likes "The Simpsons" TV show; and a man who is interested in Western art and country music.

One of the jurors had been asked during selection if he recognized celebrity witnesses in the case including self-help guru Deepak Chopra. He responded, "I think he's a rapper."

Update

A hospital's focus on accommodating a flu-stricken Michael Jackson contributed to the death of an elderly heart patient, according to members of the woman's family who on Friday threatened to sue the pop star and the hospital.

The family of Manuela Gomez Ruiz, 74, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the grandmother was relocated from Marian Medical Center's primary trauma room to a smaller room so that Jackson could have the larger room. Ruiz was being treated Feb. 15 for a heart attack, the family said, and died the same day after two more heart attacks following her move.

Jackson's overnight hospitalization ended Feb. 16, forcing a postponement of jury selection in his child molestation case. That selection process concluded Thursday, setting up opening statements Monday.

Members of Ruiz's family said they have hired an attorney and plan to sue the hospital and Jackson.

Maria Elena Ortiz said she objected to her mother being moved after Jackson was admitted.

"Why does she have to be moved if he's coming in for a stomach flu?" Ortiz told ABC. "I said, 'My mother just had a heart attack and I think it's more critical than a stomach flu.' They didn't say anything."

The hospital offered condolences to Ruiz's family, but in a statement said patient privacy laws and hospital rules prevented more specific comment.

"We are confident, however, that our patients have and continue to receive high-quality, compassionate and timely care," the statement said.

Jackson publicist Raymone Bain blasted the "Good Morning America" report.

"It is outrageous that Michael Jackson's name would be invoked into a situation of which he had no authority or control," Bain said. "He was a patient himself."

In the statement, the singer also offered condolences to Ruiz's family.

Update

The credibility of a 15-year-old boy and his family will be a key element in the outcome of Michael Jackson's molestation trial, observers say.

Opening statements Monday will preview the essence of the trial — whether Jackson gave wine to a then-13-year-old cancer patient at his Neverland Ranch and then touched him inappropriately.

"You will see two different trials in opening statements," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson, "the prosecution's case against Michael Jackson and the defense case against the boy's mother."

The prosecution's story depicts a poor family whose stricken son wanted to meet one of his idols. The child's wish was granted, but the prosecution claims it turned into a nightmare of sexual abuse and imprisonment at Jackson's fairy tale home in the coastal mountains 170 miles north of Los Angeles.

The defense narrative casts Jackson as the target of a money-hungry mother who coached her son to spin stories when it looked like their celebrity benefactor would cut them off. The defense will present evidence that the mother has sued others with claims of abuse.

"The bigger the star, the bigger the target," Jackson said during a recent television interview with Geraldo Rivera, suggesting his defense.

Though Jackson's star has waned on stage, his legacy and showmanship still generate a global audience. Jackson's lawyer suggested to jurors that celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Stevie Wonder would testify on behalf of the pop star. More than 1,000 members of the media from around the world have credentials to cover the trial.

Ever a performer, Jackson has a hair and makeup artist to prepare him. A wardrobe assistant helps pick his theatrical court attire.

Prosecutors who unsuccessfully pursued Jackson over a decade ago with charges he molested a different boy are investing huge resources to make this set of charges stick. A battalion of deputies raided Jackson's ranch to seize evidence and a cadre of lawyers and investigators have churned out mountains of motions and search warrants.

The face of the prosecution has been Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara County district attorney so identified as Jackson's nemesis that the star insulted him in song. Sneddon himself is expected to deliver the prosecution's opening statement on Monday.

Jackson's team, headed by Thomas Mesereau Jr., is a buttoned-down operation. Mesereau is a confident, veteran defender known for turning around seemingly hopeless cases.

Prosecutors will cast Jackson as a wicked pedophile, the kind of man who would get a boy drunk and then take advantage of him.

Silenced outside court thus far by a gag order, Mesereau was expected to go on the offensive against the accuser's family and try to persuade jurors to search for flaws in the prosecution's case

Update

Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial opened Monday with a prosecutor's contention that the King of Pop is a closet pervert who used wine and pornography to lower the inhibitions of a 13-year-old boy.

When the court day concluded, Jackson's defense lawyer was only halfway through a dollar-by-dollar description of an alleged scheme by the accuser's mother to cash in on Jackson's kindness and vast wealth.

In six months or so, jurors will have to decide which portrayal is more accurate. Their decision could determine whether Jackson spends the rest of his career in prison or back home at Neverland Ranch, the scene of his alleged crimes.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon addressed jurors for more than three hours, much of it spent outlining an alleged conspiracy that began following the Feb. 6, 2003, airing of a documentary entitled, "Living With Michael Jackson."

to Sneddon, Jackson and his media handlers went into a sort of hyper-damage control after filmmaker Martin Bashir asked Jackson at length about his habit of allowing young boys to sleep in his room. Jackson's current accuser appeared in the documentary, holding Jackson's hand and laying his head on the singer's shoulder.

Jackson insisted that the boy and his brother slept in his bed while Jackson slept on the floor, but Jackson's comments that he shared beds with other boys and saw nothing wrong with it sparked investigations by Sneddon's office and California child welfare officials. Sneddon charged that, for weeks, Jackson and five unindicted co-conspirators on his payroll worked feverishly to keep the boy away from the media and to force the boy and his family to tape a video that cast Jackson in a positive light.

The prosecutor repeatedly used Jackson's public statements to tell jurors that his public persona as a champion of children belies his private passion for sexual intimacy with them.

"You see, the private world of Michael Jackson reveals that, instead of cookies and instead of milk, you can substitute wine, vodka and bourbon," Sneddon said.
Lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau has yet to address charges that Jackson plied the now 15-year-old accuser with wine and Skyy Vodka, and exposed him to a Samsonite suitcase full of magazines featuring "Barely Legal" teens and '60s-era magazines depicting children at nudist camps.

Mesereau focused much of the first 90 minutes of his opening statement, however, on an alleged scheme by the accuser's mother.

"I'm here to tell you these accusations are false, they are bogus and they never happened," said Mesereau, his white hair flowing past the shoulders of his 6-foot-3-inch frame. "These charges are fake, silly."

Although Judge Rodney Melville lifted an order prohibiting the parties from naming the complaining witness or his family in court, Court TV has opted not to name the accuser or his mother. The boy and his mother are identified in court papers as "John Doe" and "Jane Doe," respectively.

Mesereau promised to prove that Jane Doe is a con artist who coached her children on how to lie for profit. He told jurors about a $152,500 settlement with JCPenney over a 1999 claim that she was held against her will, assaulted and molested by store personnel. More recently, Jane Doe tried to use the accuser's cancer, now in remission, in both successful and unsuccessful efforts to gain sympathy and cash from celebrities like Jay Leno, Chris Tucker and George Lopez.

"The most-known celebrity, the most vulnerable celebrity, became the mark — Michael Jackson," Mesereau said.

According to a grand jury's indictment, which Melville read to jurors Monday before unsealing it, Jackson is accused of 28 acts in a conspiracy to imprison the accuser and force him and members of his family to appear on a video rebutting the Bashir documentary. The indictment also accused Jackson, now 46, of committing lewd acts with a child and administering an intoxicating agent in furtherance of a felony, in this case the alleged molestation.

As a light rain fell, more than 50 fans waited outside the courthouse before dawn, hoping to win a lottery for one of 45 seats set aside for the public in Melville's courtroom. Those admitted to the courtroom sat quietly, heeding the warnings of stern sheriff's deputies that no outbursts or signs of emotion would be tolerated.

Jackson arrived to a flash of cameras and proceeded smiling down the courtroom aisle with his mother, Katherine, and brother, Jermaine. Wearing a black suit, dark vest with large buttons, a sunburst medallion and a red armband, Jackson helped himself to a cough drop from a bailiff's jar before taking his seat next to Mesereau.

He wore glasses for much of the day but did not take notes during Sneddon's lengthy opening statement.

"It's extraordinary in its length, but this is an extraordinary case," Sneddon said. "There is only one person responsible for this conduct and the consequences ... the defendant, Michael Joe Jackson."

Mesereau, a high-profile attorney who previously represented actor Robert Blake, will finish his opening statement Tuesday morning before Sneddon calls his first witness. Bashir, the filmmaker, is expected to be the first witness for the prosecution.

According to Mesereau, Bashir flattered Jackson and promised to show him in a good light to get him to agree to take part in an eight-month documentary project. Instead, Mesereau charged, Bashir worked hard to create "a scandal" involving Jackson that would bring Bashir millions in connection with his documentary.

"It worked," Mesereau said.

Sneddon also told jurors they will hear from the accuser, an older brother who claims he saw Jackson sexually touching the accuser, and a long list of former employees and flight attendants who observed Jackson drinking alcohol with children to the point of intoxication.

The sun had come out by the time Jackson and his entourage left the courtroom. The defendant blew a kiss to a section of fans. Another 50 or so supporters — and some detractors — stood behind a temporary fence set up to keep them a distance away. "Michael, we love you," one supporter said. Another responded, "Michael, how does it feel to put your hands down a boy's pants?"

The trial, which is expected to last as long as six months, resumes Tuesday.

Update

THE atmosphere turned electric in courtroom 101 — the second Michael Jackson spotted Martin Bashir.

Jacko’s demeanour changed in an instant. And his reported hatred for the British journalist could not have been more obvious.

He glowered ferociously at Bashir, whose documentary sparked events that led to him facing child sex charges.

But his glares later turned to TEARS during scenes from the ITV Tonight programme, which was shown to the jury.

Jackson was in the well of the court with his defence team when Bashir suddenly appeared from the back.

He became instantly agitated, eyeballing the journalist and making a remark to his lawyer Thomas Mesereau.


Jacko — wearing a navy suit, red waistcoat and a gold armband — then repeatedly glowered at the documentary maker.

But the journalist IGNORED him — and simply glanced around acknowledging other reporters as he took a seat in the public gallery.

It is believed to be the first time the pair have seen each other since Bashir’s 2003 ITV documentary Living With Michael Jackson.

And the journalist was in court in Santa Maria, California, as the first witness in what has been dubbed the trial of the century.

As the jury filed in, the TV journalist stood up. District Attorney Tom Sneddon then announced: “I call my first witness Martin Bashir. Mr Bashir come forward please.”

As Bashir, 42, strode across court to the witness stand, Jackson, 46, leaned forward and shot him a look of pure hate

Minutes later the documentary was started on a giant screen at the front of the court.

Transcripts of the programme — filmed at Jackson’s Neverland ranch — were handed out.

As the showing started, Jackson shifted forward in his seat to view the screen through his gold-rimmed glasses.

He began to rock back and forth as his song Smooth Criminal blasted round the court from the show’s soundtrack.

Jacko then tapped his fingers on his cheek — but within minutes he was in tears. The star first became distressed as the film showed the infamous footage of him dangling youngest child Blanket from a hotel bedroom window.

And when he was shown giving Blanket a bottle, Jackson dabbed his eyes with a tissue.


The singer became even more upset when the film showed him with children Prince Michael, nine, and Paris, seven, being mobbed by photographers on a zoo trip. Jackson appeared to be crying, clutching a tissue to his face.

The documentary switched to Jackson’s accuser, who was then 13.

And this is when Jackson became most upset.

The pair were shown sitting on a sofa, with Jackson holding his hand. They talked of how he and his brother, then 12, regularly stayed in Jackson’s bedroom.

But the singer maintained he slept on the floor. It was when Bashir asked “what do you a 44-year-old man . . . get out of this?” that Jackson looked most emotional.

He began to twist a handkerchief between his fingers before blowing his nose and dabbing at his eyes.

Jackson shook his head and again glared at ex-Panorama reporter Bashir, who now works for American TV giant ABC.

He admitted in the show sharing a bed with other boys — including child star Macaulay Culkin and his brother Kieran.

Lawyer Mr Mesereau yesterday revealed the star DOES plan to speak in his own defence.

The boy — who Jackson is accused of molesting when he was 13 — was earlier branded an “out of control youngster”. Mr Mesereau said he ran riot in Neverland with his brother, stealing wine.

Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial, which is expected to last six months, continues.


Witness jail threat

MARTIN Bashir could be jailed or fined for contempt after refusing to answer four questions from defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau.

The journalist’s lawyers claimed he was protecting his sources — covered by the California Shield Law — but the judge over-ruled.

The questions he snubbed were if he got Jackson to sign documents without lawyers present, how many hours of footage were cut from his documentary, whether he was being paid as a correspondent at the trial and whether he saw unedited documentary footage.

Update

AIDES of Michael Jackson hatched a plot to paint the mother of his alleged child-sex victim as a “crack whore”, it was claimed yesterday.

A team of spin specialists set out to discredit the woman, whose son has accused Jackson of molesting him, a PR woman told the superstar’s abuse trial.

Ann Marie Gabriel — who was hired by Jacko — claimed the plan was put together in the days after the airing of the Martin Bashir TV documentary which triggered off the case.

Mrs Gabriel also told the hearing in Santa Maria, California, that she had grown worried the family were “being hunted down like a pack of dogs.”

She told the court she had been brought into Jackson’s team by Las Vegas-based lawyer David LeGrand to “handle the fallout from the Bashir documentary”.

Mrs Gabriel said on a scale of 1-10 for PR disasters she would rate the programme a “25”.

But she said a lawyer working for the star told her “they no longer had to worry about the mother because they had her on tape and were going to make her look like a crack whore”.

Mrs Gabriel, who worked alongside top British PR firm Bell Yard Communications in trying to salvage Jackson’s reputation, said the remark was made after the family fled Neverland Ranch following the documentary screening.

She claimed another aide, Marc Schaffel, rang her in an “extremely agitated” state to tell her that “Janet had taken the kids and left the ranch either late at night, or early in the morning.”

She said Mr Schaffel later phoned her back to tell her the “situation had been contained”.

Mrs Gabriel said the wording caused her “concern”, adding: “I believed that if someone had taken their children and left there was some kind of problem.

“The way that he said the situation had been contained made me feel very uncomfortable. I didn’t understand why he would be so upset about them leaving.

“And they were telling me they had been found and brought back to the ranch, all in the space of 12 hours.”

Later that day she spoke to Mr LeGrand and told him: “Don’t make me believe that these people were hunted down like dogs and bought back.”

Mrs Gabriel said other aides told her “the situation had been taken care of, but no one told me how.”

Mrs Gabriel also revealed she had concerns about Jackson’s association with Marc Schaffel.

She said: “David LeGrand told me, and I found out from my own research, that Mr Schaffel was a gay pornography producer.

“In regards to Mr Jackson I saw that as negative from a PR point of view.”

She said that she was sacked just two days after raising concerns about what Mr Schaffel had said about the boy and his family.

The court heard Mrs Gabriel was a specialist in crisis management, an area of PR where experts limit damage. She said Mr LeGrand, who she admitted having an affair with, recruited her in February 2003.

Talking about the Bashir documentary, “Living With Michael Jackson”, she said she thought it was “an absolute disaster”.

She added: “I felt the documentary was put together in a way that portrayed Mr Jackson in a negative light.

“As far as the shopping spree, the climbing the tree, and portraying himself as Peter Pan.

“And the interaction he had with a person on the video — a young boy.”

She admitted telling the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department that when she watched the Bashir documentary it “disgusted her and made her feel ill”.

Mrs Gabriel said she later started on a plan in which Jackson — whom she never met — was to “immediately begin rehabilitation of his image”, concentrating on his musical genius.

She felt the fallout after the Bashir documentary was made worse by the leaking of legal documents from 1993 on to a US website, Smokinggun.com.

The website was said to have shown an affidavit from Jackson’s 1993 accuser graphically describing alleged molestation.

Mrs Gabriel said: “In conjunction with the Bashir documentary this went way beyond a disaster for Mr Jackson.”

Jackson, 46, denies molesting the boy when he was 13, giving him alcohol, conspiring to abduct him and false imprisonment. The trial continues.

Update

Wacko world of Jacko

THE weird private world of Michael Jackson was unveiled to the jury in his child-sex trial yesterday.

A video shot by police showed a suite crammed with five young boy mannequins, three life-size dolls and an oil painting of the singer with Jesus at the Last Supper.

The court where Jackson, 46, faces a child-sex abuse trial sat in silence as the 12-minute film was shown on a huge screen.

The star looked uncomfortable as the bizarre secrets of his Neverland ranch home were laid bare.

The video showed a two-floor interconnected bedroom complex cluttered with toys, photos of children and life-size models of Superman, Batman and Star Wars figures.

There were also signed photos of child star Shirley Temple, and by his bath, two photos of actress pal Liz Taylor.

The split-level complex — reached through a keypad entry to restrict access — is where the teenager, now 15, claims Jackson molested him at 13.

The video shown to the court in Santa Maria, California, was shot by Detective Al Lafferty of the County Sheriff’s Department.

It was filmed when Neverland was raided by cops after child abuse allegations were made against the star.

At the same time a video filmed by an ex-employee of Jackson was released through a Los Angeles news agency.

The video — not watched by the jury — showed previously unseen shots of a beige bed with a troll and Peter Pan cushions, a secret closet and stairs lined with dolls in Victorian-style dresses.


It was from these stairs that the teen's brother, then 12, is alleged to have witnessed him being molested on the bed by Jackson at least twice.

The police video began with a view through the entrance door of Jackson’s main residence at the ranch near Los Olivos, California.

In the hallway were huge white marble statues and a mannequin of a boy about six standing next to a life-size model of Daffy Duck.

Nearby was a life-size cardboard cutout of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

From the hallway leading to Jackson’s room there was another room with a boy mannequin, aged about eight, doing a handstand on a red velvet and gold throne.

Nearby was a mannequin of a boy sitting on a stool. All the figures were fully dressed.


The video then showed a wardrobe filled with rows of black trousers, military style jackets and boxes of shoes.

There were then the stairs leading towards the bedroom area, with a wooden safety gate at the top.

The camera zoomed in on a bed with a glittery blue cover and blue sheets — where the alleged abuse took place.

The ex-employee’s film of the room showed a bed with beige covers.

Above the blue-covered bed was an oil painting lit by three spotlights, showing the Last Supper with Jackson wearing a military outfit.

Beside the bed was a wooden baby’s cot.

The room was crammed with electrical gear, including a projection screen on the wall opposite the bed, TV, DVD, videos and sound system.
There were also framed pictures of young girls and boys, and a framed Shirley Temple poster on the wall.

There was also a famous picture of a little girl and boy kissing and one of Jackson holding a baby.

The bathroom had a huge sound system and photographs of children and half-naked cherubs.

The video then went through to a sitting area with a piano and more mannequins before moving into what detectives called the “doll” room — with hundreds of examples, and a boy scout mannequin.

Next it showed what cops referred to as the “toy room”, with everything a child could want including remote-control cars, puppets, a 4ft high castle and rocking horse.

Cross-examined by Jackson’s defence lawyer Robert Sanger, Detective Lafferty agreed that he had also filmed mannequins of adults at Neverland but only one — a figure of a butler — appeared in the video.

Jackson denies molesting the boy, giving him alcohol, plotting to abduct him and false imprisonment. Trial continues.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson was seen “constantly hugging and kissing” the teenage boy he is accused of molesting, a court heard yesterday.

The alleged victim's sister said she saw the singer lying on his bed with his arm around the 13-year-old boy.

The 18-year-old girl said the incidents took place when she and her two brothers were staying at Jackson’s Neverland ranch in California.

Prosecutor Tom Sneddon asked her: “Did you ever see anything where Mr Jackson was touching your brother inappropriately?”

She replied: “Yes. He would be constantly hugging and kissing him, any time I saw them really.

“He would kiss him on the cheek or on the head.

“When I was in the bedroom that time he had his arm around the boy and they were hugging over and over and kissing over and over.”

The girl said her brother's behaviour changed after they left Neverland in March 2003.

She added: “He did not want to talk to me, he did not want to be hugged, he did not want to be kissed, he wanted to be by himself.”

During yesterday’s hearing, the jury watched an extraordinary video by the alleged victim and his family PRAISING Jackson.

But they claim they were forced to make the tape by Jacko’s aides to rebut allegations against him in the documentary by British journalist Martin Bashir.

The prosecution claims it was shortly after the rebuttal video was made, in February 2003, that Jackson started molesting the boy.

In the video, the accuser, now 15 — who had been diagnosed with cancer — praises Jacko as “a loving man”.

And the boy’s mother says the star told her: “Bring him to me and we will coat him with love.”

But yesterday the boy’s family said they were held against their will, frightened into making the lengthy video and told what to say.

The accuser's sister said that her family were given a piece of paper “that was kind of like a script — we had to say nice things about Michael”.

The family’s video was intended to be shown on US TV.

But yesterday was its first public screening because they had refused to give consent for it to be shown.

The jury in Santa Maria, California, heard the alleged victim talk on the tape of his love for Michael and how he “prayed I would meet Michael Jackson one day”.

He says: “I always thought he was a loving man — now I know he is a loving man.”

The boy tells how he received a call from Jackson at his grandparents’ house.

