The US will be convulsed by the Michael Jackson trial which starts at the end of this month. Can he get a fair hearing, asks Conor O'Clery, North America Editor.
Here we go again. Another California trial as opium for the masses. Another weapon of mass distraction for the 24-hour media. And this one will be the mother of all trials. The selection of a jury in the trial of Michael Jackson begins on January 31st, and it is going to be all Jackson, all the time for many months - at least on cable television.
The pop star is entitled to a fair trial. But can he get one in California? The jury pool is already tainted. Jackson has had a terrible press for years. He is a very weird person. The gloved one takes children to his bed, wears face masks, has permanent eye-liner, sports a sharp, remodelled nose, and once dangled his child from a window several stories up for photographers.
But he is not on trial for being creepy. The 12 jurors will be asked to decide whether the King of Pop is a criminal paedophile or a much-maligned innocent whose "elevator does not go all the way up", as someone said about him. The pop star faces 10 charges of child molestation, conspiracy, abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
We know the full details of the charges even before the trial gets under way. The sealed evidence given to a grand jury in Santa Barbara County nine months ago has been leaked. Graphic descriptions of what Jackson allegedly did to a 15-year-old boy at the singer's Neverland ranch have been broadcast and published. Earlier this month, ABC's Primetime Live programme aired lurid, verbatim extracts from the 1,900 pages of testimony.
Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, argued that the leak has prejudiced his client's case. "By law, no judge or defence lawyer was allowed to be present in the grand jury room," he said, "and furthermore, the defence had no opportunity to call its own witnesses to refute or criticise this one-sided proceeding."
Part of his case is that the complaints from the boy's mother that led to the prosecution date from mid-2003 when she first appointed a lawyer, some time after she had denied anything improper had happened.
Questions will be asked why she allowed her son to stay with Jackson, knowing charges of abusive behaviour had been made against the pop star before. Ten years ago, the mother of 13-year-old Jordan Chandler claimed he had been sexually assaulted by Jackson but a criminal investigation was thwarted when Chandler's parents agreed to a $20 million settlement.
Jackson (46) has strongly denied the latest charges and his defence will argue that this time too the boy's mother is only after the money, and that she has programmed her children to tell sordid tales about what he allegedly did to them.
At least the defence now knows the full extent of the case being brought by District Attorney Tom Sneddon. On January 6th, the transcript of the grand jury investigation was posted on www.thesmokinggun.com, a website owned by Court TV that specialises in trial scoops.
The story begins when the boy now making the accusations against Jackson contracted a rare type of cancer in 2000 (when he was 10) and was admitted to hospital in Los Angeles. In a "made-a-wish" programme for sick children he said he wanted to meet his idol, Michael Jackson. The pop star called the hospital and a telephone friendship began. After the boy left hospital, Jackson invited him and his 12-year-old brother and 16-year-old sister to visit Neverland in August, 2000. He lavished presents on them, including an Apple computer for the youngest and a Ford Bronco off-road vehicle for his mother.
While at the 2,600-acre ranch, the brothers claim Jackson showed them pornographic pictures on his computer and the younger boy said he was groped by Jackson on a golf cart. The visits ceased in 2001, when the elder boy was undergoing chemotherapy and his kidney and spleen were removed, but Jackson still talked to him frequently on the telephone.
The family resumed their trips to Neverland in 2002. On February 3rd, 2003, ITV in London broadcast a devastating interview with the star by reporter Martin Bashir in the Living with Michael Jackson documentary. It was transmitted in the US three days later. During the interview, Jackson cuddled the boy and admitted they slept in the same bed together. The Bashir documentary caused a sensation with its revelation that Jackson, long suspected of paedophile tendencies, was still taking boys to his bed.
Shortly afterwards, Jackson took the family to Miami on his private aircraft, ostensibly to hold a press conference, but it never took place. During their stay at an exclusive resort in Florida, the celebrity allegedly gave the elder boy wine for the first time. Then during the flight back, the singer allegedly plied the younger boy with wine from a soft drink can, which he called "Jesus Juice", and licked the top of the other boy's head while he slept. The younger boy also alleged that during the flight the singer made lewd telephone calls, including one in which he asked someone: "Does your pussy stink?"
Nevertheless, two weeks later the family testified on ABC television how well they were treated by Jackson. Now, they say Jackson and his aides allegedly conspired to imprison the family at Neverland and to force them to move to Brazil, saying they had received death threats.
The fact that the most serious molestation allegedly occurred some weeks after the Bashir interview will be a strong point in the defence argument that this was not part of a cover-up. The prosecution has not charged Jackson with any offence before the date of the interview. The children and their 36-year-old mother were apparently unable to give specific dates on which subsequent incidents allegedly took place, claiming there were no clocks at Neverland, despite a giant outdoor clock being a feature of the estate.
The elder boy said the first serious molestation occurred at Neverland between mid-February and early March, 2003, after Jackson gave him alcohol. He alleges the singer told him boys had to masturbate or they would go crazy, and he wanted to show him how to do it. They were both in pyjamas on Jackson's bed. The boy alleged that Jackson put his hand down the front of his pyjamas and started masturbating him, saying: "It's okay. It's natural." This happened on some five other occasions, the boy told investigators, although the prosecution case cites only two instances.
When the elder boy was asked if he looked at Jackson's face while this was happening, he replied: "His eyes were, like, 'squinching' really tight." Did he touch Mr Jackson? "No," said the boy. "He wanted me to, but I didn't. I said no and I pulled my hand away."
On one of these occasions, the boy said he soiled his underwear and Jackson took the clothing and did not return it. The younger boy gave evidence of twice seeing Jackson masturbate when fondling his sleeping brother, and on one occasion "moving his hips back to front" against the child.
The family eventually "escaped" when a Neverland security officer drove them back to Los Angeles in Jackson's black Rolls Royce. A social worker lodged a claim of neglect against the mother shortly after seeing the Bashir interview. The family members were interviewed by prosecutors on February 20th but all separately denied any improper behaviour by Jackson.
They say now they were too frightened to tell the truth. They made their statements of abuse in July after Jackson allegedly broke promises to place her children in private school and to buy them a house and an apartment. The mother was also angered by hearing that Jackson provided alcohol to her son, as this would aggravate his medical condition.
All this will provide endless revenue for legal pundits on television in the months ahead. The trial in the town of Santa Maria, before Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville, will not be televised, but two pay TV networks, E! Television in the US, and BSkyB in Britain, will broadcast daily re-enactments basedon court transcripts. Pre-trial hearings are being held this week and next to consider whether a child abuse expert can testify and which questions should be directed to the pool of 4,000 potential jurors. Jury selection could last for a month. A media city has been established around the courthouse and every hotel for miles has been booked since last year. Some 160 witnesses will be called, including Jackson's former wife, Debbie Rowe.
It will be the biggest celebrity trial ever held, and unless something dramatic happens to cut it short, it could run well into the summer.