'You just want to get even'
2005-04-08 08:23
California - A former security guard at Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch told a lurid story on Thursday about seeing the singer kiss, fondle and perform oral sex on a boy who later received a financial settlement from the pop star.
But the credibility of the guard and another prosecution witness who also testified seeing Jackson fondle boys took an enormous hit during cross-examination by defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr.
He attacked the security guard, Ralph Chacon, as making the whole thing up "to get even" with the singer and portrayed the other witness, former Jackson maid Adrian McManus, as a thief and a liar. He accused Chacon of having tried to "extort" $16m from Jackson in a lawsuit and lengthy trial that he, McManus and other ex-employees lost. They were ultimately ordered to pay more than $1.4m in a judgment won by Jackson.
"After a six-month trial, this is a good way to get even with him, isn't it?" Mesereau asked Chacon, drawing a strong objection from the prosecution.
Inappropriate conduct
The testimony is part of a prosecution attempt to show that the current molestation allegations against Jackson are part of a pattern of inappropriate sexual contact with little boys dating back more than a decade.
In questioning by District Attorney Tom Sneddon, Chacon told of looking through a window one night at Jackson's pool house in late 1992 or early 1993 and seeing him perform oral sex on a 10-year-old boy.
The boy received a financial settlement, reportedly between $15m and $20m, from Jackson in 1994. The boy did not co-operate with a police investigation and no charges were filed against Jackson. The boy is not scheduled to testify in the trial.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to make a video rebutting a TV documentary in which Jackson said he allowed children to sleep in his bed but that it was innocent.
McManus, a Jackson maid between 1990 and 1994, also testified on Thursday that she saw the pop star kiss actor Macaulay Culkin on the cheek while his hand was on Culkin's bottom. The defence has asserted that Culkin has repeatedly said he was never molested, and a spokesperson for the actor has said he has no plans to be part of the case.
But McManus also testified that she had lied before in previous lawsuits because she was scared.
She said she was afraid of Jackson because he had threatened to report her to her superiors if she ever did anything he didn't like. She also said she needed the job because her husband had been laid off and a house payment was due.
Mesereau also pointed out that McManus and her husband were found in a lawsuit to have defrauded three children of more than $30 500 from their estate and that in the Jackson lawsuit she was assessed $30 000 for stealing a sketch of Elvis Presley that Jackson had drawn and selling it to a tabloid.
- AP