Details of the 28th Court Session

In today’s court session, the current complainant’s stepfather testified that his family had been heavily pressured by Jackson’s staff to be present in the second part of the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson,” and that they had also been paid money as a bribe.

He also claimed that after his stepson Gavin Arvizo (Michael Jackson’s current complainant) returned from Neverland in March 2003, he noticed changes in his behavior. He said Gavin had been brainwashed.

Thomas Mesereau, the defense attorney, objected to this statement, and the judge accepted it and told the jury to disregard it.

“He became very arrogant and rude. I think he didn’t want to see me. It was like he was telling me, ‘What do you want here?’”

He said that they had no problem with Michael until after the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson” aired in February 2003. In this documentary, Michael and Gavin, the current complainant, appear holding hands, and the complainant says he spent a night in Jackson’s room. He continues by saying that he and his brother slept on the bed, while Jackson slept on the floor inside a sleeping bag.

The complainant’s stepfather said that after the documentary aired, his family at their home in Los Angeles received many phone calls from Jackson’s employees. Sometimes these phone calls were made 15 minutes apart. He continued by saying that the purpose of these phone calls was to pressure the family into appearing in the second part of the documentary.

He added that Jackson’s employees offered his family a house, a private tutor, and money to cover their children’s education expenses. According to the stepfather, his wife and their three children refused all of these offers and moved to Neverland in order to appear in the second part of “Living with Michael Jackson.”

During today’s session, Thomas Mesereau showed the jury a video of an interview with one of Jackson’s employees with the complainant’s family. In this video, the complainant’s family praises Michael and says that he helped the family’s cancer-stricken son—who later became Jackson’s complainant. The video has not been broadcast by the media so far and was shown only in court.

Watching this film, in which his new family describes Michael as the only fatherly role model, made the witness feel very uncomfortable, and he kept rolling his eyes.

In the film, the mother of the current complainant describes him as a kind father. She says Michael is not selfish and gives his love to everyone unconditionally.

When, in a scene from the film, the complainant’s mother said, “Michael realized that I (the complainant’s mother) needed him,” the stepfather rolled his eyes and shook his head.

The stepfather said the interview had been recorded in his apartment, but he had left the place several times.

In court, he confirmed that last year, in front of the previous jury, he had admitted that he had been present during the entire recording of the interview.

The stepfather said that when he asked Frank Tyson, a Jackson employee, what they would receive in exchange for his family’s presence in the film, Tyson had said, “Support.”

He said, “I told Frank, ‘This family doesn’t need support. Support them against whom?’” The stepfather said he never received an answer to his question.

He added that he had never received any money from Jackson.

The stepfather said that during the turbulent days of February 2003, his family was quickly moved from Los Angeles to Florida to hold a press interview with Jackson. He continued by saying that they were then taken to Neverland and afterward returned to their home in Los Angeles.

“And based on your information during those turbulent days, did sexual abuse (the complainant) begin?” The judge agreed with the prosecution’s objection to the question asked by Thomas Mesereau, and therefore the question was left unanswered.

The stepfather also referred to phone calls from the complainant’s mother (his wife) from Neverland, saying that during these calls she seemed anxious and claimed she was unable to meet her children.

This man married the complainant’s mother in mid-2004.

Source: Reuters / CNN / CBS