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Trial of Michael Jackson

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Michael Jackson during the Bashir interview
Michael Jackson during the Bashir interview

This article deals with two partly related subjects regarding Michael Jackson: a documentary based on a series of interviews with Jackson, and prosecution of Jackson for acts that allegedly happened afterwards.

The link between the two is that suspicions against Jackson arose as a result of the documentary, and that the accuser featured in it as a friend of him. Also, the alleged child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion seem to be related to PR-damage control attempts by Jackson and his aides.

On the other hand, it does not seem logical (as the defense puts it: it would be "absurd"), that one would commit a crime when there are already suspicions in the same area.

Bashir interview

A Granada Television documentary [1] about Jackson, in which he was extensively interviewed by UK journalist Martin Bashir, was shown first in the UK on 3 February, 2003 and then in the U.S. three days later. It was made following a suggestion by Jackson's friend Uri Geller. It later emerged that Geller had turned down another 'bid' for the interview by 'faux-naif' journalist and presenter, Louis Theroux. An interview with Jackson was very special, for it had been extremely rare for Jackson to allow such access to his personal life, or indeed to talk so freely about his traumatised childhood. However he showed some reserve when asked to discuss other personal issues, such as the plastic surgery he had on his face. In one of his favorite shops and in the renting of rooms in hotels he demonstrated extravagant spending.

The documentary also shows Jackson's former friend and his accuser, born December 1989, at the time of the filming 12 years old. The boy is seen resting his head on Jackson's shoulder, and he and Jackson tell about the two sleeping in the same room, though not in the same bed (they told about an occasion where each was happy to sleep on the floor and let the other have the bed). The boy has later told that he had not realized that the footage would be broadcast all over the world. After the airing he was teased by his friends. His mother claims that she has not given Bashir permission to film her son, and was not even aware of that until the airing.

Jackson admitted that several young children, especially pre-adolescent boys (including Macaulay Culkin when he was younger, his younger brother Kieran and sisters[2]) have slept in the same bed as him, but he denies having had sex with any of them. Conversely, Jackson lets his children stay with his friends, for example with Barry Gibb. He emphasizes that children need and deserve lots of love — not sexual, but like having hot milk and cookies, tucking them in, telling a bed-time story, etc.

Responding to concern after the airing, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. said that, under California law, merely sleeping with a child, without "affirmative, offensive conduct," isn't criminal. [3]

Jackson felt betrayed by Bashir and complained that the film gives a distorted picture of his behaviour and conduct as a father [4]. He claims that Bashir, in the final version of his interview, used only that material which supported Bashir's opinion of Jackson, which was not a favorable one.

Jackson has filed complaints with the UK's Independent Television Commission and the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

After the documentary aired in the UK, Jackson visited Florida with the family during the airing in the US, and allegedly put pressure on them not to watch it. After they returned to California the family stayed some weeks at Neverland. This allegedly involved false imprisonment. During this stay was also the DCFS-interview and the filming for the rebuttal video (both around 20 February; for both see below).


Rebuttal video

Following the airing of the Bashir interview, Jackson released a second interview, called 'Take Two', also referred as "the rebuttal video", presented by Maury Povich, which contains material which Bashir omitted, and also features new interviews with people close to Jackson, such as his former wife Debbie Rowe, who says that it is on her request that the children wear masks in public. It has been shown in a Fox Network special [5] [6]. A part of the footage that was not aired because the videographer Hamid Moslehi refused to hand it over because of a financial dispute with Jackson [7] [8]. It was found by police in a search of Moslehi's home in November 2003, and showed the accuser's family praising Jackson. Allegedly the family was put under pressure by Jackson's aides to participate and say positive things.

Also in this period, a stay of the family (and part of the time, the children only) at Neverland, and a proposed shorter or longer trip of the family to Brazil, for protection of Jackson and/or the family against supposed danger as a result of the Bashir documentary, play a role in the allegations. According to witnesses, the Jackson camp told the family that there were death threats, related to the airing, against the family, while later, allegedly, some of the Jackson camp came with threats themselves.

2003 and 2004 charges

In November 2003, Jackson was booked and released on bail, after voluntarily returning to California to face charges of "lewd or lascivious acts" with a child under 14.

