Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (108 page)

Dressed in pink, Janet was often sarcastic in court but at one time she
broke down on the witness stand, asking those in the courtroom, "Please don't
judge me." In her testimony she claimed that she'd seen Michael lick her son's
forehead like a cat. She alleged that the head-licking incident occurred on a
charter flight from Miami to California in February of 2003.

At the time, she did not intervene to stop it. "I thought I was seeing
things."

She also testified that Michael and his "henchmen" told her that there
were unnamed "killers" out to get both her and her children in the wake of the
damaging Bashir TV documentary in 2003.

Mesereau was known for trying to box accusers in with "yes" or "no"
answers. Defiantly, Janet made rambling speeches to the jury instead. At one
point she looked at Michael across the courtroom and said, "He managed to
fool the world. Now, because of this criminal case, people know who he really is. He really doesn't care about children. He cares about what he was doing
with children."

In a combative day on the stand, she was forced to admit that she'd once
told sheriff's deputies that she feared Michael had a plan for her and her family to "disappear from his Neverland ranch in a hot air balloon."

There were times such as this when the court
erupted in derisive laughter at her answers.

Thomas Mesereau

Janet had claimed that she was being held
against her will at Neverland, but defense witness Angel Vivanco, a chef, claimed that Janet
got a deluxe body wax at a spa and sipped champagne with one of her "captors." Vivanco
charged that Janet was a "flirtatious mom," who
downed bubbly with Michael's "henchman,"
Dieter Wiesner, at the kitchen bar at Neverland.
According to Vivanco, the pair left together "for
parts unknown." Vivanco's charge of Janet's
cozy session with Wiesner flew in the face of her previous testimony when she described Wiesner as one of the two threatening
men she called "Germans," who made "my life hell at Neverland."

To help the defense's case, an employee, Kate Bernard, asserted on the
stand that she drove Janet to the Bare Skin Aromatherapy Day Spa in Los
Olivos for a deluxe body wax. It was suggested that if Janet were indeed being
held "captive," she could have escaped at any time.

Joe Marcus, ranch manager at Neverland, also countered Janet's testimony, stating that the Arvizos were "happy" to be at Neverland. When he would
take Janet out on a shopping trip, he claimed that she was always anxious to
get back to Neverland. Marcus also said that Janet and Gavin "never complained about anything." Marcus was part of a string of current and former
Neverland employees called by the defense to counter disgruntled former staff
members who testified against Michael for the prosecution.

Prone to emotional outbursts wherein she would snap her fingers at jurors,
Janet could not explain why, if held hostage at Neverland, she didn't call the
police, since it was shown that she had unrestricted access to a telephone. She
also couldn't give a reason why she never called for help when Michael's
aides took her to public places such as restaurants, beauty salons, stores, and
even government offices where she repeatedly encountered law enforcement
officials and said nothing.

To counter charges of kidnapping, defense attorney Robert Sanger produced the gate log at Neverland, naming Brian Barron as the guard on duty
February 12, 2003, when the Arvizos left the property at 1:38 a.m.

A tall, red-haired cop, Barron moonlighted at Neverland for five years.
He'd also noted that the Arvizo family returned voluntarily a few days later.
In other tantalizing tidbits, not related to the case, Barron recorded a secret
visit of the Rev. Al Sharpton on June 23, 2002, and from Ed Bradley, the 60
Minutes correspondent, on February 8, 2003. A visit by Elizabeth Taylor had
been scheduled but she never showed up.

After these revelations, Sanger tore into the mother. "She lies for gain.
She's lied and cheated her way through life-that's what she does."

Janet claimed that in the wake of repeated death threats, she'd become so
afraid for herself and her children that the Arvizos escaped "in the dead of the
night" in one of Michael's Rolls-Royces. They were not to see Neverland
again and future encounters with Michael would occur in court.

