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Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Testimony

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 08:43:53 AM EST
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Trial Update
March 28, 2005

Bump and Update: The Judge has ruled evidence of the 1993 accusation against Jackson can be admitted. The judge also will allow evidence regarding four other accusers, including actor Macaulay Culkin and choreographer Wade Robson. The prosecution had sought to admit allegations from seven former accusers. The jury will hear that Jackson settled two lawsuits, one in 1990 and one in 1993. It will not hear amounts unless the defense brings it up. But this does not mean the five accusers will testify in person. In particular, the 1993 accuser, Jordan Chandler, is not expected to testify:

Jackson's lawyer then went into a point-by-point attack of the old material Sneddon wants to introduce. With the exception of Chandler and the maid's son, the five boys allegedly molested by Jackson--a group that includes actor Macaulay Culkin and choreographer Wade Robson--have all repeatedly denied being abused by the performer, Mesereau said. Additionally, since Chandler is not going to testify, Mesereau said, jurors would only hear direct testimony from one of the seven boys prosecutors claim Jackson sexually abused.

Mesereau said that many of the third-party witnesses Sneddon would call to testify about the prior abuse were tabloid informants, disgruntled former employees, and money-hungry litigants. He specifically mentioned a group of former Neverland workers who sued Jackson for wrongful termination and were routed in court (in fact, they lost a countersuit brought by Jackson and were hit with a seven-figure legal judgment, which drove some into bankruptcy).

Background on California's evidence rule that allows such evidence is here, and my opinion as to why this evidence should have been excluded is here.

Original Post:

Today will be the most important day in Michael Jackson't trial. The Judge will rule on whether he will allow evidence about Jackson's 1993 accuser to be admitted at his trial.

"Jackson's defense team was expected to argue that admitting past evidence would be prejudicial to their client and irrelevant. If it is allowed, however, they will be prepared to contend this case is similar to the 1993 allegations only because the current accuser is a copycat looking for a payoff."

Smoking Gun is following today's arguments. More here.

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    • Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Testimony | 18 comments (18 topical)
    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 10:28:50 AM EST
    Judge ruled for the prosecution

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 11:16:23 AM EST
    jackson's lawyers need to get the rocks out of their collective head. settling like michael did WILL NOT make the jury think anything other than he paid off the kid to keep him quiet. you just don't settle in a case involving molestation without something terrible to hide. i think michael will have to take the stand to have any chance of aquittal. but i don't see that happening. sadly, i see the guy as a suicide before he's 50. we're watching the slow death of a person in public.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 11:19:24 AM EST
    also, sort of off-topic, but i just read about that ten year-old boy arrested for protesting at the shaivo hospice. get this, turns out his dad is a convicted child rapist who is wanted for absconding from the sexual predator registration program. jesus lives. he just doesn't wear a tracking anklet.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 11:28:11 AM EST
    Please confine comments to Michael Jackson on this thread. There are plenty of Schiavo threads to talk about that case.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#5)
    by Dadler on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 11:40:18 AM EST
    sorry j, i shoulda known better.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 11:49:30 AM EST
    I truly think one of the most troubling problems for Mj is the sex magazines and videos! If his sleeping with children were merely expressions of innocent plutonic sharing experiences how does he square all the porno/sex stuff? I would like to have MJ respond to this question.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 12:44:56 PM EST
    Ed, My son's dad keeps a couple of "mags" around the house which I hope my 5 year old doesn't come across until he's at least a "tween". Is it clear that he shared these with kids? (It actually makes me think that MJ's more like a regular guy than we thought!). The lesson in this: BEWARE OF PLEADING OUT OR SETTLING. Taking these kind of chances (granted, sometimes no choice) leaves one VULNERABLE to exactly what's happening to MJ. (Perhaps if he had gone to court on the first charges he would have been cleared and he wouldn't have been such a target). Don't forget... folks WANT to believe that child molesters look like MJ - not like the 10 yr old Shiavo arrestee's "All American" dad.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 01:00:48 PM EST
    Caukin and Robson say it never happened to them. Would the defense call them to talk about the allegations.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 01:06:52 PM EST
    So right mfox, the porn is the most "normal" thing I've heard so far about Jacko. I don't see how that can be used against him.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 01:46:19 PM EST
    The real question is, will Bubbles testify?

