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2 tell of sharing bed with Jackson

BY JOHN RILEY | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

May 6, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Two young men who each shared a bed with Michael Jackson dozens of times while they were boys testified in court yesterday that the one-time pop star never molested them or behaved inappropriately.

The testimony came after Judge Rodney Melville denied a defense motion to dismiss molestation and conspiracy charges against Jackson. It was followed by fierce cross-examination in which one man was confronted with Jackson's books of nude young men. The other was shown Polaroids of himself in bed and a man prosecutors identified as Jackson in his underwear that were seized from the singer's house.

Both men - Wade Robson, 22, a choreographer and film director who appeared as a boy dancer in Jackson videos, and Brett Barnes, 23, an Australian roulette dealer who met Jackson as a boy through a fan letter - were identified by earlier witnesses as subjects of inappropriate behavior by Jackson, 46. They were the first witnesses called by the defense.

Robson, who has choreographed for Britney Spears and others, said he met Jackson when he was a young dancer of 7 and slept alone with Jackson, then in his 30s, numerous times at Neverland Ranch and elsewhere as they became "best friends" and the singer assisted his career. He said they dressed alike and played together and recalled once throwing stones with Jackson at a caged lion to get it to roar.

Contradicting earlier testimony by a maid, Robson said he never showered with Jackson. When asked if he had been molested, Robson answered, "Absolutely not." He said they stopped sleeping together when he was 14.

On cross-examination, Robson acknowledged that Jackson frequently hugged him and kissed him - on the cheek, never the lips - and said he loved him. When prosecutor Ron Zonen asked if Jackson might have molested him while he was sleeping, Robson responded, "I would think something like that would wake me up."

Zonen also showed Robson graphic sexually oriented books and magazines seized from Jackson - some of boys, some of men, some of heterosexual couples - and asked if it would cause him concerns to know a middle-aged man with such materials slept with young boys.

Robson said, "Yes," but altered his answer after sparring between Zonen and defense lawyers. "If it was a man I didn't know, maybe," said Robson. "But not Michael."

When Zonen asked if that was because Jackson was "asexual," Robson said he believed Jackson was attracted to women.

Barnes said he spent many nights alone with Jackson in hotel rooms while accompanying him on tours, as well as at Neverland, and had last shared a bed with the singer when Barnes was 18. He said both of them always wore pajamas, and Jackson never misbehaved.

"I can tell you if he had, I wouldn't be here right now," he said, adding later, "They're putting my name through the dirt and I'm really, really not happy about it."

On cross-examination, Barnes appeared irritated, saying in response to many of Zonen's questions that he couldn't remember. When Zonen presented him with a series of pictures found in Jackson's home of Barnes and Jackson together, apparently in a hotel room, Barnes said he didn't remember them.

Asked about a pair of shots, he said one was him in bed, but wouldn't confirm Zonen's assertion that the other one showed Jackson in underwear. "You can't really see the face properly," he said.