Laughing, he says: “I was so excited. He told me he wanted me to go to Neverland ranch. I did not know about Neverland. I did not know he had a ranch.

“I was so excited. I was going to see Michael Jackson. A limousine pulled up and I thought, ‘Dang, it’s cool!’

End of week 1

Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial resumes on Monday after an opening week of testimony that was packed with lurid details and mutual accusations of conspiracy and deceit.

Currently on the witness stand is the elder sister of the then 13-year-old cancer victim Jackson stands accused of molesting at his fantasy-style Neverland Ranch two years ago.

The first member of the accuser's family to testify, the young woman, now 18, faces further cross-examination from Jackson's imposing lead lawyer, Thomas Mesereau.

In a trial in which so much hangs on witness credibility, Mesereau scored key points on Friday as he got the sister to concede that she and her mother had lied about key details of the case in an interview with social workers.

Heaping scorn on the prosecution claim that the family was held captive at Neverland, Mesereau also made her acknowledge that they never tried to alert anyone to their alleged plight during visits to a passport office and a crowded shopping mall.

Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting the boy, now 15, plying him with alcohol and conspiring to abduct him, his younger brother, sister and mother. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

The battle lines in the trial, which is expected to last several months, were drawn on the very first day, in opening arguments that painted starkly contrasting portraits of a defendant who, even before his arrest, polarised public opinion.

While prosecutors portrayed Jackson as a scheming sexual predator, his defence countered with the image of misunderstood man-child, whose naive good intentions were exploited by his accuser's family and his own aides.

According to District Attorney Tom Sneddon, Jackson showed the alleged victim and his brother pornographic magazines and websites, once walked in on them "stark naked with an erection," and simulated sex with a mannequin as they watched.

Mesereau, meanwhile, claimed the accuser's mother was a rapacious financial predator with a history of trying to con celebrities.

The kidnap conspiracy charge took a hit on Friday when jurors watched a video -- made during the period of the alleged abduction -- of the accuser's family praising Jackson as a loving, compassionate, humble father figure who they called "daddy Michael."

The prosecution claims the family was held captive and intimidated into making the video as a rebuttal to a damaging documentary, by British journalist Martin Bashir, that showed Jackson holding hands with his alleged victim and admitting to sharing his bed with children.

However, the unedited version presented to the jury showed the family members looking relaxed and joking between takes.

"God elected to work through Michael at a very traumatic time in our life," the boy's mother said in the video, recorded three months before the family made their molestation allegations.

"The video was a disaster for the prosecution," said Anne Bremner, a legal analyst and criminal defence attorney.

"There was no sign of coercion or that they were being held against their will and that casts doubt on the whole conspiracy charge," Bremner said. "In this kind of case, you want to start and end with a bang. So far, for the prosecution, it's been more of a whimper."

Asked for his opinion on the week's proceedings as he left court on Friday, Jackson replied: "It went very good, very good."

Earlier in the week, however, Jackson had spoken of feeling "angry" as jurors were shown the explosive Bashir documentary that triggered the police investigation into his relationship with his young accuser.

He also showed discomfort at the playing of a police video shot during a raid of Neverland, that took the jury on a visual tour through the inner sanctums of the obsessively private pop star's home, including the master bedroom where the alleged molestation took place.

On Thursday, the accuser's sister testified to Jackson serving her and her two brothers wine at the ranch.

While not a witness to any molestation, she also recalled seeing the pop star and her brothers lying together on his bed with empty and half-full bottles of alcohol ranged around the room.

The key prosecution witness in the case remains the alleged victim himself, with Jackson's fate resting in large part on how credible the boy comes across in the witness box.

"Sex abuse cases nearly always come down to the claimant," said Bremner. "Corroboration is important, but his performance is crucial."

Update

THE brother of Michael Jackson’s accuser yesterday told a jury how he twice saw the singer molest the teenager.

The boy, 14, also told how Jackson showed PORN to him and the alleged victim, gave them WINE called “Jesus juice” and paraded NAKED in front of them in an aroused state.

He said that Jackson first molested the cancer sufferer in the bedroom of his Neverland ranch in February 2003.

The boy alleged he saw Jackson laying on his bed next to his brother — then aged 13 — who was asleep.

He said: “His left hand was in my brother’s pants and his right hand was in his (own) pants. He was jerking it up and down.”

The court heard a similar incident happened in the same room three days later, with Jackson laying on his back dressed in his underwear.

The boy also told how the brothers were shown porn by Jackson, claiming that on one occasion he and his brother — now 15 — joined the singer and aide Frank Tyson to look at internet images of naked women.

He claimed Jackson’s son Prince and daughter Paris — then aged six and three — were asleep in the room at the time.

He said: “It was Michael’s idea to go on the internet. On one site a lady had her shirt up and Michael said, ‘Got milk!’

“He leaned over to Prince and whispered, ‘You’re missing some p****’. He was still asleep. Michael told us not to tell our parents.”

The boy said he and his brother slept in the same bed that night as Jackson slept on the floor with Tyson.

The alleged internet incident happened on the first of several visits to the ranch three years ago, when the pair were joined by their sister and parents.

The trial in Santa Maria, California, heard a tape of the accuser made by Jackson’s private investigator in which the youngster admitted the singer slept in bed with the boys.

He said on the tape: “It was like a father-son thing.”

His mum said on tape that the boy spent most nights in Jackson’s room because he was safer there than with her husband.

Her daughter, 18, cried in court yesterday as she told of her father’s history of violence.

Later the accuser's brother said Jackson paraded around naked while aroused. He added: “We were grossed out.”

During a flight on his private jet, the boy told how he saw Jackson lick his brother’s head before handing him a can of Sprite. He said: “I thought it was soda and didn’t like to be rude. The smell was like alcohol.”

He said afterwards Jackson told them it was wine — which he sometimes called “Jesus juice”.

During one visit to Neverland, he claimed Jackson made crank calls to women.

He said Jackson told them: “He was having a census and he wanted to know how big her p**** was.”

He added: “If the phone number didn’t exist he would have us drink wine.”

The boy then testified how Jackson had simulated sex with a young girl mannequin in his bedroom.

Jackson seemed to feel unwell in court and was escorted to a loo by a bodyguard.

He denies molesting a boy, giving him alcohol, plotting to abduct him and false imprisonment. The trial continues.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson told his teen accuser to keep silent “even if they put a gun to your head,” a jury heard yesterday.

The youngster, who claims he saw Jackson twice molest his brother, said he warned them and a third boy as they all lay on the singer’s bed.

The 14-year-old said: “Michael Jackson told me, my brother and another boy not to tell anything that happened. Not even if they put a gun to your head.

“Michael told us not to tell no one what we did, not to tell our parents what we did.”

Earlier, the boy said he saw Jackson lying on his bed at his sprawling Neverland ranch touching himself and the then 13-year-old — while his brother was asleep.

He also alleged the entertainer showed them porn, gave them wine, simulated sex with a mannequin and walked around naked and aroused.

Under cross-examination, the boy admitted he lied in evidence in a separate civil case brought by his mum against a shop five years ago.

Jackson, 46, denies molesting a teen, giving him alcohol, plotting to abduct him and false imprisonment.

The trial continues in Santa Maria, California.

Update

THE boy Michael Jackson is accused of sexually molesting, faced the singer across court for the first time yesterday.
Jackson never took his eyes off the 15-year-old, as he told the jury how he slept in the singer’s bedroom on his FIRST visit to Neverland.

The boy — in a blue shirt, white T-shirt and dark trousers — ignored the singer, who sat only feet away.

He told the jury how, when he was suffering from cancer, he had received a phone call from the singer “inviting me up to his ranch.”

The alleged victim, 13 at the time, said the family went to the guest cottages before touring the fairground but he claimed Jackson, now 46, asked him and his brother to sleep in his bedroom that night.

He said: “We were all talking. Michael said we should sleep in his room. And I was ‘ok, right’, because we wanted to sleep in his room.”

He had asked his parents if they could stay in Michael’s room. He added: “They said, ‘Yes’.”

He said when the boys first went up to Michael’s bedroom, they were watching video cartoons.

But he said an aide of Jackson’s, called Frank Tyson, then started surfing the internet.

The teen said: “Frank started looking up adult material. Michael was looking at girls saying, ‘I like her’.”

He said the group had called up several sites for between 15 to 30 minutes, looking at females.

He said at one stage they were looking at a young girl holding up her T-shirt and flashing her boobs.

Jackson's accuser also said that Jackson’s children, Paris and Prince, were asleep on a bed in the room and Michael had leant over to Prince and “whispered into his ear ‘Prince, you’re missing all the p***y’.”

He was asked about the Martin Bashir documentary Living With Michael Jackson, which was filmed in 2002 and showed the boy snuggling up to Jackson and holding his hand.

The boy said the singer “told me to ‘talk about how you call me dad, daddy or Daddy Michael’.”

“He told me he wanted me to say things on the video. He wanted me to say he had helped me and he pretty much cured me of cancer.”

Prosecutor Tom Sneddon asked the lad about his schooling and family life — specifically the relationship between his mother and father.

The teenager replied: “They fought every day, about bills and his family or our family.

“My dad would hit my mum sometimes. I was not hit as much as my mum was but I got hit sometimes.”

Earlier the jury heard Jackson had a camera over the door of his bedroom to let him know whether anyone was approaching.

The boy's brother, 14, also claimed Jackson had sexually molested the cancer-stricken lad three times rather than the two he had told the court earlier.

The brother, who was 11 at the time, had told the jury on Tuesday he saw Jackson fondling his sleeping brother in the bedroom.

Jackson, booed as he arrived at court in Santa Maria, California, yesterday, is accused of molesting the boy, attempted molestation, administering alcohol to a minor, conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, abduction and extortion.

I'm sure you all know by now, but I hear it's on every station right now. MJ didn't show for court, and judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest. He finally showed up in pajama bottoms and slippers I hear :rolleyes: Claimed he had a bad back (sounds like song lyrics I know :p )

TIS


web page

Pssht, if they would've actually arrested him, he would've bruised too easily and bled to death. :p

Besides, why am I not surprised that he wore PJ's? It's probably the most normal outfit he's worn throughout the entire saga.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson's accuser yesterday told a stunned court in graphic detail how the singer molested him in bed when he was just 13.

Jacko, who had caused a sensation earlier in the day by turning up to court more than ONE HOUR late and wearing PYJAMAS, stared at the teenager as he gave his evidence.

The boy revealed: “I was under his covers, he put his hands on my penis — and he started masturbating me.”

The youngster spoke clearly as he said the fondling in Jacko’s bedroom at his Neverland Ranch had gone on for five minutes.

The teenager explained how Jackson, 46, had coaxed him into sex.

He said: “We had just come back from drinking in the arcade. We went up to his room and we were sitting there for a while and Michael started talking about masturbation. He said that if a man didn’t masturbate they could get to some level where they might rape a girl or become unstable.

“He said he saw a boy one time who didn’t masturbate having sex with a dog. He told me that all males had to masturbate.

He asked if I masturbated. If I didn’t know how to, he would do it for me. I said I didn’t really want to. He said it was OK and it was natural for boys.

“I was under his covers, he put his hands on my penis — and he started masturbating me.”

When DA Tom Sneddon asked the boy if he knew what Jackson was doing at the time, he replied: “I was not really looking at him.”

He said that, afterwards: “I kinda felt weird. I was embarrassed about it. He said it was OK, it was natural and he tried to say it was OK to comfort me. After a while, we went to sleep.”

He then revealed the second time he remembered Jackson fondling him.

He said: “We came back from the arcade again. We were watching TV on top of his covers and he did it again.

“The same thing, he said he wanted to teach me. We were laying there and he started doing it to me and then he grabbed my hand and tried to make me do it to him — but I didn’t want to.

“He always said it was natural and not to be scared.”

It was a dramatic ending to an amazing day. Jackson had shuffled into court after a race to avoid being hurled in jail.

His 4x4 convoy roared up to the entrance in a frantic dash from hospital where the star had been treated for an injured back.

Judge Rodney Melville had arrived at 8.35am, only to find Jackson absent.

The judge issued an arrest warrant and warned defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau that the singer would forfeit his £1.6million bail — but delayed the order for an hour.

When Jacko finally made it into court at 9.37am, he sat crying as he waited to see if the furious judge would carry out his threat.

The judge later revealed that he had confiscated Jacko’s bail — but then had returned it.

As proceedings got under way, the boy also said the star plied him with BOOZE, showed him explicit PORN and gave him a £40,000 watch to keep quiet about the drink.

Jacko — who hurt his back getting dressed — faced the accusations after a faltering walk from a car to the court in Santa Maria.

He was wearing blue hospital pyjama bottoms and slippers.

Giving evidence, the boy said that between February and April 2003 he always slept in Jackson’s bedroom if the star was at Neverland.

He was then shown photographs in an exhibits bag. One of the pictures was of a young female mannequin.

he was having sex with the mannequin.”

The teenager was then shown a black briefcase, which he said he had seen in Jackson’s bedroom. The boy said: “He said ‘Look at the good stuff’. It was adult materials. He showed me just one.

“He showed me this girl, she had her legs spread open.”

He said Jackson paraded nude in front of him and his brother, who was 11, adding: “He came up the stairs, he was naked.”

He also told how the star gave him “Jesus Juice” — his name for wine — VODKA, Jim Beam BOURBON and Bacardi RUM.
The boy said he and Jackson had alcohol constantly. He said Jackson persisted in giving him drinks even when he warned it was bad for his health.

The lad lost one of his kidneys during treatment for cancer.

Prosecutor Sneddon asked: “During your time at Neverland did you ever have any alcohol?” The boy: “Yes, every night when Michael was there. My brother and Michael would drink in the arcade.”

He said he also drank wine on Jackson’s private jet on a flight from Miami to California.

Jacko denies molesting the teenager, giving him alcohol, plotting to abduct him and false imprisonment. The trial continues.

Update

EXPERTS yesterday claimed to have spotted the bald truth about Michael Jackson — he wears a WIG.

Wacko Jacko’s mad dash to court in his pyjamas is said to have let the cat out of the bag on his syrup.

Photos of the star’s bonce appeared to show a mesh cap with false hair sewn in.

Top British hairdresser Feleny Georghiou — whose clients include Victoria Beckham and the Duchess of York — declared: “It is definitely a wig ... and one of the worst I have ever seen.”

Feleny, who works at swanky North London salon Connect, explained: “The big giveaway is at the top of the forehead where you can quite clearly see where the hair has been sewn in.

“When he turned up in court from his hospital bed on Thursday his hair was just too perfect to be his own.

“It was pristine. Only hair from a wig falls in that way.”

Hair experts in the US — where Jacko, 46, is on trial accused of child abuse — agreed with her.

Top stylist Yolanda Perez, 42, said: “It is absolutely a wig.”

Fellow New York crimper Mario Carrasco said: “It’s possible he might have hair.

“But these are pieces — hair extensions. The wind was blowing, and his hair was moving, but just the outer layer. Human hair would open up and fly all over the place.”

Wig consultant Alexis Rodriguez, 34, said Jacko appeared to have shelled out hundreds of pounds on what she described as a “lace-front wig with a microfilament cap”.

Jacko normally gets up at 4.30am to get ready for court — but on Thursday he was in a tearing hurry after being treated for an injured back.

He was an hour late arriving for his trial and was threatened with jail.

US TV reporter Diane Dimond said: “He looked worse than I’ve ever seen him.”

JACKSON’S pals fear the pressures of the trial may cause him to kill himself. Sources close to the singer said his back problem was really a symptom of his fragile mental state.

He WEARS a wig? Hell, he FLIPPED it a long time ago!

Did anyone see the spoof Jay Leno did the other night? Outside was a "newsman" saying that Leno was an hour late for the show, and that there was a warrant out for his arrest. Up pulls a limo with two "guards" coming out, and there's Jay in pajamas and fuzzy slippers.

I guess they ruled he can make jokes about Jackson. For a while he had someone else come out every night, making the jokes for him, as Leno stood by.

TIS

Update

MICHAEL Jackson was blasted by British Army veterans last night for wearing military badges while on trial for child abuse.

The 46-year-old singer has appeared virtually every day with either an Army motif on his breast pocket or a cap badge tied around his neck.

They have included symbols from the Royal Engineers, the Welch Regiment, the Sherwood Foresters, the Wiltshire and Cheshire Regiments, the Royal Corps of Transport and the Royal Warwickshire Regiment

One was the distinctive motif of an antelope sewn into a black frock coat. The Warwickshires adopted the animal as their symbol in the 18th century.

The badges can be bought from military dealers for as little as £4.

Des Mawby, 73, who served for ten years with the Warwickshires, said: “I’m disgusted. It is totally inappropriate. He is not entitled to wear it and it is wrong that something that means so much to so many brave men should be used as a fashion statement.

It is an emblem that belongs solely to our regiment.”

Regimental secretary, Major Richard Mills, 58, who has been flooded with calls from outraged soldiers, said: “It shows immaturity that Michael Jackson wears this without thinking what it means to our men. It devalues it.”

Jackson denies charges of child molestation, administering an intoxicating agent, conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.

The case resumes today.

Update

The teenager who accuses Michael Jackson of sex abuse has stayed cool under tough cross-examination, although he has admitted he was disruptive at school and confused about sexuality.

The 15-year-old told jurors last week that Jackson, 46, masturbated him at least twice in February or March of 2003 after nights of heavy drinking at the singer's Neverland Valley Ranch.

Jackson is charged with molesting the boy, who was 13 at the time, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.

Before grilling the boy on his central accusations against Jackson, lead defence lawyer Tom Mesereau confronted him on Monday with a string of complaints from teachers about disciplinary problems when he was younger, including getting into fights, disruption in class and bad grades.

"You had a meeting with (the school principal) because of allegations you had disciplinary problems," Mesereau said.

"No," the boy replied. "I had a meeting with him because I was a disciplinary problem. ... I wasn't that good of a kid then. I argued with teachers and stuff like that."

After causing a stir last week by arriving at court late, dressed in pyjamas and looking shaky, Jackson was back to his pop star self on Monday, arriving on time in a bright red jacket and smart black pants with silver piping.

Jackson's lawyers, who say the boy's mother dreamed up the sex abuse to extort money from the self-proclaimed "King of Pop," are expected to do their utmost to undermine the boy's credibility.

Mesereau said the school principal had at one time asked the boy directly if Jackson had ever molested him. According to the transcript of the interview, the boy replied "No," the lawyer said. The boy acknowledged on the stand that he had responded no.

Mesereau also confronted the boy, who met Jackson when he was recovering from cancer, with an interview he gave to police around the time of his alleged molestation by the singer.

In that interview, the boy told police that his grandmother had told him that if men do not masturbate they end up raping women -- almost exactly the comment that Jackson is alleged to have made to the teen.

Standing firm, the boy told Mesereau he discussed masturbation with both Jackson and his grandmother. "Michael tried to explain to me first. He was more pushing it on me ... I guess my grandmother saw I was very confused about sexuality. She didn't make the identical quote."

The boy started his direct testimony last Thursday on a wild day that began with Jackson nearly jailed for missing court. The performer hobbled into the courthouse more than an hour after the scheduled trial start time -- in pyjamas, appearing dazed and walking gingerly, as if in pain.

A Jackson attorney said the entertainer had tripped and injured his back while getting dressed, and gone to a hospital for treatment.

"Please, mr. pasty white girlie man...touch me so I don't rape a woman." ???

:rolleyes:

Update

THE lad at the centre of the Michael Jackson child abuse trial yesterday admitted telling his head teacher the star had NEVER touched him.

The cancer victim, 15, said he had twice assured Jeffrey Alpert he had not been molested by the singer.

Jacko’s lawyer Thomas Mesereau told the jury the boy had chatted with Mr Alpert, head of his Los Angeles school, shortly after his final visit to the singer’s Neverland ranch.

The lawyer then turned to the lad and asked: “He said, ‘Look at me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the truth. Did anything bad happen?’

“Your response was, ‘No, nothing bad happened’.” The boy said that was correct.

Mr Mesereau again asked: “You told Mr Alpert twice that Mr Jackson had never done anything to you of a sexual nature, is that true?” The boy said: “Yes”.

The admission came just days after the boy told the court how Jacko molested him in bed when he was a 13-year-old. Jacko, 46, denies the charges.

Surprise witness Mr Alpert will give evidence himself later this week to confirm the story.

But prosecutors are expected to claim that sex abuse victims rarely tell authority figures the truth.

Yesterday the boy also admitted sending Jacko adoring letters that read: “I love you, Daddy — signing some “your son.”

Mr Mesereau asked him: “Do you remember sending this card ... ‘I love you Daddy. Thank you for being my Daddy, Michael’? The boy said: “I remember it.”

Mr Mesereau added: “You called him the nicest, most loving person in the world and wrote, ‘Thank you for being my best, best friend ever. I love you Daddy Michael’?” The boy said: “Yes.”

Mr Mesereau also claimed the boy had changed his story about when Jacko allegedly fondled him.

He said the teenager had told the court it happened AFTER telly reporter Martin Bashir made a damaging documentary on the singer’s bizarre lifestyle.

