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[AppleHead]

Sexual Predator or Vulnerable Celebrity? Both Sides Lay Out the Case

Feb. 28, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 1: opening arguments. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon lays out his case, followed by lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr.


POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• In public, Sneddon said, Jackson talked of tucking children into bed and plying them with "hot milk and cookies." In private, the prosecutor said, he shared issues of Barely Legal Hard-Core and served "wine, vodka and bourbon."
• In building a case for Jackson's "strange sexual behavior," Sneddon talked about the singer surfing X-rated Websites with the accuser and his younger brother. According to Sneddon, Jackson cracked, "Got milk?" when a topless woman appeared on screen and told his own young son, Prince, that the boy was "missing a lot of pussy."
• Jackson first masturbated the accuser, then 13, at Neverland shortly after the two were seen holding hands in Martin Bashir's Living with Michael Jackson, Sneddon charged.
• Jackson's camp, upset by the reaction to the Bashir interview, sought to right the "train wreck" by getting the boy's family out of the way--sending them to Florida, hiding them away in Neverland, plotting to send them to Brazil and threatening to kill the accuser's mother, Sneddon said.


POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• No less than upstanding Tonight host Jay Leno, according to Mesereau, suspected that the mother of Jackson's young accuser was a woman on the take and alerted authorities.
• The boy's mother also tried to hit up Jim Carrey, George Lopez, boxer Mike Tyson and a local TV weatherman from Los Angeles, Mesereau said, noting that the "most vulnerable celebrity" and easiest mark of all was his famous client and noted Neverland-based humanitarian.
• A law-firm employee will testify that the mother admitted to lying in her sexual-abuse lawsuit against JCPenney, a case that was settled out of court with the boy's family netting $152,000, Mesereau promised.


IN THE 'HOUSE
• Jermaine Jackson, singer, offering his brother support in court.
• Gary Coleman, former child star, offering commentary on the proceedings outside the courthouse

[Billie Jean]

Geht das auch auf deutsch bitte? Ich kann zwar gut Englisch, aber so gut nun auch wieder nicht
mfg Billie Jean

[AppleHead]

Defense Blasts "Prisoners of Neverland" Claim, Bashir Takes the Stand; Plus, Will Jackson Testify?

Mar. 1, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 2: Conclusion of defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr.'s opening argument; prosecution exhibit and testimony.


TAKING THE STAND
• Martin Bashir, British journalist and current ABC News correspondent, whose 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson ignited the molestation investigation.
• Ann Kite, aka Ann Gabriel, Webcasting executive, former public relations firm owner hired by Jackson's camp in 2003 to "help with the fallout from the Martin Bashir video."


POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• There is no DNA evidence that Jackson masturbated the boy in a bedroom at Neverland Ranch, Mesereau said.
• Hammering away again at the accuser's family, Mesereau asked if they were so desperate to escape Neverland--and Jackson is charged with keeping them there--why didn't they call police, contact the mother's military boyfriend (now husband), make a plea to ranch visitor Chris Tucker or try to make a break for it when the mother was taken to a salon for a body wax?
• The accuser and his siblings didn't need to be plied with liquor and shown porno mags by Jackson, Mesereau argued. They sought out the stuff on their own, raiding Neverland's wine cellar and dipping into Jackson's private stash of "girlie magazines."
• Living with Michael Jackson, which was screened for jurors, is not a wholly unsympathetic portrait of its title subject. It delves into his abusive upbringing and his creative process. Some jurors bopped their heads along with his music. Jackson himself dabbed at tears.


POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• Living with Michael Jackson is not exactly a PR coup for its title subject. It shows Jackson holding hands with his accuser, then 13, and talking about how he shares his bed with the boy and other children in a loving but non-sexual way.
• Other than whatever shock value it got from screening the documentary, not much. Bashir confirmed he conducted the interview, then deferred to his attorney, who said his client was not obliged to answer questions under California's shield law for journalists. Kite didn't have time to get around to the heart of her testimony before court recessed. She's due back on the stand Wednesday, when she's expected to say she heard Jackson's camp plotting to destroy the credibility of the accuser's mother as far back as two years ago.