Janet was the big loser at the trial. She not only lost her case against
Michael but later faced charges of welfare fraud and perjury. A five-count
felony indictment against her came down in October of 2005. She was
charged with a single fraud count and four instances of lying to secure nearly
$19,000 in welfare payments to which she was not entitled. During the
Jackson trial, she'd refused to answer questions about how she'd obtained welfare payments despite having more than $30,000 in the bank.

On November 13, 2006, Janet, aged 38, was found guilty of welfare fraud.
As part of a plea bargain, she agreed to repay $13,606 to the State of
California.

She was ordered to repay the rest of the money she'd illegally acquired
and to complete 154 hours of community service before April 27, 2007. If she
complied, the felony charge would be reduced to a misdemeanor and she'd not
have to go to prison.

After Janet's appearance, legal experts weighed in on Michael's trial, even
before the prosecution had wound up its case. Michael Cardoza, a defense
lawyer and former Alameda County (CA) prosecutor, predicted that "Jacko
may moonwalk over the DA's weak case." At the worst, a hung jury was predicted. "I wouldn't have let her anywhere near my case," said Cardoza, referring to the accuser's wacky mom. "Her testimony hurt more than it helped."

It wasn't just Janet's testimony that came under fire. The defense called
witnesses to counter some of Gavin's claims, especially a charge that Michael
had supplied him with alcohol during a cross-country flight from Los Angeles
to Miami.

The defense called a corporate flight attendant for Xtra-Jet International,
Cynthia Ann Bell, to the stand. She disputed the accuser's claim that Michael
had urged Gavin to "tank up on Jesus Juice" to shake off his fear of flying
aboard a February 7, 2003 flight to Miami. She maintained that the King of
Pop never shared his soda can of wine with Gavin, claiming that she'd kept an
eye on both Michael and Gavin throughout the flight.

The pretty blond jet hostess did admit that Michael was a "very private
drinker," who downed almost two bottles of white wine, hidden inside a diet
Coke can, during the cross-country flight.

She also testified that she never saw Michael "inappropriately touch the
accuser or any child." Gavin had testified that he had drunk "at least a whole
can worth of wine from Jackson's Diet Coke container" during the flight. His
sister also testified that she saw Michael pass the can to her brother. "They
were sipping it back and forth."

Bell also attacked Gavin for being "a rude and discourteous loudmouth,
who threw mashed potatoes and raised a ruckus when his chicken wasn't
warm enough." In her testimony, she also said that Gavin showed off an
expensive watch Michael had given him. She quoted the boy as bragging to
her, "Jackson will buy me anything I want."

It had been announced that many big names would appear in court for the
defense. Most of them, such as Elizabeth Taylor, were never summoned.
Judge Melville barred "bombshell" testimony from CNN talk show host Larry
King. With jurors out of earshot, the CNN host testified that the attorney, Larry Feldman, who at one time represented the accuser, told him that the
boy's mother was a "wacko," a term most often used for Michael himselfand "that she was just in it for the money." Melville ruled that this was
"hearsay" testimony and was inadmissible.

As a key witness for the prosecution, Dr. Stan Katz took the stand. He was
the one who had transmitted Gavin's allegations against Michael to authorities in June of 2003 when the boy was only 13.

On the stand, the psychiatrist claimed that, "It would be highly unusual for
a 12- to 13-year-old boy to make false accusations against a male," Katz
claimed, although there is massive evidence to dispute that.

Katz was known to TV audiences for his appearances on the NBC-TV
reality show, Starting Over.

Mesereau attacked Katz's credibility by citing a book he'd written, in
which the psychiatrist claimed that forty percent of child abuse claims are
false.

Surprisingly, when comedy club owner Jaime Masada took the stand, he
bolstered the claim of Janet. He testified that the mother, in a hysterical phone
call, claimed, "I can't leave Neverland Ranch. They're holding me and my
kids against my will." He remembered the call as coming through early in
2003. He quoted Janet as shouting, "Oh my god, they're holding me here." As
Masada remembered it, she was sobbing.