On November 18, 2003, a team of more than 70 investigators from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Department descended upon Jackson's Neverland Ranch as part of an "ongoing criminal investigation." They were reportedly looking for evidence to corroborate the account of then 13-year-old accuser that Jackson had sex with him. Along with the warrant to search the premises was a warrant for the arrest of Jackson. Jackson was in Las Vegas, Nevada at the time recording a music video for his most recent single "One More Chance", from his Number Ones greatest hits album, which had been released at midnight, just hours before the warrants were issued and the allegations broke to the media. Also searched on the same day wer the office of Bradley Miller, a private investigator working for Jackson, and the L.A. home of Hamid Moslehi, Jackson's videographer (see also above).

On November 20, Jackson flew in a leased jet to Santa Barbara Airport and surrendered himself to California police. Driven by police to the Santa Barbara County Jail, he emerged from the police vehicle in handcuffs. He was charged with "lewd or lascivious acts" with a child younger than 14 under section 288(a) of the California Penal Code. He posted $3 million bail. The judge is Rodney S. Melville, 62. Jackson's lawyers have included Mark J. Geragos (who also defended Scott Peterson) and Benjamin Brafman (who won an acquittal on weapons and bribery charges for P. Diddy), until Jackson replaced them by Thomas Mesereau Jr., who also represented Robert Blake temporarily, because a lawyer was needed who can give Jackson's case his full attention.

Jackson had been temporarily exempted from the requirement to stay in the US, for a possible trip to Britain ending not later than January 6, but he did not use that after all. Shortly after being arrested, Jackson was made to surrender his passport to Santa Barbara authorities. At the time of his booking, his weight was measured at 120 pounds (56 kg), a notably low weight for a 5'11" (178 cm) middle-aged man. A series of public vigils to protest his innocence, organised by fans, were held on November 23, but were notable for the low turn-outs.

On November 25, 2003 it was revealed that, unbeknownst to Jackson, the private jet that was chartered to take him and his attorney from Vegas to California was secretly wired with video and audio recording devices. A third party took recordings from this trip and attempted to sell them to major television and radio networks for an extremely large amount of money; all declined to purchase. A restraining order against the jet company has been issued prohibiting the videotape from being shown to any third parties; a massive lawsuit toppling the $500,000,000 mark has been filed by Jackson's party against the perpetrators. Jackson has not paid his travel agent for the flight and is in 2004 being sued over that.

On November 26, 2003, it was revealed that XtraJet, the company that found the recordings and hidden cameras on Jackson's plane, on Monday, showed the video to several news organizations on November 24. FOX News reported that the tape shows Jackson calm and relaxed on the plane. [9]

The uncle of the child who accused Jackson of molestation in the early 1990s, and designated representative for the accuser, has made public declarations (notably on "Larry King Live") stating that during the original sex scandal there were hard-core pornographic tapes depicting children found in Jackson's home, but that they were obtained illegally and thus could not be used to press criminal charges against him.

On December 8th, 2003 The Smoking Gun website posted a memo from the Sensitive Case Unit of L.A.'s Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS), on an investigation jointly carried out with the LAPD in February of 2003. The child in question was reported by a school teacher as a potential child abuse victim. The report refers to Jackson simply as "the entertainer," but it is clear to whom it refers. The boy, as well as his entire family (specifically his sister), insist in the report that no sexual or inappropriate contact with Jackson occurred; that the boy did not even sleep in Jackson's bed. The sister claims to have accompanied her brother on all overnight trips to Jackson's ranch. The case was closed; the charges marked as "unfounded".

Nonetheless, on December 18, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to commit that felony, in February and March 2003, all regarding the same boy under 14.

The felony complaint states that Jackson has seven times "willfully, unlawfully, and lewdly committed a lewd and lascivious act, upon and with the boy's body and certain parts and members thereof, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desires" of Jackson and the boy and that this sexual conduct has been "substantial".

Also, that on two of these occasions, Jackson has administered to the boy an intoxicating agent, with intent thereby to enable and assist himself to carry out the previously mentioned act.

Jackson denies and says that the sleepovers were non-sexual. He still describes the boy on whose statements the accusations are based as "a sweet child"; he says the boy is manipulated by greedy parents.

Nation of Islam's chief of staff Leonard F. Muhammad (Louis Farrakhan’s son-in-law) is one of Jackson's supporters. He and other NOI members reportedly have begun playing a role in Jackson's affairs, in particular in the field of security. It has been reported by some sources [10] that Jackson has become a member of NOI. However, after a meeting of top advisers, NOI dominance was denied.

