Continuation of the 60th Session - The Film of the Accuser’s Interview Is Played

Both sides in this case ended their work on Friday after the police interview film with the accuser in 2003 was shown, in which the accuser describes how Michael Jackson abused him. Contrary to what was expected, the defense attorneys did not carry out their decision to call the accuser back to the witness stand. In this film, the accuser claims that Michael Jackson abused him fewer than five times. While he had said in the witness stand that the number might have been more than five, he only remembered two cases. In this interview, the accuser describes the details of these abuses to the police and explains how Michael gave him alcohol and talked to him about sex. Over the three months since the first court session began, jury members have seen different faces of the accuser. In a film related to September 2000, they see the accuser as very depressed, thin, and weak—so much so that even to get on a train he needs Michael’s help. In another part of the film, Michael is holding a tray in his hand above the accuser’s head, and together with the accuser’s brother, who pushes his wheelchair, he escorts the accuser toward the Neverland lake. In another film recorded in February 2003, the accuser appears with a strong and cheerful face, and there is no sign of the cancer illness he had been suffering from for several years. The accuser attributes his recovery to Michael and praises him intensely. And now, a third image of the accuser was shown to the jury in today’s court session. With a very calm voice, while his eyes are fixed on the ground, the accuser tells his story to the police detective with long pauses and says that from the beginning of his arrival at Neverland in 2000, Michael had behaved inappropriately toward him. Although the accuser’s claims in this film do not differ much from what he had said in the witness stand, during this interview conducted in 2003 he did not mention anything about two of the incidents he had referred to in the witness stand and attributed to Michael. He also does not repeat in this film what he said he had heard from his grandmother and from Michael. In the witness stand, the accuser claimed that Michael Jackson and his grandmother told him that men who do not commit sexual acts may commit crimes against women. When the film ended, silence fell over the courtroom. The jury members looked depressed and kept their eyes down. Because Monday was an official holiday in the United States, on Tuesday the defense attorneys and the prosecution team will be present in court in the absence of the jury members to decide on whether to hand the case over to the jury members for the final verdict. After that, the determination of Michael Jackson’s innocence or guilt will be up to the 12 jury members. If they believe the accuser’s story, Michael could spend the next 20 years in prison. Source: Santa Maria News / Associated Press / Guardian