Created: Thursday, 17 March 2005
Day 13 in the Michael Jackson trial focused, for the most part, on the evidence that was seized from Mr. Jackson’s residence. The defense noted disqualifying details in the dates of some of the pubications as well as a lack of evidence to support their relevancy.
Prosecutors showed jurors in the Michael Mr. Jackson case a series of sexually explicit magazines, DVDs and videos, not yet proven to belong to Michael Mr. Jackson, but yet were seized from Neverland Ranch. Upon questioning, witnesses reluctantly acknowledged that there was absolutely no evidence that Mr. Jackson had shown them to the boy he is accused of molesting. The salacious impact on the jurors, clearly intended by the prosecution as they showed the ‘adult’ photos on the screen in the courtroom, was minimized by the expert cross-examination by the defense, where the evidence was clearly brought into serious doubt.
With his parents seated behind him, Mr. Jackson watched attentively Wednesday as prosecutors used a large screen to display movie and magazine covers featuring provocatively posed women in various stages of undress.
Jurors were stone-faced as they viewed the items and listened to detectives testify that they were found in Mr. Jackson’s bedroom suite during an exhaustive Nov. 18, 2003, search. Previously, it was revealed that law enforcement had originally asked the judge for permission to search Mr. Jackson’s residence over a period of three days. This was denied and only one full day was permitted. However, law enforcement compensated by bringing very large numbers of personnel to the ranch to carry out the invasive search, led personally by District Attorney Tom Sneddon..
Prosecutors allege Mr. Jackson showed adult magazines to the accuser while trying to lure him into molestation. But witnesses acknowledged that one of the magazines and one DVD had dates on their covers indicating they were not available until after March 12, 2003, when Mr. Jackson’s accuser left Neverland for the last time.
Witnesses also said under cross-examination that all the items were completely legal and sold in stores.
Defense attorney Robert Mr. Sanger noted that one Penthouse magazine had a cover date of July/August 2003 and asked Lt. Victor Alvarez, who participated in the search of Mr. Jackson’s home, if the boy or his brother had alleged that Mr. Jackson showed them the magazine.
“This particular one?” Alvarez said, “I don’t know.”
The DVD had a printed release date of March 27, 2003 - 15 days after the family left the ranch.
Last week, the accuser’s brother testified, with conviction in his voice, that a copy of Barely Legal magazine shown by the prosecution was the exact one Mr. Jackson had shown him. The defense pointed out that it was dated August 2003 over four months AFTER the final departure of the complaining witnesses from Mr. Jackson’s ranch.
.
The new questions about the number of alleged molestations followed Robel’s testimony Tuesday that the boy twice told investigators he was molested five times. The boy himself testified earlier to only two molestations but said he believed there may have been more.
Robel said Wednesday that the boy told him “it happened between five and seven times but he could not articulate exactly” what happened every time or when they took place.
The investigator said that since the first interviews of the boy in July 2003 he has only been able to provide detailed accounts of two alleged molestations.
Recent Comments