BERIGAN Posted March 28, 2005 Report Posted March 28, 2005 (edited) Thought it had been decided before the trial that that would NOT be allowed!!! Judge Allows Past Jackson Allegations SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial ruled Monday that the prosecution may present testimony about past allegations against the pop star involving five boys, including two who reached multimillion-dollar civil settlements with the singer. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville ruled after hearing arguments by District Attorney Tom Sneddon and vigorous opposition by defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. The judge said he would allow testimony about alleged sexual offenses and an alleged pattern of "grooming," or preparing the boys for molestation. The prosecution had sought to introduce testimony about seven boys, but the judge declined to allow evidence about two. (AP) Michael Jackson, background, follows his mother Katherine ,foreground, and father Joe,left, into... Full Image The judge said he would allow testimony by a 1990 accuser who received a $2.4 million settlement from Jackson and testimony by that boy's mother. A boy who reached a multimillion-dollar settlement from Jackson in 1993 will not testify. Other testimony will be allowed from people who allegedly have knowledge of the case. The judge said the jury can be told that Jackson reached settlements with the 1990 and 1993 accusers but may not be told the amounts, unless the defense brings them up. It was unclear exactly what Jackson was accused of doing with each of the five boys, although the 1993 accuser did claim repeated molestation, and Sneddon said in court Monday that the boy in the 1990 case was touched twice over his clothes and once under his clothes. Jackson's lawyer fought the admission of evidence about so-called past similar acts, saying it was based on third parties, many of whom were after Jackson's money. (AP) Michael Jackson enters the Santa Barbara County Courthouse with his father Joe, right, and his... Full Image "How can you just allow a parade of third-party characters to come in without any victims?" Mesereau asked during arguments. Sneddon, seeking to use past allegations to buttress the credibility of Jackson's current accuser, said the testimony of other witnesses will show that Jackson has a consistent pattern of abuse. The prosecutor told the judge that Jackson was observed inappropriately touching four children. The alleged touching included kissing, hugging and inserting his hand into children's pants, he said. "All of these children are basically within the ages of 10 and 13" at the time of the alleged offenses, Sneddon said. The district attorney also said that testimony would include Jackson being seen in bed with four children while the underwear of the children and Jackson was at the side of the bed. (AP) Comedian George Lopez and his wife Ann enter the Santa Barbara County Courthouse to testify in the... Full Image In his arguments, Sneddon noted that in the defense opening statement Mesereau listed gifts Jackson purchased for the current accuser's mother. Sneddon said Jackson has a pattern of buying gifts for the mothers of boys to keep them preoccupied. Mesereau told the judge that the defense would put on a "mini trial" on each allegation that was allowed in. He had urged the judge to consider the evidence that has been presented so far on the current charges against Jackson. "You have to consider what the case looks like," he said. "It looks real bad and it's going to get worse. You can't stop the defense from putting on a full-blown defense and I mean just that." Mesereau said that among the alleged victims that the prosecutoin would bring in by reference would be Macaulay Culkin, who he said has always denied that anything improper happened to him while with Jackson. "There's Macaulay Culkin who has repeatedly said he was never molested," Mesereau said. He referred to some of Sneddon's third-party witnesses as "the gang." The reference was to former Jackson employees who sued the singer in the past and lost, and were then ordered to pay the singer $1 million in damages. Mesereau also said it would be unfair to have others testify about the 1993 case without putting that accuser on the stand. Mesereau asserted that the 1993 accuser's father and stepfather filed numerous lawsuits against Jackson to get money from him. In his current trial, Jackson, 46, is accused of a then-13-year-old boy at Neverland in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to make a video rebutting a documentary in which Jackson said he let children sleep in his bed. The singer said it was non-sexual. The ruling came a day after Jackson declared his innocence in an interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and said he considers himself the latest of several "black luminaries" to be unjustly accused, citing former South African President Nelson Mandela and former boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson as others. In the interview broadcast on radio stations and the Internet, Jackson also asked fans to pray for him, said he was currently in "the lowest point emotionally" of his life. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050328/D8947HN81.html Edited March 28, 2005 by BERIGAN Quote
Dave James Posted March 29, 2005 Report Posted March 29, 2005 Can you spell A-P-P-E-A-L? Up over and out. Quote
RDK Posted March 29, 2005 Report Posted March 29, 2005 This actually sounds worse than it is. From what I understand, at least most of the kids who've accused Jackson in the past are now denying that he ever touched them. In addition, most of the parents of same kids have some highly questionable motives and have previously been accused of extortion and other no-nos. They should do some damage, but Jackson's attorney should cut them up. This should be very entertaining... Quote
Dave James Posted March 29, 2005 Report Posted March 29, 2005 OK, imagine for a moment that Jackson is convicted. If he is, he's looking at a lot of years behind bars. Question is, where do you put him? Anyone else who's sent up the river for doing this kind of thing goes right to the big house where they learn right away how to dance with their new best friend Bubba. Is that what they do to Jackson? Seems to me there would be a ton of pressure brought to bear to treat him like everyone else. Can you even begin to imagine what that would be like. I mean child molesters are at the very bottom of the penitentiary food chain. Not a pretty picture. Up over and out. Quote
RDK Posted April 7, 2005 Report Posted April 7, 2005 Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough I heard about this testimony earlier, but hadn't read the details. As to the security guard, how does one possibly *lose* a wrongful termination lawsuit if one knows about such things as Jackson's apparent pedophilia? I would have thought that they'd pay him a bunch either to keep his job or stay quiet... Quote
Jazzmoose Posted April 7, 2005 Report Posted April 7, 2005 Michael Jackson's defense The following Johnny Cochran one isn't bad either! Quote
rostasi Posted April 7, 2005 Report Posted April 7, 2005 Michael Jackson's defense The following Johnny Cochran one isn't bad either! Go one more and you get a Bush's, "D.R.A.F.T." Quote
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