During a 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley, Jackson claimed that he was manhandled by police during his booking. Amongst other things he claimed that his arms were dislocated, the handcuffs bruised his forearms, and that he was locked in a dirty bathroom for over 45 minutes. He has not formally filed his complaints.

The Santa Barbara County police then released video tape showing Jackson's arrest, which seems to go smoothly and without incident. They also released audio tape of his ride into the police station. In it Jackson complains about the handcuffs, and is politely told by an officer how he can relieve the discomfort. He is heard to be whistling (nervously) and he asks for the air conditioning to be turned on; it is. Police allege this proves Jackson's claims are false; Jackson (and his family) claim what is being shown is only a biased view of what occurred: it does not prove that his claims are false, and police avoids showing what would prove his claims to be true.

California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer ordered an independent investigation into Jackson's complaints. After interviewing 163 witnesses the complaints were rejected in August 2004.

At the prosecution's request the judge has issued a gag order which forbids the following parties to talk to the news media: the defendant, the prosecutor, defense counsel, any attorney working in their offices, their agents, staff, experts, any judicial officer or court employee, any law enforcement employee and any agency involved in the case, and any persons subpoenaed or expected to testify. The purpose is that people among whom a jury has to be selected are not influenced. However, he would consider proposals to allow either side to answer reporters' questions about rumors surrounding the case.

Jackson was arraigned January 16 2004, at the court of Santa Maria. He was admonished by the judge for turning up 20 minutes late. He entered a plea of "Not Guilty". Hundreds of fans and an international media circus surrounded the event. Police will keep the public at some distance next time, for more order and safety.

Judge Melville turned down a media's request for publication of 82 pages of documents and related tape recordings because that would violate the parties' privacy rights and complicate the process of selecting an unbiased jury. It concerns the boy's accounts of what allegedly happened, interviews with his family, statements that came out during the child's psychological counseling and information about the Chandler's case.

It was contained in an affidavit in which authorities explained their reasons for seeking a search warrant for Neverland Ranch.

In a court session on February 13, 2004 it was revealed that the defence had just received 400 pages of evidence from the lead prosecutor and that hundreds more are expected. The judge said he wants the trial to begin before the end of 2004. Both sides agreed that was possible. Jackson was not present. He may also not be at sessions where only prosecution witnesses are required to testify, to determine whether there is enough evidence to start the trial itself.

In the court session of April 2, 2004 the judge ordered papers to be released from a previous unrelated lawsuit started by the accuser's family; Jackson's defence says they will be used to show Jackson's innocence.

Grand jury proceedings in Santa Barbara have lead to Jackson's indictment on April 21 2004. The grand jury was composed of nineteen jurors; the indictment required the votes of at least twelve jurors. Prosecution witnesses testified without defense cross-examination. The judge has ruled that witnesses before the grand jury can talk to defense attorneys about their knowledge of the case as long as the witnesses do not tell what they saw in the grand jury room or what questions they were asked and their answers. Many grand jury witnesses have been sneaked into the building where the grand jury is meeting, sometimes covered in blankets to hide their identities. In February 2005 The Smoking Gun published the secret transcript.

Thus pre-trial hearings to prepare a preliminary hearing were no longer needed.

The new arraignment was on April, 30. The new charges, regarding which Jackson has pleaded not guilty again, were similar to the earlier ones, allegedly "on or about and between" 20 February and 12 March 2003, but with the addition of conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. Apparently the first two refer to the allegation that the accuser, although he was free to move within Neverland, was at some stages not allowed to leave the ranch, even when his mother wanted that. On one occasion the children got permission to leave after the mother lied to the Jackson camp that one of her parents was seriously ill.

The indictment names five alleged co-conspirators (not indicted themselves):

  • Frank Tyson (also called Frank Casio), 23, who was Jackson's personal assistant, and might have threatened the accuser's younger brother, who was a witness of part of the alleged crimes
  • Vince Amen (also called Vinnie), 24, who worked for Jackson's production company and might have been holding the family at Neverland against their will.
  • Marc Schaffel
  • Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer (in this connection referred to as "the Germans").

None of them agreed to testify during the grand jury proceedings.

News organisations' cases for releasing evidence have been heard at a hearing on 28 May 2004. The judge refused to release the full indictment or grand jury testimony.

On July 28, 2004 Judge Melville granted a delay in the trial.