But, Mr Mesereau said, the boy previously told cops he was molested BEFORE the video was filmed.

JACKO is cashing in on his sex abuse trial — by selling videos of himself denying the charges.
Judge Rodney Melville has ruled he can flog the films to foreign TV to ease his £140million debts — but banned them from being screened in the US.

I just wanna comment here. We've had, at my school, two years ago a teacher accused of child molestation. He is still waiting trial. One of the victims was a son of another of our teachers. This boy (and there are others), vehemently denied that this teacher abused them sexually, for the same reasons that this boy in the Jackson trial claims. My point being, that this "is" common for a child to deny these accusations. Hopefully, they'll get some professionals on the stand to attest to that fact.

As a juror, you always have to "sift out" the hoopla, because Lawyers are much like salesman, and look at the facts. My opinion.

TIS

Anyone watched Jay Leno's show on Friday night? Man, after he heard he could tell jokes about Jacko, you should have seen him.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson’s accuser told yesterday how he was bullied at school after appearing in a TV documentary with the star.


The cancer victim, 15, said he was taunted and got into fights over his relationship with Jackson.

He told the jury: “All the kids would laugh at me and push me around, saying, ‘That’s the kid that got raped by Michael Jackson’.”

Martin Bashir’s documentary, Living With Michael Jackson, was screened in the US and UK in February 2003.

The boy, then 13, was shown snuggling up to the singer on a sofa.

The star talked about their “special friendship” before admitting he still shared his bed with young boys — sparking outrage.

The youngster admitted that when asked by his head teacher at his LA school if Jackson had molested him, he had told him no.

Asked by prosecutor Tom Sneddon in Santa Maria, California, why he said that, he said: “Because all the kids were making fun of me.”

He told Jackson’s lawyer Tom Mesereau how he loved being at the Neverland ranch until the star allegedly fondled him.

Jacko 47, denies the charges.

Asked by Mr Mesereau whether he had known he would automatically win a civil claim if Jackson is convicted, the boy replied: “No.”

The alleged victim also said he had stopped thinking Jackson was “cool” and that the singer did not “deserve any respect” now.

Cop Steve Robel told jurors how he found a box of porn magazines of teenage girls headlined “Barely legal, total filth” at the foot of Jackson’s bed.

The trial continues.

Update

The lead investigator in the Michael Jackson case testified Wednesday that the young accuser slumped down in his seat and became "choked up" when first interviewed about allegedly being molested by the pop star.

Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Robel also testified that the boy told him he was molested between five and seven times, but could not recall what happened every time.

"He was fine with talking to us," Robel said of the teenage boy's initial interview. "When I got into the molestation acts I noticed a change in (his) demeanor. He became very quiet, folded his arms and sank down into his chair. ... He even became choked up."

Robel's questioning by District Attorney Tom Sneddon and cross-examination by Jackson attorney Robert Sanger also delved into differences in the number of alleged molestation incidents that have emerged in testimony.

The boy himself testified in the trial to only two molestations but said he believed there may have been more. Despite the statements about five to seven incidents, the investigator said that since the first interviews of the boy in July 2003 he has been able to provide detailed accounts of only two alleged molestations.

The possibility of the accuser not being aware or fully aware at certain times has been raised in testimony by the boy's brother, who said he twice witnessed his brother being molested while asleep.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting the boy, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to rebut a TV documentary in which Jackson appeared with the boy and said he let children sleep in his bed but it was non-sexual and innocent. Jackson's defense contends the family has a history of filing false claims to get money.

The defense cross-examined Robel about what he knew of the rebuttal video, in which the family praised Jackson as a father figure.

Robel testified that before obtaining an arrest warrant for Jackson, none of the investigators had seen the rebuttal video.

"And it did not appear to you to be consistent with what you had been hearing from the family?" Sanger asked.

"I was not alarmed," said Robel, "because I recalled what (the mother) said to me in her initial interview."

Robel said the mother indicated she was instructed by a Jackson associate to do the video.

Robel also acknowledged he had not seen a collection of cards and letters written by the family to Jackson, calling him "daddy" and effusively paying tribute to him.

Another detective, Paul Zelis, testified about adult magazines found at Neverland, including one found in a nightstand drawer that also contained a studio photograph of the accuser, his brother and sister.

He acknowledged under cross-examination that the magazines were not tested for fingerprints until after grand jury hearings in March and April 2004.

Zelis did not say whether any fingerprints were found on the magazines, but prosecutors said in opening statements that some magazines had Jackson's and the accuser's fingerprints.

The defense contends Jackson once caught the boy and his brother going through his magazines and took them away.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson got into the St Patrick’s Day spirit yesterday — by wearing a green shirt.


The singer arrived at court for his child abuse trial wearing the traditional Irish colour.

It is traditional for many Americans to don green on March 17.

Jackson teamed it with a burgundy suit and gold waistcoat as he sat through revelations by a former housekeeper.

Kiki Fournier said “a lot” of young boys would stay overnight at his Neverland ranch and often slept in the same room as Jackson.

The ex-worker, who was employed from 1991 to 2003, named several lads aged from ten to 13 with whom 46-year-old Jackson formed “especially close relationships”.

They included his accuser, now 15, and film star Macaulay Culkin.

Miss Fournier told the trial in Santa Maria, California, that the children could do as they wanted.

She said: “You could watch movies, play video games, eat whatever you wanted, stay up as late as you wanted, ride rides.”

The ex-worker also said she had seen some children drunk at Neverland while dining with Jackson.

She added: “In the absence of an authority figure the children became wild, and without their families there, it became like Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island.”

Judge Rodney Melville has ordered former alleged victims of Jackson to attend court next week.

They will give evidence before the judge decides if they can be called as prosecution witnesses.

One is expected to be Jordy Chandler, 25 — who said he was groped aged 12.

Jackson denies molesting the boy. The trial continues.

"Ride rides"? :p

Update

The judge in the Michael Jackson trial has set a March 28 hearing to decide whether jurors can hear about past sex offence allegations against the singer in what could be a turning point in an already sensational case.

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville also dismissed a motion for a mistrial brought by the defence as the trial ended its third week of testimony.

With jurors having a day off, lawyers for both sides conferred with the judge on several other key issues -- the admissibility of the pop superstar's finances and how the fingerprints of Jackson's teen accuser got onto pornographic magazines.

Melville ruled that the prosecution, which has alleged Jackson is on the brink of bankruptcy, could subpoena the entertainer's financial records. But he said they would not be opened in the trial unless he heard testimony that made the details relevant.

Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a then 13-year-old boy at his Neverland ranch in February or March of 2003, and with plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him. He is also charged with conspiring to commit extortion, false imprisonment and child abduction.

The pop star, who was not in court on Friday, has pleaded innocent. He faces more than 20 years in prison if he is convicted on all 10 counts.

Looming in the background are the well-publicized 1993 accusations of molestation made against Jackson by another 13-year-old, which were settled out of court for a reported $23 million.

'CLOSE FRIENDSHIPS'

Jackson was never criminally charged in the 1993 case but the prosecution has battled for months to be allowed to call the youth involved as a witness in the current case.

Melville said he would hold a March 28 hearing on the issue with both defence and prosecution lawyers, but without the jury, to determine what is seen as one of the most important rulings in the current case.

The boy was mentioned in court on Thursday by a former Neverland housekeeper, who named him as one of a number of children who had "close friendships" with Jackson and who were allowed to run wild at the singer's ranch.

Jackson's defence lawyer on Friday asked for a mistrial because of that testimony. Melville denied the motion, saying; "This isn't the first time the jury has heard that name ... 1993 has been mentioned by other witnesses."

The jury has already been shown stacks of pornographic magazines seized from Jackson's bedroom. His young accuser, a recovering cancer patient, has testified that Jackson showed him porn both in magazines and on the Internet.

The fingerprints of the boy have been found on some of the magazines but the defence maintains they got there during secret grand jury hearings last year.

Both sides agreed on Friday to settle the dispute by calling as a witness one of the prosecutors in the closed-door grand jury hearings for testimony and cross examination.

The trial, which has already heard from Jackson's accuser, his younger brother and older sister, resumes on Monday. Other key testimony in what is expected to be a five-month trial is awaited from the boy's mother and the child psychologist who was the first to hear the boy say he had been groped and masturbated by the entertainer.

update

The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial rejected a defense request for a mistrial Friday after a witness mentioned the name of a youngster who leveled sex allegations against the pop star a decade ago.

On Thursday, a former housekeeper at Jackson's Neverland ranch mentioned the boy who received a multimillion-dollar civil settlement after claiming in 1993 that Jackson molested him.

The defense argued the testimony violated Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville's ruling that no evidence of past sexual crimes could be admitted unless the judge said so.

In denying the request for a mistrial, Melville said prosecutors elicited the testimony to establish how much contact Jackson had with boys who visited Neverland, not to suggest any impropriety by the singer.

The judge also set a March 28 date for a hearing on the prosecution request to allow evidence of alleged prior offenses into Jackson's trial.

Jackson has never been convicted of a sexual offense, but prosecutors want to present witnesses they believe will show that the current case is part of a pattern.

Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient at Neverland in 2003. No testimony was heart Friday; it will resume on Monday.

Update

FRAIL Michael Jackson virtually had to be carried into court yesterday.

The singer needed support from minders after arriving five minutes late for the 16th day of his child abuse trial.

Shaking all over, Jackson, 46, shuffled to the defence table and had to be helped into his seat.

His brother Jackie whispered to him: “Come on, it will be all right, it will be OK.”

But Jackson sat for four minutes, weeping all the time, before asking to go to the toilet.

He spent half an hour there, sobbing, but after a 45-minute delay the trial in Santa Maria, California, resumed.

Sources said he had been given painkillers in hospital after complaining of severe back pain before the hearing.

Court ushers handed out tissues to shocked fans who burst into tears over Jackson’s plight.

When proceedings ended, he was helped to his car by a bodyguard and his father Joe.

Asked if he was hurting at all, Jackson, struggling to speak, said: “Yes, very much hurt” and then groaned: “In pain, in pain.”

He's in pain? Maybe it was his turn to get it in the rear.

I just want to know why he can never carry his own freakin' umbrella. Are his arms broke too?

Update

The focus of Michael Jackson's child molestation trial shifted Tuesday from the entertainer's character to that of his alleged accuser's parents.

A Los Angeles comedian and benefactor of the family testified that the teenage boy's father was a hot-tempered freeloader who seemed to coach his children to scam celebrities, while his mother was a kind if overemotional woman beaten down by years of her husband's abuse and later terrified by Jackson and his associates.

The portrait Louise Palanker painted is problematic for Jackson because his lawyers have demonized the 15-year-old cancer survivor's mother as a powerful puppet-master behind false allegations designed to extort money.

Bad behavior by the accuser's father has less bearing because the couple had separated by the time of the alleged abuse and the boy and his siblings had no contact with him.

For more than two hours on the stand, Palanker described a woman incapable of such grand manipulation.

"I feel that she's a lovely, caring person," said the comedian, who first befriended the boy, his older sister and young brother at a summer comedy camp run by the Laugh Factory comedy club for underprivileged children.

Palanker said she never knew the accuser to lie and that, in fact, "he's been honest in the face of others wishing not to be."

Palanker recounted the mother calling her in 2003, when the abuse allegedly occurred at Jackson's Neverland Ranch, and hysterically begged for help in dealing with the music legend and his employees, saying, "These people are evil."

"I felt like they were being held against their will," Palanker told jurors, adding that she asked her lawyer to consult with the woman.

In addition to molestation, Jackson, 46, is accused of conspiring to kidnap and imprison the family. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.



Emergency medical technicians removed a fan from the courtroom after she fainted.

Palanker also contradicted several claims defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. made about her in his opening statement. He told jurors that Palanker would testify the mother approached her for money to pay medical bills and that, when she later found out they'd spent a portion of the $20,000 on a flat-screen television and DVD player, she felt robbed.

"She was upset," Mesereau said during openings.

But on the witness stand Tuesday, Palanker said it was her idea to give the money and that she gave it knowing insurance was covering the medical expenses.

She said she anticipated the family would use it to cover living expenses while the father took time off to be at the hospital with his son. However, she said she put no restrictions on the gift and was not angry when she found out about the entertainment system.

She also said the mother never asked her for money, while the father "continually" badgered her, even after the $20,000 gift.

"He kept telling me they didn't have any money to live on, no food, clothing," Palanker said, adding that when she asked what had happened to her gift, the father said his wife "spent the money on votive candles and things of that nature."

Scams of the father

She also related an incident in which comedian and television actor George Lopez, an acquaintance from the Laugh Factory, believed the father was coaching his children to lie.

Lopez met the boy at the comedy camp and, after he became ill, invited him to his home. Later, Palanker said, the father called Lopez and said the boy left a wallet with $300 at the home. When Lopez found it, the wallet only contained $3 and the actor "became irate," believing himself the target of a scam, Palanker said.

She said that, when the father tried to get his son to tell her there was $300 in the wallet, the boy was uncomfortable and refused to say anything.

The father "got enraged" with the accuser, and "we never solved the mystery of the wallet," she testified.

She also told jurors she believed the father had instructed his children not to reveal Christmas gifts they received from other benefactors. Only when the father left the room did the accuser tell her that Michael Jackson had given him a PlayStation2.

Under cross-examination by Mesereau, Palanker acknowledged that she thought there was something strange about the family, including the mother, who she felt might be bipolar.

"I couldn't really put my finger on what was out of balance with this family, certainly not the children, never the children," she said.

She also conceded that "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno called her and complained that the accuser and his family had left him three voice mails and he wanted them to stop. She told the father to stop calling him, she said.

Both Lopez and Leno might be called as witnesses.

Improving health

Jackson stared toward the witness stand as Palanker testified. The pop icon appeared in better health than Monday, when he arrived late to court and in the company of a physician.

Dressed in a black suit with a red and white ribbon as an armband, he walked more quickly from his SUV to the courthouse than Monday but leaned on a security guard for assistance.



A fan who spoke with a court officer later fainted, then screamed when she was taken away.

A defense lawyer, Brian Oxman, said Jackson was still in pain, but "he's holding up and bearing through it."

During a break in testimony, a fan who had been sitting in the public gallery fainted. When court officers approached to offer assistance, she began screaming, "Michael! Michael!" and kicking at the officers. Court was briefly delayed while the woman was removed on a stretcher, but her screams were heard in the courtroom for several minutes.

Judge Rodney Melville recessed court for the day at 11:30 a.m. so he could attend the dedication of a new juvenile justice facility.

The trial will resume Wednesday morning.

Update

Actor George Lopez, expected to be a witness for Michael Jackson's defense, instead will take the stand against him next week, prosecutors said Thursday.

The comedian and star of the ABC sitcom "The George Lopez Show" is expected in the witness box at Jackson's child molestation trial Monday to testify about his dealings with the music legend's teenage accuser, prosecutor Ronald Zonen told Judge Rodney Melville.

Lopez was among several celebrities, including Jackson, actor Chris Tucker and comedians Adam Sandler and Jay Leno, whom the boy met or sought to meet while he was being treated for cancer in 2000.

Jackson's defense has portrayed the accuser and his family as a pack of grifters who used the boy's cancer to scam money from the rich and famous. His lawyers have highlighted Lopez in particular, eliciting testimony from several witnesses about an incident where the comedian apparently believed the family was trying to hustle him.

The prosecutor's announcement, however, indicates Lopez will offer positive testimony about the accuser, now a 15-year-old high school student. Zonen noted that Lopez, who fought a defense subpoena for his testimony, had withdrawn any opposition to taking the stand and would come to court of his own free will.

Another comedian and acquaintance of Lopez, Louise Palanker, testified Tuesday about one unpleasant incident between the family and the actor: Lopez, who met the family through a comedy camp for underprivileged children, invited the teenager to his home. Later, either the boy or his father called Lopez and said the teenager had left a wallet containing $300 behind. Lopez and his wife, Ann, found the wallet, but it contained only $3.

Palanker testified that Lopez was "irate" and ended his relations with the family. Palanker also said the boy's father later tried to get the boy to tell some of Lopez's comedy club associates that the wallet had $300 in it, but the boy refused, enraging his father.

The boy's credibility is a key issue in the case. Prosecutors have all but conceded that the father was a con artist, but he had lost his parental rights and was not in contact with the boy in February and March 2003, when Jackson allegedly fondled him in the bedroom of his Neverland Ranch.

The defense, however, has said the boy's mother coached him to lie about the molestation.

Porn prints

The surprise announcement about Lopez came at the close of a day of testimony about fingerprints found on pornographic magazines sheriff's officers seized from Jackson's bedroom.

A forensic examiner testified that Jackson's prints, as well as prints matching two children — including the accuser's 11-year-old brother — were on the publications.

The brother's prints were discovered on pages of a magazine called Barely Legal Hardcore. The prints of another minor were lifted from an issue of Finally Legal.

The examiner, Lisa Hemman of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, was not permitted to identify the child.

Another fingerprint examiner scheduled to take the stand Friday is expected to testify that he lifted the accuser's prints from other pornographic magazines, including one in which he also found Jackson's prints.

The prosecution alleges that Jackson used the pornography to "groom" the boy for molestation.

Prosecutors, who displayed nearly 75 images of adult material from the bedroom Wednesday, showed jurors an additional dozen pages from inside the magazines, many extremely explicit. The pages, on which examiners detected prints, included photos of women and men in sex acts and close-ups of female genitalia.

An attorney for Jackson grilled Hemman and three other fingerprint specialists who testified Thursday about potential problems with the field. He noted that an Oregon lawyer was arrested as a suspect in the Madrid train bombings on the strength of a fingerprint match, only to be exonerated later when the print was shown to be a "false positive."

"So, fingerprint identification is really subjective?" lawyer Robert Sanger asked.

"Yes," Hemman said.

She later acknowledged that she and another examiner were at odds over whether a print was Jackson's and that they had changed their opinion on the brother's print from an initial finding of "inconclusive."

The defense has implied that the accuser's prints may have ended up on a magazine when he identified items at the grand jury. A state forensic technician appeared to deal a blow to that theory when she testified Thursday that many of the pornographic images were in her evidence locker at the time of the proceeding and could not have been handled by the accuser.

Jackson, who is being treated for back pain, sat motionless during the testimony, but appeared more upbeat leaving court than he has in weeks.

"I'd like to say hello to the people of Santa Maria, my friends," he said as he walked toward his chauffeured SUV.

Asked about his health, he replied, "Still in a lot of pain."

The 46-year-old pop icon faces upwards of 20 years in prison if convicted.

Testimony is set to resume Friday morning.

I also heard that the judge will soon make a decision as to whether or not to let in the incident of the first boy that accused Jackson of molestation. Apparently to show a pattern on Jackson's part, as opposed to re-opening the case of the first boy, who was paid off.

Btw, I also heard that the prosecution would wrap up shortly. What happened to Corey Feldman and others who were to testify?

TIS

Ive not heard on Corey Feldom testify as yet

Michael doesn't cop a feel.

http://toccionline.kizash.com/films/1001/139/

You guys are sick

update

MICHAEL Jackson's accuser would not have invented sex allegations against the singer for fear of being branded gay, the court heard yesterday.

Psychologist Dr Stan Katz said it would be “unusual” for a boy of 13, as his accuser was at the time, to make claims of inappropriate sexual relations.

The doctor — the first person to whom the boy claimed that Jackson had molested him — added: “These children are so protective and guilt-ridden and ashamed.”

Dr Katz, a TV celebrity in America, saw the lad twice in 2003.

He told the court in Santa Maria, California, he did not believe the boy’s claims were false even though his story changed.

He said: “Stories changing can indicate the child is telling the truth. Their memory storage facilities are not that good.”

The singer, 46, denies ten charges including child molestation and giving minors alcohol.

JACKSON paid tribute to lawyer Johnnie Cochran, the man who famously defended actor OJ Simpson against murder charges, after he died at 67 on Tuesday.

The star said Cochran, who reportedly helped line up Jackson’s defence team, was a friend who fought for justice.

Update

The attorney who secured a multimillion-dollar sexual-molestation settlement against Michael Jackson 12 years ago on behalf of a teenage boy testified Friday about how he came to be involved with Jackson's current accuser, who says Jackson sexually fondled him at the Neverland Ranch.

Attorney Larry Feldman, who was contacted by the accuser's civil attorney in 2003, told jurors that within weeks of meeting with the boy and his family, he hired a psychologist "to let an expert figure it out, what had happened."

"I had to make heads or tails out of what was being said to me by [the accuser, his mother and his siblings]," said Feldman.

Based on the interviews Dr. Stan Katz conducted, Feldman said, the two men went to the LA County Department of Children and Family Services to file a report of sexual molestation against Jackson. The next day, they went to the police.

Katz reviewed another doctor's interview with Jackson's 1993 accuser, Jordie Chandler, who is now in his 20s.

"He was adorable," Feldman said Friday, as he identified a photo of a teenage Chandler, who, at the time, bore a resemblance to Jackson's latest accuser. The accuser's name is currently being withheld by Court TV.

