Court Session 21

In today’s court session, Cynthia Ann Bell, a flight attendant, was called to the witness stand for the second time. Although Bell was a witness for the prosecution, her testimony ended up benefiting Michael.

The complainant had claimed that during their flights, Jackson had given him alcohol in soda cans. However, the day before, Bell testified that she had never seen Michael share his soda cans with the children or give them alcohol. The previous day, she testified that during the air trips she had taken with Michael Jackson, she had brought alcohol for Michael in special soda cans—and that this idea was her own, not Michael Jackson’s. Because Michael did not want to drink alcohol in front of the children. Bell went on to say that during the flights, Michael would become anxious, and she had suggested the solution of drinking alcohol to help him overcome his anxiety.

“Mr. Jackson likes to drink alcohol in private. I suggested that they drink alcohol in soda cans. That was my idea.”

She also described the complainant as “extremely rude and restless.”

“He would throw mashed potatoes at a doctor who had fallen asleep on the airplane.”

Bell continued, saying that she remembered him bragging about the watch Michael had given her: “Michael gave me this watch, and it’s very expensive.”

Bell added, “He was really loud and disgusting. He was saying: ‘Bring me my food. It’s not warm. It’s not the way it should be.’”

She also said that the presence of that boy on the plane would upset the atmosphere.

The prosecutor claimed that the complainant was drunk on the airplane due to the alcohol Jackson had given him during the flight, and that the $75,000 watch Jackson had given him was actually for the purpose of making sure the boy did not tell anyone about the drinking of alcohol.

But Bell says that from the moment the boy got on the plane, he had behaved badly.

Bell also said that if, during any flight in February 2003, alcohol had been given to a child, she was the one who did it—not Michael Jackson.

She added that she served alcohol to the complainant’s sister as well, who was 16 at the time, while knowing that she was under the legal age.

Bell also said that she had once brought alcohol for another girl under 18, because she thought she was 21.

Prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss asked:

“Did you tell Mr. Jackson that you served alcohol to these young women?”

Bell replied, “No, I didn’t.”

The prosecution’s team considered the trick of using soda cans as part of their supplemental case against Jackson, and claimed that Michael was giving alcohol to his victims inside soda cans. But now, this supplemental claim has been shaken by Cynthia Bell’s statements.

Almost every sentence Bell uttered was in favor of the defense team.

She called Michael Jackson a “polite and well-spoken” person and said that he always speaks calmly and softly, and expresses his feelings very freely—and of course, in a proper way.

“When we were talking, you know, he would put his hand on my arm.”

She also said she had witnessed Michael Jackson touching the complainant once during a flight in February 2003, but in an innocent manner.

“I’m not saying he hugged him. Jackson had his hand around the boy, and they were listening to music.”

Stan Katz, a psychologist who had met the complainant and his family for the first time, was called to the stand as the second witness in today’s session. He said that children over the age of five rarely lie about sexual allegations.

However, he stated that a teenage boy is extremely sensitive about his sexuality and rarely even says anything about sexual abuse by a male person himself.

Mizero said that Katz, in his book “The Co-Dependency Conspiracy,” wrote that, based on information he obtained from prosecutors, 40% of the sexual allegations made by children are false.

Katz said in today’s session that he meant children under five or six years old. He said that children in those age ranges may be pressured by one of the parents into lying, and the purpose is to gain custody of the children in family disputes that lead to divorce.

Thomas Mesero, Michael Jackson’s defense attorney, argued with the prosecution witness on this issue. Mesero claimed that Katz, along with the defense attorneys for the complainant’s family and the family itself, had been in cahoots to get money from Michael Jackson in advance.

Katz testified that Feldman had hired him in 2003 to interview the complainant and his family regarding the allegations against Jackson.

He added that at that time Feldman was thinking about preparing a complaint letter against Jackson.

Feldman is the same person who, during the 1993 allegations against Michael Jackson, helped the complainant’s family extort at least $15 million from Michael. At that time as well, Katz and Feldman were working together.

In June 2003, Katz, in a call to the Santa Barbara Police Department, reported the complainant’s claims to them, and after that, Neverland was raided by the police.

Katz testified in today’s session that the report he gave to the police in 2003 was based on what the complainant and his younger brother told him.

During Thomas Mesero’s repeated questions, Katz revealed that he had received $4,800 from Feldman for a 16-hour interview with the complainant and his family.

William Dickerman, the attorney for the complainant’s family, was the third witness today. He testified that in 2003 he referred the family to Larry Feldman.

Dickerman said that the first person to introduce Jamie Masada to him was Jamie Masada. The complainant’s family had claimed that, despite their wishes, they were kept in Neverland.

After the family leaves Neverland, he takes action to recover the property that, according to their own account, had been confiscated in Neverland.

He also wrote letters to television networks asking them to refrain from airing the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson” without the complainant’s family’s consent.

He added that the complainant’s family had not asked for money for permission to air the documentary, and that the lawyer’s goal was only to prevent the exploitation of this family.

Dickerman sends the complainant’s family to Feldman in May 2003.

Dickerman said that he and Feldman agreed that if the complainant’s family succeeded in the next case they would file after the criminal case against Jackson was closed, they would split the attorney’s fees between themselves.

Source: eMJey.com / USA Today & AP