Posted on 06/03/2005 12:26:19 PM PDT by Howlin
Bayliffs being sworn in, alternatives have been sent home!
This circus is about to be in the hands of the jury!
Bets? Predictions?
I wouldn't venture anywhere NEAR that area today. (Glad I don't need to go to the mall, which is across Cook St. from the courthouse.
To make things even crazier, there are about 30,000 rodeo fans in town this weekend for the yearly Elks' Rodeo - one of the biggest in the state. We live a block from the Elks' Club.
Don't think I'll leave the house all weekend ;-)
Hey Howlin' can you send 1000 pizzas over to them and report back?
LOL. And if it does and Jacko's convicted, how long will his fellow prisoners let Whacko Jacko keep his conk?
That about sums it up. :)
very very excellent point
but this is California, the money grubbing parents weren't not helpful in this case
frankly I think the mother is just as reprensible as MJ but I still think he molested the kid
he's got the classic I'm the King of Pop so I'm Above the Law mentality
I feel sorry for his kids
the good news he's broke and I believe Neverland is on the auction block so he's pedophile pad will be out of commission hopefully
I do wonder why do California prosecutors seems so oh less sharp than prosecutors in other jurisdictions, where is the Californian Rudy Guilani......is the pay that crappy? or is it because the prosecutors are all after the same book deals as the jurors.......
or the judge may throw the verdict out if he doesn't like it or something (very very unlikely, but who knows with this trial).
Oh, yeah, what was I thinking? LOL
Speaking of tag lines, I am not all that computer savvy, how do you change your tagline? I haven't a clue.
Watch out. I was making the same case on another thread and was called a liberal who would celebrate watching MJ molest other kids by a sick freeper. The prosecution left room for reasonable doubt.
the yearly Elks' Rodeo - one of the biggest in the state. We live a block from the Elks' Club.
Wow! Elk dogging, ride the bucking Elk, Elk roping,
Eeeeeeeehaw!
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - The child molestation case against Michael Jackson went to the jury Friday after the defense begged the panel to acquit the singer, portraying Jackson as a victim of grifters trying to pull "the biggest con of their careers."
Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. told jurors the pop star is not the "monster" that prosecutors have portrayed. He said the accuser and his family fabricated the molestation allegations to take advantage of Jackson.
"They are trying to profit from Michael Jackson. They think they have pulled it off. They are just waiting for one thing - your verdict."
He added: "If you look in your hearts do you believe Michael Jackson is evil in that way? Is it even possible? It really is not."
Prosecutors painted a vastly different picture - one of Jackson as a serial child molester and his Neverland Ranch as a predator's lair.
"Why would Mr. Jackson do it?" Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen said. "Because he could. ... This child was in love with him. This child would do anything he said."
Soon after, as the jury went to work, a grim-looking Jackson left the courthouse and walked slowly to his entourage's waiting vehicles in front of the courthouse. He drove off without comment.
Jackson, 46, has appeared gaunt in recent days, and officials at Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital disclosed Friday that he had visited the emergency room overnight. Hospital spokeswoman Janet O'Neill refused to discuss why he was there.
On Friday morning, Jackson appeared drawn but made it to court on time. He arrived with his parents, sisters Janet and LaToya, and brothers Jermaine, Tito and Randy. He clutched his mother's arm as he walked in.
"Michael's innocent!" came shouts from some in a crowd of about 75 people outside.
Jackson is charged with molesting the boy, then a 13-year-old cancer patient, in 2003. He allegedly plied the boy with wine and conspired to hold his family captive to get them to rebut the documentary "Living With Michael Jackson."
He could face several years in prison if convicted of all charges.
After Mesereau's closing argument and a prosecution rebuttal, Judge Rodney S. Melville ordered jurors to begin their deliberations and gave them 98 pages of instructions. He told Jackson he could stay at Neverland during deliberations but attorneys would have to stay within 10 minutes of the courthouse in case the jury had questions that needed to be addressed.
The deliberations are the final step in an ordeal that began 14 weeks ago. The panel of eight women and four men has since heard from more than 130 witnesses. They included the now-15-year-old accuser and three young men, including actor Macaulay Culkin, who said as boys they spent time with Jackson and were never molested.
On Friday morning, Mesereau wrapped up his closing with an impassioned plea for Jackson's acquittal. He mounted a fierce attack on the accuser and his mother, brother and sister.
"She is a complete liar and fabricator and con artist," he said of the mother. "She has conned people for years. She'll say anything - absolutely anything."
He said that "what they are trying to do to Michael Jackson is so harmful, so brutal, so devastating ... if you have any reasonable doubt about the double-talk, the lies, it's over. You must acquit Michael Jackson."
Mesereau spoke about the American system of justice and said, "We have the best system in the world and ladies and gentlemen I'm begging you to honor the system. ... You must acquit him."
He accused prosecutors of trying to "dirty up Michael" because they lack the evidence to prove their case.
"The witnesses are preposterous, the perjury is everywhere," Mesereau declared. "None of it works. The only thing they've had is to throw dirt all over the place and hope it sticks."
Mesereau played excerpts from a video in which Jackson denied sexual impropriety and said he had never "been betrayed or deceived by children." The attorney closed by telling jurors that Jackson had been lax with his money and had let the wrong people into his circle but was not the "monster" prosecutors had portrayed and was not guilty of any crime.
Afterward, prosecutor Zonen, who had given his closing Thursday, offered a brief rebuttal. He reminded jurors of past allegations from other boys against Jackson and said such testimony was necessary "to see the total picture."
Zonen alleged that Jackson had been "in love" with a boy who received a large monetary settlement from him in 1993. He said testimony about Jackson sleeping in bed with other boys could not be easily explained, and he added that the current accuser is a "clone" of the boy in the 1993 case.
On Thursday, Zonen ridiculed the idea the boy's mother could have made up the entire molestation story and prompted her children to lie in order to make money with a future lawsuit against Jackson.
"It's unmitigated rubbish," he said.
AP-ES-06-03-05 1651EDT
Just type over your old tagline to change it.
The thought that after all this, Jackson might actually be innocent -- that is chilling.
LMAO, the Jackson jury and the rodeo. Who could ask for more?
NO--what is chilling, is that he WILL get let off and he IS guilty of this crap...
THAT is much more chilling---what he will continue to do, these types of people DON'T just stop---
Also, equally as chilling is the fact that this "person" has 3 children, 2 of them boys........
Just sentence him to 20 years of butthole surfing in prison. With a bunch of Mexicans.
So I can watch the news without changing the channel.
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