- (AP) -- Michael Jackson imprisoned a child and his family
at his ranch and forced them to make a video absolving him of sex claims
after a television documentary linked the pop star to an obsession with
young boys, a prosecutor said.
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- In a documentary broadcast in February 2003, Jackson
defended his habit of letting children sleep in his bed as "sweet"
and non-sexual. Jackson was shown holding hands with the boy who is now
his accuser.
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- Later in February, his lawyers made their own videotape
of the boy and his mother. The tape has not been shown publicly, but sources
have said the mother and child praised Jackson's generosity towards them
and described him as a father figure to the boy, a cancer patient.
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- "The person Jackson perceived could put out this
(public relations) fire was John Doe and his family," Deputy District
Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said yesterday, referring to the alleged victim.
"If he could get them on tape describing Mr Jackson as a wonderful
person, it would quell this fire."
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- Auchincloss said the family had become virtual prisoners,
forbidden to leave Neverland Ranch, and were forced by Jackson to make
the tape. He said the family escaped once but was "cajoled back".
He did not elaborate.
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- Defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau derided the entire prosecution
case as "absurd on its face" and demanded dismissal of all charges.
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- The allegations came at a hearing in which Judge Rodney
Melville granted a defence request to postpone the scheduled September
13 trial. He set a new date of January 31, 2005.
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- The fiery court presentation was the first time the prosecution
disclosed the theory of its conspiracy case against Jackson. Auchincloss
detailed a number of the overt acts in the indictment, which have been
kept secret until now.
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- Auchincloss suggested Jackson lured the alleged victim
to his bed after the documentary aired. He also said that Jackson began
to entice the boy with alcohol and flew the family to holidays in luxury
resorts.
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- "He had his private plane land in the middle of
the night in Santa Barbara, and take John Doe and his family to Neverland,"
the prosecutor said. "At Neverland, there are late nights, no homework.
Do what you want, eat what you want, stay out late - no rules. It's a world
of self-indulgence. Ultimately, it gets John Doe to sleep in the bed of
Michael Jackson."
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- Mesereau ridiculed the assumption that the trips constituted
false imprisonment, saying, "The idea that they were imprisoned and
forced to fly on private jets to Florida, to socialise with celebrities
such as Chris Tucker, is absurd on its face. It would be laughed out of
court by a jury."
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- Jackson, 45, is charged with committing a lewd act upon
a child, administering an intoxicating agent and conspiring to commit child
abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He is on £2 million
bail.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=545427
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