Jackson's 'captives' taped
2005-04-15 22:30
Santa Maria - Prosecutors in the Michael Jackson molestation trial on Friday showed jurors videotapes to demonstrate that the pop star's associates had closely monitored the accuser's family while he, his mother and siblings were allegedly being held captive.
Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy and keeping the youngster and his family captive.
Much of the footage was taken in mid-February 2003, when prosecutors say the family was being kept at Jackson's Neverland ranch because the pop star's associates wanted them to help rebut a damaging documentary. Prosecutors contend Jackson associates tried to prevent escape by threatening to harm people close to them.
The tapes, some of which had time stamps showing they were shot as early as 4.48am, were taken from the office of Bradley Miller, an investigator hired by former Jackson attorney Mark Geragos.
One shows both the accuser's mother and Jackson associate Vince Amen, named by prosecutors as one of Jackson's un-indicted alleged co-conspirators. In other sections of the footage, the mother identified her parents emerging from their home and her then-boyfriend driving. The couple later married.
Jurors were also shown a recording of men removing furniture from the family's cramped East Los Angeles apartment. "Cucarachas," one of the men remarked, apparently referring to a cockroach problem.
Prosecutors contend that Jackson associates took the family's items and kept them after the family left Neverland. The video was dated March 5, 2003, and the family left the Jackson ranch for the last time a week later.
After the tape concluded, Judge Rodney Melville called for cross-examination. The questioning of the mother by lead defence attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr is expected to be one of the most heated episodes in the trial.
No plans to sue
Mesereau has repeatedly told jurors the woman ripped off celebrities and other targets by exploiting her son's fight with cancer, and has also accused her of filing a past lawsuit that Mesereau says was bogus. The family received a settlement of more than $150 000 after alleging they were roughed up by store security guards.
On Thursday, the accuser's mother pledged that she had no plans to sue the singer. The statement came after two days on the stand in which she delivered a story of Jackson's associates shuttling her family from one location to the next to protect them from "killers." She said Jackson's people never told her who the alleged killers were.
She testified that she never had a chance to seek help, and that even if she did, she doubted police would believe her story.
"Who could possibly believe this?" she said.
Prosecutors allege that the family was held in order to make a video rebutting a documentary in which Jackson appeared with the boy who would eventually accuse him of molestation. In the programme, Jackson said he let children sleep in his bed but characterised the practice as innocent.
- AFP