Created: Saturday, 30 April 2005
Friday, April 29, 2005
Day 42 featured two books, presented by the prosecution, that were seized from Michael Jackson’s home over 12 years ago. The prosecution tried to convince jurors that these 2 collector’s art books were of a sexual nature.
Prosecutors, still reeling from disastrous testimony by Mr. Jackson’s ex-wife in the waning days of their case, entered the books as evidence in the face of strenuous defense objections.
Prosecutors showed the jury only the covers and front pages on which dedications were written, and put a detective on the witness stand to describe the contents.
Los Angeles police Detective Rosibel Smith, who found the books in a locked filing cabinet in Mr. Jackson’s master bedroom, testified that both books featured boys “playing, swimming, jumping.”
The books were seized during a molestation investigation involving a boy who received a settlement from Mr. Jackson in 1994. That probe never led to criminal charges against Mr. Jackson.
Jurors have heard testimony relating to long-ago allegations against Mr. Jackson under a California law that permits evidence that may tend to show a defendant’s propensity toward child molestation.
Judge Rodney S. Melville allowed the prosecution to use the books despite defense objections. Mr. Jackson’s lawyers had sought to exclude the evidence, arguing that it was not relevant to the charges at the heart of the trial, they were found too long ago - over twelve years ago - and completely misrepresented the content of his extremely large library.
“This case really isn’t about 1993,” defense lawyer Robert Sanger said in arguments before jurors heard testimony related to the photo books.
Mr. Sanger argued that prosecutors, who plan to rest next week, were trying to shore up a losing case.
“Their current case is very weak. This is a further attempt to bolster that,” Mr. Sanger said.
Mr. Jackson attorney Robert Sanger countered that the evidence was so out of date as to be “just plain stale,” and argued it was irrelevant to the current case and would prejudice the jury.
After Judge Rodney Melville sided with the prosecution, the defense swiftly sought to lessen the potential impact with jurors.
Stressing that both books were commercially available, Mr. Sanger showed the court a projected blow-up of the dust jacket of one volume — titled “Boys Will Be Boys!” — with its image of four boys in swimsuits jumping into a lake.
This book was marked “very scarce” by a book dealer. In it, Mr. Jackson had inscribed a note: “Look at the true spirit of happiness and joy in these boys’ faces. This is the spirit of boyhood, a life I never had and will always dream of. This is the life I want for my children.”
The other book, from the 1960’s, “The Boy: A Photographic Essay,” also contained an inscription that said: “To Michael from your (heart symbol) fan, XXXOOO, ‘Rhonda.”‘ The note was dated 1983.
Prosecutor Ron Zonen said earlier that one book was about 90 percent pictures of partially nude boys and the other about 10 percent.
Prosecutors have previously introduced adult magazines featuring adult women as well as a few art books that featured nudes.
In a win for Mr. Jackson’s lawyers, Melville also ruled on Friday that jurors would not hear testimony from a tabloid journalist who had arranged to interview the family of Mr. Jackson’s accuser.
Ian Drew, a reporter now with US Weekly, said he was told by one of Mr. Jackson’s associates and an unindicted co-conspirator in the case that the interview would have to be scrapped because the accuser’s family had fled Neverland.
“I was told they had disappeared, that they couldn’t keep them there anymore,” Drew said with jurors out of the courtroom. “To the best of my recollection, the word ‘escape’ was used.”
Melville said that that testimony, which would have been complicated by state legal limits on the use of reporters as witnesses, did not link Mr. Jackson to the alleged conspiracy and was undercut by the questionable memory of the witness’ and his “real vagueness with regard to the word ‘escape.”‘
Prosecutors plan to rest their case early next week and are struggling to find a strong finish that might mitigate the effects of Thursday’s testimony by Mr. Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe.
Touted as a star prosecution witness, Ms. Rowe instead came across as a potent character witness for the defense, as she lavished praise on Mr. Jackson as a “great father” and a generous man surrounded by “opportunistic vultures.”
Called to testify about the circumstances surrounding a video interview she made extolling Mr. Jackson’s parenting skills, Ms. Rowe, 46, completely rejected the prosecution’s assertion that her words had been scripted.
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