Created: Friday, 18 March 2005
Day 14 in the Michael Jackson trial was highlighted by two very important statements by a former housekeeper at Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch who testified Thursday. Firstly, she said that she had never seen Michael Jackson serve alcohol to a minor.
Kiki Fournier said children who remained at Neverland anywhere from a few days to months at a time would sometimes stay in Mr. Jackson’s room, and she described kids running willing there without parental supervision and little discipline from Mr. Jackson, being permitted to stay up late, eat candy, watch movies and play games.
“They would get in candy-throwing fights in the theater,” she said, describing how she nicknamed Neverland “Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island.” “Sometimes they would get pretty rowdy. … He did let them have a free hand, so to say. They could get pretty rambunctious.”
Mr. Jackson’s accuser and his brother were among the children who became wilder the longer they stayed at Neverland, Fournier said. She said that initially the accuser was very polite but she soon noticed that the room he shared with his brother was increasingly dirty. The defense highlights the significance of this when they questioned the former housekeeper about the time frame. She testified that it was near the end of the boys’ stay that their room became so terribly messy that she had to alert Mr. Jackson about it. The defense questioned if the beds, in this guest unit, were unmade and appeared slept in by both boys, towards the end of their stay at the ranch. She answered ‘yes’. The importance of mentioning this fact is in the timing of the molestation allegation. The accuser is currently claiming that this occurred towards the end of their stay at the ranch and that he was sleeping in Mr. Jackson’s room. Another possible contradiction for the prosecution.
(Excerpt from Court Transcripts)
MR. MESEREAU: And I think what the government prosecutor was suggesting was the kids must have been somewhere during the evening, right?
KIKI FOURNIER: Yes.
MR. MESEREAU: But I’m curious. You also said that you looked at Gavin’s room and it often was a mess, right?
KIKI FOURNIER: Toward the end, yes.
MR. MESEREAU: Suggesting that Gavin was staying in the room, right?
KIKI FOURNIER: I believe it was he and his brother that were staying in there.
MR. MESEREAU: And they made a real mess out of that room, didn’t they?
KIKI FOURNIER: Yes.
MR. MESEREAU: Quite often, didn’t they?
KIKI FOURNIER: Toward the end, yes.
(End of Excerpt from Court Transcript)
Mr. Mesereau proceeded to question the former housekeeper regarding disciplinary problems that the Neverland staff may have had with the accuser and his siblings on the premises of the ranch.
(Excerpt from Court Transcripts)
MR. MESEREAU: And they were known — they had a reputation at Neverland for having disciplinary issues with the staff, didn’t they?
MR. AUCHINCLOSS: Objection. Calls for hearsay and calls for a conclusion; improper characterization of the evidence.
THE COURT: Overruled. You may answer.
THE WITNESS: Not really with me. I mean, Gavin was always respectful with me. Always. Star could be a little bit ornery. And Davellin, we’d talk every once in a while. But I never experienced any problems.
MR. MESEREAU: But you knew other employees did, didn’t you?
KIKI FOURNIER: Well, I knew that they were becoming demanding, yeah, but I don’t really remember a specific incident.
MR. MESEREAU: Now, when you say you learned that they were becoming demanding, could you tell the jury what you mean?
KIKI FOURNIER: Well, every night we’d make dinner, and he always wanted something other than what was made for dinner.
MR. MESEREAU: Who was this, now?
KIKI FOURNIER: Star.
MR. MESEREAU: Would make demands on you personally?
KIKI FOURNIER: Yeah. They’d want certain kinds of foods made at certain times. And usually it was chicken noodle soup, which wasn’t that difficult, but —
MR. MESEREAU: Would you get upset at those demands?
KIKI FOURNIER: Honestly, I got irritated sometimes because of the demand. There was so much to do. There was so much to do, and I — when the kids got a little ornery, it was — it was a lot. It really was. It was — and I felt like there was no respect.
MR. MESEREAU: And they seemed to sort of get very spoiled there at some point, didn’t they?
KIKI FOURNIER: Yes.
MR. MESEREAU: And weren’t there complaints about their throwing candy?
KIKI FOURNIER: Yes.
MR. MESEREAU: There were complaints about their throwing objects from the amusement rides?
KIKI FOURNIER: Yes.
