Mistrial in Michael Jackson Trial?
Michael Jackson’s defense team tried to get the judge to grant a mistrial Friday. Nice try. Jackson’s lawyers were upset that the prosecution read a list of 10 boys who they called “special friends” of Jackson.
On the list was the name of a boy who accused Jackson of molesting him in 1993. There is a ban in this current case that prohibits prosecutors from presenting past evidence from abuse allegations against the pop singer.
“With the court’s order being blatantly violated, the only remedy is mistrial,” said one of Jackson’s lawyers, Robert Sanger.
Judge Rodney Melville said however that they did nothing wrong and it did not go against the ban.
Also on the list was actor Macaulay Culkin.
The prosecution read the list while a former housekeeper of the Neverland Ranch was answering questions on the stand. They asked the maid if people on the list they read visited Jackson’s residence.
And here is a bizarre twist, though saying that there is a “bizarre twist” in the Santa Maria, California, trial has become a clich?. On any given day, something happens in the trial that sitcom writers would not have been able to write as good.
The latest actually involves a sitcom star, actor George Lopez. The judge said the defense can call him as a witness. The boy accusing Jackson of child molestation once accused Lopez of stealing his wallet, which contained $300.
He is reluctant to testify, and his lawyers tried to get him off the hook, but the judge did not overturn the motion.
Lopez often visited the boy, now 15, in hospital when he was undergoing cancer treatment.
Back to the housekeeper?
Kiki Fournier said Thursday that boys including the accuser often ran around the ranch and trashed rooms.
She was employed over 12 years.
She said children appeared to be intoxicated, supporting earlier testimonies by the boy and his brother, who said Jackson gave them alcohol, which he called “Jesus Juice.”
She did not say he gave them alcohol, but said he was with them when they appeared to be drunk.
Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. asked her if the boys slept in their own room, to which she said it is likely since their rooms were always a mess, especially towards the end of their stay at the ranch in 2003.
Related Stories:
- Michael Jackson to Boy’s Mother: You’re a Liar!
- Michael Jackson Trial: Accuser’s Mom vs Lawyers
- Michael Jackson Ranch Search Ruled Legal
- Jackson Granted Delay, Trial to Start in 2005
- Michael Jackson Trial to See Sexually Explicit Material