Court Session 11: Calling the Case Investigator to the Witness Stand

Today, the accuser appeared in the witness stand for the last time.

In the previous court session, he had accepted that two years ago he told his school principal that no inappropriate acts had been carried out by Michael Jackson. When the prosecutor asked him today about the reason for that statement, the accuser said that it was due to mockery from his classmates.

“Because at school, all the kids were mocking me, saying that Michael Jackson abused me, and I wanted it to stop. I didn’t want anyone to think that something like that really happened.”

He said that after the television documentary “Living with Michael Jackson” was aired, he had gotten into many conflicts with his classmates at school and had been forced to face the school principal.

In this documentary, Michael Jackson and the accuser appear holding hands. In the film, the accuser says that he spent a night in Michael’s bedroom, but that he and his brother slept on the bed while Michael slept on the floor.

When Thomas Mesereau, Jackson’s defense attorney, asked the accuser about the many trips he had taken from Neverland to other places, and asked why during these trips he never tried to ask anyone for help, the accuser replied, “I wanted to stay in Neverland. It was like Disneyland.”

The accuser said that it was his mother who intended to run away. But he didn’t want to leave Neverland until one day in March 2003, the Neverland family left Neverland forever.

Mesereau continued, “Your mother was worried, but she always went back to Neverland?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Mesereau pointed out that in February 2003, the accuser had left Neverland to go to a dentist’s office, to shop at Toys R Us, and also on multiple other trips.

The accuser said that when he left Neverland to go to Toys R Us, his mother was kept in Neverland. He also said that even when the Neverland family left, Jackson’s staff continued to watch over them.

“They never wanted us to be in separate places. They wanted us to be together.”

Mesereau then asked whether the accuser thought he could use the internal case against Jackson before turning 18, and whether he knew that winning a criminal case would increase the chances of winning the internal case. The accuser said he didn’t know anything about that.

Thomas Mesereau ended his questioning of the accuser with a question about the date when he and his family left Neverland, at a time when, according to the prosecutor, Michael and his staff had kept them captive. The accuser said that he didn’t take advantage of many opportunities he had been given to escape Neverland because he didn’t want to leave there.

The prosecution claims that the accuser and his family were kept in Neverland for more than a month against their will because Jackson intended to use them to make the second part of the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson.”

For the second time, the prosecutor asked only brief questions about the accuser’s cancer illness and his closeness to God, before the accuser left the witness stand. Then the prosecutor asked what he thought about Jackson now. The accuser responded:

“I really don’t like him anymore. I really don’t think he deserved the respect I gave him as the coolest man in the world.”

At the end of today’s session, Police Chief Steve Robel displayed the seized property from Michael Jackson’s home in court—the first person to have questioned the accuser and his family. Among them, a black-and-white photo of a nude woman and also a sexual magazine could be seen.

During questioning by Robert Shanker, Michael Jackson’s attorney, Robel said he didn’t know whether the witnesses had seen these documents or not. He also said that these magazines were not illegal. Shanker added that the black-and-white photo was actually an antique photo.

Robel said he encouraged the accuser’s family to pursue their claims. He added that he told them, “We’re doing everything we can to make this case work.” He said these statements were meant to reassure the accuser’s family because they were afraid.

Shanker asked, “And from the beginning, did you set up a group effort so that this case would work?”

“Yes, I did.”

Shanker also pointed to the many contradictions in the accuser’s statements, as well as differences in the number of alleged abuses. The accuser had initially claimed that Michael abused him sexually five times. But in court he said it happened twice. He also claimed that abuse may have happened more times, but he could only remember two times.

Shanker also noted that in the police chief’s investigation, five possible locations where the allegations could have happened were not identified.

When Michael was leaving the courtroom, he was asked how he was feeling. He said, “I’m almost okay. I’m in pain.”

Source: eMJey.com / Associated Press & Yahoo news