Created: Thursday, 03 March 2005
On Thursday, Day 4 of Michael Jackson’s trial, the sister of his accuser took the stand.
Now 18 years of age and a college freshman, she was called to testify about the alleged events two years ago.
The prosecution laid groundwork for the sister’s testimony by calling a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department photographer who videotaped a Nov. 18, 2003, raid on Neverland.
Jurors were then shown a videotape of Mr. Jackson’s master bedroom suite. The tape included shots of his cluttered bedroom, but none of the sexually explicit magazines that the prosecution has alleged were found in the suite.
The video, shot by Sheriff’s Department photographer Albert Lafferty, showed a sparkling bedspread, pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple, several TVs and stacks of videos.
Two rooms that investigators called the “doll room” and the “toy room” were filled with dolls, mannequins and figurines of such characters as Bat Man, Superman and C-3PO, Boba Fett and R2-D2 from “Star Wars,” as well as SpongeBob SquarePants. There were dolls of every size and a dollhouse.
Under cross-examination, the defense established that the nearby bedrooms of each of Mr. Jackson’s children had a lock with a code keypad. Lafferty also acknowledged that there was something that looked like a classroom but he couldn’t recall seeing little desks that a defense attorney mentioned.
The defense has claimed that the accuser and his brother were sometimes out of control during visits to Neverland and got into private areas and onto the estate’s rides by memorizing security codes.
The pictures presented by the prosecution also showed a clock in the foyer of Mr. Jackson’s home and a huge clock overlooking the train station in the amusement park area of Neverland. The prominent presence of the clocks completely refute the claim that the mother has made that she wasn’t even allowed to know what time it was while at the ranch.
The sister of the accuser, now a college freshman, avoided eye contact with Mr. Jackson during most of her testimony as she testified about the family’s encounters with him, which began during a celebrity-filled odyssey after her brother was diagnosed with cancer. The family was introduced to such stars as actor Chris Tucker and NBA star Kobe Bryant.
In numerous instances, the defense has showed the family to be motivated by greed in its pursuit of celebrities.
Under questioning by District Attorney Tom Sneddon, the girl told jurors her version of events that happened after the documentary by British journalist Martin Bashir was taped.
The girl said she received an urgent call from her mother, who told her to go to their East Los Angeles apartment where she was met by an aide to Chris Tucker. She said they were taken to Tucker’s house, driven to an airport and flown to Miami on a private jet. When they arrived at the resort in Miami, Mr. Jackson was waiting and in his suite they met a large group of people, she said.
The witness said that her brother received special attention from Mr. Jackson, who pulled him aside and closed the door to his room. She said the two remained in there about 15 to 30 minutes and similar visits occurred at least three more times during their stay. When her brother came out, she said, “He was very hyper, running around, very talkative, playful.”
Mr. Jackson instructed the family not to watch the Bashir documentary that night. “He was upset about it, didn’t want us to see it,” she said.
Mr. Jackson, 46, watched quietly, a finger pressed to his cheek, and the jury took notes. Mr. Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and brother Jackie observed from the audience.
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