Today it’s ten years ago since Michael Jackson was acquitted on all charges in a criminal trial in Santa Maria, California. Although this anniversary actually should be a happy day because justice was done, it rather makes me sad. It makes me sad because Michael had to endure one of the most humiliating trials that anyone ever had to live through! It makes me sad because, despite of the full acquittal, there are still too many people around that believe that he got off just because he is a celebrity, and there are still too many people who try to cash in on that believe! It makes me sad because I believe that in the end this court case killed Michael Jackson, because it destroyed his life, his career and his beliefs.
If you have followed this trial though the mainstream media, don’t be fooled! They didn’t tell you half the truth! As I have been there, sat in that courtroom, I know for a fact that a lot of journalists left the courtroom as soon as the prosecution was finished with their examination. They did not stay to hear the cross-exams, which are essential to really assess a witness’ credibility. I remember that I sometimes read articles after a day in court and was wondering if a journalist had been to that same courtroom as I had. Large parts of the media were so sure, or rather so determined to make Michael the criminal they wish he was, that the truth was secondary. Moreover, they lulled themselves so much into their beliefs, that in the end they were shocked when the verdict came in, while journalists like Roger Friedman or William Wagener, who had heard everything that was said in court, predicted an acquittal. Tells you something… And then there were people like Aphrodite Jones, award-winning American journalist, who crucified Michael whenever she could – until after the trial, when she sat down and read the whole of the court transcripts and realized that this case was all lies and wrote the excellent book “Conspiracy” about her findings. Therefore, if you really want to know what went on from someone who was everything but biased for Michael Jackson, get her book!
And that’s the reason why I decided to write this article: I want to use this anniversary to remind everyone that Michael Jackson was declared not guilty on all charges by a jury after a trial. So he should be considered not guilty, everything else is defamation without any basis!
Now that Michael’s gone, I sometimes wonder if these people, who brought a case against him that they knew was nonsense and did everything in addition to humiliate him and ruin his life, have a bad conscience. I wonder if journalists, who couldn’t let a day go by without vilifying or mocking him, regret their behavior. I wonder if people who loved to make jokes about him and proclaim they hate him, revisit their statements. It’s amazing how quick we are in judging people and how hateful humans can be, even against people that have never done them any harm, that they don’t even know personally. Or even on the contrary, people who may have brought them joy through music and entertainment. Michael left so much for us to enjoy and yet he was treated so badly! And that’s really sad!
Here is a report some of my friends and me wrote for the book “A life for L.O.V.E.”, talking about what we experienced in and around court:
“We had to get up at 5am to be in front of the courthouse at 6am. 20 minutes later the officers arrived and the lottery for the public seats in the courtroom started. We all got little tickets with our numbers on them and when your number was drawn, you were allowed to go in that day. As not many people were there that day, we got in. We had to give our names and our passport number was registered. In return, we got a yellow sticker with our seat number. Afterwards we had a few minutes to bring our stuff to our car as we were only allowed to bring a pen, paper and purse. Inside the courtroom, there were even more rules: No drinking, eating, sleeping or chewing gum. We weren’t allowed to give any kind of approval or refusal to anything said, not allowed to come close to Michael, his bodyguards or his family, not speak to anybody, especially not from the press etc. A quick last walk to the restrooms and when we got back, the defence and prosecution teams already arrived. Michael got in a few minutes before half past eight. Katherine was with him and greeted us all saying “Good morning”, which we answered. Michael nodded his head as a hello. He took his seat between his attorneys Thomas Mesereau and Robert Sanger, while his family sat down in the front rows. Everybody had to get up when Judge Melville entered the room, then the hearing started.
First on the stand was Bob Jones, afterwards we saw Stacey Brown, Dwayne Swingler and June Chandler. Mesereau managed to turn them all into either unreliable witnesses or even witnesses for the defence. It was amazing to see him live! The way he talks, the way he phrases the things he says, the way he asks his questions – it’s impressing and even better than scripted hearings you see on TV. He outclassed the prosecution lawyers Sneddon, Zonen and Auchincloss by miles!
Michael mostly sat still, just sometimes he readjusted the flasks, the microphone or the pillow in his back or he wrote little notes for Mesereau.
There were three breaks every day: 9:45-9.55, 11:30-11:45 and 1:15-1:25. The hearing then ended around 2:30pm. The breaks could be used to go to the restroom or get something to eat or drink in the courtyard. Beside the restrooms, there was a red line. Behind that line, we were allowed to wave to Michael, who usually went to the first floor during the breaks. He waved back, showed us a thumbs up or the Victory sign.
