Jackson Case - The mother volunteered that the recording was a compilation of several conversations she'd had with Tyson, though "the masters of chore
The prosecutions tape was cut up and spliced. What is going on in Southern California?
Jackson Accuser's Tearful Mom Takes Stand (washingtonpost.com)
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 14, 2005; Page C01
SANTA MARIA, Calif., April 13 -- The mother of the 15-year-old boy who has accused Michael Jackson of sexual molestation delivered a tear-filled, histrionic account Wednesday of what the prosecution charges was the pop star's conspiracy to imprison her family and to force them to take part in a public relations campaign on the singer's behalf.
Dressed like a librarian and speaking like a soap actress, the mother cried, yelled, sighed, shook and snapped her fingers, covered her face, interrupted the prosecutor, pointed at Jackson and spoke directly to the famous entertainer from the witness stand.
Michael Jackson enters the Santa Barbara County courthouse. (Nick Ut -- AP)
_____Photos and Multimedia_____
• Jackson Special Report
• Photo Gallery: Scenes from the trial.
• Photo Gallery: Michael Jackson's curious career.
• Video: Michael Jackson's former maid testified she found the singer showering with a boy who often slept in the pop star's bed.
• Video: Michael Jackson walks slowly and haltingly into the courtroom March 21.
• Video: Michael Jackson, apparently suffering from some sort of back ailment, is escorted into court after the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
• Video: Michael Jackson arrives for the first day of his child molestation trial.
• Video: Journalists and Jackson fans outside the Santa Maria, Calif., courthouse.
_____FindLaw Coverage_____
• Indictment (Calif. v. Jackson)
• The Michael Jackson Case
_____Free E-mail Newsletters_____
• Washington Entertainment Guide
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Movies
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Travel
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• At Home
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
Earlier in the day, the mother had invoked her Fifth Amendment rights in declining to testify about allegations that she had committed welfare fraud.
She alleged that in February 2003, as a documentary damaging to Jackson was about to air in the United States, the pop star whisked her and her three children to Miami for a news conference that never took place. There, "in a very normal voice, very male voice," Jackson told her that her family was being threatened and that he would "protect us from these killers," the woman testified.
On the flight back from Miami, the woman said, Jackson sat next to her son, then 13. Asked to describe an incident that allegedly occurred on the private jet, the woman sighed, shook her head, removed her glasses and turned to beseech the jury.
"Please don't judge me," she said, her voice cracking. "I had not slept for so long. . . . I got up and that's when I saw Michael licking the [boy's] head. I thought it was me. I thought I was seeing things." Her son was asleep, she testified, and Jackson's arm was around him. She then demonstrated the pose, sticking her tongue out to mime licking the boy's head, on his hair.
"Like this, over and over," she said.
The mother, whose testimony is expected to continue Thursday, is the trial's most volatile witness yet. Dressed in a pale pink pantsuit, she at first appeared chatty and pleased to have an audience, though by the end of the day she'd turned terse and subdued. She frequently responded to Santa Barbara County prosecutor Ron Zonen's questions with long, rambling asides to the jury, offering up details of a leg-waxing and a past breakfast (lemonade and cheese cubes) without prompting.
"Listen to the question," Zonen urged her at one point, and later again and again in different words. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., who has been known to object every 60 seconds to prosecution questioning, made hardly a peep.
When Mesereau did object, it was so the witness could continue talking; he accused Zonen of interrupting her.
"Oh, there's still more," the witness said, addressing the defense attorney directly.
The accuser's mother made a number of scathing references to two Jackson associates she called "the Germans." She said Jackson instructed her to follow their orders, but she became uneasy when the men attempted to make her use a script to prepare for a video praising Jackson.
She said she was told the video "would appease the killers."
Who said that? Zonen asked.
"Him," she said, pointing at Jackson, who was seated at the defense table. And other Jackson associates, she added. "And you know what? They ended up being the real killers."
At certain points, she called Jackson "you." The defendant remained motionless.
The woman testified that she enlisted the help of an employee at Jackson's Neverland ranch to leave there with her kids in the middle of the night. After that, she said, she received many phone calls from Jackson associate Frank Tyson, begging her and her children to return to Neverland.
The prosecution then announced it would play a recording of a phone conversation between her and Tyson. The mother volunteered that the recording was a compilation of several conversations she'd had with Tyson, though "the masters of choreography" had made it sound like just one. It wasn't clear who those masters might be.
On the recording, a high voice identifies itself as Tyson and sounds a little like Michael Jackson. He pleads with the mother to return with her family to Neverland, promising that he will make sure the German people won't bother her.
"Why don't you come back up to the ranch? Michael would love to see you," the voice says. "There's a lot of evil people out there. . . . Even staying another night alone is not safe."
The man urges her to participate in the rebuttal video and says that he and the family will soon be taking a "fun trip," where the mother will get to go dancing frequently.
The prosecution alleges that Jackson associates were making preparations to send the family to Brazil, though the trip never took place.
It is not until after this -- after the Jackson camp had begun its crisis control efforts and as reporters were hounding the family of the accuser -- that Jackson is alleged to have abused the boy.
