Deliberations are expected to begin today in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial — but as the see-saw fortunes of each side have unfolded the question arises: is this a case that’s likely to end in a conviction on just a few counts?
Most media and court coverage has focused on the overall question of which side has been ahead and what that will mean to a guilty or not guilty verdict. However, Jackson is facing several counts. The 46-year-old self-proclaimed King Of Pop (whose CD sales have lagged badly in recent years) is charged with giving a boy booze, molesting him at Neverland and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
According to most reports, the false imprisonment, extortion and child abduction counts have been the weakest part of the prosecution’s case — a case than ended with a video being shown to the jury of the victim seemingly reluctantly reporting what allegedly happended, then no rebuttal by Jackson’s side or testimony by Jackson himself.
And by press accounts, the most dramatic final arguments (which are not over yet) seem to have come from the prosection side. Gannett News Service reports:
In closing arguments to the jury in Michael Jackson’s child-molestation trial, a prosecutor derided the entertainer Thursday as a hard-drinking “predator� who exploited a vulnerable family for sexual gratification and financial gain.
But Jackson’s lead defense lawyer called the alleged victim’s family “con artists, actors and liarsâ€? who are scheming to use a criminal conviction to win a future lawsuit for millions of dollars in damages….
The eight women and four men will begin deliberating today, after three more hours of statements from co-prosecutor Ron Zonen and defense counsel Tom Mesereau. If no verdict is reached, deliberations will resume Monday…
“This case is about the exploitation and sexual abuse of a 13-year-old cancer survivor at the hands of an international celebrity,� Zonen said. The evidence showed Jackson’s “methods of seducing boys into his confidence, into his bedroom and into his bed,� he said.
Zonen opened by saying Mesereau had broken promises he made in his opening statement three months ago. For example, Zonen said, Mesereau failed to prove that the mother of the alleged victim had “tried to shake down Jay Leno.�
When Mesereau’s turn came, he gibed that when a prosecutor opens a closing argument with an attack on the other lawyer, “you know they’re in trouble.�
“This is not a popularity contest between lawyers,� he said. “The issue is the life, the future, the reputation of Michael Jackson.� The only question, he said, is “do we believe the (boy and his family) or not? If you don’t, Mr. Jackson must go free.�
The New York Times:
Ronald J. Zonen, a senior deputy district attorney, called Mr. Jackson a “predator” who feasted upon weak boys from fatherless homes, luring them into his bedroom with long conversations and lavish gifts, then softening them up for sexual molesting with alcohol and pornography. The accuser in this case, a 15-year-old recovering cancer patient, is but the latest in a line of victims that goes back more than a decade, the prosecutor said.
By day, Mr. Zonen said, the boys played at Neverland, driving customized go-karts, playing the latest video games, enjoying carnival rides and gorging themselves on candy and ice cream.
“At night,” Mr. Zonen said, “they entered into the world of the forbidden in Mr. Jackson’s bedroom. Mr. Jackson’s room was a veritable fortress, with locks and codes which the boys were given. And they learned about human sexuality from someone who was only too willing to be their teacher.”
Mr. Jackson’s lead lawyer, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., dismissed the prosecution’s account as a lurid fantasy woven by enemies of Mr. Jackson and a family seeking to exploit his fame and riches to become wealthy itself.
Mr. Mesereau described the accuser and his family as “con artists, actors and liars” who had insinuated themselves into Mr. Jackson’s life and the lives of many other celebrities as part of a pattern of fraud and deceit. He said Mr. Jackson, whom he described as “childlike and different and offbeat and naïve,” had been the victim of such hustlers repeatedly in his life. That is why he is in constant financial trouble and frequently the target of schemers, Mr. Mesereau said.
The jury listened raptly to the two lawyers’ arguments, which took all day on Thursday and are expected to be completed by midday Friday. A few of the 12 jurors and 8 alternates took notes. Mr. Jackson, clad in a dark suit and plaid vest, appeared to be paying attention, but his facial expression rarely changed.
Mr. Zonen flashed pictures of Mr. Jackson and a succession of young boys he had befriended, and, Mr. Zonen suggested, sexually abused. He also showed covers of pornographic magazines featuring young female models and pictures of nude adolescent boys from books found in Mr. Jackson’s home.
Mr. Mesereau’s visual aids consisted chiefly of slides reminding jurors of inconsistent testimony and a timeline of the alleged molesting that he said was utterly incredible.
So the outcomes could include:
- Guilty
- Not Guilty
- Hung jury
- Guilty of one or more counts but not guilty of others.
Based on the see-saw nature of this case and the nature of the trial’s final day and closing arguments so far our gut feeling: it’s most likely to be the last one on the above list.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.