Posted on 06/14/2005 5:49:12 AM PDT by Lazamataz
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Basking in the jurors' decision to acquit his client of all counts, Michael Jackson's lawyer said Tuesday the singer will no longer share his bed with young boys.
"He's not going to do that anymore," attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. told NBC's "Today." "He's not going to make himself vulnerable to this anymore."
Jackson was found not guilty Monday of child molestation, conspiracy and other counts. Jurors said the accusations of a young boy and his family were not credible — a total legal victory that triggered jubilation among the pop star's fans and embarrassment for the district attorney's office.
But Mesereau said the singer was still recovering from the ordeal.
"He's going to take it one day at a time. It's been a terrible, terrible process for him," Mesereau said Tuesday.
A raucous welcome greeted Jackson as he returned to his Neverland Ranch on Monday afternoon. As a convoy of black SUVs carrying him and his entourage pulled through the gates, his sister La Toya rolled down a window, smiled widely and waved. The crowd responded with a euphoric cheer.
"All of us here and millions around the world love and support you," proclaimed a banner strung across a fence by the compound in Los Olivos that Jackson said he created to provide himself with the childhood he never enjoyed.
"It's victory," said Tracee Raynaud, 39. "God is alive and well."
The acquittals marked a stinging defeat for Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon, who displayed open hostility for Jackson and had pursued him for more than a decade, trying to prove the rumors that swirled around Jackson about his fondness for children.
Sneddon sat with his head in his hands after the verdicts were read.
"We don't select victims of crimes and we don't select the family. We try to make a conscientious decision and go forward," Sneddon said afterward, adding "I'm not going to look back and apologize for anything that we've done."
Jurors may have acquitted Jackson of all charges of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor, but not all of them were convinced the King of Pop had never molested a child.
"He's just not guilty of the crimes he's been charged with," said Ray Hultman, who told The Associated Press he was one of three people on the 12-person panel who voted to acquit only after the other nine persuaded them there was reasonable doubt about the entertainer's guilt in this particular case.
Prosecutors presented testimony about Jackson's allegedly improper relationships with several boys in the early 1990s, including the son of a maid who testified that Jackson molested him during tickling session between 1987 and 1990. Another, Brett Barnes, took the stand to deny that he was molested during sleepovers at Neverland.
But Hultman said he believed it was likely that both boys had been molested. He said he voted to acquit Jackson in the current case because he had doubts about his current accuser's credibility.
"That's not to say he's an innocent man," Hultman, 62, said of Jackson.
Some jurors noted they were troubled by Jackson's admission that he allowed boys into his bed for what he characterized as innocent sleepovers.
"We would hope first of all that he doesn't sleep with children anymore and that he learns that they have to stay with their families or stay in the guest rooms or the houses or whatever they're called down there," jury foreman Paul Rodriguez said. "And he just has to be careful how he conducts himself around children."
Some jurors acknowledged they flatly disliked the accuser's mother, portrayed by the defense as a welfare cheat who brought a trumped-up lawsuit against J.C. Penney, accusing store guards of roughing her and her family up. "I disliked it intensely when she snapped her fingers at us," said one juror, a woman, who declined to give her name.
Another woman juror said she felt sorry for the accuser and his siblings, believing they had been trained by their mother to lie. "As a mother, the values she has taught them, it's hard for me to comprehend," she said. "I wouldn't want any of my children to lie for their own gain."
The verdict means Jackson will be free to try to rebuild his blighted musical career. But his legal victory came at a terrible price to his image.
Prosecutors branded him a deviant who used his playland as the ultimate pervert's lair, plying boys with booze and porn. Prosecution witnesses described other bizarre behavior by Jackson: They said he licked his accuser's head, simulated a sex act with a mannequin, kept dolls in bondage outfits on his desk.
Defense lawyers described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star. The boy had asked to meet the star when he thought he was dying of cancer.
The defense said the family exploited the boy's illness to shake down celebrities, then concocted the charges after realizing Jackson was cutting them off from a jet-set lifestyle that included limo rides and stays at luxurious resorts.
Jackson was cleared of 10 charges in all, including four counts that he molested the boy in early 2003. Jackson also was charged with providing the boy with wine — "Jesus juice," the pop star called it — and conspiring with members of his inner circle to hold the accuser and his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging documentary. Jurors also had to consider four lesser charges related to the alcohol counts, forcing them to render 14 verdicts in all.
The case was set in motion by the 2003 broadcast of the British TV documentary "Living With Michael Jackson" that Jackson had hoped would actually improve his image. In the program, Jackson held hands with the boy who would later accuse him, and he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.
After the verdict, a weary Jackson retreated to Neverland where, according to his family, he went straight to bed. The entertainer, who appeared exhausted as he shuffled out of court, is "trying to get back his strength," said his father, Joe Jackson.
"I feel justice was done," Jackson's father said. "We thank the fans for supporting us."
As the verdict was read, Jackson sat motionless, as he did throughout the trial, only dabbing at his eyes with a tissue. One of his lawyers, Susan Yu, burst into tears. Some of the women on the jury also wept.