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 28, 2005 at 11:47:04 PM EST
    Will jackson be joining Stop Prison Rape soon?

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 03:17:45 AM EST
    The only reason the 1993 case is coming in is because the prosecuters had a weak case! Judge Rodney Mellville said during one of pre-trial hearings that he was NOT going to bring the 1993 allegations into the trial to save a weak case and what happens....

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 03:30:36 AM EST
    Go to www.mj-case.net if you want to know all about the Michael Jackson case.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#14)
    by John Mann on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:03:39 AM EST
    "Go to www.mj-case.net if you want to know all about the Michael Jackson case." You forgot to mention the website is just a tad slanted, and hardly reflects "all about the Michael Jackson case".

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:24:50 AM EST
    So far the evidence hasn't convinced me. The porn is not kiddie porn, it's adult porn. That in itself is telling--child molesters with access to porn would have a secret cache of kiddie porn. Fingerprints on the mags? Could be the kids rummaging through Michael's stuff, or it could be the prints were placed on the magazines during the preliminary hearing, when the kids handled the magazines. It was sloppy to allow the kids to handle them without having them covered with plastic. Since the kids' stories change, I have a tendency to believe that the kids were coached. It wouldn't be the first time a child has falsely accused an adult of sexual abuse: look at the preschool trial in Bakersfied a decade or so ago. A whole family lost its freedom and livelihood on stories which were basically suggested to children by overeager adults. I've also heard of a 4th grade class colluding to get rid of a teacher by accusing her of child abuse--and it worked.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:08:35 PM EST
    It makes me really sad to see the press jumping all over sneddon's suggestion of "seven seperate incidents of molestation." So many of them can be denied easily and the likes of Nancy Grace and other hot heads spread the slander and pre-judgement judgements.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#17)
    by Dadler on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:40:50 PM EST
    michelle please research your 4th grade class story, it has the hyperbolic ridiculousness of an urban legend. but i could be wrong. while a trial, in principle, is a legal game, juries are not made up of inanimate pieces moved around a board. they're human beings, with faults and prejudices, and all the wonderful awful combination of crap that comes along with being a sentient being of our species. and i think, fear, have a hunch, this verdict will be based on much less AND much more than the "evidence". just like OJ was.

    Re: Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Te (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 31, 2005 at 03:15:42 AM EST
    Jamie Masada has setup Michael Jackson! Masada knew the cancer victim's family was poor and needed lots of money. Therefore, by setting up Michael, it was clear that the accuser's parents will sue and become millionaires overnight with no problem and be set for life. Masada already knew about the old case in which another false accuser had successfully extorted $20 million from Michael. To ensure that this boy would be set for life, Masada advised the mother to make contact with Michael, who was surely going to fall for the "cancer" bait. Then, it would only be a matter of time before the "con" would be put into action and followed through with lawyers. Masada also introduced the accuse to Larry Feldman, the same lawyer who sued Michael had extorted huge sums for a previous accuser. Same unethical psychiatrist, Dr. Katz, was used in the previous case. Same bunch of con artists working together and feeding on Michael's vulnerability and love for children. This time, however, the extortionists went too far, especially the wicked Larry Feldman, who made sure he would win if a criminal charge was filed. The DA, Tom Sneddon, another evil man, couldn't have been more glad to follow through. Diane Dimond of Court TV is another evil person, and by her own admission has relentlessly stalked Michael Jackson since 1993 and tried to bring the poor man down. May God help and preserve Michael Jackson, a good and nobel person from his evil false accusers and extortionists. I also pray that God will give victory to Michael and exonerate him from all the false charges made against him by the wicked God-less men, women, and children. Amen, and Amen! Peace, Father Brown

    Michael Jackson:Court to Admit 1993 Accuser Testimony | 18 comments (18 topical)