Court Session 6: Statements by the Accuser’s Brother and Sister

Michael Jackson, along with his mother and father and his brother, Jackie, began the sixth court session.

Today’s agenda included questioning the accuser’s sister, who had testified in court the day before, and calling the accuser’s brother to the witness stand to give testimony. The court session began with questions from the defense attorney to the 18-year-old accuser’s sister. The accuser’s sister—referred to in court records by the alias Judy Doe—said she had not witnessed any sexual acts by Jackson. However, she claimed that Jackson’s staff had pressured the family into saying positive things about Michael Jackson.

The defense attorney said that the statements the accuser’s family made in this documentary about Michael Jackson stemmed from their real feelings toward him.

The defense attorney showed a video tape, recorded on February 16, 2003, which was obtained from the search of private investigator Brad Miller’s workplace—Mark Geragos, Michael’s former attorney. In the video, the accuser’s current accuser praises Jackson with enthusiasm as if he were a father. In the video, the current accuser denies that Michael did anything improper.

In the video, Brad Miller is seen interviewing the current accuser (from this point onward, by the alias John Doe).

Miller: Did Michael ever do anything improper?

John Doe: No. Like father and son. He is my father.

Miller: He never did anything improper with any of you?

John Doe: No, never.

In the video, all three children answer “no” to this question.

Today, prosecutor Tom Sneddon missed many opportunities to strengthen the accuser’s sister’s testimony, and he only pointed to parts of this video. For example, in a place where the accuser’s brother (alias James Doe) had trouble answering the question of whether he had ever seen Michael Jackson alone with his brother (John Doe) in bed, Miller stopped the recording.

Unlike the defense attorney, Sneddon asked only a few detailed questions of the witness. He did not yield to Thomas Mesereau’s efforts to portray Judy Doe as dishonest—someone who repeatedly blamed her youthful and lazy memory whenever the defense attorney questioned her—and he did not object to Mesereau’s remarks. Mesereau also, during his questions of the accuser’s sister, pointed out her repeated meetings with her mother and their attorney with the aim of building an internal case against Jackson:

“As far as I know, your mother was advising your brothers to spend nights at Michael Jackson’s house shortly before she went to her attorney to file a complaint against Michael Jackson. Is that right?”

“She wasn’t advising them. She only wanted to see them happy. She wasn’t insisting.”

After Thomas Mesereau took his place behind his own table, Sneddon limited himself to asking only a few minor questions.

He asked Judy Doe who her mother believed was responsible for improving her son’s health condition. She answered, “God and only God.”

“You never heard her mention the name Michael Jackson?”

“No.”

After that, the accuser’s brother was called to the witness stand. He testified that Jackson showed him and his sick brother obscene websites, gave them alcohol, slept with them in bed, and appeared naked in front of them:

“My brother and I were watching a movie when Michael came in naked. The 14-year-old witness continued, ‘We were disgusted. He sat on the bed and said that it was natural. Then he left the room.’”

In response to prosecutor Tom Sneddon’s question asking whether there was anything notable about his appearance, he said, “He was aroused.”

James Doe claimed that when Michael showed him and his brother obscene websites, two of his children were also in the room. He did not specify the exact dates of these events. He only said it happened in February or March 2003.

The accuser’s sister claimed that her brothers spent their first night of staying in Neverland in Michael Jackson’s room. She said that night was Monday. Meanwhile, the accuser’s brother claimed that this happened on another night.

The accuser’s brother claimed that during a flight with Michael Jackson, during a phone call with a woman, he said things about sexual matters.

The witness said that Jackson referred to wine as “Christ’s syrup,” and gave them and other boys wine, obscene magazines, and obscene websites.

He added that once Jackson asked him whether he had ever performed sexual acts on himself, and then explained that there was nothing wrong with it because everyone does it.

The accuser’s brother said he witnessed his brother being sexually abused by Michael Jackson twice. He claimed that when he appeared at the top of the stairs, regardless of the fact that he was going toward Michael’s bedroom, he saw Jackson and his brother lying in bed, wearing only a T-shirt and underwear. He said that Michael Jackson was sexually abusing his brother. The accuser’s brother said that his brother was asleep and that Michael had his eyes closed, so he didn’t see him. He continued that he spent the night in the guest room and didn’t talk to anyone about it:

“I didn’t know what to do.”

He added that two days later he witnessed the same thing again.

The accuser’s family first met Michael in 2000, when the family’s son developed an unknown type of cancer. The accuser’s illness was stopped through chemotherapy and surgery.

The prosecutor claims that the allegations against Jackson occurred after the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson” was recorded, in which the accuser’s family was forced by Jackson’s staff to say positive things about Michael.

The defense team believes that the accuser’s family is trying to bring a profitable internal case against Jackson—so that they can make money using the same attorney who, in 1993, got Chandler paid.

Under U.S. law, an internal case is formed after the criminal case is closed.

When Michael was leaving the courthouse, reporters asked his opinion about the accuser’s brother’s testimony. In response, Michael said, “I’m sorry, folks. I’m not allowed to say anything.”

In the next court session, which will be tomorrow morning, the defense attorney and the prosecutor will present their questions to the accuser’s brother.

Source: eMJey.com / Associated Press, Yahoo News, NBC5