Brother of Jackson accuser admits he lied
A 14-year-old boy who said he saw Michael Jackson molest his brother admitted today that he lied under oath in another case when he swore that his mother and father never fought and that his father never hit him.
“When you were asked if your dad ever hit you, you said ‘never',” said defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau. “Were you telling the truth?”
“No, said 14-year-old Star Arvizo, who is the only trial witness so far to testify that molestation occurred.
“Did someone tell you to lie in the JC Penney case?” the lawyer asked, referring to a civil lawsuit brought by the boy’s mother against the department store company over an encounter with security guards.
“I don’t remember,” Star said.
When Mesereau asked him to tell the jury in Santa Maria, California, why he lied under oath, the boy said, “I don’t remember. It was five years ago. I don’t remember nothing.”
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting the then 13-year-old cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland ranch in 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the family captive to get them to rebut a damaging documentary in which Jackson said he allowed children to sleep in his bedroom.
In cross examination, Mesereau focused much of his questioning on the lawsuit in which the mother, Janet Arvizo, claimed that she was sexually assaulted and the family was beaten by guards after Gavin left a shop with items that had not been paid for.
The defence contends the suit shows the family has a history of filing false claims to get money.
The allegations that the father abused the family surfaced later during the parents’ divorce.
Star became a crucial prosecution witness on Monday when he testified to actually seeing molestation by walking in on Jackson as he engaged in acts with his sleeping brother in Jackson’s bedroom.
Mesereau asked the boy to tell jurors about an alarm system in Jackson’s house which alerts the singer when anyone is in the hall outside his bedroom.
The boy acknowledged there was an electronic bell and that anytime he was in that hallway the bell went off.
“So the two times you claim you saw Michael Jackson touching your brother in bed, that alarm went off?” asked Mesereau.
“Yes,” said Star.
When he testified about the alleged molestation on Monday he did not mention any bell or alarm system and said that his brother slept through both incidents, snoring at one point.
Mesereau also said that the witness had in the past given a different description of the alleged molestation, including that he once said Jackson touched his brother’s bottom during the incidents.
“I never said he touched his butt,” Star said.
The boy responded to numerous questions about inconsistencies by saying, “I don’t know exactly what I said.”
Mesereau asked Star about his testimony that Jackson encouraged him and his brother to use swear words, and the boy said he had never used them before meeting Jackson.
Mesereau then asked him about his JC Penney lawsuit deposition in which he described two profane words allegedly used by security guards.
Star said he spelled out the words while giving the deposition.
The cross-examination began after the prosecution concluded its direct questioning Tuesday by eliciting testimony that Jackson had once issued a warning to the witness and his brother.
Star testified that Jackson told him and his brother “not to tell anybody what happened not even if they put a gun to your head.”
However, neither the question nor the answer specified what incident it concerned.
On Monday, Star said he twice saw Jackson masturbating with one hand while the other was in his brother’s underwear. He did not state the dates of the incidents, which the prosecution says followed a February 2003 TV documentary in which Jackson appeared with Gavin at Neverland.
Star said that on the night he discovered Jackson with Gavin, he pushed open the door to Jackson’s room and, “I saw directly onto the bed. I saw my brother was outside the covers. I saw Michael’s left hand in my brother’s underwears and I saw his right hand in his underwears,” he said.
He described his brother as curled up and snoring slightly, and he said he saw Jackson masturbating.
“He had his eyes closed,” Star said.
Two days later, he said, he encountered a similar scene.
"I went upstairs. The same thing was happening but my brother was on his back. ... My brother was asleep. Michael was masturbating while he had his left hand in my brother’s underwears.”
Star said he watched both incidents for a few seconds before going to a guest room.
He also said Jackson gave him and his brother wine and showed them sexually explicit materials.
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