While Feldman maintained that there is no pending civil suit for monetary damages against Jackson, he and the accuser's civil attorney, Bill Dickerman, are engaged in a fee-sharing agreement, so that if a suit is pursued and won, they would reap any reward.

Feldman also conceded that the accuser and his brother, who claims to have witnessed some of the alleged molestation, have until the age of 20 to decide whether to sue Jackson.

"If at the end of this trial, they decide they'd like to sue, they'd have plenty of time, wouldn't they?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked the witness.

"If they'd like to, sure," Feldman replied.

Jackson claims he is innocent and is being targeted by greedy civil attorneys and an opportunistic family he once invited into his home. He faces up to 20 years if convicted.

Meseareau insinuated that Feldman's experience in the Chandler case made him wise to the high cost of pursuing a civil trial before a criminal one.

"Did you tell a grand jury in Santa Barbara County that you incurred tremendous costs and expenses in the 1993 case?" Mesereau asked.

Feldman gave guarded answers, ultimately denying Mesereau's suggestion that he was letting the county incur investigative costs in the criminal trial only to save money on a future civil trial, in which the burden of proof is much lower.

"If there were a conviction in this case, essentially the only question remaining would be how much money you get?" Mesereau asked.

"I think that's close," Feldman said. "But nothing is ever as simple as you've stated it. You and I both know that."

Mixed messages

Because the judge allowed prosecutors to present some testimony about previous alleged bad acts by Jackson, they had greater latitude in questioning Feldman about the 1993 Chandler case, but he was not allowed to discuss the dollar amount of the settlement.

"With regard to Jordan Chandler vs. Michael Jackson," District Attorney Thomas Sneddon asked the witness, "was that resolved in Mr. Chandler's favor?"

"It was absolutely resolved in Jordie Chandler's favor," Feldman said with a triumphant intonation.

In a "confession of judgment" settlement, in which neither side admitted wrongdoing, Jackson agreed to pay the boy more than $20 million.

The suit, according to Feldman, was based on seven causes of action, relating to Jackson's alleged sexual molestation of Chandler, who was then 13 years old.

Jurors also heard briefly from Jesus Salas, a former house manager at Neverland Ranch who had daily contact with Jackson, supervised the singer's maids and cooks and kept the home and kitchen well-stocked.

Salas, who said he typically worked from 7 a.m. until 1 or 2 a.m., left his position in May or June 2003 because it was "time to move on" from the very stressful job.

Prosecutors contend that Jackson held the accuser and his family against their will in 2003. Salas, who testified to a grand jury that the accuser's family was not allowed to leave Neverland without approval from Jackson's aides, will likely be questioned about the alleged imprisonment when he returns to the stand Monday.

Jackson, who says he is still suffering from back pain due to a recent slip in the shower, appeared tired and wan as he arrived for the 24th day of his child-molestation trial Friday morning.



Jackson wore a slightly rumpled black suit and chocolate-colored armband. He produced a pained smile and waved to screaming fans, who were separated from him by a chain-link fence and a host of armed deputies.

Joining the usual Jackson supporters and detractors Friday morning were a small group of war protesters, who chanted and picketed for the TV cameras, adding to the pastiche of homemade posters sharing sidewalk space.

"Save the children, stop the war," signs mingled alongside "We've had enough of child molesters," which were met by "Leave the Man in the Mirror Alone" placards.

At one point, the Jackson supporters and the anti-war set found a harmonious connection, when one group's chants of "Innocent, Innocent" was followed by the other's "Bush is not, Bush is not."

Does anyone watch the "recreation" of the trial on the "E" channel?? They have actors portraying everyone, and real life lawyers commenting and follow the court transcripts?

It's only my opinion of course, but so far I don't think the prosecution has the edge. We'll see. It would kill me to be on jury to acquit if I thought someone was guilty, but wouldn't have a choice if it wasn't proven.

TIS

Update

A YOUNG man wept in the witness box yesterday as he told how Michael Jackson abused him from the age of seven while they watched cartoons.

Jason Francia told how Jacko “tickled his privates” as they looked at the TV.

Holding tissues to his face as he gave evidence he admitted: “This is so much tougher than I thought. It was embarrassing then, it’s embarrassing now and I’m 24 years old.”

Jason said Jackson, 46, abused him three times when he was visiting homes owned by the star.

He said the singer stuffed a $100 bill into his pants when he molested him, adding: “It was a kind of, ‘don’t tell your mum about the money’.”

Jason told the court in Santa Maria, California, the first incident happened when he was seven at a flat in Hollywood his mum Blanca — a cleaner for Jackson — dubbed The Hideout.

He said: “I was sitting on his lap. My back was to his chest. I think we were watching cartoons. He started tickling me, I tickled him back. Then we went to the floor, tickling still. It eventually moved down to my private region. Around my crotch.”

He said the fondling had lasted “more than three minutes, less than 10 minutes”.

Jason said the second incident also happened at The Hideout when he was between eight and nine as his mum cleaned another room. Again it occurred while they watched cartoons.

Asked how long it took, Jason replied: “Two cartoons worth. Say a Woody Woodpecker, four to five minutes.

“He reached up on my leg, I was still laughing, he reached up to my privates.”

Tearful Jason said Jackson abused him a third time around the age of ten as he played video games at the star’s Neverland ranch.

Jason said Jackson tickled him again. He added: “There was a couch, we somehow managed to end up on the couch.”

Earlier, Jason told the court how he loved visiting Jackson’s homes, saying: “There were toys, old karate games. It was fun for kids. I think there was even a laser tag thing.”

He said he once shared a bed with Jacko and “a bunch of other kids, seven to six”.

Police interviewed Jason around the time. He said he had lied to them because he was embarrassed about what occurred being made public.

Jason — now a car parts salesman who also helps troubled youngsters — was given counselling soon after which lasted until he was 18.

His mum was given an out-of-court settlement by the star 11 years ago — believed to be £2million.

He added: “To this day she does not know I was molested three times. She does now and that sucks.”

As Jason went into his allegations, Jackson rocked back and forth in his chair with his glare fixed on Jason. At the end of the hearing the star stood up, still staring at the witness box.

The singer gazed at Jason for several minutes before leaving court with his defence team.

An emotional Jason was comforted in the box by prosecutors and a female friend.

Jackson denies ten charges, including child molestation and kidnapping. Trial continues.

He certainly is in a big pickle.

I hear they had the other boy who settled on the stand and that he was a very good witness who seemed sincere and drew sympathy. We'll see.



TIS

I just hope to God none of this is true

Update

A FORMER security guard for Michael Jackson told a court yesterday that he saw the star give a boy oral sex.

Ralph Chacon said Jackson and Jordy Chandler, then aged nine or ten, were standing naked in a changing room near a Jacuzzi at the singer’s Neverland ranch.

He said: “I saw them standing in the nude. They were facing each other. I saw Mr Jackson was caressing the boy’s hair. He was kissing him on his face and lips.

“He went down, he started sucking his nipples. He started going down to his penis and started putting it in his mouth.”

Mr Chacon was asked by District Attorney Tom Sneddon how Jackson was kissing Jordy. He replied: “Very passionate. In his mouth.”

Asked where the singer’s hands were at the time, he said: “They were all over his body.”

Mr Chacon, who worked at Neverland from 1991 to 1994, told the court in Santa Maria. California, that the incident occurred in late 1992 to early 1993.

He said he saw Jackson and Jordy going to the Jacuzzi and later to the changing room.

Mr Chacon added that, half an hour later, he could hear Jackson and the boy in the shower together. He said: “I recognised Mr Jackson and Jordy’s voices.

“I was thinking, ‘What’s going on, this is a grown man in a shower’.” He said he had walked away but decided to go back because “what was going on in there wasn’t right”.

He said he had peeped in a window and saw a naked Jackson fondle the boy — and that later, he saw Jackson giving Jordy a piggy-back to the main house, both of them in towelling robes.

Mr Chacon was shown photos of Jordy, including one of him sitting on Jackson’s lap, and asked if that was the boy he saw with the singer that night. He said it was.

He said he had seen another “inappropriate” incident at Neverland several weeks later.

He said: “Mr Jackson and the boy were in front of the Peter Pan display. It’s a window where Peter Pan lights up. Jordy was in front and Mr Jackson was in back. He (Jackson) turned him around and kissed him.”

Mr Chacon said he had given the same testimony in 1994 to a grand jury investigating claims by Jordy that Jackson molested him.

But no criminal charges were brought after the boy’s family were paid £12million by Jackson.

Later, a former maid at Neverland told the court she had seen Jackson fondle Hollywood child star Macaulay Culkin.

Adrian McManus said she had been cleaning Jacko’s bedroom and could see him and Macaulay sitting in a library nearby.

She said: “Mr Jackson was kissing him on his cheek and had his hand on his leg, at his rear.”

Jackson denies molesting a cancer victim, 15, and false imprisonment. The trial continues.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson “wept, shook and trembled” as he begged Jordy Chandler’s mum to let her son share his bed, a court heard yesterday.

June Chandler told for the first time of Jordy’s relationship with Jacko as she gave evidence at the pop superstar’s child molestation trial.

She told jurors in Santa Maria, California, how the singer arrived late at night with Jordy, then 13, at a Las Vegas hotel where she was staying in 1993.

Mrs Chandler, 51, said: “He was sobbing, shaking, trembling. He said, ‘Why don’t you trust me? We’re family. Why aren’t you allowing Jordy to be with me’?

“I said I was allowing Jordy to be with him.

“He said, ‘In my bedroom, why not in my bedroom? We have fun, we all fall asleep, the boys’.

“I said, ‘This is not anything I want. This is not right’. Michael said, ‘We’re a family, Jordy is having fun, why can’t he sleep in my bed? There is nothing going on’.”

Mrs Chandler told the jury the exchange lasted up to 40 minutes and she finally relented.

She said she saw them in bed together — and that Jacko stayed in Jordy’s room in her home even though it had just one bed.

Mrs Chandler said she saw Jackson in bed with Jordy in Monte Carlo and that they also shared a bed on trips to Florida’s Disney World, France and New York.

In Monaco she began to notice she was being kept away from the pair when Jackson boarded up his room. But she said her son’s behaviour soon deteriorated and he grew “sullen”.

And she said she had another tearful confrontation with Jacko when she said the sleep-overs were “out of hand”.

Jordy got a £12million pay-off after claiming the singer molested him.

Under cross-examination, Mrs Chandler admitted she had not spoken to her son — now 25 — for 11 years.

She also said that at the time she did not suspect anything “improper” was going on between the lad and Jackson.

June told the court that throughout her son’s relationship with Jackson, the singer had given her a host of gifts.

These included a £3,700 gift certificate to a boutique and jewellery.

Jackson, 46, denies molesting a 15-year-old cancer victim and false imprisonment. The trial continues.

Has anyone been watching the reinactments to this trial? Of course they are actors, but the court transcript is followed. Very interesting.

Jackson's attorney does know how to "discredit" the witnesses I must say. It's a tough call, because much of the testimony applies to boys that are not bringing a case against Jackson. And a few have admitted to selling their story to tabloids, which is a definite minus. However, on the other hand, none of these witnesses (or at least most of them), don't know each other, but their testimony of Jackson's "behavior" is consistent, so it's hard to believe every single one them is lying.

That being said, so far, as an obsever, I am not convinced that Jackson will get a guilty verdict.

TIS

Update

MICHAEL Jackson offered the lad he is accused of molesting a house if he agreed to make a film praising him, a court heard yesterday.

The stepfather of the 13-year-old cancer victim said Jacko’s advisers wanted to make the film as a rebuttal to the damaging documentary by ITV’s Martin Bashir.

The stepdad said when he asked the star’s aide Frank Tyson what the boy would get in return for cooperation he was offered a college education and a house.

He said he turned the offer down and asked about money, but was accused of blackmail.

Bashir’s documentary outlined the star’s worrying relationship with young boys at Neverland — and led to the current charges.

The man also told the court in Santa Maria, California, how the boy's mum sat in a closet sobbing as she spoke to the star’s aides on the phone about the film.

He said she was “distressed” at allegedly being pressured into taking part in the film.

Jacko, 46, denies abusing the boy. The trial continues.

I'll tell you, I've been listening to the reinactment of the court testimony. True or not, some of the claims made against Jackson are totally disgusting and given in very graphic detail.


TIS

from what ive posted and read it's not looking good for him

I'm not really sure DeNiro. I've followed several commentaries on it, along with the reinactment of the trial. Usually there are both prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys commenting. It always seems the defense attorneys think there's "no case" and the prosecuting attorneys think there is.

What I'd like to know is the exact charges. Are there "levels" of molestation? Can he be charged with a lesser charge if not Child Molestation??? There are many "unrelated" witnesses who testified to witnessing face licking and fondling, and more than a few have testified to Jackson and victim showering together (which of course the defense attorney says that in itself proves nothing.) If there is a lesser charge, what would that fall under?

TIS

Update

THE mum of Michael Jackson’s accuser says she caught the singer licking her sleeping son.

The woman, 37, claimed the incident happened on a jet from Miami in 2003.

She sobbed as she told the court: “At that time when everyone had fallen asleep, I had gotten up, I thought this was my chance to look and see what was going on back there.

“I saw Michael licking his head, over and over. I thought I was seeing things.”

The woman added that her son, then 13, “was sleeping” with his head on the chest of Jacko, who had his arm around the boy.

She said: “When we’d got there, I asked my son, I said: ‘Are you OK?’ He said, ‘Yes’.”

She then mimicked the licking she claimed to have seen, saying: “He was licking, like this, over and over”.

The woman said she had not said anything at the time, adding: “I was not going to tell nobody.” She later told police.

She also claimed she was threatened by Jacko’s security men in a row over the Martin Bashir documentary.

Earlier, the woman agreed to testify only if she was not asked about alleged benefit fraud.

Jacko, 46, denies ten charges including molesting the boy. The case continues.

Update

A MUM whose son accused Michael Jackson of sex abuse said yesterday a Jacko aide warned he could have her “erased”.


The mother said the threat came when she queried scripted answers to questions in a TV documentary about the singer.

She also said she praised Jackson when quizzed by social workers because she feared something might happen to her mum and dad.

Janet said an aide made it clear “if I put Michael in a bad light they knew where my parents live”.

She also said a lawyer of Jackson’s told her to “only say positive things”.

The mother said she was told later she had not praised him enough and would have to go to Brazil.

She said she was warned that her boyfriend and parents would be killed if she refused.

The meeting with three social workers took place in 2003 after Martin Bashir’s show on Jackson was aired.

There were complaints after the mother's teenage son was shown snuggling up to the singer.

Jackson denies child abuse. Trial continues in Santa Maria, California.

Update

The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser spent her fourth tireless day on the stand Monday, wagging her finger at the pop star as she told jurors she had the real dirt on the "Man in the Mirror."

"He's managed to fool the world," she said indignantly. "I was one woman on the inside. What he puts out to the world is not who he really is. And now because of this criminal case, people now know who he really is."

She testified that Jackson coerced her and her three children into false imprisonment at his ranch, Neverland, by convincing her during a "lovey dovey" conversation that she needed his protection from "the killers."

"He told me that my family was going to be killed," the mother said, adding, "I believed everything Michael told me."

In time, however, she said she came to see that Jackson's aides and unindicted co-conspirators — the men who chaperoned her to and from Neverland, beauty salons and shopping trips — were the real killers.

"They had many ways to make my family disappear," the witness said. One of the ways she believed they might erase her family, she later shared with investigators, was to launch them far away from Neverland in a hot air balloon.

When defense attorney Thomas Mesereau reminded her of that lofty idea Monday, she confirmed it. She also insisted that she never contacted police during her alleged two-month long imprisonment because she feared Jackson would have her family killed.

Jackson is on trial for allegedly holding the woman and her three children against their will at his Neverland ranch after a damaging documentary showed Jackson in a loving embrace with the accuser, a 13-year-old cancer survivor who was a frequent sleepover guest.

Prosecutors say that after spiriting the accuser and his family away from the public eye, Jackson molested the boy repeatedly in February or March 2003.

According to the witness, she did not know her son was being molested until many months after the alleged escape.

"You claim you first learned about any alleged molestation in September of 2003, correct?" Mesereau asked her before concluding his cross-examination.

"I don't understand what he's saying," the witness told jurors, "but I came to learn little by little ..."

Mesereau interrupted her and forcefully repeated the question: "You claim you first learned about any alleged molestation in September of 2003, from [district attorney] Tom Sneddon, [lead investigator] Steven Robell and [lieutenant] Jeff Klapakis?"

"Yes," she said.

Jackson claims he is being victimized by a family he once treated like his own. His defense has attempted to paint the mother as a litigious, celebrityobsessed woman who has her sights set on the pop star's riches.

She repeatedly denied having any intention of filing a civil suit against the singer.

Jackson faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

'Escape' from Neverland

By the end of cross-examination, the mother's demeanor on the stand seemed more subdued and lethargic compared to last week's feisty testimony, which was marked by laughter, tears, mania and solemnity.

Some of her habits remained, however. She often addresses jurors in a conversational tone. She greets the panel with a "good morning" when she first takes her seat. She offered a "bless you" when one sneezed and alerted a bailiff when another appeared to need his attention.

Unfailingly, she turns to face the jurors when answering.

Jackson has remained expressionless. At one point, he shook his head slowly and peered over at the jurors as if to gauge whether they were believing the witness.

She was forced again Monday to answer to her own inconsistent statements. "They told me this would appease the killers," she said to explain why she continually heaped praise on Jackson in taped interviews and written statements made during her alleged captivity.

When confronted with receipts showing the mother was treated to a body wax, clothing and luggage for her and her children, she answered with a phrase she has repeatedly used during trial: "It was all part of the choreography" of Michael Jackson's "positive PR people."

The prosecutor objected to his own witness's testimony as nonresponsive about a half dozen times Monday when she strayed into tangents about Jackson's "positive PR people."

According to the witness, the positive PR people — namely four of Jackson's five unindicted co-conspirators Frank Tyson, Vincent Amen, Ronald Konitzer and Dieter Wiesner — constantly monitored her phone conversations, watched her and her parents, and planned to send her and her children to Brazil in early March 2003 to silence them.

When asked by Mesereau if she truly believed that Jackson, the most famous person in the world, was arranging to have her family kidnapped, she replied, "All I know is what I saw and what I knew. They were making me and my children leave the country."

"You were leaving the country for one week, isn't that correct?" Mesereau asked.

"No. Until they said," she replied.

Although the mother has been an uneven witness, she has not faltered in her conviction during two days of intense cross-examination that she and her three children were falsely imprisoned by Jackson and his aides.

She told jurors that Jackson, a man who has publicly claimed to identify most with Peter Pan, had effectively stolen away her children's affections.

"They were separating me from my children. By the end, I had no control over them, I lost them," she said.

When they finally escaped from Neverland, the mother said, she began "the process of deprogramming my children from being brainwashed."

Update

THE grandmother of the teenage boy in the Michael Jackson trial told yesterday how Neverland affected her family.
She said her grandchildren’s personalities had changed when they returned from the singer’s home.

And she claimed that she had to LIE to Jackson’s staff that she was ill to be allowed to see the kids at all.

The woman, who called Jackson “Miguel”, said one of his people brought her grandchildren to her home in Los Angeles.

One grandchild has accused Jackson of molesting him.

His grandmother told the jury: “Those children were not my grandkids. When they came back they didn’t talk to me the same. They were different kids.

“Even up to now he is not the same child.”

Michael Davy, a counsellor, said the boy became disruptive at school after meeting the singer.

Jackson denies molesting him when he was 13, attempted molestation and giving alcohol to a minor.

He also denies conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, extortion and abduction.

Prosecutor Tom Sneddon expects to finish presenting his case to the court in Santa Maria, California, by the end of next week.

Jackson said: “I think it’s going well.”

Well DeNiro, it looks like you and I are the only ones following this trial. Don't know exactly why, but I have been following most of it. It's so distrubing.

So far, I still have the feeling that it's going more in Jackson's favor, as far as "clear" evidence. The mother is so "off the wall" (if you'll pardon the expression :p ). Commentators are saying she is soooo unbelieveable and has lied before, so why not now??? Yet I pose a different theory. Yes, she's weird, and, I think, could very well be out for the money.

However, consider the possibility, that this mother turned a blind eye to the molestation of her child, never questioning, nor calling the police, simply to get what she could.

TIS

I'm actually extremely interested in the trial. But honestly, who can't find a trial such as this even mildly interesting? A celebrity trial is interesting enough as it is, let alone one with such - lets call it "mythology" - behind it as such!

After all the pedophile jokes and wise-cracks, Jackson is finally being trialed of what he has been being accused of for the past ten years.

Update

A POTENTIAL witness in the Michael Jackson child abuse trial has been charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

The teenager claims Ahmad Elatab, 18, forced her into sex acts at her home while her parents slept upstairs.

She says he bragged about being at Jackson’s house while the star seduced a girl. And she told police he “learned how to be that way from Michael Jackson”.

