Child Molester or Scam Victim? Jackson’s Fate in Jurors’ Hands

SANTA MARIA, Calif. —  After sitting through 14 weeks of often bizarre testimony, jurors in the Michael Jackson trial on Friday began their deliberations in the child-molestation case that could shatter the pop star’s storied career and send him to prison for more than 20 years.

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville delivered final instructions before formally handing the case to the eight women and four men of the jury about 12:30 p.m. They deliberated two hours before recessing for the weekend.

Earlier, the mood in the packed courtroom was somber as attorneys for both sides wrapped up their arguments. Jackson’s mother, Katherine, quietly sobbed at points. His sisters -- Rebbie, LaToya and Janet -- abruptly left their seats in the front row as prosecutor Ron Zonen prepared to address the jury.

“They found their brother being vilified to be difficult,” Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain said later.

Outside the courthouse, the throngs of Jackson fans who have kept vigil all through the trial swelled to a crowd of 200. Drawn from all over the world, the pop star’s followers faced off with a sprinkling of advocates for child-abuse victims.

Teetering atop ladders at the courthouse fence, they elbowed each other out of the way so Jackson could read their signs on his way into court.

One victims’ advocate waved a sign listing the names of abused children. Jackson supporters chanted “Michael is innocent” and “The truth is about to be told.”

To cap the cacophony, the sock puppet known as Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a regular feature of NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” interviewed a Michael Jackson impersonator.

Back in the courtroom, the prosecutor passionately urged the Santa Barbara County Superior Court jurors to evaluate the case against Jackson using everyday common sense. Stressing that it was the 46-year-old Jackson himself who disclosed his sleepovers with children, Zonen told jurors that if they heard about a middle-aged man in their neighborhood sharing his bed with young boys, “you’d be on the phone with the police in a second.”

Earlier Friday, defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. issued his own appeal to common sense, imploring jurors not to swallow a story made up by “con artists, actors and liars” -- a formulation he repeated four times to describe Jackson’s young accuser and his family.

“It’s all a setup,” Mesereau told the jurors. “They’re just waiting -- waiting for the biggest con of their careers. They’re just waiting for you to help them.”

Both attorneys appeared to agree on one thing: Some of the most powerful evidence in the trial came from videos, although each closed his presentation with sharply contrasting footage.

Mesereau showed the jury outtakes from the production of the British TV documentary “Living With Michael Jackson.”

The February 2003 broadcast proved to be a disaster for Jackson because he disclosed to interviewer Martin Bashir that he enjoyed nonsexual sleepovers with children. His accuser, a recovering cancer patient who was 13 at the time, is shown holding hands with Jackson and resting his head on the singer’s shoulder.

Prosecutors allege that the molestation occurred in the weeks after the broadcast.

But Mesereau played for the jury clips that he felt were positive. On a large screen in the darkened courtroom, Jackson talked about seeing children as a reflection of God.

“I love innocence,” he said. “I’m a nut for innocence.”

At another point, Jackson said he never had been “betrayed or deceived” by a child.

“It’s adults who have let me down,” he said.

While Jackson sometimes verged on eloquence, he also played on his famous eccentricity, speaking fondly about holding a party for his chimps with a guest list of former animal actors, including Benji, Lassie and Cheetah.

Closing with the outtakes struck some legal analysts as a risky move. While they gave voice and personality to the singer, who did not testify during his trial, they may needlessly have reminded jurors about the star’s quirks, said Craig Smith, a former Santa Barbara County prosecutor who attended Friday’s court session.

“Santa Maria is a conservative town,” Smith said. “This is not San Francisco in the ‘70s. Certain jurors simply are not going to accept what he had to say.”

During his arguments Friday, Zonen showed part of a tape in which Jackson’s accuser reluctantly acknowledged the alleged molestation to police investigators. In his testimony during the trial, he said it was the first time he had told anyone about the alleged incidents.

On the tape, the boy slumped in his seat and answered in barely audible tones as an investigator urged him to talk about what happened between him and Jackson at the singer’s Neverland ranch near Los Olivos north of Santa Barbara. Staring at the floor, the boy appeared halting and anguished as he related details of the alleged incidents.

Defense attorneys contend the boy, who had taken drama, comedy, and dance classes, was acting.

But Zonen told jurors that they had witnessed “the worst seven minutes of this young man’s life.” No acting class could have taught him to imitate pain so convincingly, he said, adding that “your common sense will tell you otherwise.”

Jackson is charged with 10 felonies: four counts of child molestation, four counts of plying a minor with alcohol in order to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation and one count of conspiracy to hold the boy and his family captive at the Neverland ranch. If convicted of all charges, he could get more than 20 years in prison.

The accuser’s mother was the focus of the attorneys’ jousting Friday, as she had been throughout the trial.

Making a case for reasonable doubt, Mesereau cast her as a parasite who habitually lied and cheated to get by in life.

“She’ll say anything, absolutely anything,” Mesereau said, reminding jurors that the woman said she escaped her alleged captivity at Neverland three times, only to be lured back twice.

“What does that sound like to you?” he asked jurors.

Zonen defended the mother, saying that defense attorneys had twisted her statements to make them sound ludicrous. He reminded jurors of surveillance tapes purporting to show that Jackson associates harassed and followed the woman and her children, as she had asserted.

He also scoffed at Mesereau’s portrayal of her as a criminal mastermind.

“She’s not the sophisticate he wants you to believe,” Zonen said. “She can’t string two consecutive sentences together that make sense.”

After court, Jackson privately thanked his defense team. Escorted by a security detail, he left the courthouse without comment, accompanied by his attorneys, his parents, other relatives and comedian-turned-nutritionist Dick Gregory.

On Gregory’s advice, Jackson sought treatment at a local hospital Thursday night, said Jackson spokeswoman Bain.

Gregory, a longtime friend of Jackson’s, told him that he needed some electrolytes, she said. Electrolytes are salts that are used to treat dehydration, among other conditions.

Deliberations resume Monday. As jurors review testimony from 135 witnesses, Jackson will await their verdict at Neverland, about 30 miles south of the Santa Maria courthouse.

“This is the hardest part,” Bain said, “the waiting game.”

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this report.