Jackson Accuser's Tearful Mom Takes Stand (washingtonpost.com)
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 14, 2005; Page C01
SANTA MARIA, Calif., April 13 -- The mother of the 15-year-old boy who has accused Michael Jackson of sexual molestation delivered a tear-filled, histrionic account Wednesday of what the prosecution charges was the pop star's conspiracy to imprison her family and to force them to take part in a public relations campaign on the singer's behalf.
Dressed like a librarian and speaking like a soap actress, the mother cried, yelled, sighed, shook and snapped her fingers, covered her face, interrupted the prosecutor, pointed at Jackson and spoke directly to the famous entertainer from the witness stand.
Michael Jackson enters the Santa Barbara County courthouse. (Nick Ut -- AP)
_____Photos and Multimedia_____
• Jackson Special Report
• Photo Gallery: Scenes from the trial.
• Photo Gallery: Michael Jackson's curious career.
• Video: Michael Jackson's former maid testified she found the singer showering with a boy who often slept in the pop star's bed.
• Video: Michael Jackson walks slowly and haltingly into the courtroom March 21.
• Video: Michael Jackson, apparently suffering from some sort of back ailment, is escorted into court after the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
• Video: Michael Jackson arrives for the first day of his child molestation trial.
• Video: Journalists and Jackson fans outside the Santa Maria, Calif., courthouse.
_____FindLaw Coverage_____
• Indictment (Calif. v. Jackson)
• The Michael Jackson Case
_____Free E-mail Newsletters_____
• Washington Entertainment Guide
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Movies
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Travel
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• At Home
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
Earlier in the day, the mother had invoked her Fifth Amendment rights in declining to testify about allegations that she had committed welfare fraud.
She alleged that in February 2003, as a documentary damaging to Jackson was about to air in the United States, the pop star whisked her and her three children to Miami for a news conference that never took place. There, "in a very normal voice, very male voice," Jackson told her that her family was being threatened and that he would "protect us from these killers," the woman testified.
On the flight back from Miami, the woman said, Jackson sat next to her son, then 13. Asked to describe an incident that allegedly occurred on the private jet, the woman sighed, shook her head, removed her glasses and turned to beseech the jury.
"Please don't judge me," she said, her voice cracking. "I had not slept for so long. . . . I got up and that's when I saw Michael licking the [boy's] head. I thought it was me. I thought I was seeing things." Her son was asleep, she testified, and Jackson's arm was around him. She then demonstrated the pose, sticking her tongue out to mime licking the boy's head, on his hair.
"Like this, over and over," she said.
The mother, whose testimony is expected to continue Thursday, is the trial's most volatile witness yet. Dressed in a pale pink pantsuit, she at first appeared chatty and pleased to have an audience, though by the end of the day she'd turned terse and subdued. She frequently responded to Santa Barbara County prosecutor Ron Zonen's questions with long, rambling asides to the jury, offering up details of a leg-waxing and a past breakfast (lemonade and cheese cubes) without prompting.
"Listen to the question," Zonen urged her at one point, and later again and again in different words. Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., who has been known to object every 60 seconds to prosecution questioning, made hardly a peep.
When Mesereau did object, it was so the witness could continue talking; he accused Zonen of interrupting her.
"Oh, there's still more," the witness said, addressing the defense attorney directly.
The accuser's mother made a number of scathing references to two Jackson associates she called "the Germans." She said Jackson instructed her to follow their orders, but she became uneasy when the men attempted to make her use a script to prepare for a video praising Jackson.
She said she was told the video "would appease the killers."
Who said that? Zonen asked.
"Him," she said, pointing at Jackson, who was seated at the defense table. And other Jackson associates, she added. "And you know what? They ended up being the real killers."
At certain points, she called Jackson "you." The defendant remained motionless.
The woman testified that she enlisted the help of an employee at Jackson's Neverland ranch to leave there with her kids in the middle of the night. After that, she said, she received many phone calls from Jackson associate Frank Tyson, begging her and her children to return to Neverland.
The prosecution then announced it would play a recording of a phone conversation between her and Tyson. The mother volunteered that the recording was a compilation of several conversations she'd had with Tyson, though "the masters of choreography" had made it sound like just one. It wasn't clear who those masters might be.
On the recording, a high voice identifies itself as Tyson and sounds a little like Michael Jackson. He pleads with the mother to return with her family to Neverland, promising that he will make sure the German people won't bother her.
"Why don't you come back up to the ranch? Michael would love to see you," the voice says. "There's a lot of evil people out there. . . . Even staying another night alone is not safe."
The man urges her to participate in the rebuttal video and says that he and the family will soon be taking a "fun trip," where the mother will get to go dancing frequently.
The prosecution alleges that Jackson associates were making preparations to send the family to Brazil, though the trip never took place.
It is not until after this -- after the Jackson camp had begun its crisis control efforts and as reporters were hounding the family of the accuser -- that Jackson is alleged to have abused the boy.
posted by blackhippychick @ 8:14 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home