Afternoon class, before we continue on with Michael Jackson 101, please refer back to Tuesday’s lesson. We left the trial in progress with the brother of Mr. Jackson’s young accuser testifying to all the creepy goings-on he experienced at Neverland. In the longstanding tradition of courtroom-based television dramas, Tuesday (March 8) was the defence team’s chance to completely discredit the witness. How'd they do that? Put the 14-year-old brother on trial himself. Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau spent his cross-examination drilling holes into the boy’s story of nudity, porn-viewing and, ultimately, molestation at Jackson’s estate. First up was a copy of the magazine Barely Legal, which the boy had confirmed was among those shown to him and his older sibling by the pop star — the rabbit in Mesereau’s hat was that the mag was dated August 2003, while the children had last visited Neverland that March.
"I never said it was exactly that one. That’s not exactly the one he showed us," the boy responded, saying he had seen it while going through the evidence with D.A. Tom Sneddon before the trial. Mesereau also questioned the boy on his account of twice walking in on Jackson molesting his sleeping brother. The lawyer asked about an alarm system in the house that apparently alerts the King Of Pop if someone is in the hall outside his bedroom — which begs the question, what the hell? Who has a bedroom alarm?
"So the two times you claim you saw Michael Jackson touching your brother in bed, that alarm went off?" he asked. "Yes," said the boy, though no alarm noise was mentioned in his previous testimony. He had also asserted his brother slept through both incidences of abuse.
Finally, Mesereau went after the teenage witness’ credibility in general, bringing up several other court cases. The attorney asked the boy if he’d told the truth when under oath for another case, swearing that his dad had never hit him, and the boy said, "No." Next he brought up a civil suit where the boy’s mother claimed she had been sexually assaulted and her family beaten by a group of department store security guards.
"Did someone tell you to lie in the J.C. Penney case?" Mesereau asked.
"I don’t remember," replied the boy. When pressed he repeated: "I don’t remember. It was five years ago. I don’t remember nothing."
Team Jackson, of course, is hoping to establish a history of the family in question filing false claims, in an attempt to get money. And there’s the bell — please hand in your reports before you leave. See you Thursday at around 6 p.m. |