The 14-year-old says she and Elatab watched computer porn before the assaults. Elatab, who is being held in jail in New Jersey, denies all charges.

Police say the girl told them she consented to some parts of the sexual encounter. But Detective Captain Robert Rowan said: “At 14, she’s not legally in the position to give consent.”

Elatab is one of 500 possible defence witnesses at Jackson’s trial in Santa Maria, California.

He stayed at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch dozens of times and in 2003 defended the singer against sex abuse claims

Update

A former Neverland Ranch guard testified Wednesday that he once saw a security directive instructing guards that Michael Jackson's accuser was not to leave Neverland.

"It simply stated [the boy] is not allowed off the property," said police officer Brian Barron, who moonlighted at Jackson's ranch for almost five years.

The order, Barron said, was scribbled on a white grease board, which hung inside a security office near the main house. The order remained there, he said, for about a week in February 2003, when prosecutors claim Jackson held the accuser and his family captive.

"What did that directive mean to you?" Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss asked.

We weren't to allow him off the property without some sort of permission from a supervisor," Barron said.

The officer was also asked to identify about a gate-activity log from Feb. 19, 2003. Among line-item notations such as "Front door found unsecured," someone had also noted: "The kids are not to leave, per Joe. Kids meaning [the boy, his brother], etc."

Joe, presumably, referred to Neverland manager, Joe Marcus.

Prosecutors say Jackson sexually molested the boy, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, in February or March 2003. He is also charged with plying the child with alcohol as a means to molest him, and conspiring to falsely imprison the accuser and his family at Neverland after a damaging documentary aired, showing the singer embracing the boy and discussing the joy of sharing his bed with children.

While the seemingly ominous directive may have bolstered the state's allegation that Jackson squired the boy away for his insidious purposes, the evidence quickly lost its oomph during cross-examination of the police officer.

Barron agreed with defense attorney Robert Sanger that it was Neverland policy to not allow children to leave by themselves when their parents were not present.

The accuser's mother, in fact, testified that she was in Los Angeles on Feb. 19, staying at her boyfriend's Koreatown apartment.

"It would not be out of the ordinary then to not let children, such as [the boy and his brother], leave the property?" Sanger asked.

"That's correct," Barron said.

Barron, a City of Guadalupe officer who was hired to keep intruders out of Jackson's sprawling Santa Ynez Valley property, said he worked about two or three days a week at Neverland, on and off from late 1997 until April 2004.

He was on vacation, however, when investigators conducted the Nov. 18, 2003, raid at the ranch, seizing pornography and other materials.

Barron said he spoke to the chief of police shortly after the search and they decided he should begin to disentangle himself from his famous employer due to the continuing criminal investigation.

Still, he affirmed during cross-examination that he never saw any unlawful conduct at Neverland, and told jurors that it was no secret during his tenure that he was a police officer, duty-bound to report any illegal activity he might witness.

Barron testified that he was approached by a Santa Barbara County detective in December 2003, and asked to go undercover at Neverland as an informant.

He said he refused.

Defense attorney Sanger also asked the witness to identify a seemingly endless book of guest logs, paperwork indicating the names of visitors, including their arrival and departure times.

The names of the accuser, his brother, sister and mother were logged alongside dozens of other guests who came to Neverland during the alleged captivity period.

The defense's point, it seemed, was to show jurors that the family's comings and goings were logged the same as all other guests, and that they were not secreted in and out under false cover.

Guarding Neverland

Barron gave jurors a brief glimpse of life inside Neverland, where as many as three to four guards were on watch at all times.

He said he conducted hourly checks of all doors, kept track of everyone and everything that entered or left the gates, and made new visitors fill out confidentiality agreements, forbidding them to discuss what goes on inside the palatial estate.

He described two main guard posts, one at the front wooden gates, which are flanked by stone walls, and another near the main house, where the greaseboard hung.

He said he had a key to the back door of the main residence, but did not know the secret code to the security keypad to gain entrance to Jackson's private suite.

The King of Pop traveled often, but when he was home, according to Barron, the employees were "on pins and needles."

"He's a perfectionist, and everything has to be right," he said of the singer.

Children, however, ruled the roost at Neverland, where other witnesses have described seeing kids running free among chimpanzees and exotic pets, playing in the arcade late at night, having food fights in the theater, and even finding their way into Jackson's secret wine cellar.

"It was a fun place to go. They got to do pretty much whatever they wanted, most of them," Barron said. "They were treated quite well."

I read yesterday that Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson's kids will be testifying for the Prosecution either today or tomorrow. They say, that she is going to confirm the accuser's mother's story that the tv interview they did a couple years ago was scripted and that they were told what to say. We'll see what happens.


TIS

Update

MICHAEL Jackson’s travel agent yesterday told a court how she was asked to book one-way tickets to Brazil for his accuser’s family.

Cynthia Montgomery said Jacko sidekick Marc Schaffel requested the seats on a flight to Sao Paulo on March 1, 2003.

It adds weight to claims made by his accuser’s mum that Jackson’s people said they would have to flee to Brazil to hide from “killers” they claimed were after them.

Montgomery said for visa reasons she had to book a return ticket for the family — with a return date of her choosing, which she said she ran by Schaffel.

But she added there was no requirement for them to fly back to the US on the date specified.

Jackson, 46, denies ten charges including child molestation. The trial in Santa Maria, California, continues.


JACKSON has mysteriously axed lawyer Brian Oxman, 53, who has represented Jackson family members since 1989, from his defence team.

Update

A former sex crimes investigator told jurors Friday about the lurid reading material she discovered in a locked filing cabinet in Michael Jackson's master bedroom.

Two hardcover books "depicting images of adolescent boys in various stages of dress" were seized during a search of Jackson's Neverland ranch in August 1993, according to detective Rosibel Smith.

The bright, cheery cover of "Boys Will Be Boys," published in 1966, featured young blond boys in retro-style swim trunks doing cannonballs into a body of water.

The second book, a hardcover titled "The Boy: A Photographic Essay," depicted preteen boys "in various poses, playing, swimming, jumping," Smith said.

Jackson was under investigation in 1993 for the alleged sexual abuse of Jordie Chandler, a young boy whose family later agreed to payments of more than $20 million from the singer in exchange for their silence.

Jackson never admitted to any wrongdoing in that case and he was never charged.

However, the judge of his current child molestation case has allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence, like the sexually explicit books, which may demonstrate Jackson's alleged pattern of grooming his potential victims, including showing them pornography to arouse them and engage them in felonious acts.

Jackson's current accuser, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, testified that the King of Pop showed him pornographic materials before he masturbated the boy.

Jackson, 46, is charged with 10 counts, including plying his accuser with alcohol, sexually molesting him, and conspiring to falsely imprison his family.

This boy's life

Jackson's defense chose an open-book approach with the prurient materials during cross-examination of Smith. As he projected the cover and inside leaf page for jurors, defense attorney Robert Sanger asked Smith to read the inscriptions on both books.

One appeared to have been written by Jackson.

"Look at the true spirit of joy and happiness in these boy's faces," was penned on the inside page of "Boys Will Be Boys."

"This is the spirit of boyhood, a life I never had and will always dream of. This is the life I want for my children. M.J."

Jotted above the inscription in pencil were the words "OP," or out of print, "1988, very scarce MJ."

The second book, presumably a gift from a fan, had a smattering of hearts scribbled around the inscription, which read: "To Michael, from your fan XXXOOO 'Rhonda.'" A note of "1983 Chicago" was inked at the bottom of the page

Smith conceded that it was not illegal to own either book.

Although the books were admitted into evidence and jurors will be allowed to examine them when they begin deliberations, the photos were not shown in court on Friday.

'Escaping' the stand

Prosecutors announced they expect to complete their case by Tuesday. And they appeared to be fighting for every word, as they spent hours Friday arguing before the judge over one word in particular: "escape."

It was a fight prosecutors lost.

At the heart of the battle was a writer, Ian Drew. Now an editor at Us Weekly, Drew was questioned outside the presence of jurors about something Jackson's alleged co-conspirator uttered to him during the time the accuser's family was allegedly being held against their will at Neverland.

Drew stated that he was set to interview the family for a story meant to show "how Mr. Jackson did not do anything inappropriate with them."

But the interview never took place. Drew said Jackson aide, and alleged co-conspirator, Ronald Konitzer explained suddenly that "the family was unavailable."

"I was told that they disappeared, that they couldn't keep them there anymore. I believe the word 'escape' was used," Drew told attorneys.

Prosecutor Ronald Zonen argued that Konitzer's use of the word "escape" indicated that Jackson's aides were knowingly holding the family captive.

But when questioned in greater detail by the judge, Drew clarified that it was the tone of Konitzer's voice he recalled more than the exact word "escape."

Drew's attorney, Kelly Sager, also vociferously objected to his client having to testify, citing California's Shield Law protecting journalists from divulging confidential information.

Judge Rodney Melville agreed that the Shield law applied, and that its use by Drew prevented the defense from effectively cross-examining him.

Drew appeared pleased as he left the courtroom, having successfully escaped the prospect of testifying at the Jackson trial.

Update

The man who recorded a video featuring the family of Michael Jackson's young accuser testified Wednesday at the pop star's child molestation trial that he did not see them reading or rehearsing from a script.

The testimony of Hamid Moslehi did not support an account by the boy's mother, who alleges she was forced to closely follow a script praising Jackson as part of a scheme in which her family was held captive to get their help in rebutting a damaging television documentary about Jackson.

Moslehi testified that the boy, his brother and sister were at his house for two or three hours before the taping began and he saw them playing but not rehearsing. He said the mother was there for about an hour before the taping and that he did not see her reading or rehearsing either.

Moslehi, Jackson's former videographer, also said he did not see anyone coaching the mother as she applied her makeup for the taping in his bathroom.

The woman has testified that Jackson associate Dieter Wiesner coached her on what to say.

Moslehi left the stand Wednesday and was followed by a woman who is a phone records custodian, but he was ordered to remain at the court pending an expected defense motion. Attorney Robert Sanger did not explain what was at issue.

Prosecutors were expected to soon call Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe, who is in a family court battle with him over visitation of their two children. She is expected to say that a video in which she praised Jackson was scripted.

On Monday, the judge overruled defense objections to allowing Rowe to testify but said he would "look to ways to restrict that testimony."

Wiesner and associate Ronald Konitzer, who are named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case, were also the subject of Moslehi's testimony on Tuesday.

He said the two men became Jackson's managers in late 2002, a few months before they allegedly took part in a conspiracy to hold the family captive.

Prosecutors asked Moslehi about Wiesner and Konitzer to try to link them more closely to the singer. The mother of the accuser has testified that the German businessmen intimidated her family.

On cross-examination, Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. tried to show that Jackson was a victim of Wiesner and Konitzer, not a close associate.

Mesereau asked Moslehi if he knew that Wiesner and Konitzer had stolen close to $1 million from Jackson. The question drew a prosecution objection, and the judge did not allow a direct answer. When Mesereau repeated it without the dollar figure, the witness answered no.

Questioned further about the two men on Wednesday, Moslehi testified that Konitzer once said he and Wiesner were going to clean up mismanagement of Jackson's affairs. "They were going to take over and make things smoother," he said.

Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol, and conspiring to hold his family captive to get them to rebut the TV documentary "Living With Michael Jackson."

Thats sick

Update

Michael Jackson's defense team got off to a rocky start Thursday with the shaky testimony of two men who claimed they were never sexually molested as children despite spending dozens of nights alone with the singer in his bed.

"Did Mr. Jackson ever molest you at any time?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked Wade Robson, a 22-year-old choreographer for pop stars such as Britney Spears and *NSYNC.

"Absolutely not," Robson said.

"Did Mr. Jackson ever touch you in a sexual way?"

Never, no," Robson replied.

Robson brought his fiancée to court Thursday, holding her close as he entered the courtroom.

But the soft-spoken witness's voice cracked at times and he appeared to grow more uncomfortable during prosecutor Ronald Zonen's rapid-fire cross-examination.

"The first time you slept with Michael Jackson you were seven years old is that correct?' Zonen asked during cross-examination.

"I slept in the same bed," Robson said defensively, confirming that he shared Jackson's bed 15 to 20 times from the ages of 7 to 13, and he likened the arrangement to sleeping in the bedroom of a best friend.

"Had you ever crawled into the bed of a 30-year-old man prior to that?" Zonen asked.

"My father's," Robson replied after some thought.

And while a former Neverland maid testified that she saw Jackson and Robson taking a shower together in the early 1990s, with their underpants lying side by side on the bathroom floor, Robson denied ever having showered with the King of Pop.

He also said that Jackson never kissed him on the lips or ran his hands through his hair, only hugs and kisses on the cheek.

"Did you cuddle in bed?" Zonen asked.

"No."

"Did you lie next to one another?"

"Yes."

"Did you touch?"

"No."

"Would you have considered it inappropriate to cuddle in bed?"

"No."

Questioning reached a fever pitch as the attorneys took turns engaging Robson in a pornography show-down, with Zonen trying to shock the witness by showing him page after page of sexually explicit materials found during a search of Neverland, and Mesereau trying to lessen the suggestion of pedophilia by focusing on the heterosexual nature of most of the images.

"This is a young boy with his legs open and he's naked," Robson replied when asked by Zonen to describe a photo in a picture book, "Boys Will Be Boys."

"Just take a second to strum through the balance of the book," Zonen ordered the witness, before asking him hypothetically, "Would you be concerned about your 12-year-old child sleeping in bed with a person who possesses a book like that?"

"No," Robson said. "To me, it's not a pornographic book, it's just a book."

Zonen walked over to the clerk's desk and retrieved another book, seemingly upping the ante with the unfazed witness.

As Robson thumbed through "A Sexual Study of Man, Illustrated with Photographs and Art Prints" — another tome seized from Jackson's collection — he confirmed that it contained images of men engaged in oral sex and sodomy.

"Would you be concerned about a man who possesses that book crawling into bed with a 10-year-old boy?" Zonen asked.

"Yes, I guess so," Robson replied, somewhat defeated.

Robson was forced to look at more magazines, and to read the titles "Double-Dicking Caroline," and "Stiff Dick for Lynn" out loud.

"I can't believe I have a world of people watching me do this," he said at one point, withering on the stand as he turned the pages.

But Robson said he never saw any pornographic magazines at Jackson's home, and despite the graphic nature of the magazines he reviewed, he held firm to his position that he would allow his own children to sleep with Michael Jackson.

Jackson is on trial for allegedly sexually molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor, plying the boy with alcohol to weaken his defenses, and conspiring to falsely imprison the child and his family at Neverland in February and March of 2003.

Robson is one of five boys, including actor Macaulay Culkin, who prosecutors claim were the victims of similar inappropriate sexual advances by Jackson more than a decade ago.

Only one of those boys testified for the prosecution that he had been molested during "tickling games" with Jackson. The mother of another alleged victim, Jordie Chandler, testified that Jackson spent up to 30 nights at her home, sleeping in her child's bed. FOR WHICH SIDE?

Chandler and the boy who claimed to be inappropriately tickled were paid millions of dollars by Jackson in exchange for their silence.

Jackson was never charged in the prior cases, although the judge ruled that prosecutors could introduce testimony that might indicate a criminal pattern.

Culkin is expected to testify for the defense early next week that he was never groped, despite the claims of state witnesses who say they saw Jackson with his hands on the then-child actor's private parts.

Pillow fights at Neverland

The fifth alleged victim of past bad acts, Brett Barnes, was the defense's second witness Thursday.

Barnes, unlike Robson, was spared perusing through porn magazines in front of the jury.

The 23-year-old roulette dealer from Melbourne, Australia, testified that he met Jackson when he was only 5 years old.

His mother, he said, got a letter through to the singer during his Australian leg of the "Bad" tour. By the age of 9, Barnes and his family were making frequent visits to see Jackson at Neverland.

Barnes, like Robson and like Jackson's current accuser, said he always slept in Jackson's bedroom — sometimes alone, sometimes with other boys.

He said they would stay up until all hours watching movies, playing video games and having pillow fights. Everyone kept their pajamas on, according to the witness.

Former Neverland employees have testified that Jackson gave Barnes inappropriate kisses on his face and pats on his rear end.

"Has Mr. Jackson ever molested you?" Mesereau asked him.

"Absolutely not, and I can tell you right now, if he had, I wouldn't be here right now," Barnes said in a thick Australian accent. "It's not the type of thing I stand for."

Like Robson, Barnes said he never discussed with his family about whether it was appropriate to sleep in bed with a grown man.

But he had trouble recalling basic details during cross-examination, such as whether his mother was present during trips he took with Jackson or how many times he shared the singer's bed.

He did recall, however, that the last time he slept at Neverland and spent the night in Jackson's bedroom was at the age of 19.

You know, obviously we are not in the courtroom and can only speculate, but I have been watching the reinactments with commentary by both defense/prosecuting attorneys. I realize that it's the attorneys job to defend or get a conviction, but I'm beginning to believe that both sides are prejudiced and neither wants to admit a "point" for the other. So maybe lawyers aren't the ones to listen to for commentary.

From what I've seen, it would "appear" that the prosecutors haven't made a good enough case, and yet I wonder what the "average" juror is thinking. Looking at it in that respect, and knowing that most children who are molested deny it, why should it be any surprise that any of these witnessed who say they were never touched/molested by Jackson, deny it? In other testimony by witnesses (with baggage I might add), have testified to seeing inappropriate behavior (although not molestation)on Jackson's part. As a juror you must decided who to believe or not believe and I think this requires a unanamous vote. I really doubt that the prosecutor will get that, but we'll see.


TIS

Just a sidenote: Last October I was on jury duty in a murder trial, which had almost all "ify" witnesses. The most believeable (to all of us jurors), was the one gal who came out of prison to testify, handcuffed and in jail uniform. Go figure!!! :p

Update

Family members of two boys who were Michael Jackson's "special friends" more than a decade ago testified Friday that there was nothing wrong with letting children sleep in the entertainer's bed.

"I've known Michael for a long time. I've spent many hours talking to him about everything. I trust him. I trust him with my children," said Joy Robson, the mother of 22-year-old Wade Robson, a choreographer who denied Thursday that he showered naked with Jackson, as a prosecution witness claimed.

Robson said she, Wade, and 10-year-old daughter Chantal, stayed at Jackson's Neverland ranch in 1990 and have visited about four times a year ever since.

She said she let Wade, who was then 7, and Chantal sleep in Jackson's bedroom from the first visit.

You have no idea, once you left that room, what went on, do you? No personal knowledge?" District Attorney Thomas Sneddon asked the witness during cross-examination.

"I know what my son tells me," Robson replied.

Lisbeth Barnes testified she had never seen Jackson touch her son Brett Barnes inappropriately, despite the claims of previous witnesses.

"I have total trust in him," Barnes told jurors.

"Had your son slept with any other men, other than relatives, adult grown men?" the prosecutor asked.

Barnes could not recall any men other than relatives with whom her son shared a bed.

Karlee Barnes and Chantal Robson, sisters to Brett and Wade, also testified that nothing untoward ever happened during their frequent Neverland sleepovers in the early 1990s.

Both girls said they chose not to sleep in Jackson's bedroom after the second or third visit.

"I'm a girl and I prefer to have a little privacy," said Chantal Robson. "I was developing into an adult."

Prosecutors contend that Jackson discouraged girls from sleeping in his room. But the constant refrain from the parade of female witnesses was that Jackson was like any other new best friend a boy could have, and that there was nothing wrong with the boys sleeping in his bed.

"It didn't seem odd to you that a 35-year-old man was sleeping with a 10-year-old boy?" prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss asked Chantal.

"No. Not at all," she replied.

Karlee Barnes described her and Wade "skipping, jumping and doing silly dances" late at night with the singer in his bedroom.

Joy Robson said she even spent a couple evenings lying in Jackson's bed watching movies and talking.

Robson said the family met Jackson in 1987 after Wade won a dance contest in Australia. Jackson believed in her son's talent, she said, and he ultimately helped the family move to the U.S., where he played a role in launching Robson's dance career.

Robson is now a successful celebrity choreographer and recently entered into a film-directing deal with Disney.

Sneddon suggested that Robson's ambition for her son's career blinded her to Jackson's salacious intentions.

"You thought your having a good relationship with the defendant would help?" Sneddon asked.

"You're putting words in my mouth," she shot back. "You're trying to say that's the basis for our friendship, and that's not true."

But Robson was forced to answer to statements she made in a 1993 deposition, when Jackson was being investigated for allegedly molesting a boy named Jordie Chandler.

At the time, Robson said she told Jordie's mother that Jackson had "special friends" — boys with whom he spent extra time — and that he replaced them year after year with new special friends.

Jackson's special friends according to Robson, included her son Wade in 1990, child actor Macaulay Culkin in 1991, Brett in 1992, and Jordie in 1993.

Robson downplayed the remark Friday, saying that the friendships were innocent.

