Text size:

'They were excited to be there'

Second-in-command to Jackson at his ranch testifies accuser and his family did not act as if held captive

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

May 10, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The boy allegedly molested by pop star Michael Jackson "appeared to be having fun," as did his brother, sister and mother during a long stretch at Jackson's Neverland Valley ranch at the time they claim to have been held captive there, the ranch manager testified yesterday.

Joe Marcus, a tall, soft-spoken man who has spent much of his life working on the bucolic, 2,700-acre estate, was one of a quick succession of former and current Neverland employees called to testify as Jackson's defense team sought to shoot down claims that Neverland was a den of sleaze and evil. The tactic paid off, but there were some setbacks.

One witness, for example, ranch safety manager Violet Silva, said it would have been easy for anyone at Neverland to dial 911 if they wanted help - something the accuser's mother has conceded she never did. However, under cross-examination, Silva admitted that while she had not seen anything illegal at Neverland since she began working there in 1991, she would not want her own children spending time there. "Perhaps some of the activity was beyond my comfort level," Silva testified, without being asked to elaborate.

Marcus, who worked at the ranch before Jackson bought it in 1988 and who stayed on to become the overall manager - essentially second-in-command after Jackson - echoed other defense witnesses in saying that he had never viewed inappropriate behavior between the entertainer and young boys. When children visited, he described a menu of events to entertain them: sight-seeing on a small choo-choo train; visits to the Neverland petting zoo and 16-ride amusement park; even a water-fight area with water-balloon launchers.

In February and March 2003, when the accuser and his family are said to have been virtual prisoners there, Marcus said he saw them frequently. "She seemed to just be enjoying herself," he said of the mother, describing her as chatting with staff members and visiting the main house where Jackson resides.

That contrasts with her testimony that she spent most of her time closeted in her guest quarters trying to devise a method of escaping with her three children.

Marcus recalled driving the family to the tourist town of Solvang one day for a shopping jaunt. Again, he contradicted the mother's testimony that she was constantly under guard, saying he simply waited at the car until they returned. Asked if he was ever ordered to guard them or hamper their movements, he said no. "They were excited to be there [at Neverland]," said Marcus, whose testimony resumes today.

Such statements are designed to discredit prosecution claims that Jackson and a team of loyalists conspired to hold the family captive to prevent them from saying or doing anything damaging to Jackson's image in the wake of a February 2003 TV documentary, "Living With Michael Jackson." In it, the singer appears with the boy he is now charged with molesting, and he admits to sharing his bed with boys but in a non-sexual manner.

Last week, the defense team opened its case with testimony from young men who were boyhood visitors to Neverland in the 1990s and who said they had slept with Jackson but had never been molested. Some legal analysts say too much of that sort of testimony could backfire if jurors find the idea of a grown man sleeping with boys unacceptable, even if nothing sexual occurred. They also warned against the defense loading its witness list with celebrities such as Macaulay Culkin, Elizabeth Taylor, and others whose names have cropped up throughout the trial.

"If jurors feel the defense is putting witnesses on simply to put the sizzle, the stars, on the stand, they will feel manipulated," said California defense attorney Michael Cardoza.