We always left the courtroom a few minutes before the hearing was over to drive to Neverland and greet Michael there. Usually, everybody behaved really well. We formed a line and when he arrived, he let down his window and we could give him presents, shake his hand or tell him something. He seemed to be happy about each present he got, no matter how small it was! And his hands were so BIG, oh my God! And after shaking his hand, your own hand smelled like Michael for an hour, which was fine with us! 😉 Sometimes he stopped behind the gate and leaned out of the car. One day he even filmed us. We got out our banner and as soon as he saw it, he wanted to have it and one of his bodyguards came up to get it for him.
On one occasion, Michael called the guard house beside the gate and wanted to speak to a fan. This lucky one gave us his messages afterwards. He had said that he didn’t feel well because his back bothered him, which he had hurt during the accident on stage in Munich (1999). He thanked us all for being there and said that he knows what struggles we went through to be there for him but that it helps him very much. He explained that he can feel all our emotions in the courtroom.
Over the next days we saw a long interrogation of Jay Jackson and an even much longer one of Janet Arvizo, who insisted on being called Janet Jackson. She was absolutely nuts! She constantly argued with Mesereau over the questions he asked, pretended to not understand them over and over again, talked more to the jury then to the one interrogating her, cried without tears several times…it made us really aggressive! We constantly wondered how Michael managed to sit there outwardly calm and hear her tell all these crazy lies about no clocks at Neverland, being held hostage there, plans to kidnap her in an hot air balloon to bring her to Mexico etc.
It was a good thing and a bad thing to be there to hear it all live. On the bright side, it was good to see how ridiculous this case was and on the down side, it was bad to see how ridiculous this case was! There was no chance anybody being there and hearing all this to believe it but on the other hand we had to wonder again and again why such a non-case had even gotten that far and why Michael had to endure this torture!
On our last day there, Mesereau finally grilled Mrs. Arvizo! We were lucky to again all get in although over our time there, more and more people had shown up and it was becoming a matter of luck to get in. We even managed to get the best public seats in the courtroom when we told the officers that that was our last day. During the first break we stayed on our seats while Michael had a little talk with his lawyers before leaving the courtroom. As we were among the only people still left there and as we sat right beside the aisle he had to use to get out, his politeness seemed to make it impossible for him to just walk by. But as he wasn’t allowed to speak to anybody as well, he put his hand in front of his mouth before murmuring a deep “hello” to us. We said a quiet “hello”, too. When he was out the door, we started to laugh because of the surreality of the situation and because the way he said it was so funny.
At the end of the day, a video was shown that was shot of Janet, Gavin, Star and Davellin Arvizo giving their statements for the “Take II” rebuttal video – a video that was made in response to the “Living with Michael Jackson” documentary by Martin Bashir, in which statements had been twisted and wrong facts suggested. The whole family sang Michael’s highest praises. Mrs. Arvizo now argued that everything in that video was scripted, even the outtakes that were shown, where she, for example, enthusiastically proposes that they all hold hands like Michael had done with Gavin during the Bashir documentary – while a few minutes ago she had told Mesereau she had never seen that documentary. But well, it was all scripted. She excused herself saying that she is not a very good actor on which Mesereau replied, “Oh, I think you are!”
It made us even more sad to see that video because it showed what Michael really did for this family and we saw now live what that family’s “thank you” for all of that was! It didn’t help that we knew we had to leave Michael again on that day. It somehow felt as if we had to abandon him by going home again.
On our last drive back to Neverland to greet him there, we wrote a little card for him, telling him how we felt about our stay. We also added jokingly that the lottery at 6 in the morning was not very good for our nerves. We gave the card to him and had to laugh when later he talked again to a fan and asked her what that lottery was all about and she had to explain him how it worked…
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It was only a weeks after we got back home until it was announced that the closing arguments of the trial were expected soon. As we had promised ourselves to be there for the verdict, we spontaneously booked our flights and were back in Santa Maria on June 1st. When we arrived at court in the morning a day later, there were a lot of people and fans there! That’s why the lottery went somewhat differently, because most of the fans had to stay outside, us included. So we positioned ourselves at the fence to cheer for Michael when he arrived. We spent the time waiting singing songs like “D.S.” and “They don’t care about us”. When he finally arrived, it was getting really loud. Even from that distance we could see how much he had changed within the last weeks.
We went straight to Neverland afterwards and when he arrived, all the fans there sang “You are not alone” for him – at least we tried! Michael had his window down and slowly drove past us all.
The next day even more fans were there. We had to line up and the line reached all the way along the courthouse. We were told that the ticket drawn today would also be valid for the verdict as this was the last day of closing arguments. We were not sure if we even wanted that ticket… but at some point Miri said: “I’m gonna get a ticket today!” Everybody laughed! But sure enough, she did!