Prosecutors believe that Jackson inappropriately touched all of those boys. But when the Chandler family received more than $20 million in exchange for their silence, the investigation was dropped, and Jackson was never charged with any wrongdoing.

Still, prosecutors argue that Jackson exhibited a criminal pattern with those young boys, similar to a pattern he engaged in with his current accuser, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, whom he is charged with molesting in spring of 2003.

To that end, prosecutors attempted to draw out details about the witnesses' relationships with Jackson that tended to mirror his relationship with the current accuser's family.

For instance, all of the mothers allowed their children to sleep in Jackson's bedroom from the start, some of them suffered instances in which they felt their boys preferred Jackson's company to their own, and all of them benefited from Jackson's financial help.

Robson conceded that she broke down in tears one Mother's Day because Wade spent the entire day with Jackson instead of her.

But like the other defense witnesses Friday, she insisted that Jackson was part of her family, and someone she unequivocally trusted with her children. She said they continue to visit him at Neverland to this day.

When asked to describe the 2,700-acre ranch, she described it as a place where she used to go to escape her troubles.

"I would have once said it was the happiest place on earth," Robson said, wistfully. "I particularly liked the chimpanzees."

Update

The mothers and sisters of two young men at the center of Michael Jackson's child molestation case came to his defense on Friday, telling jurors they considered the pop icon beyond reproach and never questioned his practice of sleeping with children.

The defense testimony came a day after Wade Robson and Brett Barnes, who were portrayed by prosecutors as adolescent victims of Jackson in the 1990s, denied the 46-year-old superstar molested them.

All four women, family members of Robson and Barnes, said Jackson spent many nights sleeping alone with the boys at Neverland Valley Ranch and elsewhere, but said they never considered that behavior inappropriate.

"I've known Michael a long time," Robson's mother, Joy, said under questioning from lead Jackson attorney Tom Mesereau. "I know him very well. I've spent many hours talking to him. I feel like he's a member of my family. I trust him. I trust him with my children."

She added that she considers Jackson unique and "a very special person."

"He's not the boy next door. He's Michael Jackson. ... He's very pure in his love for children. To know him is to love him and trust him," Robson said.

The women were effusive and at times appeared almost star-struck as they praised Jackson in glowing terms. Prosecutors suggested on cross-examination that they had been blinded by his wealth and fame.

'I LOVE HIM WITH ALL MY HEART'

"You are positively thrilled to be friends with Michael Jackson," Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss pointed out to Karlee Barnes, sister of Brett. "You seem to be almost giddy about it."

"I love him with all my heart," the young woman said.

Robson, now 22, was an aspiring dancer from Australia who Jackson took under his wing, casting the boy in commercials and music videos. He went on to gain fame as a choreographer for Britney Spears and 'NSYNC and hosted a dance program on MTV.

Barnes, 23, quit his job as a roulette dealer in Australia to travel to California and take the witness stand for Jackson. Both families have stayed at Neverland during their testimony.

Though Jackson's lawyers have spent the first two days of their case battling accusations that he molested Robson and Barnes in the 1990s, the pop star is not charged with any misconduct involving them.

He is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003 after plying him with alcohol and conspiring to imprison him and his family at Neverland. The singer could face two decades in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors were allowed to introduce past accusations of sexual misconduct by Jackson involving Robson, Barnes, "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin and two other boys under an unusual California law governing evidence in sex abuse cases.

All four women described Jackson as a close friend who never gave a hint of impropriety toward the boys and treated their families with great generosity and kindness.

Prosecutors turned that testimony against them on cross-examination, suggesting Jackson's behavior fit a pattern of luring families in with lavish gifts and his superstar persona and then molesting their boys.

The questions turned deeply personal at times. Auchincloss pressed Chantal Robson about her decision to sleep in the same bed with the then-35-year-old Jackson when she was 10 and asked her if she slept with any other older men as a girl.

Chantal Robson said she trusted Jackson totally, though she conceded she would "have to re-evaluate that" if she learned that he were plying a boy with alcohol and pornography.

DeNiro,

Seems you and I are the only ones following this trial. It is really hard (impossible) to judge, not being in the courtroom. We can only go by what commentators/lawyers say. I mostly hear lawyers (both defense & prosecution) analyze what was testified to. It seems, at least on the surface, that the prosecutors case is weak, and all the witnesses with excess baggage and reasons to lie. However, stepping aside from that aspect, I think too, that these recent boys who testified they were never molested/fondled by Jackson, also have reason to lie. I sure wouldn't want to tell the world, if I were in that situation. Bottom line I think it is going to come down to who's believeable and who is not. My prediction is still a "not guilty" or maybe a lesser charge.

TIS

I also think He's not guilty.

I think the witness's are doing it for the money,making stuff up

Please. He's guilty. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably...a dog?? Yeah, right. And who knows how many victims we'll never hear about? I say hang him...or better yet, fry him. But I'm sure he'll get out of it...jusy like O.J. :rolleyes:

DeNiro,

I wasn't implying that "I" think he's not guilty, only how I think the case will turn out by what I know of the evidence presented. It would just kill me to be on that trial, or any trial, and know someone is guilty, but have to give a not guilty verdict because the evidence wasn't there. Especially when it comes to the molestation of children My gut tells me, he'll walk, for what that's worth.

TIS

We'll have to wait and see,When will the verdict be do we know, probley months yet

Update

Michael Jackson's unabated spending left him millions of dollars in debt, an expert witness testified Tuesday in the pop star's child molestation trial.

"The evidence shows that [in 2003] he's spending about $20 to $30 million dollars more than he's making ... that's annually," said certified public accountant John Duross O'Bryan, who was hired by prosecutors to conduct a forensics accounting investigation into Jackson's financial records.

Jackson's dire financial condition, according to prosecutors, was one more motivating factor in his decision to falsely imprison a 13-year-old boy and his family at Neverland in February and March 2003.

According to O'Bryan, Jackson was $224 million in debt in 2003.

O'Bryan painted a portrait of Jackson's "looming" and "ongoing cash crisis" for jurors by referring to two financial statements and memos from the singer's financial managers from 1999 to 2003.

For instance, in a February 2003 memo, Jackson was informed that the accountants had $10.5 million of unpaid vendor invoices and just $38,000 cash in the bank.

While Jackson showed earnings of $11.5 million on a 1999 income statement, according to the witness, he had $20 million in expenditures, including $7.5 million in personal expenses, $5 million in legal and professional fees, $5 million in security and other expenses at his 2,700-acre Santa Ynez Valley estate, and another $2.5 million in "other expenses," mostly insurance.

An October 1999 memo from Jackson's accounting firm read in part, "We were short approximately $780,000 to meet our outstanding liabilities."

"So, those were bills that he had that he didn't have the money to pay?" asked prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss.

"Correct," O'Bryan said.

From 1999 and onward, according to O'Bryan, the problem grew because Jackson didn't heed the warnings of his advisors.

Referring to a June 2002 balance sheet, O'Bryan said Jackson had approximately $130 million in assets and $415 million in liabilities, leaving him with a negative net worth of $285 million.

"Does this mean that Mr. Jackson, by virtue of that balance sheet, is bankrupt?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, it doesn't," O'Bryan said, explaining that Jackson's assets may have a higher fair-market value.

Jackson's three main assets, according to the witness, are his Neverland property, a catalog of his own songs and performances that he earns royalties from, and a catalog of Beatles music and other artists' works that he co-owns with Sony, for which he also collects royalties.

But according to O'Bryan, his music catalogs were in jeopardy in 2003, because they were being used as collateral for two loans Jackson took out from Bank of America, and continued to draw upon year after year, until they shot up to $278 million by the time the "Living with Michael Jackson" documentary sent his personal life into a tailspin. The loans are due Dec. 15 of this year.

Jackson's alleged conspiracy plot began after the airing of the tell-all documentary, which suggested a salacious relationship between Jackson and the 13-year-old boy.

Prosecutors say that, shortly after the documentary aired, Jackson and his unindicted co-conspirators held the family captive at Neverland, where Jackson sexually molested the boy.

Dire straits

Jackson's defense attorney, Thomas Mesereau, objected to the expert witness's testimony, arguing that the memos and financial statements he used did not show the full picture of Jackson's worth and earning potential.

O'Bryan conceded that Jackson purchased the Beatles catalog in 1986 for about $47 million, then sold half his interest in it to Sony in 1995 for $90 million, and that in 2003 it was appraised at $1 billion.

Yet despite Mesereau's dogged questioning, O'Bryan would not concede that Jackson would get half of $1 billion if he sold his share of the catalog.

In fact, he seemed to give jurors a more dire picture of Jackson's financial straits during cross-examination, when he explained that Jackson would still have to repay Sony for its investments and his cash advances related to the catalog, as well as taxes from a sale.

At the end of the day, according to the accountant, Jackson would be $40 million in the hole if he sold his interest in the Sony catalog.

Sticking to the 'plan'

Days after Jackson's ex-wife appeared to throw the prosecution for a loop, Sgt. Steve Robel was recalled to the witness stand to offer his insights on what went wrong with the unexpected testimony of Debbie Rowe.

Robel said that in a police interview in March 2004, the mother of two of Jackson's children did not use the terms "caring," "generous" or "good father" to describe Jackson, as she had on the stand last week.

"She referred to Michael as a sociopath and his children as being possessions," Robel testified.

He also told jurors that Rowe revealed to him during their interviews that she and Jackson agreed to stick to a "plan" after their 1999 divorce. The defense objected to the relevance of Jackson and Rowe's post-divorce agreement and jurors never learned the details of the "plan."

But Robel shed some light on how that plan may have affected Rowe's testimony, when he described a conversation they had about her effusive remarks about Jackson in a rebuttal video in February 2003.

"She said that she stuck with her plan to talk positive about Mr. Jackson," Robel testified, "as she has done throughout in news conferences that she's had."

Mesereau turned to the first page of the witness's police interview with Rowe in 2004, and suggested that her comments to him, namely "F--- his defense, I want the kids," indicated she was speaking out of anger over an ongoing custody dispute.

"She told you in the interview, 'I have Michael's Achilles tendon. I have the kids. I don't have them, but I'm gonna have them,'" Mesereau said, while reading from the interview.

Robel said he was unaware of any custody dispute at the time Rowe called Jackson a sociopath.

Prosecutors did not complete their case Tuesday as expected.

Rudy Provencio, a former Jackson business associate, was called to the stand shortly before court recessed. Provencio, believed to be the final prosecution witness, is expected to offer testimony about financial dealings that may strengthen the ties between Jackson and his alleged co-conspirators.

In addition to conspiracy charges, Michael Jackson is accused of sexually molesting his teenage accuser and giving the boy wine in order to engage in the felonious sexual acts.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Update

MICHAEL Jackson posted porn magazines home to himself from Japan, jurors at his trial heard yesterday.


Violet Silva, former security chief at the star’s Neverland ranch, said they were “graphic”.

She also admitted not feeling comfortable allowing her own children to spend regular time at Jackson’s ranch because certain kids were “running wild”.

Silva said: “Some of the activities were beyond my comfort level.”

Earlier, Silva admitted several children spent time at the ranch without their parents.

Actor Macaulay Culkin, now 24, is said to be having second thoughts about defending Jackson in his trial.

He is due to say he did spend nights in the singer’s bed but was never molested.

But Culkin is thought to have been worried by the ferocious cross-examination of witnesses.

Jackson denies charges including child abuse in Santa Maria, California.

Update

ACCUSED Michael Jackson formed “special bonds” with boys AND girls, his ranch manager told his trial yesterday.

Joe Marcus said Jackson, 46, had become very close to two young girls who spent time at his Neverland ranch.

He also testified the pop star forged bonds with grown women, but struggled to name any other than Elizabeth Taylor.

Marcus denied Jackson's accuser, 15, and his family were held captive at Neverland.

Jackson, whose spokeswoman said yesterday he was willing to testify, denies ten charges including child molestation.

The trial in Santa Maria, California, continues

Update

Michael Jackson has been called a brilliant businessman by his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, but a defense witness testified Thursday that the entertainer had little control of his own business affairs.

Las Vegas attorney David LeGrand told jurors that at one point, the singer had as many as nine different lawyers representing him, and that Jackson was taken advantage of in a lopsided contract with a British journalist he gave unprecedented access to. Legrand also said that he had to hire a private investigator to look into the backgrounds of two of Jackson's managers.

"I became suspicious of everybody," LeGrand said. "It seemed everybody wanted to benefit from Mr. Jackson in one way or another."

Jackson's defense called LeGrand to the stand in an attempt to distance Jackson from three of his former business partners and alleged co-conspirators: Ronald Konitzer, Dieter Wiesner and Marc Schaffel.

LeGrand also gave jurors his perspective of the upheaval within the pop star's inner circle in early 2003, when they learned that Jackson was about to be skewered in journalist Martin Bashir's TV documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson."

In the documentary, Jackson told Bashir that he'd had no more than two surgeries on his nose to help him breathe, that he conceived his two children with Debbie Rowe through "natural" means, and that the press overreacted when he dangled his infant child over a balcony.

The documentary also included scenes showing Jackson holding hands with a 13-year-old cancer survivor, a boy who once called the King of Pop "Daddy Michael," and Jackson's description of the innocent joy of sharing his bed with children.

Jackson is on trial for allegedly molesting the boy in the weeks after the documentary aired, conspiring to falsely imprison the child and his family at Neverland, and giving his accuser "Jesus juice," or wine in a Diet Coke can, among other intoxicating agents.

'Suspicious' motives

Prosecutors allege that the Bashir documentary was a PR disaster for Jackson. They contend that Jackson commanded his unindicted co-conspirators to engage in a campaign of intimidation and coercion against the accuser's family, forced them to participate in a rebuttal video, and made plans to send the family on a one-way trip to Brazil — all in an attempt to protect the entertainer's career.

LeGrand said that he was hired by Konitzer to help bring in a new team of advisers who could offer a full-court press legal attack on the documentary producers, while also developing business ventures to reinvigorate Jackson's sagging career, including Michael Jackson perfume, slot machines, and a feature film about his life.

LeGrand agreed with prosecutors that the Bashir documentary was a PR disaster for Jackson.

He described two agreements Jackson signed for the filmmakers as "terrible contracts," that were "vague" and "very simple one-paragraph documents."

According to LeGrand, Jackson had oral agreements with Bashir that were not met — expectations that his children's faces would be obscured to protect their anonymity, that he would be given the opportunity to review and edit the final cut, and that in lieu of payment, a donation would be made to charity.

"The overall thrust of the case was that Mr. Bashir had completely hoodwinked Mr. Jackson?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked the witness.

After prosecution objections, Mesereau repeated his question verbatim, essentially using the word "misrepresented" in place of "hoodwinked."

LeGrand confirmed that he believed Bashir had misled Jackson.

LeGrand said he also became suspicious of Konitzer and Wiesner, who he claimed had the power to move funds from Jackson's account and appeared to have diverted $965,000 into Konitzer's account.

"In general, I began to disagree with some of Mr. Konitzer's decisions on matters and felt that he was making bad decisions, I guess is the way to say it," LeGrand said. "I became suspicious of his motives and actions."

LeGrand said he sent Konitzer a letter asking him to account for the money, and he was summarily fired weeks later. At some point in the future, he was rehired by Jackson to investigate Konitzer and Wiesner. Jackson has since had a falling-out with both associates.

But prosecutors successfully pointed out on cross-examination that Jackson personally fired LeGrand. LeGrand also agreed that Jackson himself fired his former business managers and entertainment lawyers, putting Konitzer, Wiesner and Schaffel in charge of his affairs.

The prosecution's implication was that Jackson is "a brilliant businessman," as Rowe testified, and further, that he played an active role in the alleged captivity of the accuser, his siblings and their mother at Neverland in February and March 2003.

While LeGrand said he was unaware of any conspiracy to hold the family against their will, he agreed with prosecutors that they had been perceived at the time "as a potential liability to Mr. Jackson."

I just heard on the news this morning that the judge issued an order for Jackson's former attorney, Mark Geragos, to appear in court to testify for the defense. Wonder what that's about??? What about attorney/client privledge??

TIS

I found the link:
web page

Update

Actor Macaulay Culkin took the stand at Michael Jackson's child molestation trial Wednesday and denied he was molested, saying the accusations against the pop star were "absolutely ridiculous."

Culkin, who shot to fame as the wide-eyed kid in 1990's "Home Alone," is the third young man to appear for the defense to deny he was a victim of improper behavior by Jackson during childhood visits.

He said prosecutors never approached him about whether he had been molested and he only learned of the allegations that he had been molested by watching news coverage of the trial.

"Somebody told me you should probably check out CNN because they're saying something about you," Culkin said. "I just couldn't believe it. ... It was amazing to me that nobody even approached me and asked if these allegations were true."
Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked Culkin, now 24, what he thought of the charges against Jackson.

"I think they're absolutely ridiculous," he said.

Prosecution witnesses testified earlier that Jackson inappropriately touched Culkin, who was a frequent childhood guest of Jackson.

Those witnesses included a chef who testified he saw Jackson with his hand up Culkin's shorts as the singer held the boy up to a video game at Jackson's Neverland ranch.

A former maid also testified previously that Culkin stayed in Jackson's bedroom during visits to Neverland. That woman, whose son received a $2.4 million settlement from Jackson in 1994, was attacked by the defense because she was paid $20,000 to appear on a TV show.

Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003, giving him wine and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to rebut a TV documentary in which the boy appeared with Jackson, who said he let children sleep in his bed but that it was non-sexual.

Culkin testified he met Jackson when he was 9 or 10 years old and has remained friends since.

He said his family has been to Neverland several times and has been in the singer's bedroom. He said he never felt his family was excluded from the bedroom or any other part of the ranch.

Culkin was also asked about whether he had ever seen anything improper happen with Brett Barnes or Wade Robson, the two young men who also testified for the defense last week.

"I've never seen him do anything improper with anyone," Culkin said.

On cross-examination, Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen asked Culkin if prosecutors had tried repeatedly to contact him but had been rebuffed.

"Not that I know of, no," Culkin said.

Zonen asked whether prosecutors had attempted to contact him in 1993 and recently when his attorney said he wouldn't give a statement to either side prior to his testimony.

Culkin said his lawyer had suggested he not talk to attorneys in advance and he agreed.

Culkin has had his own legal problems recently. He was arrested Sept. 17 in Oklahoma after police stopped a car in which he was a passenger. Officers found some marijuana and several tablets of a medication used to treat depression and panic disorders, court records say.

Culkin has pleaded innocent to the charges and is free on $4,000 bail. Another hearing in that case was set for next month.

On Tuesday, Joe Marcus, the manager of Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch, acknowledged in cross-examination that he lied to law enforcement officials in 2003 when he said he had no knowledge of Jackson sharing his bed with children.

He later added the events of that day were chaotic and "I was overwhelmed."

The defense called Marcus to the stand Monday to testify that he never instructed anyone to hold Jackson's accuser and the boy's family against their will. He suggested Tuesday no such captivity happened.

Update

A defense witness testified Monday that he once caught Michael Jackson's teenage accuser playing with his brother in the singer's secret wine cellar.

"When I walked in, I saw the two children laughing, giggling. I startled them. I could see them with a bottle of alcohol," testified former security guard Shane Meridith, who worked at Neverland during the time Jackson allegedly gave the 13-year-old boy alcohol as a prelude to sexually molesting him.

"They were pretty shaken," Meridith said. He reprimanded the boys as they "scurried up the stairs" past the secret door behind the jukebox in Jackson's video arcade. He took note that the bottle of wine sitting on the table where they had been playing was about half full.

But during cross-examination, Meridith said he didn't actually see the boys holding the bottle.

"I can't guarantee that they were actually drinking," he said.

Jackson's accuser, a cancer survivor with one kidney, previously testified that the entertainer gave him wine in Diet Coke cans, appeasing his medical concerns by calling it healthful "Jesus juice."

But the defense contends that the accuser and his brother were, as Meridith testified, "rambunctious" children who got into Jackson's wine stash on their own.

Meridith was one of several defense witnesses called to the stand Monday to dispute small but important details in the testimony of the accuser and his family — and to paint the boys as reckless, undisciplined children.

A former Neverland assistant chef testified that the accuser's 11-year-old brother once had him whip up a milkshake and then pointed to a Mexican brand of liquor sitting in a cabinet.

"He pointed at the bottle and asked me to pour it in the milkshake," testified Angel Vivanco. "He told me if I didn't do it, he would tell Michael and I would be fired."

Vivanco said he acquiesced.

The soft-spoken witness had a litany of similar complaints about the accuser and his brother. On another occasion, he said, the brother held a 9-inch kitchen knife about an inch from his neck, before an aide walked in and admonished the boy.

The accuser also once threatened him over a bag of snacks, snarling at him: "Give me the f---ing Cheetos," according to Vivanco.

Jackson, 46, is charged with sexually molesting the boy in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol, and engaging in a conspiracy to falsely imprison the family at his Neverland ranch.

Jackson maintains his innocence. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Held captive?

