ChiefsPlanet - Jackson Trial -- Not Exactly Going As Planned?

Defense: Accuser's family targeted Jackson
Jury expected to get child molestation case Friday

Friday, June 3, 2005 Posted: 3:52 AM EDT (0752 GMT)

SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- A prosecutor Thursday told jurors during closing arguments that pop star Michael Jackson is a "predator" with a drinking problem who sought out vulnerable boys from fatherless homes -- including his teenage accuser -- and took them "into the world of the forbidden" for his own sexual gratification.

But Jackson's lead defense attorney said that while the singer may be "naive" and "offbeat," he is no child molester, and the accuser and his family are "con artists" whose testimony is not credible enough to send the entertainer to prison.

"This is the life, the future of Mr. Jackson," said defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. "There is no way in the world you can find the [family] believable beyond a reasonable doubt."

Closing arguments began Thursday as the child molestation trial of the singer neared its conclusion. Arguments were expected to run into part of Friday, and the case will then be handed to the jury.

The crowds outside the Santa Maria, California, courthouse were larger and more vocal Thursday than they've been for much of the trial. The courtroom was filled to capacity, as was a nearby room set up for media.

Jackson, 46, was indicted last year on 10 felony counts, including four counts of committing a lewd act on a child; one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion; one count of attempting to commit a lewd act on a child; and four counts of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony.

Jackson pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors alleged that after a controversial documentary was broadcast Jackson and five associates plotted to control and intimidate the accuser's family to get them to go along with damage-control efforts, including holding them against their will at the entertainer's Neverland Ranch.

Jackson's lawyers have tried to paint his accuser's family as grifters with a habit of targeting the rich and famous for money.

Defense: Accuser's family wants to cash in
Mesereau said the family wants a guilty verdict so they can establish liability against Jackson -- and cash in on the allegations with a civil suit.

"There's only one thing they need -- a conviction by you," he said. "They're just ready to pounce with a conviction."

Mesereau said prosecutors presented no physical evidence and no independent witnesses to corroborate testimony by the accuser that he was molested by Jackson, or testimony by his younger brother that he witnessed the pop star molesting the boy.

Because prosecutors were "absolutely desperate," they decided to bring in evidence about previous molestation allegations against Jackson, more than a decade old, Mesereau said. But he told jurors that unless they find the accuser in the current case and his brother are believable, they must acquit Jackson.

He also said the prosecution's charge that Jackson and five unindicted co-conspirators plotted to control and intimidate the family, including holding them against their will, was "absurd" and not supported by the prosecution's evidence.

"They don't have anything to suggest he wanted to enter into a felony conspiracy," Mesereau said.

Prosecutor: Jackson targeted vulnerable boys
Prosecutors began closing arguments earlier Thursday with a nearly three-hour presentation from Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen. Claiming that Jackson sought out vulnerable boys for abuse, Zonen said, "They learned about human sexuality from someone who was only too willing to be their teacher.

"Michael Jackson should be held responsible for what he did," Zonen said.

The prosecutor said the testimony of the teenager at the center of the trial "simply has the ring of truth to it."

Zonen said Jackson seduced and molested his accuser two years ago, when the boy, who was recovering from cancer, was just 13.

The prosecutor dismissed as "unmitigated rubbish" the idea that the boy would willingly endure the humiliation of a very public trial to make false accusations against a man "he once loved." And Zonen said testimony by a 24-year-old man that he was molested by Jackson as a boy backs up the claims of the current accuser because he "has nothing to gain" by lying.

"This case is about the exploitation and abuse of a 13-year-old cancer survivor at the hands of an international celebrity," Zonen said. "Michael Jackson molested [him] and numerous other boys."

Zonen said the entertainer groomed his victims with "methods to seduce boys into his confidence, his bedroom and into his bed." Among the tactics were giving the boys access to pornography, plying them with alcohol, giving them gifts and allowing them free to visit Neverland with no parental authority or discipline.

"They did whatever they wanted," Zonen said. "At night, they entered into the world of the forbidden."

Displaying a collage of what he termed "pornography" seized from Neverland Ranch, the prosecutor reminded the eight women and four men on the jury of testimony from the boy and his younger brother that they were shown sexually explicit material in Jackson's presence during their first overnight stay at Neverland.

"[The boy] was sick with cancer but being entertained with sexually explicit material," Zonen said.

Mesereau countered that all of the material found at Neverland was legal for Jackson to possess, and he accused the prosecution of introducing the material to "dirty him up" to influence the jury.

"He's a human being," Mesereau said. "That's his private life."