This is gonna get ugly really fast....
British Journalist Expected to Take Stand for Prosecution in Michael Jackson's Molestation Trial
SANTA MARIA, Calif. Mar 1, 2005 — Prosecutors were expected to call a British journalist as their first witness in the Michael Jackson molestation trial Tuesday, following the opening statement by the pop singer's defense attorney.
Martin Bashir, who produced the documentary "Living With Michael Jackson," was expected to take the stand. The documentary drew widespread news coverage and an investigation by Los Angeles County officials because of Jackson's on-air admission that he has shared his bed with children.
In opening statements Monday, prosecutor Thomas Sneddon told jurors that the pop star plied his victim with vodka and porn, while the defense portrayed the accuser's mother as a grifter hoping to profit from a smear.
Sneddon said Monday the boy, now 15, will describe to the jury his sexual experiences with Jackson and show that the musician's Neverland Ranch was a devilish lair. "The private world of Michael Jackson will show that instead of reading them Peter Pan, he's showing them sexually explicit magazines. … Instead of cookies and milk, you can substitute wine, vodka and bourbon," he said.
Sneddon alleged that when the boy and his family first visited Neverland, Jackson told the boy to ask his mother if he could sleep in Jackson's bedroom. He said Jackson then showed sexually explicit Web sites to the boy and his own son, Prince Michael, on that visit.
Searches of Neverland turned up sexually explicit DVDs and magazines, including 1960s-era periodicals with pictures of naked children, and correspondence from the accuser addressed to "Michael" or "Michael Daddy," Sneddon said.
Some magazines had the fingerprints of Jackson, others had the prints of the boy and his brother, and one had prints from both Jackson and the accuser, the prosecutor said.
Jackson defense attorney Tom Mesereau says the detailed molestation accusations against the singer simply "didn't happen" and said the accuser's mother concocted them when she realized her free-loading off Jackson was ending. Mesereau says Jackson had given the family money he thought was for the boy's cancer treatments and contends those expenses had been paid by an insurance company.
Jackson, 46, sat still as a statue with one hand pressed against his cheek as Sneddon outlined the accusations. In the front row of the courtroom, Jackson's mother, Katherine, sat beside her son Jermaine. They were the only Jackson family members present.
Jackson is charged with molesting the then-13-year-old cancer patient at Neverland in 2003, plying him with alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive.
After the nearly three-hour opening by the prosecutor, defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. went on the attack, saying the mother of the accuser fraudulently claimed to many people that she was destitute and that her son needed money for chemotherapy. In truth, he said, the boy's father was a member of a union that covered his medical bills. Mesereau said the mother went to comedian Jay Leno for money and Leno was so suspicious that he called Santa Barbara police to tell them he had been contacted and "something was wrong. They were looking for a mark."
The mother also approached comedian George Lopez and a Los Angeles TV weatherman who staged a fund-raiser for the child at a comedy club, the defense attorney said.
He said celebrities including Mike Tyson and Jim Carrey turned the family away, but Jackson was too sympathetic. "The most vulnerable celebrity became the mark, Michael Jackson," Mesereau said.
Before opening statements, Judge Rodney S. Melville read the indictment, revealing for the first time the names of five Jackson employees and associates described as unindicted co-conspirators.
It alleged that Jackson employee Frank Tyson told the family they were in danger and had to return to Neverland. It said Tyson threatened the accuser, telling him that "Michael could make the family disappear" and that he also said, "I could have your mother killed."
The indictment also alleged a series of bizarre activities following the 2003 documentary, including a panicky effort by Jackson employees to get the family of his accuser ready for a trip to Brazil.
Isn't there anything else that's newsworthy other than Wacko? 