Jackson's defense team blitzed through nine witnesses Monday, three weeks into a case projected to last six to eight weeks. Much of the testimony was intended to refute claims by the accuser's mother that the family had been held against its will by the King of Pop and his alleged co-conspirators.

The mother testified that, despite being ferried to salon visits, shopping trips and a dental appointment for her children, she was always followed by Jackson's "positive PR film crew," her conversations were monitored, and she never had an opportunity to escape or seek help.

Former Neverland administrative assistant Katie Bernerd testified that the mother called from her guest suite at one point and said she wanted Bernerd to arrange a waxing appointment.

"She wanted it done right away, within the hour," Bernerd recounted.

"Had any guests at Neverland ever made a request like that to you before?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked.

"Never."

Bernerd said that during the 10-minute drive to the salon she chatted uncomfortably with the mother, who offered unsolicited personal information about her abusive ex-husband.

"She started to tell me about her ex-husband and about how she was trying to get away from him, how badly she had it, and how well Michael has been treating her, how he was like a father figure to her kids," Bernerd testified.


"Did she ever complain that she was being held against her will at Neverland?" Mesereau asked.

"Never."

"Do you recall there being a public relations crew following you?" Mesereau asked.

"No."

"Did you see anyone with cameras following you?"

"No, I did not."

The aesthetician at the salon testified the mother was alone during her visit and that she never gave any indication that she was under duress.

She also set the record straight about whether it was a full body wax, as the defense contends, or simply a leg wax, as the mother repeatedly argued during her testimony.

Entered into evidence was a Feb. 11, 2003, salon receipt of $140 listing the mother's waxed regions, including her legs, brow, face, lip and bikini line. It was projected for jurors during aesthetician Carol McCoy's testimony.

"Is that pretty much a full body wax?" defense attorney Sanger asked to muffled chuckles from the gallery.

"Uh-huh," McCoy said.

Neverland assistant Bernerd said the mother called her four or five times, making various personal requests, during the two-month period she stayed on and off at Neverland.

"In any of those conversations, did you ever get the impression she was scared of anything?" Mesereau asked.

"Never once," Bernerd said.

But another defense witness testified Monday that the mother asked for her help in leaving Jackson's ranch. However, the mother never implicated Jackson in any captivity conspiracy, according to Neverland maid Maria Gomez.

Gomez said initially the mother praised Jackson, calling him a father figure to her children and telling her three kids to call him "Dad."

"About a week later, she began to talk about being held against her will, that we should help her," Gomez said, referring to herself and ranch manager Jesus Salas, who previously testified for the prosecution that he drove the mother and her kids home to Los Angeles in the middle of the night in mid-February after she tearfully begged for his help.

The defense has argued that the mother was angry over shabby treatment from Jackson's aides. The defense has continually attempted to distance the singer from his five unindicted alleged co-conspirators, providing evidence that he was unaware of their actions.

They have also argued that the mother could not have been held captive as she claims because she returned to Neverland on her own days after the first alleged escape.

Gomez testified that the mother did not implicate Jackson the night she asked to be taken home. Instead, she complained that three of Jackson's alleged co-conspirators were holding her there and "interfering with her relationship with [Jackson]," according to the witness.

Former chef assistant Vivanco's testimony will resume Tuesday.

Jackson's spokesperson announced Monday that talk show host Larry King is expected to testify Thursday. Comedian Jay Leno has announced that he may be called as early as next Monday.

I hear Jackson's attorneys are considering putting him on the stand. I'll bet a year's wages that'll never happen. I just don't think Jackson could handle it.

I think that's why the jury heard the taped interview (forgot which program) in court. Jackson can tell his story (so to speak) without having to get cross-examined by the prosecutors. I'll be shocked if he takes the stand.


TIS

Hes so shy that he would probley start crying or something

Update

THE mother of Michael Jackson’s accuser was “disgusted” by the star’s plan to send her family to South America, a court heard yesterday.
She ran into social worker Irene Peters in a fast food bar.

Ms Peters told the court: “She did tell me that Michael wanted to send them to Brazil somewhere and she told me she didn’t want to go. She said she was disgusted.”

The move allegedly followed Martin Bashir’s controversial TV documentary about Jacko, 46.

A travel agent told the court in Santa Maria, California, a Jackson aide told her to book one-way tickets to Brazil for the family.

The trip was later scrapped. Jackson denies abusing a boy, then 13.

Trial continues.

Update

Michael Jackson's 12-year-old cousin testified Wednesday that he once saw Jackson's accuser and the boy's brother watching porn and masturbating in a guest suite at Neverland.

"I saw them go to the TV and turn to a channel that had, like, naked girls on there, and doing other stuff, like nasty stuff," said Rijo Jackson, who was 10 years old at the time and had been sharing the room with Jackson's 13-year-old accuser and the boy's 11-year-old brother.

"What nasty stuff?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked Rijo.

"They were, like, jacking off and everything," the witness said in a small, husky voice.

"OK. Did they do that in front of you?"

Rijo nodded yes.

"Was Michael Jackson anywhere near that room?" Mesereau continued.

"No."

Rijo said he ran out of the bedroom and spent the night in Jackson's bed. He was too scared, he said, to tell Jackson about the boys masturbating, but he did reveal that they were watching porn.

"He didn't believe it. He thought they were good and they wouldn't do it," Rijo said of Jackson.

"Did [the brothers] say anything to you when they did the nasty stuff?" Mesereau asked.

"The other day they did. They said, 'Why don't you do that with me?'" Rijo testified. "I said I didn't want to because it was nasty, and it's wrong."

The defense called the boy to the stand in an attempt to impeach the character and testimony of Jackson's now-15-year-old accuser, who told jurors that Jackson got him drunk, showed him pornography and then taught him how to masturbate by fondling him over several nights in February or March 2003.

Jackson claims he is innocent of the 10 counts in the indictment, which alleges the singer conspired to falsely imprison the child and his family, gave the boy alcohol to weaken his defenses, and repeatedly committed lewd acts on the boy.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Missing wine

Jackson's cousin also told jurors Wednesday that he saw the brothers stealing money and plastic crystal beads from the desk of the ranch manager, as well as cash in kitchen drawers, which belonged to a Neverland chef.

Jackson's accuser, a cancer survivor with one kidney, has testified that he had only tasted wine during church services before the singer gave it to him night after night at Neverland.

Several witnesses have testified about seeing the accuser and his brother getting into Jackson's wine, stealing it from the kitchen and secret wine cellar.

Rijo added his own vague tale Monday, only partially lending support to the defense.

Late one evening at Neverland, Rijo said, he and the brothers were with Jackson in his two-floor bedroom suite when the singer ordered up a bottle of white wine from the kitchen.

Minutes later, a corked bottle of wine and one glass was delivered, but Jackson was in his first-floor bathroom. The brothers brought the bottle to the second floor of the suite, Rijo said. When Jackson emerged from the bathroom and went upstairs with him, Rijo testified, they found the bottle uncorked.

"Some wine was missing," the witness said, implying that the two boys had opened it and taken sips before leaving.

The prosecution effectively pointed out, however, that Jackson was openly drinking while alone with children, and that the singer did not seem upset, nor did he question the missing alcohol.

"And did he say something to you about, 'Boy, those rascals, they just get into the wine whenever they can'?" asked prosecutor Ronald Zonen.

"No," Rijo said.

'I didn't trust her'

Ten days into the defense case, Jackson's lawyers have attempted to portray the King of Pop as the real victim in his child-molestation trial — taken advantage of by his aides and alleged co-conspirators, and targeted by a litigious family who had their sights set on his millions.

Actress Verneé Watson Johnson testified Wednesday that her suspicions about the accuser's mother led her to suspend fundraising efforts for the boy's cancer recovery.

Johnson said that the children were in her acting class at the Los Angeles Academy of Fine Arts in 1997. Many years later, when the accuser was in the hospital suffering from a rare form of virulent cancer, the mother called the academy to ask Johnson to visit him.

Johnson said she made trips to see the boy, brought the family food and gave them money. But when she asked the mother to open a separate account for the child for a proposed fundraiser, the mother allegedly told Johnson, "Don't worry about it. You can put it in my account."

"I didn't trust her," Johnson said, and she put the kibosh on any fundraising plans. The mother has testified that she never had discussions about raising money for her son, whose medical bills were covered by insurance.

While she did not directly ask for money, the mother engaged in "heavy hinting" about her dire circumstances, according to Johnson. The witness also recalled the accuser's brother calling her at home, asking if his siblings could spend the night at her home, while the mother prompted him in the background about what to say, prodding the brother to "Tell her you love her, tell her you love her."

After court Wednesday, Jackson's spokesperson Ryamone Bain said that media reports that the defense could rest as early as next Wednesday were "laughable." She confirmed, however, that the defense has pared down its witness list, but would not say how much longer the case would last.

Bain confirmed that Chris Tucker and his ex-fiancee, Azja Pryor, who spent a great deal of time with the accuser's family, would testify for Jackson.

Update

The mother of Michael Jackson's young accuser described the singer as an "angel" and was eager to show the world how innocent and beautiful his friendship was with her son, the pop star's child sex trial heard.

Azja Pryor, a casting assistant who met Gavin Arvizo, then 13, when he was suffering from cancer, said the boy's mother had never complained about being held captive at Neverland or that Jackson committed any crimes against her family.

Janet Arvizo had actually asked to be taken back to the ranch in February 2003, after a visit to a social worker, and was keen to take part in a video to defend Jackson in the wake of Martin Bashir's damaging documentary, Ms Pryor claimed.

"She was very anxious to tell the world that this beautiful friendship was nothing more than they saw - a beautiful friendship," she said.

Asked how Mrs Arvizo spoke of Jackson, she added: "It was something to the effect of what a great man he is. He is an angel. His love is great." Ms Pryor also said Gavin's mother had been enthusiastic about a proposed trip to Brazil and once complained that her sons were being kept away from the pop star.

The testimony contrasted many of the prosecution's claims that Jackson aides were plotting to whisk the family to Brazil in the wake of Martin Bashir's damaging documentary and that they were not allowed to leave his ranch.

She said she spoke to Janet Arvizo frequently in February 2003 but at no time had she ever mentioned being held against her will at Neverland or trying to escape from the ranch. "It's Neverland, who would try to escape?" she said. Asked by lawyer Tom Mesereau whether Mrs Arvizo had ever told her that Jackson committed crimes against her family, Pryor replied: "Absolutely not."

The jury was later shown a 19-minute video of Neverland which included footage of Jackson's bedroom, bronze statues of children and swans on a lake. The video paused on a board in the kitchen with a note reading: "Daddy we love you, get well," apparently written by his own children.

In a separate development, US network ABC News reported that sources had confirmed Jackson would not testify in his own defence.

The 46-year-old denies molesting Gavin Arvizo, plying him with alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive. The trial continues.

Update

The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser previously testified that she wants justice, not money, from the King of Pop, but defense witnesses testified Monday that the mother has a history of lying for money.

Ten days after depositing a $32,000 civil settlement check, the mother applied for emergency welfare benefits. But she never reported the windfall on her application, according to a Los Angeles County Department of Public Services employee.

"Would that be fraud to fail to report it on this form?" defense attorney Robert Sanger asked the mother's former intake worker Mercy Manrriquez, as he projected a copy of the previously sealed Nov. 15, 2001, welfare application.

"Yes, it would," Manrriquez replied.

Nor did the mother report thousands of dollars in donations — mostly from celebrities who sympathized with her son's life-threatening battle with cancer — that she received during the nearly two and a half years that she was on welfare, according to her welfare documents.

With days left in its case, Jackson's defense appears to be focusing on damaging the credibility of the accuser's mother, painting her as a money-hungry and litigious con.

A forensic certified public accountant testified that he examined bank statements and financial documents provided by the defense to determine that Jackson's aides spent about $7,000 on the mother and her family during the two-month period they were allegedly held in captivity in Neverland.

The defense projected receipts documenting purchases made by Jackson aides on the family's behalf at Banana Republic, the Gap and Robinson's May for clothes; beauty supplies and salon visits for the mother; new luggage for the whole family; fast food and family-style dinners at McDonald's and Outback, respectively; and numerous other expenses earmarked under the family name.

The mother previously testified that they were given one meal a day and that she ultimately paid for the shopping trips.

She also testified that the $32,000 check she received in 2001 was her share of a $152,000 settlement the family got from JC Penney after security guards allegedly assaulted them in 1998 when they suspected her son, Jackson's current child molestation accuser, of shoplifting.

Manrriquez testified that, if she had known about the $32,000 settlement, the $600 Christmas gift the mother received from comedian Chris Tucker's girlfriend in 2001, the $2,000 gift from Jackson's personal videographer in 2003, and the $7,000 worth of personal expenses Jackson paid while the family was allegedly held in captivity, it might have affected the mother's welfare eligibility or reduced the $769 a month she was given.

The mother evoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when she testified during the prosecution's case and avoided questioning about alleged welfare fraud.

The judge ruled Monday that her privileged welfare file had probative value in Jackson's case and ordered the documents unsealed.

Money, not blood

The defense also called the mother's ex-sister-in-law, who said she organized two blood drives for her nephew when he was being treated for stage-four cancer and needed transfusions.

The mother, with whom she had been estranged, called after learning about the efforts, the witness said.

"She told me that she didn't need my f---ing blood, that she needed money," the witness said as she choked back tears and wiped her eyes with a tissue. (Courttv.com has chosen not to identify the sister-in-law in order to protect the accuser's identity.)

"I think I just hung up on her," the witness said when asked how she responded to the cold reception.

She conceded, however, that she never visited the boy in the hospital, nor did she have a relationship with the family.

Another witness, an editor at a weekly newspaper, testified that she was "duped" into assigning a human interest story that focused on the family's hardships and the boy's struggle through chemotherapy.

"I had some bad feelings," Connie Keenan, editor of the Mid Valley News, said of a 2000 front-page story written by an intern at the paper, which included information about how to contribute to a trust account in the boy's name.

"The mother wanted an additional story because she didn't make enough money from the first story — those are her words, not mine," Keenan said.

Keenan told jurors that the mother called her five times asking for another article to be written.

The mother has previously testified that she only agreed to do the story as a favor to a budding journalist and that she has never asked for money because her son's medical bills were covered by insurance.

Keenan said she only learned about the boy's insurance coverage months after the fact.

"The whole slant of the article was how expensive it was for his medical care," Keenan said, adding that she initially questioned a section in which the mother claimed it cost $12,000 for one chemo injection, but then let it stay in the final piece.

The mother previously testified that $12,000 was a typo and that she told the reporter it was $1,200. But Keenan insisted that her reporter checked the taped interview with the mother to confirm that she stated a figure of $12,000 per injection.

However, the editor conceded on cross-examination that she did not independently verify the tape herself.

Jackson, 46, is accused of 10 counts, including committing lewd acts on the 13-year-old cancer survivor, giving him alcohol as a means to committing the lewd acts, and conspiring with his aides to falsely imprison the boy, his two siblings and their mother at Neverland ranch in February and March 2003.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Jay Leno testified today saying that the accuser never asked for money. He more or less stated that the phone message from the boy was "suspicious".

Btw, they showed a clip from the Tonight Show last night with Jay saying, "I'm testifying for the DEFENSE in the MJ trial. Apparently, they have never seen this show."

BTW, I can't really confirm this, but thought I saw a headline that Jackson sold Neverland. Anyone have any info?


TIS

Yes, it's for sale. Here's the story.

Neverland for sale

i saw an article saying it would fetch 19 1/2 million dollers

Yes, it's for sale. Here's the story.

Neverland for sale [/b][/quote]Wow it sold fast!

Neverland sold

Wow it did sell quick

Update

CHAT show king Jay Leno gave evidence at the Michael Jackson trial yesterday — and had the jury in stitches as he plugged his TV show.

Leno, 55, turned to them as he left the witness box and joked: “I have Renee Zellweger on the show tonight.”

The jury erupted in laughter — as did lawyers and even the judge. Earlier the Tonight Show presenter told the court how he was “suspicious” of phone calls he got from the boy who accuses Jackson of molesting him.

Leno said he was often in contact with sick children and that the boy — who was suffering from cancer — began leaving voicemail messages for him in 2000.

He invited the boy to visit the NBC show’s studios. Although Jacko’s lawyers have portrayed the boy’s family as money-grabbers who targeted celebrities, Leno said he was never asked for cash.

But he was surprised by the way the boy flattered him. He said: “It did not sound like a 12-year-old. It seemed like an adult and it seemed a little scripted.”

The Jackson case has been the butt of gags on Leno’s show.

After he was subpoenaed to testify he used stand-ins to deliver his jokes about the trial.

The jury’s verdict could come next week after Jackson’s lawyers called their final witness — comic actor Chris Tucker.

The Rush Hour star first met the singer after attending a charity event for the boy.

He told the court: “I met his father. He approached me and told me that he had a kid that loved me and was dying of cancer.”

Following the event he gave the boy's trust fund $1,500 after the boy rang him to say the charity event had raised no cash.

Tucker added that he had once been called a “brother to the children” by the boy's mother.

Jacko, 46, denies child abuse. The trial in California continues.

Well, looks like it'll be over in a week or so. If the defense rests today, the prosecution will rebutal and he'll be off by next week. Now, looks like he'll have to find a new place to live. Maybe it's time to downsize. :p


TIS

It appears as if Jackson didnt actually rape the child. He'll probably be convicted on giving the kid alcohol and attempted kidnapping.

I had to laugh at another of Jay Leno's jokes on the Tonight show. He was commenting on how the defense, after showing a Jackson video from an interview showed that, Michael Jackson sleeps with little boys "out of love, not sex." Leno says, something to the effect, "that line always works with guys."

Anyway, it's about over and for what it's worth, I don't think the jury will deliberate for more than a couple days and I still am going with a "not guilty" verdict on all counts. We'll see.

TIS

update

Michael Jackson is a scheming serial pedophile with a drinking problem who should finally be held responsible for sexually abusing young boys, a prosecutor said on Thursday, in a searing attack on the pop star during closing arguments in his molestation trial.

But Jackson's chief attorney called the charges a mean-spirited bid to "dehumanize" one of the world's best-loved entertainers and labeled the accusers "con artists, actors and liars."

The blistering closing remarks capped a bitter, four-month court fight over accusations that Jackson molested a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Valley Ranch in 2003. The defense claims the 46-year-old singer was framed by a family with a penchant for shaking down celebrities.

Jackson has pleaded innocent to molesting the boy, plying him with alcohol, and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. The pop star faces more than two decades in prison if convicted on all charges.

"Michael Jackson, not for the first time, took sexual liberties with a 13-year-old boy," Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen told a packed courtroom. He asked jurors to recall the young cancer survivor's account of being masturbated repeatedly by Jackson.

"That testimony should be believed, and Michael Jackson should be held responsible for what he did," Zonen said.

The veteran prosecutor ripped into Jackson as a manipulative pedophile who used his fame, wealth and the lure of the kid-friendly Neverland to groom vulnerable adolescent boys for sexual abuse.

"At night they entered into the world of the forbidden, they went into Michael Jackson's bedroom, which was a veritable fortress," Zonen said in reference to the room's keypad locks and alarm systems. "They learned about human sexuality from someone who was all too willing to be their teacher."

BIGGER THAN ELVIS

He said the boys came from homes with absent fathers and that Jackson targeted their weakness: "The lion on the Serengeti doesn't go after the strongest antelope."

Zonen showed the jury a sampling of Jackson's pornography, some of it homoerotic, asking jurors: "Are you comfortable with a middle-aged man getting in bed with a teenage boy as he possesses material like this that excites him?"

And the prosecutor recalled evidence that Jackson gave alcohol to the boys and was frequently intoxicated, saying: "Michael Jackson has a drinking problem. There's no other explanation for it."

Lead defense attorney Tom Mesereau spent the first 25 minutes of his closing argument attacking the accuser's mother, whom he has called a liar, welfare cheat and grifter not above exploiting her cancer-stricken son.

He said the family was hoping to convict Jackson in criminal court, then use that verdict to win a civil judgment. "There's only one thing they need," he said. "A conviction from you."

Mesereau said drinking and reading "girlie magazines" were not crimes and that prosecutors had engaged in "a mean-spirited, nasty barbaric attempt to dehumanize Mr. Jackson."

After four-months of stressing Jackson's musical talents, childlike innocence and kindness, Mesereau offered a rare assessment of his client's human side.

"Some say he's better known around the world than Elvis," Mesereau said. "But that comes with a price. And sometimes that price is loneliness and confusion over who his real friends are."


The case is expected to go to the jury on Friday after arguments from both sides conclude.

Update

Michael Jackson, who is awaiting a verdict in his child molestation trial, was treated at a hospital near his Neverland estate on Sunday for a relapse of a back problem, a spokeswoman said.
Spokeswoman Raymone Bain told reporters outside Cottage Hospital that Jackson, who had been suffering from back problems throughout his four-month trial, had returned because of a worsening of his condition.

Jackson left the hospital Sunday evening after about five hours. Hospital staff put up a screen to keep waiting photographers from getting a view of the one-time King of Pop as he left in a black sports utility vehicle driven by aides.

