Defense closes its case, the prosecution
rebuts, the judge solemly gives jurors
final instructions
I L L U S T R A T I O N S B Y B I L L R O B L E S
Jurors in Michael Jackson’s case are wasting no time. The eight women and four men chose a foreperson in their first two hours of deliberation Friday — the first step in reaching a verdict.
The court is not releasing the new foreperson’s juror number, so we do not know the age or sex of the panel’s new moderator. Now that a leader has been chosen, more than 600 pieces of evidence accumulated in this case have been transferred to the jury room for inspection and debate — the guts of this case. Paper, pics, video, secret phone recordings, It’s a multimedia feast: The greatest Michael Jackson compilation ever. It’d trump HIStory in sales at Tower Records in a heartbeat.
This was it. An emotional day at a courthouse charged with a tangible electricity. More than a hundred fans including a Michael Jackson impersonator massed outside. More than 500 new journalists have descended on Santa Maria in the past few days — 2,080 from 28 countries have been credentialed in all thus far.
Courthouse security has been dramatically increased. Zeus, the sheriff’s bomb-sniffing dog is back, too.
Inside — The Jackson Family: Janet, LaToya, Rebbie, Germaine and Randy Jackson along with Michael’s father Joe — and MJ’s mother Katherine, who cried softly as she watched a videotape of her son’s accuser say that he had been molested by Michael.
Mesereau: 'The right thing to do'
The day began with Tom Mesereau wrapping up his close by repeatedly describing Jackson’s teenage accuser and his family in the colorful catch phrase, “con artists, actors and liars.”
“It’s all a setup,” said Mesereau. “They’re just waiting for the biggest con of their careers. All they need,” he said to the jury, “is for you to help them,” he’s that convinced the family is sure to launch a multimillion dollar civil suit should Jackson be convicted.
Mesereau pointed out that the boy refused to secretly tape record a phone conversation with Jackson for sheriff’s deputies, but Mesereau said it wasn’t because the accuser was too scared to trap MJ in nasty chat. “He’s not afraid of Michael. He’s unhappy Michael abandoned his family and wouldn’t support them for the rest of their lives. That’s when the trouble started.”
Jackson testifies — on tape, again
telling of a childhood deprived
Jackson’s defense ended with video outtakes from the Martin Bashir video showing Jackson, sitting on the floor of his dance studio at Neverland, telling of his lonely childhood and a quest for normality that still eludes him. [See story on the first time this tape was shown to jurors.]
On-screen, Jackson claimed sleeping with children was not sexual. He said that he woud slit his wrists before harming a child. He said he had earned “God’s smile of approval” for helping children. As the DVD played, Jackson watched from his courtroom seat and wiped tears from his eyes.
As the tape ended, Janet and LaToya stood and left the courtroom, just before the prosecution’s final rebuttal began. Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Baine said they did
not want to “listen to their brother be vilified.” The Jackson family lawyer disputed that, saying the sisters simply needed to use the restroom.
Mesereau summed it up for jurors: “What they are trying to do to Michael Jackson is so harmful, so brutal, so devastating ... if you have any reasonable doubt about the double-talk, the lies, it’s over. You must acquit Michael Jackson.”
“You must return a verdict of not guilty on all counts. It’s the right thing to do.”
In final rebuttal, Ron Zonen
praises Jackson's accuser
The prosecution, in a shorter final rebuttal, played once more the videotape of Jackson’s young accuser [our earlier story about the tape] telling sheriff’s deputies of being molested by Jackson. Senior Deputy D.A. Zonen telling jurors the accusations are not false — asking for guilty verdicts on all counts.
“You just saw the worst seven minutes of that young man’s life,” said Zonen, leaving many to wonder how bad the molestation could have been if its telling was worse.
Mesereau said the interview had to be viewed with skepticism.
“(Detective Steve) Robel wanted to make a case. He hadn’t checked out
the accuser’s family — didn’t know they were con artists, actors and
liars.”
Zonen praised the accuser who is now 15 years old, an honor roll student who plays on his high school football team and has served three years in a military cadet program.
“He is decent, a good child now that he no longer has (an abusive) father and Michael Jackson in his life,” said Zonen.
Zonen: Jackson molested
accuser because he could
Why would Michael Jackson molest the boy with the whole world watching in the wake of the Bashir documentary? “Because he could,” said Zonen. “Because he has no restraints on his impulses. Because he had been working with the child for some time. Because he had the child in his bed. Because the child was in love with him and would do anything for him. Because he had been viewing pornography and drinking.” 
Jurors would be outraged, said Zonen, if a man in their neighborhood was taking a boy into his bedroom in “a sea of pornography and alcohol.” And he asked jurors, “are we to believe Michael Jackson is non-sexual?”
“He was in love with that child, like you would fall in love with an adult,” said Zonen, referring to former accuser Brett Barnes who spent more than 300 nights in Jackson’s bed as they toured the world together. “....and it happened to Jackson’s current accuser.”
Accuser's mom get extreme makeover
First, Zonen trashed the mother to make his point. “The accuser’s mother frankly can’t string two sentences together that make sense.” The mom-dissing meant to imply she was way beyond being the cunning mastermind of an elaborate shakedown plot.
My favorite moment? Watching Zonen re-tryng the infamous J.C. Penney lawsuit, calling it a fair and equitable settlement. A nothing-but-integrity prosecutor like Zonen defending the wacko claims made by the mom when she said her nipples were tweaked 25 times? That guards belly-flopped on her repeatedly? Twisted her head around like in The Exorcist? Yow.
Zonen called for conviction on all counts in the most chilled, sincere-ish tone he’s yet displayed. The judge thanked both lawyers, took a seat in the witness stand to be near the jury, gave the panel its final instructions in a solemn voice then sent them off to deliberate.
A long night for a dehydrated Jackson
Jackson looked awful and had spent most of the night at Cottage Hospital in Santa Ynez, an IV drip in his arm, suffering from dehydration according to family friend Dick Gregory. Raymone Baine denied the report. “He was not sent to hospital. I spoke to him and he was at home.” Raymone Baine’s credibility well is quickly drying up.
And if the verdict is guilty?
What will happen to Michael Jackson? The California Department of Corrections says Jackson will be handcuffed by deputies and driven to the Santa Barbara County Jail to await sentencing by Judge Rodney Melville. [Check out the MTV story]
If he’s convicted on all counts, Jackson could face more than 18 years in prison, probably served at Corcoran State Prison in Corcoran, California [map] 98 miles from Neverland, but a world away. Charles Manson and Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan would be Jackson’s new neighbors
No sequined gloves allowed. Jackson would be issued a light blue shirt, denim pants, a denim jacket, white boxer shorts, white T-shirts and gray sweats. No wigs, hairpieces or weaves. Jackson’s hair will be no more than three inches in length, but there are no rules at Corcoran prohibiting an inmate from wearing makeup.
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