Thomas Mesereau and Susan Yu came in early that day and started preparing their presentation, trying to project different quotes on a screen, working with huge paperboards with jury instructions. Michael arrived with nearly his whole family. Katherine again greeted us all with a “Good morning”. She, Rebbie, LaToya and Janet sat down in the first rows while other family members had to stay outside because there was not enough space. Michael didn’t look good but took his place with is head held high. Mesereau then continued his closing statement, which he had started the day before, pinpointing the inconsistencies in the case and in the testimonies of the witnesses. He then went on to explain the concept of “beyond a reasonable doubt”. At the end of his closing argument, a video was shown with outtakes from the Bashir documentary. In it, Bashir got not only caught bootlicking Michael but it also showed what Michael was all about and especially what Neverland was all about, as the prosecution claimed that Neverland’s only purpose was seducing little boys. Michael talked about the little train at Neverland, which he loved because he used to live near a train track as a child and grew up with the sounds of trains. He got really excited when he talked about a birthday party he had wanted to throw for Bubbles in which he wanted to invite other famous animals to join them. It really showed his childlike innocence.
During the first break, while passing the waving fans, he didn’t smile, he just nodded with an earnest face. He also didn’t spend the whole break on the first floor but was already back in the courtroom talking to his lawyers when the public returned.
After the break, it was Ron Zonen’s turn for a rebuttal. It was hard! Janet, LaToya and Rebbie left the room after his first words. The tension inside grew more and more. Zonen summarized all the arguments for a conviction. He called the witnesses “remarkably consistent”, said the JC Penney case (a case the family had brought against the American supermarket chain JC Penney, which turned out to be highly dubious) was “believable, fair and appropriate” and answered the much-asked question as to why Michael did it at a time he was actually under observation with a simple “because he could”. He ended with the showing of the video of Gavin telling the police for the first time about the abuse. Then he asked the jury to convict Michael.
Although Michael was calm all the time, one could see during the following break how much he suffered. He had been crying and Susan Yu took his hand to console him while Mesereau talked to him encouragingly.
Lastly, it was Melville’s turn to give his final instructions. He allowed Michael to stay at Neverland to wait for the verdict and gave him 90 minutes to come as soon as the verdict was in.
That was the end of the hearings and the jury retreated to discuss the case. While Michael walked down the aisle, everybody tried to show him that we believed in a positive outcome and that everything’s gonna be ok in the end.
We all met again in front of the main entrance of the courthouse and waited until Michael came out and drove home. Miri had to give an exact report on what had happened inside and she tried but said she was so drained from the tension inside the courtroom that she was barely able to give a full report. We stayed at the courthouse as it was possible that the jury came back with the verdict that day, but when that didn’t happen, we went to Neverland. We spent the weekend doing a little sightseeing and preparing decorations for the acquittal in front of Neverland. Banners were designed, little flags handcrafted and signs painted. On Monday, many fans met early in the morning to decorate Neverland and the surroundings. It looked beautiful and we were quite proud of us! The next days were spent doing verdict watch in the morning and then driving to Neverland in the afternoon. Sometimes one of Michael’s people came out to talk to us. One day, Karen Faye (Michael’s make up artist) appeared with the “Chain of hearts” fans from around the world had made for Michael. She said he had looked at it and loved it but wanted us to pin it to the fence for everyone to see. “But”, she continued, “look after it, because he wants it back!” So together we fixed the hearts to the fence.
From time to time, Michael went to the hospital. We can not imagine how back-breaking (in the truest sense of the word) the waiting must have been for him, when we already had the feeling to go crazy!
On Friday finally the verdict was in – at least that was the rumor for several minutes. Unfortunately it turned out to be just a rumour and Friday went without the end of this nightmare. Our second problem was, that our flights were going back that weekend so we would miss the verdict. We tried everything to postpone our flights, but as the American summer break started that weekend, we had no chance, not even to get a different flight for a reasonable price. We were heartbroken. We even didn’t get an accommodation for the last night so we tried to sleep a little in our car in front of Neverland until police came and told us we were not allowed to sleep anywhere in our car. So we drove around the whole night, ending up in front of Neverland again when morning broke. We sat on the little wall, watching all the animals flying and running around, enjoying the peace while fighting back the tears…
We had just returned home when the verdict was in. That was exactly what we had wanted to avoid: sitting alone in front of the TV watching that all-important moment… But it was always the outcome that was the most important and as that couldn’t have been any better, it was time to celebrate the end of a nightmare!”
Extract from “It’s all about L.O.V.E. – Michael Jackson stories you were never meant to read”
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