MR. MESEREAU: There were complaints from other employees that they were almost acting like they owned the place?
KIKI FOURNIER: I don’t remember that one, but I know that they were getting a little ornery.
MR. MESEREAU: Do you remember their crashing carts?
KIKI FOURNIER: All of them crashed the carts. I don’t remember specifically if they did or not.
MR. MESEREAU: Okay. Okay. Now, did you ever learn that they were caught with adult material?
MR. AUCHINCLOSS: 403 ruling.
MR. MESEREAU: I think the Court said I could ask.
THE COURT: Overruled.
MR. MESEREAU: BY MR. MESEREAU: Did you ever learn that?
KIKI FOURNIER: No, I don’t remember that.
MR. MESEREAU: Did you ever learn that they were caught masturbating in the unit?
KIKI FOURNIER: No.
MR. MESEREAU: Okay. Okay. You never had any discussion with anyone about that?
KIKI FOURNIER: No.
MR. MESEREAU: Okay. Okay. Do you recall learning that they had driven off the property at one point into town?
MR. AUCHINCLOSS: Objection.
MR. MESEREAU: Did you ever hear about that?
MR. AUCHINCLOSS: Objection; foundation.
THE COURT: Overruled. You may answer.
THE WITNESS: I know that they left with Chris Carter one time.
MR. MESEREAU: You don’t have any knowledge of their going into town on their own, do you?
KIKI FOURNIER: No.
(End Excerpt from Court Transcripts)
Also, today, a TV weatherman who befriended the accuser’s family testified that he gave them gifts and helped raise money even though they never asked him for anything.
Fritz Coleman, the weather forecaster for KNBC in Los Angeles and a standup comedian, had been mentioned in opening statements by the defense, which suggested he was misled by the family into thinking they needed money for medical expenses when they actually had sufficient funds from the father’s union insurance.
But Coleman was called to the stand by the prosecution, which has said the boy was introduced to Mr. Jackson through the owner of a Hollywood club who ran a comedy camp for underprivileged youth.
Coleman said of the accuser, his brother and sister: “I found them personable and polite and charismatic.”
He said that he first encountered them in 1999 when he was teaching a class at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, where word spread that the family was impoverished and needed help.
Coleman said he and a friend bought hundreds of dollars worth of gifts and took them to the family’s home at Christmas.
“I got the feeling this might be the only Christmas they would have,” he said, describing how he went to their one-room East Los Angeles apartment, where living spaces were separated by sheets.
Later, he said, he heard that the eldest son had cancer and went to visit him in the hospital.
After that, he said, he participated in a fund-raiser and blood drive for the boy and made announcements on his TV broadcast urging people to come.
On cross-examination, Coleman said he did not know that the family had collected more than $100,000 in a lawsuit against J.C. Penney and that the mother mentioned him in that suit and had told Los Angeles police that he was going to help her in a domestic violence dispute with her husband.
Another witness, Deputy Shawn O’Grady, with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s office, was called to the stand to testify regarding specific books that prosecution had deemed to be sexually explicit. Using one particular book as an example, Mr. Mesereau brought clarification to this erroneous assumption in a short cross-examination.
(Excerpt from Court Transcripts)
MR. MESEREAU: Mr. O’Grady, you seized a book titled “Bidgood,” and the name is “Taschen” at the bottom; is that correct?
DEPUTY O’GRADY: Yes, that’s correct.
MR. MESEREAU: And do you know where that book came from?
DEPUTY O’GRADY: No.
MR. MESEREAU: Do you know that Mr. Taschen is a German photographer who was going to photograph the Jackson family?
DEPUTY O’GRADY: I have no idea, no.
MR. MESEREAU: Are you aware that Mr. Taschen sent this to Mr. Jackson?
DEPUTY O’GRADY: No, I do not.
MR. MESEREAU: And that’s Peter Pan on the cover, correct?
DEPUTY O’GRADY: I don’t know. It looks like a person playing a pan flute. Could be like a mythological person or something.
MR. MESEREAU: Okay. No further questions.
(End Excerpt from Court Transcripts)
Mr. Mesereau also questioned the apparent lack of formal and controlled procedure with regards to the seizure and fingerprinting of the items taken from the ranch.
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