Jury Members Selected for Mark Shaffel’s Lawsuit

Three people who believed Michael was guilty in the 2005 child abuse case are among the 12 jury members deciding on Mark Shaffel’s financial lawsuit against Michael Jackson.

Michael was acquitted of all charges in June last year. However, the question of whether Michael Jackson is innocent or guilty was asked of them on Wednesday when the jury members were being selected. When Michael’s attorney, Thomas C. Mundell, asked the selected jurors whether they believed Michael was guilty in the sexual abuse case from last year, four of them raised their hands—three of whom were selected to be among the deciding jury members.

One woman said: “I have many thoughts about this man. How could I not? I read many things about him and I have many opinions about him.”

When asked whether her opinion about Michael Jackson would affect the verdict she would give in this court regarding Shaffel’s financial lawsuit, she answered: “It’s influential.”

She was selected among the deciding members, but the man who also believed Michael was guilty did not remain among the members after he said he thinks Michael has a personality weakness related to this case.

Mark Shaffel, Michael’s former business partner, filed a $3.8 million lawsuit against Michael in court. Shaffel claims that Michael did not pay him for his work on a charity song and for producing two special programs for MTV that were made in response to the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson.”

Michael also said that Shaffel tricked him and hid his past from him.

Alternate jurors are expected to be selected on Thursday, followed by the start of the trial and the testimony of witnesses.

On Wednesday, Howard King, Shaffel’s attorney, told the jury members: “I represent the anonymous side in this case. I think everyone knows Michael Jackson.”

King gave a brief history of Mark Shaffel’s collaboration with Michael Jackson. He said that since Michael’s money ran out, he no longer paid Shaffel’s wages.

Michael’s attorney, Mandle, also said that Shaffel is a porn producer and that Michael was unaware of this fact when he hired Shaffel. Shaffel had no expertise in music recording, while he was supposed to produce a charity song for Michael Jackson.

He added that after Michael learned about Shaffel’s background in producing porn, he fired him from the team.

The dispute is whether Shaffel shared in the income from the sale of this charity song in Japan, or whether Michael paid Shaffel’s wages for his work on the song.

Mandle added: “The evidence shows that in fact Shaffel owes Jackson.”

In the same session, the jury members were told that Michael would not be present in court, but they would watch videos of him testifying about this case.

A nurse, who was also one of the selected jurors, said that when Michael was hospitalized in 1984 due to burns to his hair, she had met him. The nurse said: “His behavior with the children was wonderful.”

This comment made the court audience laugh and caused her name to be removed from the list of deciding jurors.

The trial for this case will be held this week in Santa Monica.