Court Photos For Today: http://home.mj-upbeat.com/?p=3594
Created: Thursday, 26 May 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005
On day 61, among the witnesses called Thursday was a former lawyer for the accuser’s family, William Dickerman, who traded vitriolic blows with Mr. Jackson’s attorney Thomas Mesereau, as he presented letters of evidence that severely damage prosecution’s claims that Mr. Jackson’s aides refused for months in 2003 to return the family members’ possessions cleared from their seldom-used apartment. The defense focused on evidence that strongly suggested that the family and their attorney had possible plans to set-up Mr. Jackson.
Mr. Mesereau showed the court that although Mr. Geragos, on Mr. Jackson’s behalf, had tried time and again to return the family’s belongings, Mr. Dickerman continually refused to provide a location to deliver the items and when they were taken to his office, delivery was refused.
(Excerpt from Court Transcript)
MR. MESEREAU: And when you didn’t respond to his letter of April 15th asking you where he should deliver the possessions, you knew exactly what you were doing, didn’t you?
MR. ZONEN: Objection; argumentative.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. MESEREAU: You and your client were trying to set up Mr. Jackson for a lawsuit, true?
MR. ZONEN: Objection; argumentative.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. MESEREAU: Did you have your profit-sharing arrangement with Larry Feldman at this time?
MR. ZONEN: Objection; argumentative.
(End of Excerpt)
In other courtroom developments, the judge spared jurors from seeing a graphic piece of evidence from the 1993 case, in which Mr. Jackson was never charged, when he barred prosecutors from showing photographs of Mr. Jackson’s genitalia.
In another ruling, the judge said prosecutors can play a videotape of the accuser’s original police interview in 2003 in a bid to show that the boy’s story has been consistent. Defense lawyers said that if the prosecution shows the tape, the defense would want to call the boy back for questioning. They also may call the boy’s mother.
Arguing against the use of the videotape, defense attorney, Mr. Sanger, stated to the court that the tape contains “prejudicial material” such as officers telling the boy: “You’re really brave, we want you to do this.
The attempt to admit the genitalia photographs stems from a 1993 investigation of Mr. Jackson. When prosecutors were trying to gather evidence against Mr. Jackson back then, they served a subpoena at his home that allowed them to photograph his genitalia.
But defense attorney Robert Sanger called the photographs an “unfair surprise” and said prosecutors had “not even hinted that they were going to try this tactic in advance.” He cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision which says a judge is supposed to avoid dramatic evidence at the end of a trial that could be prejudicial.
“This is really a stretch to come up with any kind of reason to bring this in as evidence,” Sanger said, arguing that it would be “very shocking” for the jury to see.
Arguing for the defense, Sanger accused the prosecution of trying to cheat the system.
“[The tape is] a way to have [the accuser] come back and testify, in essence, without cross-examination one more time in front of the jury right at the end of the case to bolster what is, I think, quite a weak case,” Sanger said.
In allowing the prosecution to play its tape, Melville gave the defense permission to question the boy anew, if needed, in person.
The witnesses the defense could call back on the stand are the 15-year-old accuser, his feisty mother, Feldman, a lawyer who represented the family and a psychologist, Katz, who interviewed the boy when he first made accusations against Mr. Jackson.
A day after the defense rested its three-week-old case, attorney Robert Sanger asked that the four witnesses “be made available” to testify in a defense counter-rebuttal due to take place before closing arguments.
Mr. Jackson claims the boy and his family made up allegations after meeting lawyer Larry Feldman, who represented a teen who won a 23.3-million-dollar settlement from Mr. Jackson after making similar sex claims against him in 1993.
Mr. Jackson was never charged in that case, which collapsed when the youth refused to testify.
Mr. Jackson’s team has shown that the current accuser’s mother is a greedy con artist with a history of coaching her children to lie under oath, who invented the claims only after learning of the huge settlement in the 1993 case.
The boy in the 1993 investigation and his family eventually received a multimillion-dollar settlement from Mr. Jackson and no charges were filed. That boy is now a young man and has been unavailable to serve as a witness in Mr. Jackson’s trial.
The defense wrapped up its case Wednesday, and the trial is now in the rebuttal phase. The jury had been expected to begin deliberating their verdict next week, but Melville’s decision to allow prosecutors to show the interview video could delay closing arguments and hold up the jury getting the case.
Elsewhere, the grandmother of the accuser was back on the stand to help salvage the credibility of her daughter-and one of the prosecution’s key witnesses.
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