Masada claimed that it was not Janet but the father, David Arvizo, "who
was the one who pestered me for cash when the boy had cancer in 2001 and
2002." According to Masada's testimony, David, then unemployed, often "hit
me up for gasoline money or rent."

Masada is accredited with setting into motion the meeting between
Michael and Gavin. In court he disputed the defense contention that the mother was a scam artist. Masada is the owner of the Laugh Factory Comedy Club
on Sunset Strip. Arriving in America from Iran when he was 14 years old,
Masada built a comedy empire in Los Angeles. He met Gavin in 1999 at a
comedy camp he sponsored for disadvantaged children. At Gavin's request,
Masada put him in touch with Michael.

George Lopez, the star of the ABC sitcom, George Lopez, was called as a
witness for the prosecution. He recalled that he met Gavin's family in 1999 at
a Sunset Strip comedy club and became close to them when he learned of the
boy's illness. "I was invested in them," he testified, "and I saw a lot of myself
in that family." But he said that the father kept calling him asking him for
money. At one point, the father accused Lopez of stealing $300 from Gavin's
wallet, which had been left behind at the comic's house. Obviously the relationship soured after that. "What am I supposed to tell my son?" David asked
Lopez. The comedian curtly replied, "Tell him that his father is an extortion 1St."

A pivotal moment in the case came when the judge ordered Michael to
remove his trademark surgical mask. For all the world to see, Michael was
hardly ready for Norma Desmond's famous close-up. Photographs revealed
scarred lips and a nose seemingly held together by Elastoplast. One reporter
called the look one of a "borderline sci-fi scenario."

Throughout the trial Michael looked pale and frail under a pageboy haircut. He often wore military jackets with a red armband and a pocket crest. He
always painted his mouth scarlet and wore dark sunglasses. As one juror later
said, "If I was being charged with molesting a young boy, I would have left
the tube of lipstick laying on my vanity table."

On May 11, jurors saw two videotaped interviews which described
Michael's pure love of children, comparing himself to Princess Diana, the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Mother Teresa.
"Since these figures are dead," Michael said, "there's not a voice for the voiceless, and I've been doing it for many years."

On May 18, Rijo Jackson, Michael's 12-year-old cousin, took the stand.
His testimony cast grave doubt on the innocence of the Arvizo brothers. Rijo
stated that he saw Gavin steal wine and money and secretly watch porn on TV
while masturbating. Rijo also testified that Star took part in misbehaving during visits to Neverland. He said both brothers asked him to join them in masturbation as they watched an X-rated TV channel showing naked women
cavorting. Rijo said that he went to tell Michael what the boys were doing.
"But he didn't believe it," Rijo claimed.

Brushing aside tears, the doe-eyed boy described his X-rated encounter
with complete believability as he told of Gavin and Star "doing nasty stuff."
The pony-tailed cousin's account was important because Gavin had testified
that he never looked at porn or engaged in sexual conduct unless Michael was
there "to coach me."

The testimony of Jay Leno on May 23 was a disappointment. Michael's
lawyers hoped that Leno would take the stand, accusing the Arvizos of trying
to weasel money out of him. But he testified that he was never asked for
money.

Headlines claimed that Leno had bombed and that the Tonight Show funnyman was no stand-up guy for Michael. His testimony appeared to contradict
statements that he had made earlier to investigators for the Santa Barbara sheriff's department. During that session, the 55-year-old comedian claimed that
the Arvizos were "sort of looking for money" and that he felt he'd been targeted as their next "mark."

The following day Michael's defense team concluded their case without
bringing the pop star to the stand. The prosecution had two and a half months to summarize their case, the defense resting after
less than three weeks. Michael did speak on videotape, referring to himself as "a childlike spirit surrounded by adults who have deceived and betrayed
me."