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Jackson jury heard weird tales
23/05/2005 11:36 - (SA)
Santa Maria, California - Amid the courtroom battles, heartrending moments and shocking testimony, the 12 jurors at Michael Jackson's child sex trial have also heard some pretty outlandish stuff.
And to the eight women and four men who will ultimately decide Jackson's fate, the pop star's fantasy-filled Neverland Ranch may well sound like another planet, rather than an estate located merely 50km from the conservative California town of Santa Maria, where the trial is being held.
They saw witnesses break down in tears, some testifying to Jackson's innocent love of children and others portraying him as a sexual predator.
Since the first witness appeared on February 28, the court has seen reams of porn and heard graphic details of the sexual acts Jackson allegedly engaged in with young boys.
But jurors were also treated to bizarre tales that at times offered comical relief.
They have heard that an associate liked to refer to Jackson as Arnold and that the star in turn liked to call money "French fries".
They also learned that Jackson, who is known for his high-pitched nasal voice, also has a much deeper voice, which he uses when he is upset.
But they are unlikely to hear him speak out in either of those voices as he is not expected to testify at the trial that could end within weeks.
Jackson does at times answer questions from journalists, usually to talk about his health. Asked on one occasion how he felt having his mother in the courtroom hear graphic details of alleged molestation, he simply answered: "I love my mother."
The jurors also saw the accuser's mother, whose five days of highly emotional and often bizarre testimony raised quite a few eyebrows, particularly when she said Jackson had planned to spirit her children away in a hot-air balloon.
Chimps
The 12 jurors heard quite a bit about the help at Neverland.
In a videotaped interview shown in court, the "King of Pop" described how chimps helped him clean up his room.
His longtime companion "Bubbles" even used the toilet in his bedroom suite, according to Jackson, even though his former maids claimed the chimp would defecate in the bedroom and hurl his droppings on the wall.
When he was not playing with his pets, Jackson would sit on his favourite tree to do his creative thinking, while elephants and camels roamed the grounds of his sprawling estate, and children engaged in food fights.
The jurors also learned about Jackson's culinary tastes when a flight attendant testified that the star, once believed to be a vegetarian, liked to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Photographs and video footage taken at his home also gave a rare glimpse into his interior decorating tastes, which range from small dolls in bondage outfits to huge statues or cartoon heroes.
His taste in literature includes French classics to specialised pornographic magazines with titles such as Women over 50 and Plumpers.
- AFP
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