PERRY MASON MOMENT
• Mesereau perked up everyone's ears when he said, "Michael Jackson will tell you [the jurors]" about the day he got a "very bad feeling" about the accuser and his family. The wording seemed to indicate Jackson may take the stand in his defense.

[Toby]

Tolle Zusammenfassungen. Bitte weiterhin posten.

[AppleHead]

Publicist Bolsters Jackson Conspiracy Charges, but Defense Undercuts Her Credentials

Mar. 2, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 3: Testimony from a witness for the prosecution intended to support conspiracy charge against Jackson.

TAKING THE STAND
• Ann Marie Kite, aka Ann Gabriel, a Las Vegas-based Webcasting executive and "crisis-management expert" hired by Jackson's camp in 2003 to help clean up the "absolute [PR] disaster" caused by the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson.

POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• Kite was used to bolster the prosecution's conspiracy allegation. She testified that Team Jackson seemed upset when the accuser and his family left Neverland after the Bashir special aired on Feb. 3, 2003. Later, she said she was told by Jackson confidant Marc Schaffel that "the situation had been contained," and the family returned to the ranch. Prosecutors allege they were kept there against their will.
• Kite testified of being told by David LeGrand, a Jackson attorney, as far back as 2003 that "they were going to make [the mother] look like a crack whore." That line could be used to establish that defense attacks on the accuser's mother are the by-product of a long-held, deliberate strategy to tear her down.
• With prosecutor Tom Sneddon pushing hard the theory that the Bashir documentary turned Jackson into a "desperate" man, Kite helped him out by characterizing the fallout from the show as "a 25" on a one-to-10 scale of public relations disasters.
• Kite said "1993," as in the 1993-94 molestation case that ended with a $23 million payout from Jackson to his accuser. It was the first time jurors have heard the old case mentioned in court.

POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• Under Thomas Mesereau Jr.'s cross-examination, Kite said she never met Jackson, the accuser or the accuser's family and only communicated with members of Jackson's team via telephone--hardly insider credentials.
• Kite's Team Jackson tenure lasted all of six days--from Feb. 3, 2003, to Feb. 15, 2003. She said she was fired for refusing to sign a confidentiality agreement.
• Prodded by Mesereau, Kite revisited the defense's favorite subject: Michael Jackson as victim. She said she told investigators that she didn't think some in his camp were looking out for him and that one might be plotting to wrest away his control of the Beatles' song catalog.

[AppleHead]

Prosecution Hammers at Alcohol and Conspiracy Charges, While Defense Decries Lack of Evidence

Mar. 3, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 4: Testimony from two witnesses for the prosecution.


TAKING THE STAND
• Albert Lafferty, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department deputy who shot video and took photographs during the Nov. 18, 2003, raid of Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
• "Jane Doe," a college freshman and 18-year-old sister of Jackson's accuser.


POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• The sister testified she saw her brother, then 13, sip from the same Diet Coke can as Jackson during a 2003 airplane flight. The prosecution claims Jackson, who is charged with serving alcohol to the boy, routinely quaffed white wine on the sly by pouring the spirit into a Diet Coke can.
• The sister testified she saw Michael Jackson pouring wine for her two brothers and another child in the wine cellar at Neverland. When she happened upon the scene, she said, Jackson poured her a cup, too.
• Martin Bashir's Living with Michael Jackson documentary "upset" its star subject and prompted the singer to spring for an impromptu trip for the boy and his family to Miami, the sister said, speaking to the prosecution's conspiracy allegation. While in Miami, the family was not allowed to watch the Bashir special on ABC, she said, but her brother was allowed into Jackson's hotel room.
• Post-Bashir, Jackson's team moved the family into a hotel room in Calabasas, California, and later took them to get passports for a trip to Brazil, where the prosecution alleges the singer wanted to stash the accuser and his kin.


POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• The sister said Jackson bought her family a Ford Bronco while her brother was being treated for cancer, and, later, while the family allegedly was being held against their will in Calabasas, his team took them on a shopping spree to Toys "R" Us.
• Lafferty's video revealed Jackson's eccentric interior design, including numerous mannequins and a "toy room" filled with life-size Superman, Batman and Star Wars figures, but it didn't show much in the way of alleged evidence seized from the estate.
• Defense attorney Robert M. Sanger seemingly began laying the groundwork for claims police mishandled items seized in the Neverland raid, quizzing Lafferty on how he cataloged a briefcase taken from the master bedroom. The defense has said Jackson locked "girlie magazines" in a briefcase to keep them away from the accuser and his younger brother; the prosecution claims Jackson used "sexually explicit" material to seduce the accuser.

[AppleHead]

Physical Impropriety, Double-Edged "Evidence" and a Withering Cross-Exam

Mar. 4, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 5: Testimony from witness for the prosecution; screening of video featuring the accuser and his family, ostensibly shot by Jackson's camp to counter Martin Bashir's Living with Michael Jackson.


TAKING THE STAND
• "Jane Doe," a college freshman and 18-year-old sister of Jackson's accuser.


POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• The sister testified that she saw Jackson "constantly hugging and kissing" her then 13-year-old brother, the singer's future accuser, "on the cheek or on the head."
• In the video played in court, the accuser's family is arguably over-the-top in their praise of Jackson, with the mother rhapsodizing that it was a "wish come true to see [her] children interact with a father role model." The prosecution used the raves to charge the family was told what to say. And, indeed, the sister testified the family was provided a script.


POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• The sister testified that her mother taught her and her two brothers to greet people with hugs. (The defense didn't even have to extract this factoid out of the teen--the prosecution did it for them.)
• Over-the-top or no, the so-called rebuttal video was one solid hour of court time in which jurors heard not a discouraging word about the defendant. Instead of a predator, Jackson is painted by his own accuser as the man who inspired the boy to beat cancer.
• During cross-examination, the sister's credibility cracked. She said the family's remarks in the rebuttal video were not entirely scripted and conceded that a statement given to police about underage drinking at Neverland was different from what she testified to in court on Thursday. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. also led her down a slippery slope involving a sexual-abuse claim against her father--a claim she said she made after her mother informed her of the transgression. (She said she was too young to remember it on her own.)


IN THE 'HOUSE
• The Jackson three--sister LaToya, brother Randy, mother Katherine

[AppleHead]

Wine-Fueled Flight, Porn-Filled Sleepover--and a Crumbling Prosecution Witness

Mar. 7, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 6: Testimony from two witnesses for the prosecution.


TAKING THE STAND
• "James Doe," the 14-year-old younger brother of Jackson's accuser.
• "Jane Doe," a college freshman and 18-year-old sister of Jackson's accuser.


POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• The boy, billed as the only witness to the alleged molestation, said he saw Jackson masturbating himself as the singer groped his sleeping brother.
• The boy described a wild charter flight from Miami to Neverland in 2003, in which Jackson offered him "Jesus Juice" (wine in a Diet Coke can), made crank phone calls and licked his sleepy older brother's head.
• Back at Neverland, the boy testified, the wine flowed freely, X-rated porno sites were surfed (prompting Jackson to quip, "Got milk?"), sleeping arrangements were tight (three boys and Jackson in one bed), and a naked--and erect--Jackson surprised the boy and his brother one night while they were watching movies. "He sat on the bed and said it was natural," the boy said.


POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• The sister's credibility continued to crumble under questioning. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. got the teen to backtrack, or clarify her testimony, on everything from past abuse claims made by her family to the number of times she'd been to the wine cellar at Neverland.
• In an audiotape made by Jackson's team with the family after the Martin Bashir documentary aired, and around the time they allegedly were being held against their will, the sister is heard describing Jackson as "our father figure."


