The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 18, 2005, Page 5, Image 5
Jackson accuser's mother breaks down during testimony
MICHAEL MARIANT/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michael Jackson adjusts his eyeglasses as he arrives at the Santa
Barbara County courthouse last Monday in Santa Maria, Calif., for
his child molestation trial.
By LINDA DEUTSCH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — In a
riveting episode of courtroom
drama, the mother of Michael
Jackson’s accuser sobbed, snapped
her fingers, affected a German
accent, implored jurors not to
judge her and exclaimed: “I’ve
waited two years for this!”
If Jackson’s child molestation
trial were being televised, some
might have scoffed that she was
playing to the cameras. But there
are no cameras inside this trial,
which is shaping up as one of the
wildest in California’s colorful
history of jurisprudence.
The mother’s demeanor has
changed each day.
Beyond the vivid courtroom
scenes, she is perhaps as important
as her son to the prosecution’s case.
Without her, the conspiracy
count against Jackson would
probably fail. Prosecutors claim
the pop star conspired to isolate
and control the boy’s family — a
count that lists 28 alleged overt
acts, 20 of which are based on the
woman’s story.
Her credibility also reflects on
her children’s testimony, most
importandy her son’s claims of
molestation, since the defense is
likely to argue that she coached
them to lie.
Her son alleges that Jackson,
46, molested him in early 2003,
when he was 13 and recovering
from cancer.
Jackson denies all of it and his
lawyer is challenging the mother’s
credibility.
In her first day on the stand, she
extended her arms to jurors and
implored: “Please don’t judge me.”
She almost scuttled her entire
testimony by invoking Fifth
Amendment protection against
self-incrimination if asked about
welfare fraud and perjury. The
judge told jurors to draw no
inferences from the refusal but said
the defense may explore the issues
through other witnesses.
On the second day, she outlined
her allegations that the family was
held captive by Jackson employees,
saying they told her she was
pursued by “killers” who would
only be appeased if she and her
family made a video to counter a
documentary called “Living With
Michael Jackson,” in which
Jackson acknowledged he let
children sleep in his bed in a
nonsexual way.
By Friday, she was complaining
to the jury about the aggressive
cross-examination by Jackson’s
attorney. When the judge told her
to stop making speeches and answei
questions directly, she protested:
“I’ve waited two years for this!”
Jackson’s attorney will resume
cross-examining the mother
Monday.
Jurors saw two different faces of
the mother — one a glamorously
coifed figure shown in a video
praising Jackson as a father figure,
the other the plainly dressed
woman on the witness stand
denying virtually everything her
videotaped self had to say.
She maintained that the
videotaped testimonial was
scripted by Jackson’s cohorts.
“I was acting,” she insisted,
adding at one point: “I’m a poor
actress.”
“No,” shot back Jackson lawyer
Thomas Mesereau Jr. “I think
you’re a good one.”
Santa Barbara County Superior
Court Judge Rodney Melville
reprimanded both lawyer and
witness for their remarks.
At one point, the woman
referred to two Jackson aides as
“the Germans,” and imitated them
using a German accent.
At another time, she listened to
herself on tape praising Jackson’s
kindness during her. time at
Neverland.
“Now I know different,” she
blurted during questioning. “I
know that Neverland is all about
booze, pornography and sex with
boys.”
The remark was stricken from
the record, as were many others.
Mesereau also focused on what
he calls the woman’s bogus lawsuit
against a department store. The
family received more than
$150,000 in 2001 after alleging
they were roughed up by J.C.
Penney security guards.
Under his questioning, she
reluctantly acknowledged that she
lied under oath in that suit about
her relationship with her husband.
Although he sought to paint her
as a con artist who lies for financial
gain, she insisted she has no
financial motives in the Jackson
case.
“I want justice,” she declared.
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• Bikes
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MICHAEL LAFORGIA/THE GAMECOCK
New Russell House rules posted last week ban canes often carried by black fraternity members.
. ■ SIGNS
Continued from page 1
African-American fraternity
member, and they only need to
carry a cane around if you are
putting on a performance.”
After the brawl, Vanterpool said
his and other black fraternities
made concessions on conduct
guidelines presented to university
officials. He said Student Life
ignored the concessions made by
the implicated fraternities and
placed “unreasonable restrictions.”
“Just because we are another set
of individuals and black does not
mean we will start another
incident,” Vanterpool said.
“Problems happen at the Greek
Village all the time, and a big deal
has not been made about it.”
Vanterpool said he had
identified the conditions that led
to the brawl, but the relationship
between black fraternities is better
than in previous years. He said the
problem lies in the structure of
fraternities that made it difficult
for leadership to adequately
manage the actions of its members.
“The problem with fraternities
in general, is that you have to make
sure everyone is on the same page,”
Vanterpool said. “Because if one
person starts something for
whatever reason, a brother tries to
protect that person, and it grows
and grows and grows.”
Vanterpool said the new Russell
House restrictions wouldn’t be
effective. He said there is a need for
the black fraternities to unify, but
that it might take black people
“sitting-up” and realizing what is
happening to do so.
“We are rivals and we compete
with each other — healthy
competition is good,” Vanterpool
said. “But we all need to see that
we are working for the same
reasons, and a lot of us are getting
there.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknetvs@gwm.sc. edu
■ ATHLETICS
Continued from page 1
and mingling with some of the
38,000 fans in attendance.
“They’ve obviously done a good
job at TCU,” Spurrier said. “We’re
glad to have (Hyman) with us.”
Overwhelmed with the amount
of attention and requests for his
time, Hyman likened his day to
“drinking water from a fire hose.”
“We’re really excited to be here
and this is a wonderful
opportunity and a tremendous
challenge,” Hyman said. “The one
thing that stands out is the love
and passion and loyalty that South
Carolina has for its school.
“This was an easy decision ... .1
lived here for 11 years, and it’s
good to be back.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknetvs@gwm.sc. edit
■ FOOTBALL
Continued from page 1
Eric Hyman, who will replace
McGee as AD on July 1, talked
Saturday about keeping order in
the athletics department.
“I can’t legislate integrity. I can
demand it. You try and create
accountability.”
Comments an this story? E-mail
gamecocknervs@gwm.sc.edu
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