A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment on the pop star's treatment.

Jackson, 46, has appeared to be in frail health at times during the trial and seems to have lost weight. He has made repeated visits to hospitals during the trial.

In March, on the second day of testimony by his 15-year-old accuser, Jackson failed to show up in court, prompting Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville to issue a warrant for his arrest. Jackson showed up after an hour, walking slowly, wearing pajama pants and a jacket, and complaining of back pain.

He also made a trip to the emergency room in February, suffering from a flu-like illness that delayed jury selection for a week.

On Friday, jurors ended their first hours of deliberations in Jackson's trial after hearing dueling closing arguments that portrayed him as either a sexual predator or the naive victim of a family of hardened liars.

The jurors, due to resume deliberations on Monday, will weigh the charges until they reach verdicts on all 10 criminal counts or find themselves deadlocked.

They will have to consider testimony from some 140 witnesses and more than 600 items of evidence.

Jackson has pleaded not guilty to molesting his accuser in February or March of 2003, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him, and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He faces more than two decades in prison if convicted on all charges.

I wonder if he's pulling a Slobodan Milosevic...too sick to receive punishment and whatnot.

Update

Jurors were set to resume deliberations for a second day on Tuesday in Michael Jackson's sex-abuse trial with a growing throng of fans and reporters keeping watch outside court.

The jury of eight women and four men has spent about eight hours behind closed doors without reaching a verdict since getting the case on Friday. They sent a single note to Judge Rodney Melville on Monday but its contents were sealed.

Jackson has not been seen in public since Sunday, when he spent five hours at a hospital near his Neverland ranch for what spokeswoman Raymone Bain said was a back problem that has plagued him since the trial began in February.

Bain has described Jackson, 46, as "pulling his hair out" while waiting for a verdict that could clear him of charges that he molested a 13-year-old boy or send him to prison for more than two decades.

Outside the courthouse in Santa Maria, about 20 minutes from Neverland, hundreds of reporters and camera crews waited for word from the jury, alongside dozens of Jackson fans.

Relations between reporters and fans -- who believe Jackson has been treated unfairly by the press -- have been testy at times during the four-month trial and on Monday a surprise visit by the singer's father nearly turned into a brawl.

COPTER DROWNS OUT JESSE JACKSON

Camera crews surrounded Joseph Jackson after he arrived unannounced, demanding to see his son. As deputies tried to explain that the entertainer was not there, the crowd became unruly. Deputies then ushered Joseph Jackson inside the courthouse and Bain later explained that there had been a miscommunication in the Jackson camp.

Also on Monday the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has been counseling Michael Jackson during the trial, turned up at court to proclaim his support -- only to have the entire press conference drowned out by the sound of a news helicopter hovering overhead. The civil rights activist returned about 30 minutes later to repeat his remarks.

Legal experts say the judge and attorneys for both sides must hope that jurors -- who are driven to court each day in vans, with a police escort, and deliberate in private -- remain oblivious to news coverage and the commotion outside.

Though in some sensational California trials -- notably the so-called "Trial of the Century" of former football star O.J. Simpson on murder charges -- the jury has been sequestered, a former local prosecutor said that move was extremely rare in Santa Barbara County.

"Judge Melville wants to treat this like any other case with charges of this magnitude and typically we do not sequester in child molestation cases," former Santa Barbara County prosecutor Craig Smith said. "In the 29 years that I've been around this county I can only think of two other cases where they sequestered the jury and they were both murders."

The jurors must consider the testimony of 140 witnesses and sift through about 600 items of evidence in reaching a verdict on the 10 counts against Jackson.

Jackson, who has pleaded innocent, is charged with molesting a then-13-year-old at Neverland in February or March of 2003, giving the boy alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.

I heard yesterday that one woman juror is already making a book deal. :rolleyes: Evidently, according to the news, her grandmother made the suggestion after she was selected, and before the case began. I smell a "mistrial" if this is true, and Jackson is found guilty. Although, if they want to dismiss her for this reason, they can still do so, and use an alternate.


TIS

I think maybe DeNiro and I are the only ones halfway following this trial, but for whoever cares, a little more info.

Of course we know the press is itching for any kind of info and remain in Santa Maria anxiously awaiting any news. Seems some Jackson supporters are getting hostile to some press members. Evidently, one of the lead supporter/fan, who ironically is named BJ had a restraining order issued against him by reporter Diane Diamond, for evidently getting abusive toward her.

I've been hearing via these reporters that from more than a few "reliable" sources, that the jury requested a readback of the testimony of the young accuser. This has everyone wondering if by that request, they may convict. Most lawyers have agreed that "usually" a short deliberation will indicate a not guilty and long deliberation a guilty. However, they all agree, that in a child abuse case, and with all the evidence the jury has to consider, that it's just hard to tell.

TIS

If they take too long with this, Michael Jackson might just pull a Roman Polanski. That or kill himself. If he does go to jail, what's he going to do about the clown makeup he keeps on putting on his face. And what about his half of the Beatles catalog. There's too much to think about so I'll just drop out.

Update

If the child molestation case against Michael Jackson ends with a prison sentence, the pop star's likely new home would be almost as exclusive as his Neverland ranch.

It's far from glamorous, but the protective housing unit within Corcoran State Prison is considered a highly desirable refuge for inmates who need extraordinary protection from other prisoners.

It's also home to a handful of California's most notorious criminals.

Occupants of its 2.5-by-3.5-metre cells include mass murderer Charles Manson and Juan Corona, who killed 25 migrant farmworkers in the 1970s. The unit housed Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Robert Kennedy in 1968, until he was moved to a harsher lockdown in 2003.

Because the unit is so secure, it's considered a virtual oasis in the 163,000-inmate state prison system. Some people who have been there describe it as strikingly calm.

"It's been real nice for me," one unidentified inmate says in a three-minute Corrections Department video released last year. "It's a peaceful environment. It's almost like being free on the street."

Only one violent incident has been reported, and the house rules allow more freedom than at most prisons.

"They know they're in a safe place and they don't want to ruin that," said Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton. "It's an exceptional placement."

It has a capacity of 47, but just 21 inmates live in the unit, located about 160 kilometres northeast of the gated estate where prosecutors charge Jackson molested a 13-year-old boy.

Jurors resume deliberations in Jackson's case Monday.

If he is convicted, Jackson could go to prison for many years and would be evaluated to see if Corcoran's protective housing unit were appropriate, Thornton said.

"Just like people are fascinated with famous people, inmates are people, too," Thornton said. "They would consider it a feather in their cap to hurt" a famous inmate.

Inmates must meet certain criteria, including "specific, verified enemies," "notoriety likely to result in great bodily harm," and no prison gang affiliation.

Officials are refusing all requests for reporters to visit the unit, but Thornton described it in detail.

Each cell has a concrete bed, sink, desk and toilet.

Televisions and radios are allowed, if the inmate can afford them. Night lights also are allowed.

Inmates wear denim jeans, blue shirts and brown boots, and are issued white T-shirts, white boxer shorts and a denim jacket.

Staff members, not inmates, prepare and serve food.

Inmates can use the day room to read, play chess or watch television. The exercise yard is available for about 5 1/2 hours a day. There's a basketball court and a bar for chin-ups, but no free weights.

Residents can shower daily. They have access to a law library and may receive weekend visitors for as long as five hours a day. They share one telephone and make calls during certain hours.

They said the judge is allowing a "live feed" in the courtroom when the verdict is announced, so if we're by a tv, we'll be able to see it as it happens. They are preparing for extra police in the area in case of any problems with the protestors outside. As I mentioned some of the press is getting harrassed by them.


TIS

I don't know if this was posted or not but, I heard that they have a ambulance on standby depending on what the verdict is.

I wouldn't doubt it Mig! I've never been to Santa Maria, but hear that it's a very quiet town that isn't use to all this activity. I'm sure they'll be glad when this is over.


TIS

VERDICT REACHED! M.J. has one hour to appear starting now!

Man, what a madhouse. First they say a verdict's been reached and within seconds say it hasn't, now they say it has been reached.

:p

TIS

I'm gonna be waiting on FoxNews to see this verdict. You know, I pray to God that if he really is guilty, he does the time. If he really is innocent, that he is acquitted. His fate is in the hands of God and those jurors.

They just said that it's an unanamous verdict on "all" counts. Many thought there'd be a hung jury on at least one of the counts.


TIS

Unanimous on all counts doesnt mean much. They could be acquitinig on some and finding him guilty on others...stay tuned!!

I predict he walks on all counts. Although I feel he is probably guilty on most counts, 'probably' isn't enough to find him guilty.

I agree 100%. And I'm a fan of his music.

I'm guessing "guilty", at least on most of the charges.

But, of course, I like to be contrary.

I'm glad this "trail" is finally over, though.

--------------------
Happy trails to you
Until we meet again
Happy trails to you
Keep smiling until then

I hope he's guilty, but if OJ and Robert Blake can get acquitted with piles of evidence proving their guilt, then MJ has a good chance of walking since the prosecution's case was weaker than Blake & OJ's.

Well, one of the counts (forgot the exact charge), conspiring to hold the family hostage, I don't think was proven. I have always said he'll get "not guilty" on the major charges of chiled molestation &lewd conduct with a minor, but perhaps he'll get charged on the lesser charge of giving alcohol to a minor, in which case, won't be jail time.

What does make me wonder though, is the fact that the jury requested the boy's testimony be read back. Now that could go either way, and who knows exactly what they were looking for, but part of me feels it leans toward a conviction.

TIS

Funny that you should say this TIS, they just posted all of the charges up on the TV screen, and I just said the EXACT same thing as you did, to my wife. ( you see, we do agree on a lot of things ).


Don Cardi

I think he's guilty on all charges, and I will be outraged if he walks out of that court room a free man. Also, considering that he left Neverland Ranch a half hour before the verdict is scheduled to be read, its safe to assume that he's worried about the verdict.

I'm going to watch the live feed that decides if he's guilty or not within the next hour.

You will be outraged, after seeing the evidence and hearing the testimony for yourself? :p It's safe to assume he's worried because he left late? Of course he's worried - wouldn't you be if you were guilty -- or innocent??

While I may not have 100% faith in our justice system (for obvious reasons), I don't like to let my personal feelings toward someone cloud my thoughts. So hence, I won't be "outraged" either way. The way our system is set up, he's either found guilty or innocent, regardless of whether he is or not.

Wow, this is taking a while, huh?

CourtTV is supposed to have a live audio feed or the reading of the verdicts -- are all networks going to have that? Cuz this CourtTV woman is driving me crazy!

It's coming in now...sounds like he's being found 'Not Guilty' on many of the counts.

Apple

Here we go....!

Count 1 - Not Guilty to consiparcy
Counts 2-6 - Not Guilty lewd act
Counts 7-10 - Not Guilty providing alcohol to minor to commit a felony

WOAH!!

Not guilty! *sigh*

He got off....... again!

five ten years from now hes gunna be back in court for this again

The kid's family was out for money......I think everyone was able to see that. The mother couldn't keep the story straight and was out there for $$$$.

What "Parent" I use that term loosely allows their child to spend time at this guys house?

The person who is lost in this whole case is the child, let's hope that kid can live a good life.

For those "outraged" at his acquital, this video might cheer you up -- "Triumph the Insult Dog" on Conan...

http://download.ifilm.com/qt/portal/2672935_300.mov

Yay! The circus is f***ing over!!

Boo! He's another Robert Blake. Gee, what the hell is with So Cal? Weak prosecutors who feel they are guilty but can't prove it because accusers are con men and women.

What a shock. :rolleyes: After Simpson and Blake, it's pretty clear celebrities can do just about anything in CA.

"That's alright -- this thing's gotta happen every five years or so -- ten years -- helps to get rid of the bad blood".

"That's alright -- this thing's gotta happen every five years or so -- ten years -- helps to get rid of the bad blood". [/b][/quote]Damn.

It never ceases to amaze me how someone who did not listen to 16 weeks of testimony and more than 100 witnesses, and who did not participate in 32 hours of deliberations, and who relied on whatever limited amount of media coverage they got to form their perceptions, could be so sure that the jury made a mistake.

Yeah, I figured he was probably guilty. But not having access to all the information that the jury had, I have to defer to their judgement.

There is no justice for celebrities in this county. I am very disillusioned. You or I would have been in jail ten years ago for this shit.

Well, I hope his career is over. I was looking forward to seeing him lose Neverland. He's so deeply in debt, and I hope it gets worse.

Figures this happens while I'm watching a movie.

I agree we shouldn't judge from what we heard from the media. From what I've heard, I thought he was innocent although I wouldn't go nuts without hearing the whole story. As for his career, he is much more popular outside America and will be able to rebuild the money he lost on this trial, especially if he does the rumored tour in Japan.

I do think he committed acts of child molestation, but the prosecution's case was too weak to prove it. You HAVE to admit that on the surface he fits the profile of a child molestor dead on.

At the very least I think Jackson has some very serious mental problems, but you can't convict a guy for being weird. I DO think it's unfortunate that Jackson won't be forced to receive some counseling, which he so desperately needs. I think these verdicts send a message to Jackson that it's OK to behave the way he has and I think he's likely to continue his inappropriate behavior toward children.

Plaw - Very well said, and exactly what I tell all my "hang him!" friends. (Well, yours was more wordy and winded, but the same idea. )

That's the one thing I do agree on, he does appear to have mental problems at least. Insecurities, probably due to his father and even the Jehovah’s Witness upbringing. But then again, who knows?

i always believed he was not guilty, the mother needed some money and decided to tarnish this guys image more then it already is.

besides you can't dislike billu jean

At the VERY least, I'm not gonna deny that!

All I can do is hope that the jury made the right decision, and, that MJ changes his behavior so that nothing remotely close to this happens again. He should sell that theme park "ranch" and move to more adult quarters, and stop having slumber parties with anyone under 21. Or this will probably happen again....

Hoo boy, another OJ, another Robert Blake. Another prosecutor bites the dust.

At the VERY least, I'm not gonna deny that!

All I can do is hope that the jury made the right decision, and, that MJ changes his behavior so that nothing remotely close to this happens again. He should sell that theme park "ranch" and move to more adult quarters, and stop having slumber parties with anyone under 21. Or this will probably happen again.... [/b][/quote]'Neverland' was reported up for sale a few weeks ago

The O.J. verdict thoroughly stunned me...this one did not. I could whine and bemoan the fact that he was let off 'cause of his billions (and I do believe that his celebrity definitely was a factor). But, quite frankly, the prosecution's witnesses (other than the poor victim himself) blew this one, particularly the kid's weird mother. I still think they should've pushed for a mistrial way back when one of the jurors was overheard making fun of the molested boy, but maybe there wasn't enough evidence to prove that actually happened. At any rate, at least with a mistrial, they could regroup and re-try the bastard. Oh, make no mistake: he may be "not guilty," but he's far from "innocent." Anybody that believes Jack-Off didn't molest that kid and countless others, I got a bridge to sell you. Sadly, though, the prosecution just couldn't prove it.

I suppose that perhaps one day when he tries it again and hopefully his potential victim emascualtes him with a hidden switchblade, maybe the morons will awaken and say, "Gee. Maybe he really is a child molester!" Until then, I'm praying he'll fade into obscurity...or hell.

Just wished I would've been there and had my 12 gauge when that stupid broad released the white doves for the media... There is no justice in this world, but that s.o.b. will have to answer for it in the one to come. At least I can take solace in that...that, and the hope that maybe his superstar career is finally over and he'll just be looked upon as what he truly is: a pedophile punk who was just lucky enough to get off.

Let me weigh in on this a little. Although I agree with PLaw that we were not there, didn't hear all the evidence, I'm gonna form an opinion of what we "do" know.

Now, like I've mentioned, I've been watching the nightly "re-creation" of the trial on tv (not because I'm a big Jackson fan, but rather find interesting)legal proceedings and trials. Granted, you don't hear every piece of testimony, and they are actors playing the part, but the testimony follows the courtroom transcipts with every objection included. That's probably as close as anyone would get to hearing everything.

I do know that the following testimony was given:

1. By Jackson's "former" maid: The victim was staying at Neverland. The maid was picking up the house, and noticed two figures in the shower and a pair of adult and a pair of children's underwear on the floor by the shower door. Well of course the defense says "Could you see who was in the shower." She replies "no the glass was foggy, but she heard Michael and a young voice. "But you didn't see who it was right?",etc. Now, the maid is a "former" maid, who I think was fired, so of course the defense played that to the hilt, claiming she had an axe to grind.

2. The mother of the victim: claims on a plane overseas,her son and Michael were seated in a different section than she was seated. She went to check on her son. She says as she approached their seat, Jackson was licking her son's head all over. Another witness, and I can't remember who testified Jackson did the same thing with another child.

3. A "former" Neverland worker claimed he walked into a game room once and Jackson and McCauley Caulkin were playing pinball or some game. According to the witness, Jackson had Caulkin in front of him, and had his hands down Caulkin's pants. Of course the fact that McCaulkin testified otherwise and this witness was also fired, the defense was able to raise doubts.

What makes me totally vomit is that if I were on the jury, I probably would have to go with a not guilty verdict on molestation. I'd be kicking myself in the ass my whole life, because I think he is guilty. "From what I've seen", I don't think it's so much the defense was so great, as the prosecution so weak. Everyone involved had baggage. Then again, that's the kind of victims the pedophile looks for?

Of course the victim's testimony also was very graphic, but because of his "weird" family and all their baggage, and defense claims that mom coached him and gave him acting lessons, obviously, the jury didn't buy it.

Pedophiles do NOT change (at least not without help and even that I hear it's doubtful). It'll happen again and again right??? We can only hope and pray for these innocent victims. I fear any other victim/s will not come forward because of case.

There's more, but that's all I can think of right now.

TIS

I hate to admit this, but I actually felt bad for him today. I think I saw him for the first time as a scared child. Underneath it all, I think that's what he truly is, just a lost little boy. I hope he is able to get help.

As for the victim, I feel bad for him just for having the horrible parents he does, if for nothing else.

This case, along with OJ, Robert Blake, William Kennedy Smith, and Jayson Williams, helped prove that in this country, those with the money to pay for the best attorneys, get acquitted. Whether they are guilty or not matters little in the equation. When people with no money, ala Rodney King, go to trial with no prominent attorney, justice is usually not served.

Jackson is a sick individual. He obviously has some very deep problems on a mental level. Hopefully this is the last we'll hear about his legal problems, but I'm betting that won't be the case. Because we all know his music career is, and has been, finished.

Funny, I was telling this to my dad today.

I could see that verdict coming Lets hope he learns somthing from this

well after months of posting,i think my job is done,well until next time,hope you enjoyed reading for those who did

Thank God...otherwise half this board would be in front of a judge :p

Thank God...otherwise half this board would be in front of a judge :p [/b][/quote]

Thank God...otherwise half this board would be in front of a judge :p [/b][/quote]

Good one SM!!

I know MJ's first son is Prince, can't think of the 2nd one's name, but did you know his last child is named "Blanket?" Cracks me up.

TIS

Let's remember, though, that the prosecutors have virtually unlimited resources, both financial and investigative, to use when prosecuting someone, and the legal talent that the OJs and Jacksons are able to buy merely serves to level the playing field.

There is some truth to the idea that the rich can get "better justice" than the poor. However it sounds to me like the prosecution had a terrible case, and the jujry was smart enough not to buy the "where there's smoke there's fire." As usual all you "law and order" types are missing the entire point which actually is that the State has the power to do whatever it wants to anyone wven with the thinnest of evidence and usually get away with it. There should be some means to sanction overzealous prosecutors.

Looking at this as a bit of an outsider (i.e. not being an expert on the American justice system), it seems to me that the system worked pretty well here regardless of what we think of the outcome. The accused is innocent until proven guilty, the burden of proof is on the accuser. These are cornerstones of any "civilised" justice system. The prosecution has a fair go at proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Jackson had committed these crimes and the defence had a fair go at saying he didn't. The jury (who heard all the evidence) chose to decide that the evidence presented was not strong enough to convict rather than believe the defence. If this is the case then they made the right decision. Don't blame the jury for the fact that Debbie Rowe led the prosecution up the garden path or for the fact that Arvizo's mother was the least credible witness in the world.

Thought we could use a little shot of dark humor on this thread....

Let's remember, though, that the prosecutors have virtually unlimited resources, both financial and investigative, to use when prosecuting someone, and the legal talent that the OJs and Jacksons are able to buy merely serves to level the playing field. [/b][/quote]I agree to some extent, but my point is that if you, Plawrence, or I get caught in the same circumstance as MJ, OJ, William Kennedy Smith, et al, we're all going to jail quicker than you can say "fair & speedy trial." While the playing field is somewhat leveled to some degree, ordinary citizens don't have a chance of getting out of something like this b/c they don't have the financial resources to hire Flee Bailey or some other attorney charing $500-$1,000 per hour.

Well then, what about Martha Stewart? She couldn't afford a good lawyer? I think, as it has been mentioned before, the evidence was too thin. That's all.