PERRY MASON MOMENT
• The sister denied knowing anything of her family's sexual-abuse lawsuit against JC Penney--until, that is, Mesereau appeared before her with documentation showing she had sat in on both of her brothers' depositions in the case. "I just remembered right now when you said 'deposition,' " the woman said.

[AppleHead]

Under Defense Cross Exam, Accuser's Brother Admits to Previously Lying Under Oath

Mar. 8, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Day 7: Testimony from witness for the prosecution.


TAKING THE STAND
• "James Doe," the 14-year-old younger brother of Jackson's accuser.


POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
• The boy, billed as the only witness to the alleged molestation, testified that he saw Jackson masturbating himself as the singer groped his sleeping brother.
• The boy said Jackson gathered him, his brother and another child on the singer's bed one night and warned the tykes "not to tell anything that happened. Not even if they put a gun to your head," the singer supposedly told them. (The boy said he didn't know why Jackson had issued the warning.)


POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
• Once again, defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. zeroed in on a witness' credibility. After further questioning, the brother admitted to lying during a 2000 deposition in his family's sexual assault case against JCPenney.
• The boy blamed a "court reporter's mistake" on a discrepancy in his testimony over what kind of wine he saw his brother drinking during a Jackson-arranged trip to Miami. Later, he denied telling the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department that he and his brother surfed a porn site, and when shown a transcript of the interview in which he said just that, explained, "That's just a paragraph that somebody wrote."
• Mesereau showed jurors a Father's Day card, in which the boy wrote endearingly about Jackson and signed off with his Jackson-assigned nickname, "Love, your Blow Hole."
• The boy testified that an alarm, or an "electric bell," sounded as he entered the hallway leading into Jackson's bedroom on the night he allegedly witnessed Jackson grope his brother. He didn't mention the alarm during his previous testimony and didn't mention that either Jackson or his brother seemed to hear it. (In a minor point for the prosecution, the boy said the alarm isn't very loud and claimed it can't be heard when bedroom doors are closed.)


PERRY MASON MOMENT
• On Monday, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon showed the boy a copy of Barely Legal and asked him if that was one of the adult magazines Jackson had shared with him and his brother. The boy said yes. On Tuesday, Mesereau pointed out the magazine was dated August 2003, or months after the boy and his family moved out of Neverland. The boy then said he'd never said the magazine was "exactly" what Jackson had shown him.

[AppleHead]

oung Accuser Takes the Stand, Rivets Jury; His Brother Doesn't Fare as Well Under Cross-Exam

Mar. 9, 2005

ON THE DOCKET
Michael Jackson Trial: On the DocketDay 8: Testimony from two witnesses for the prosecution

TAKING THE STAND
Michael Jackson Trial: Scheduled Witnesses
• "John Doe," Jackson's 15-year-old accuser
• "James Doe," the 14-year-old brother of Jackson's accuser

POINTS FOR THE PROSECUTION
Michael Jackson Trial: Points for the Prosecution
• The arrival of the star witness: Per courthouse reports, the accuser riveted jurors--and his testimony has only begun.
• Like his brother, the accuser testified that Jackson exposed them to X-rated Websites and quipped, "Got milk?" when busty, naked women appeared on the computer screen.
• The accuser said Jackson convinced him to sit down for an interview in the 2003 Martin Bashir documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, by telling the aspiring child actor it was an "audition."
• Explaining the goo-goo-eyed devotion to Jackson on display in the Bashir segment, the accuser said Jackson instructed the boy, then 13, to call him "Daddy" or "Daddy Michael."
• The accuser's brother said he saw Jackson molest his sibling on three occasions, not two, as he earlier said.

POINTS FOR THE DEFENSE
Michael Jackson: Points for the Defense
• The brother's additional molestation allegation came during cross-examination. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. elicited the response as yet another example of the boy's ever-shifting testimony.
• The defense screened a video in which Jackson is shown pushing his then-ill accuser's wheelchair, and the brothers are seen romping around Neverland.
• The accuser's early courtroom debut--less than two weeks into a trial expected to last six months--looks to leave a lot of time between his testimony and the start of jurors' deliberations.