Last showdown in Jackson trial

2005-06-02 15:14

Santa Maria - Rival lawyers at Michael Jackson's child sex trial were set to present their crucial closing arguments on Thursday before handing the case to the 12 jurors who will decide the pop star's fate.

The final statements will mark the climax of the marathon trial after three months of testimony in which 140 witnesses presented conflicting portrayals of the "King of Pop".

Once the jurors start deliberations, possibly on Friday, it will be up to them to determine whether to believe the prosecution's claim Jackson is a sexual predator, or the defence's contention that the star's love for children is pure and innocent.

Tug of war ahead

Jackson has not testified in his own defence during the trial, but he can expect his celebrity attorney Thomas Mesereau to deliver an impassioned argument depicting him as the victim of a cunning extortion scheme.

The prosecution team, on the other hand, will seek to convince the jury that the pop idol used alcohol and pornography to lure a 13-year-old cancer survivor into his bed in 2003.

Both sides face an arduous task in trying to piece together the massive amount of evidence and testimony presented to the jurors.

The case is so complex that trial Judge Rodney Melville gave the jurors 98 pages of guidelines on how to deal with the evidence during their deliberations.

Jackson, a 46-year-old father of three, is charged with four counts of sexually molesting his accuser and one of attempting to molest the boy, four counts of serving him alcohol in a bid to seduce him, and another of conspiring to hold the child captive.

Prior claims of sexual molestation a big factor

The judge reminded the jury that their sole duty was to determine whether the prosecution had "proved the guilt of the defendant on trial."

In a critical instruction, Melville told the jurors they could take into consideration prior claims of child sexual molestation, but could not find Jackson guilty alone on the basis of those uncharged accusations.

Melville's decision in March to allow prosecutors to tell of claims Jackson had fondled other boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a blow to his defence and one of the most important rulings of the trial.

The prosecution, led by long-time Jackson nemesis Tom Sneddon, was expected to try to convince jurors that Jackson has a long history of molesting young boys, and there was nothing innocent in his admitted fondness for having children in his bed.

But Mesereau is certain to reiterate his contention that Jackson is the true victim and that his accuser is a pawn in a greedy mother's scheme to extort the famed entertainer.

The prosecution will be the first to deliver its closing arguments, and will get the final word after the defence has addressed the jurors.

The usually flamboyant Jackson appeared increasingly sombre as his marathon trial neared the end.

- AFP