The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser spent much of Friday on the witness stand bickering with the pop star's lead attorney as he attacked her credibility and she shot
back that Neverland was a den of "booze, pornography and sex with boys."
In a daylong cross-examination by lead defense attorney Tom Mesereau that often deteriorated into squabbling, she took every opportunity to slam Jackson and responded
with long, rambling asides that aggravated Mesereau and even the judge.
At one point the woman, instead of answering a question by Mesereau, accused the 46-year-old Jackson of going to great lengths to hide his drinking.
"How foolish I was that I thought he didn't drink," she said. "Now I know that Neverland is all about booze, pornography and sex with boys."
Jackson, sitting across the courtroom at the defense table, shook his head at the outburst. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville ordered it struck from the record. Jackson
has been charged with giving the woman's son alcohol in order to molest him.
The exchanges between Mesereau and the woman became so testy -- with occasional interjections by prosecutor Ron Zonen -- that Melville at one point threatened to halt
the trial.
"Do you want me to shut this trial down this afternoon?" the judge said. "Let's start taking this seriously."
Earlier, the judge admonished both Mesereau and the woman as she defended what she called her scripted statements on a so-called rebuttal tape, made by Jackson's
aides in response to a 2003 documentary about the pop icon.
"I'm a poor actress," the mother said. Mesereau shot back: "Oh, I think you're a good one."
In the documentary, Jackson defended his practice of sharing his bed with children and was seen holding hands with the boy who became his accuser.
Defense lawyers claim that the woman goaded her son into inventing the molestation claims against Jackson. Mesereau repeatedly tried to show that she was dishonest
and greedy, suggesting she planned a lawsuit against the singer if he were convicted.
"We will never file a claim against Mr. Jackson," she said. "I want justice here."
Jackson is charged with molesting the woman's son at Neverland in early 2003, plying the boy with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit false
imprisonment, child abduction and extortion. The performer, who has pleaded innocent, faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.
Mesereau appeared to score points for the defense when the woman acknowledged lying under oath during a 1990s civil lawsuit her family filed against J.C. Penney. She
claimed to have been sexually assaulted by security guards, and the department store settled for $152,000.
She also conceded that she never called police during the time she claimed to have been held against her will, intimidated and harassed by Jackson's aides, despite being
close friends with a Los Angeles police officer.
Mesereau spent much of the afternoon challenging the woman over a so-called rebuttal tape, in which the family praises Jackson at great length in effusive and sometimes
reverent terms.
She claimed her family was forced by Jackson's associates to memorize a script and that none of their statements were genuine.
Jackson's accuser and members of his family have all been identified by name in open court, although Reuters has not done so to protect the identity of the son, who is a minor.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 13:32 IST