Created: Saturday, 09 April 2005
Friday, April 8, 2005 On Day 28 Michael Jackson’s former maid testified Friday at the singer’s child molestation trial that she and other employees of the pop star used a “media broker” to sell stories to tabloids including one claiming inside knowledge of Mr. Jackson’s sex life with ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley.
Adrian McManus, who earlier testified for the prosecution that she saw Mr. Jackson in compromising positions with young boys, insisted under cross-examination that she was not out to get Mr. Jackson’s money even when she and four other Neverland employees sued him for millions.
“I wanted justice,” she said of the suit, which backfired and resulted in a large judgment against the plaintiffs.
“But your idea of justice was millions of bucks?” asked Mr. Jackson lawyer Thomas Mr. Mesereau Jr.
“That’s not what I call justice,” said the witness. “Honestly, a simple ‘sorry for what we did to you’ would have been enough for me.”
But Mr. Mesereau noted that McManus and the others spent many months and large amounts of money pursuing their suit against Mr. Jackson, and he elicited from her the fact that they went to tabloids to fund their lawsuit.
McManus acknowledged that she signed agreements with the Star and the Splash media and picture agency to sell purported secrets about Mr. Jackson’s life with Presley.
Mr. Jackson married Presley in May 1994. Presley filed for divorce in January 1996, saying they had formally separated the previous month. McManus was a Neverland maid from 1990 to 1994.
“Do you recall trying to sell what you called Mr. Jackson’s sex secrets?” Mr. Mesereau  asked McManus.
“Something like that,” she said.
She identified in court the contract with Star.
“And you were quoted in a Star story with the headline, ‘Kinky secrets of Michael and Lisa Marie’s bedroom,’ ” Mr. Mesereau  said.
“I didn’t say that,” the witness insisted, adding, “A lot of times with those tabloids they say other stuff.”
But she acknowledged that during the time she was at Neverland she saw Presley visit and that through a media broker she offered the tabloids information on the relationship.
“And in that contract you agreed to provide information on Mr. Jackson’s relationship with Lisa Marie Presley?” Mr. Mesereau  asked.
“Yes,” she said, and also confirmed that a security guard, Ralph Chacon, signed the contract as well.
Another ex-employee took the stand against Mr. Jackson Friday testifying that he once saw Mr. Jackson with his hand inside child star Macaulay Culkin’s shorts but didn’t tell anyone because “nobody would have ever believed this.”
Macaulay Culkin has repeatedly denied anything inappropriate happened.
Phillip LeMarque, who said he and his wife worked for Mr. Jackson for 10 months in 1991, said he never made his allegations until 1993, when authorities came to him in connection with another child’s claims against Mr. Jackson.
Under cross-examination by Mr. Jackson’s attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., LeMarque acknowledged that he and his wife considered selling the story to the tabloids and that he told an intermediary he wanted $500,000.
LeMarque said he and his wife sued Mr. Jackson after they quit, claiming they were owed overtime pay. He said the lawsuit was settled.
During a break in testimony, Judge Rodney Melville barred the defence from raising the issue of LeMarque’s later work as the operator of a pornographic Web site.
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