"I'm shaking," said Emily Smith, 24, of London, who was among the few lucky fans in Santa Maria who got courtroom passes to hear the reading of the verdicts. "I believe justice has been done today. I can't tell you how good it feels."
Well that's a relief :(
A pedophile doesn't change. A tiger's a tiger.....
Hoooooookay.
Jackson will be more carefull about whos kids he sleeps with.
Yeah, right. (Big sarcasm.)
Yeah, he sure learned his lesson.
He'll share a sleeping bag instead.
After reading the first few sentences, had to check the source. Was betting it was satire.
From now on, anyone who sends their unsuspecting children to 'Neverland', can only blame themselves for any wrong doing.
wanna bet...
Jackass paid out MILLIONS in 1993 and he obviously didn't learn anything from that HUGE expense!
I guess he'll just have to do 'em on the couch...
Yeah! Riiiight!
You know.... honestly... I think when you get jurors walking out saying... yeah he's probably guilty but we didn't convict because we looked at the evidence like a lawyer... I think they ought to put them in jail. They found him not guilty. If they can't walk out and say Michael Jackson is not guilty of child molestation... then they need to be locked up.
Jackson vowed to tour every Chucky Cheese and every Amusement Park looking for the REAL molester.
He will get young sheep.
Riiiiiiight.
Just the fact that that statement has to be made is disgusting. I hope he never earns another dime and lives a long and miserably lonely life.
I think I have more contempt for the jury than I do MJ.
So, Michael Jackson was the vulnerable one in all this?
Not this week, anyway.
So9
His own son is getting closer to the age he likes to share his bed with. He won't have to go looking.
Yep...his financial situation is so bad that he's going to sleep over at their houses now.
His "Not Guilty" verdict has now morphed into "Innocent"........which is not true.
Yeah, and OJ is still looking for Nicole's killer....
Heck, there is always a public rest room
I'm laughing in spite of the sadness and seriousness of the topic.
Isn't that what he said the last time?
AIN'T GOT A HOME
Clarence Henry
1. Oh I've got a voice and I love to sing
I can sing like a girl and I can sing like a frog
I'm a lonely boy, ain't got no home
2. Ain't got a brother, ain't got a sister
Ain't got a mother, ain't got no one
I'm a lonely girl, ain't got no home
3. Ain't got a brother, ain't got a father
Ain't got a mother, ain't got no one
I'm a lonely girl, ain't got no home
4. Ain't got a brother, ain't got a sister
Ain't got a mother, ain't got no one
I'm a lonely frog, ain't got no home
From now on, anyone who sends their unsuspecting children to "Neverland" can only be assumed to be looking for a big payday by pimping out those children to a known pedophile.
Yeah but this time he MEANS it.
The last accuser's mother is proof that there are enough dysfunctional and even criminally negligent "parents" around to keep that DEPRAVED PERVERT in young boys for a long long time.
Doesn't the law and the courts have a responsibility to PROTECT THE CHILDREN - even of dysfunctional and even criminally negligent "parents" - from the likes of Jacko?
Jackosn got away with it, down to the most insignificant charge. Now he should leave the country and prey on other kids elsewhere.
I can see it 10 to fifteen years from now. Some of MJ's "guests" start to come out and talk.
Betcha he starts turning up at minature golf courses all over the place!
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/318845p-272608c.html
Jurors were mad at the mother more than they were willing to accuse Michael Jackson of being a pedophile.
oh my
Excuse me but OJ is.
He's searching every Golf Course in Florida for them, but thus far he's had no luck.
:-)
Bull. I give it less than a year. He will justify it by saying "I would stop sleeping with boys if I really was a pedophile".
MJ won't stop now. He's been given a pass and I hope the jurors rot in hell.
Gee, it takes a multi-million dollar court case, months of the public's attention and a very close brush with jail for Michael Jackson to realize that some of his habits were very, very unhealthy.
A good smack in the head a long time ago by a big brother or a good friend just might have saved the world a lot of time and energy.
He should go and get some normal hobbies like Tennis, Gardening or Reading or the like. Perhaps unassisted free-diving in the Marianas Trench with lead weights might be of interest to Mr.Jackson.
Don't you remember? Abraham Lincoln was gay because he shared a bed with a friend in freezing weather. That was the custom back then. Everyone who was not rich and could not afford heating 24/7 was gay.
He won`t share his bed again...Yeah, and OJ is still looking for the real killers. Let`s see, last time after paying off that kid not a week later he was seen back as usual parading around with little boys.
"From now on, anyone who sends their unsuspecting children to "Neverland" can only be assumed to be looking for a big payday by pimping out those children to a known pedophile."
He'll just adopt a few more kids. We don't even know where his third child came from. If the child objects to his advances, he can drop the child out of a third floor window and everything will be cool with his fans.
Also, when he tours out of the country, it's easy for him to get kids.
So, when is the mother going to court for pimping her son out?
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