Jackson: Dirty tricks plan

2005-03-02 22:04

Santa Maria - A public relations specialist testified on Wednesday in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial that a lawyer for Jackson told her the mother of the boy involved in the case would be made to look like a "crack whore".

Ann Marie Kite, called to the stand as the prosecution focused on conspiracy allegations, testified about the Jackson camp's response to the aftermath of the documentary Living With Michael Jackson, which aired on February 6 2003, and triggered the probe that led to charges.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch in 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive.

Kite said she became concerned on February 13 after Jackson associate Marc Schaffel told her the boy and his family had left the ranch in the middle of the night and that later Schaffel told her: "The situation had been contained."

The witness said she was concerned about why the family had left and how the situation was resolved, but that she couldn't get details from any of Jackson's associates.

"The way that he answered by saying the situation had been contained made me very uncomfortable," Kite said.

She said that later in the day she asked a Jackson attorney, David LeGrand, what had happened.

"I said, 'Don't make me believe that these people were hunted down like dogs and brought back to the ranch,"' she said.

Kite said she was fired and LeGrand subsequently told her the boy's mother would no longer be a problem.

"He said that they no longer had to worry about (the mother) because they had her on tape and they were going to make her look like a crack whore."

On cross-examination, defence attorney Thomas Mesereau tried to raise questions about Kite's credentials and credibility, questioning her about a previous relationship with LeGrand and past experience in crisis management.

Kite acknowledged she dated LeGrand until about a week before she was hired and that her only previous celebrity client was Marshall Sylver, a Las Vegas hypnotist.

Prosecutors called Kite to support allegations that Jackson and his associates held the family against their will at Neverland and other locations throughout February 2003 to force them to help in a public relations campaign to rehabilitate his image.

Jackson's indictment names Schaffel as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Defense attorneys say the family was free to leave at any time.

Earlier, under prosecution questioning, Kite mentioned child molestation allegations that the pop star faced in 1993, but which did not result in charges.

The reference was made even though the judge has not yet ruled on whether prosecutors in the current case will be allowed to present evidence from 1993.

- AP