Jackson has requested lowering of the bail. The prosecution is opposed, they argue that Jackson may well consider starting to live in another country as a fugitive: there are several countries of Europe, the Near East and Africa, where Jackson is adored, and several of those countries do not have extradition treaties with the United States. Also they cite Andrew Luster as an example: he fled, notwithstanding his $1 million bail bond, to Mexico.

On December 3 and 4, 2004, Neverland was searched again. Also in that month Jackson's DNA was taken.

Jackson intends not to place himself in so vulnerable a position again. Geraldo Rivera, a longtime friend of the Jackson family, explains that Michael Jackson will never have sleepovers with boys not related to him again, because he understands that, however innocent his conduct has been, it violates a social norm.

The jury selection started on January 31, 2005, and lasted less then the expected month.

While no television cameras are allowed inside the courtroom, E! and British Sky Broadcasting re-enact the trial for television.

Jackson admits that the accuser and his brother were sometimes “out of control” at Neverland, and read Jackson’s adult magazines and drank from his alcoholic beverages without his permission.

The accuser's brother testified to have seen twice that Jackson had non-penetrative sex with the apparently sleeping accuser. Details of the sexual act on the second occasion contradict what he has told psychologist Katz, according to Katz' testimony before the Grand Jury. He explains this by saying that there were actually three occasions.

The boy admitted that he had lied under oath in an unrelated court case.

The accuser

The boy featured in Bashir's documentary, is the boy concerned in the 2003 charges; subsequent airings of the Bashir documentary on American VH1 after the 2003 allegations have blurred Jackson's accuser's and his siblings' faces, as well as muted out his name. Until February 2005 the accuser was officially anonymised as "John Doe" by the court and the media, although his full name was already available all over the internet. In 2000 he was diagnosed with cancer. Soon after that, through Jamie Masada [11], the owner of a comedy club, his wish was fulfilled to meet Jackson, and the boy often visited Neverland, also when Jackson was not home. In 2001 there were no visits but he and Jackson had many telephone conversations. In 2002 was the filming for the documentary, which was aired in 2003.

His parents are divorced, his mother has custody over him and his older sister and younger brother. His father, after having completed classes in parenting and anger management, has applied for having a restraining order against him temporary lifted, to allow him to see his three children. He wants to see for himself how his health is and hopes to find out whether the boy and Jackson have had sex. He blames his ex-wife for having allowed the boy to sleep in the same room with Jackson and claims that she has been in a mental hospital, and that she sometimes coaches her children to lie.

1993 allegation of child sexual abuse

In 1993 13-year-old Jordan Chandler filed a complaint against Jackson in which he claimed that Jackson had molested him sexually. Evidence was gathered, but the case never went to trial; Jackson settled the boy's civil lawsuit with the payment of an undisclosed amount of money. Media speculations range from $2 million to $50 million, depending on the source. As a result of this payment, the boy declined to testify at any criminal trial.

Subsequently Californian law has been modified, to avoid minors having a financial incentive not to testify in a criminal lawsuit. [12] [13]

Jackson's spokespersons have repeatedly stated that the settlement was in no way an admission of guilt, and Jackson has always denied the allegations. As with Jackson in general, people are not of the same opinion; some say it was unmistakably a partial confession on Jackson's behalf, others argue that it was simply successful blackmail.

Jackson can say little more about the allegations and the settlement, because a confidentiality agreement is part of the deal. Chandler's father filed a new complaint against Jackson in 1996 for violating the confidentiality; in 1999 an arbitrator rejected it.

File:TV oprah with michael jackson February 10 1993 .jpg
Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jackson

Miscellaneous allegations

On April 14 2004 it was announced that the LAPD was investigating another allegation of child abuse, potentially committed by Jackson. The only information the LAPD was willing to release about this new case was that the incident allegedly occurred in the late 1980s. If it happened before 1988, California's statute of limitations may have expired on the case. Attorneys for Jackson claim that the new allegation is groundless. The LAPD has stated that "no charges will be sought" in the case, after a two-month investigation found "no evidence that any crime occurred".

In April, 2004, Scott Thorson, former lover of Liberace, claimed in The National Enquirer and on television interviews, that he had had sex with Michael Jackson in 1979 and thereafter, and claimed that he had seen what appeared to be child pornography in Jackson's possession. [14]

News

Police and courts

involving unlawful:
the accuser, his mother, his sister, and his brother

Interviews

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