Accused told teacher Jackson never touched him
Michael Jackson’s lawyer cross-examined the pop star’s teenage accuser today about whether he had informed prosecutors that he told a former teacher that Jackson never molested him.
The question triggered a discussion among lawyers about what exactly the accuser told District Attorney Tom Sneddon and under what circumstances the boy had mentioned the conversation at his school in Los Angeles.
At one point the 15-year-old boy said from the witness stand in Santa Maria, California: “I told Mr (Teacher's name) he never did anything to me.”
US television reported today that prosecutors and defence lawyers interviewed the former teacher at the weekend and the teacher’s lawyer, Thomas Forsyth, said he expects his client to be called as a witness.
Citing unidentified sources, the network reported the conversation between the boy and teacher occurred in spring 2003, after the airing of the TV documentary Living With Michael Jackson and the time period in which the molestation allegedly occurred.
The controversial documentary led to the probe that produced Jackson’s molestation trial.
In court, Mesereau read to the boy from what appeared to be a transcript of an interview of the teacher.
Mesereau quoted the teacher as saying: “Look at me, look at me … I can’t help you if you don’t tell me” what happened, and then directly asked the boy if anything bad had happened at Jackson’s Neverland ranch.
The accuser acknowledged from the witness stand that his answer was “no”.
Mesereau walked the boy through his disciplinary history at school, and the boy acknowledged he had argued with teachers and been disruptive.
He also testified that he had a meeting with prosecutors last night about his discussions with the teacher and another teacher with whom he had disciplinary problems.
Mesereau also cross-examined the boy about similarities between a statement he testified Jackson made about masturbation and an earlier statement the boy attributed to his grandmother.
Mesereau recalled that the boy testified on Thursday that Jackson told him that if men don’t masturbate they might rape women.
He noted that the boy told sheriff’s investigators in an interview that his grandmother had told him the same thing.
“Why did your story change between that interview and your testimony last Thursday?” Mesereau asked.
“It didn’t change because Michael tried to explain it to me first,” he replied.
The boy said that both his grandmother and Jackson had told him the same thing, but the context was different.
“She was telling me it was okay to do it and Michael was saying you have to do it,” the boy said.
Jackson arrived on time today, his first court appearance since a failure to appear last week triggered a threat of arrest by the judge and a race to the court in his pyjama bottoms from a hospital where he was said to be receiving treatment for a back injury.
This time, Jackson was wearing a bright red sports coat with a black armband. He left his people carrier and walked into the court with his father, Joe, on one side and his mother, Katherine, on the other.
He acknowledged chanting fans by turning, waving and flashing a V-sign.
Prosecutors allege that Jackson, 46, molested the boy, then 13, at his Neverland ranch in 2003, gave him alcohol and conspired to hold his family captive to get them to rebut the documentary in which Jackson said he shared his bed with children.
On Friday, jurors were not in court as the judge ruled that TV chat show host Jay Leno, an expected witness, can continue to crack jokes at Jackson’s expense as long as he doesn’t discuss the facts of his evidence.
Prosecutors also argued that Jackson was near bankruptcy and sought records to support assertions that Jackson had an underlying financial motive. The judge indicated he had little interest in allowing extensive testimony on finances.
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