Prosecutors show video of accuser's family
Prosecutors in the Michael Jackson molestation trial today showed jurors videotapes found in a private investigator’s office to demonstrate that the pop star’s associates had closely monitored his accuser’s family while he, his mother and siblings were allegedly being held captive.
Much of the footage was taken in mid-February 2003, when prosecutors say the boy's family was being kept at Jackson’s Neverland ranch because the pop star’s associates wanted them to help rebut a damaging documentary.
Prosecutors contend Jackson associates tried to prevent escape by threatening to harm people close to them.
The tapes, some of which had time stamps showing they were shot as early as 4:48am, were taken from the office of Bradley Miller, an investigator hired by former Jackson attorney Mark Geragos.
One shows both the boy’s mother and Jackson associate Vince Amen, named by prosecutors as one of Jackson’s unindicted alleged co-conspirators. In other sections of the footage, the boy's mother identified her parents emerging from their home and her then boyfriend driving.
Jurors were also shown a recording of men cleaning out and removing furniture from the family’s cramped East Los Angeles apartment. “Cucarachas,” one of the men remarked, apparently referring to a cockroach problem.
Prosecutors contend Jackson associates took the accuser's family items and kept them after the family left Neverland. The video was dated March 5, 2003, and the family left Neverland for the last time a week later.
After the tape concluded, Judge Rodney S. Melville called for cross-examination to begin. The questioning of the accuser’s mother by lead defence attorney Thomas Mesereau was expected to be one of the most heated episodes in the trial.
Mesereau repeatedly has told jurors the mother ripped off celebrities and other targets by exploiting her son’s fight with cancer, and also has accused her of filing a past lawsuit that Mesereau says was bogus.
The family received a settlement of more than £100,000 after alleging they were roughed up by department store security guards.
Yesterday, the accuser’s mother pledged that she had no plans to sue the singer. The statement came after two days on the stand in which she delivered a story of Jackson’s associates shuttling her family from one location to the next to protect them from “killers.” She said Jackson’s people never told her who the alleged killers were.
She testified that she never had a chance to seek help, and that even if she did, she doubted police would believe her story.
“Who could possibly believe this?” she said.
Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy and keeping the youngster and his family captive. He denies all the charges against him. The trial continues.
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