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Accuser's mother describes coercion

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

April 14, 2005

Michael Jackson departs Santa Barbara County courthouse after another day in his child molestation trial. (Getty Images / April 13, 2005)

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - In tearful and often melodramatic testimony, the mother of a boy allegedly molested by pop star Michael Jackson yesterday described being coerced into making a video supportive of Jackson after his associates held her and her family captive at his Neverland ranch and warned that her children were in danger from mysterious "killers."

At one point, Jackson's people proposed taking the family to Austria or Brazil, she said, ostensibly to protect them from people presumably upset over her son's appearance in a 2003 documentary in which Jackson admitted sleeping with boys.

"It escalated to where there was no definite time of return until they fixed everything for Michael," she said, referring to attempts at damage control over the documentary. Referring to Jackson aides' repeated cajoling of her to make a video praising him, she said: "If I did a good job, I wouldn't have to leave the country."

Prosecutors are counting on the 37-year-old woman to bolster allegations of conspiracy to commit child abduction and false imprisonment. Jackson, 46, also faces charges that he molested the boy, then 13.

In having her appear before the jury, they took a huge risk, not just because of her fidgety, almost childlike behavior on the witness stand, but because of a shady past that includes lawsuits against businesses and allegations of welfare fraud.

Before she began testifying, she announced she would not answer questions about welfare fraud, invoking her constitutional protection against self-incrimination. That was a blow to defense plans to destroy her credibility on cross-examination. Whatever ground prosecutors gained, though, was in danger of being lost as she gave rambling, disjointed answers to questions about what transpired between her family and the pop star and his staff in February and March 2003, when the false imprisonment and molestation are said to have occurred.

At several points, the prosecutor had to remind her to stick to the point and let him finish posing his questions before she jumped in with answers that often were accompanied by dramatic hand gestures, finger-wagging, pointing at Jackson and exaggerated nodding of her head. At least one juror appeared to be fighting back giggles when the mother dissolved into tears for the third time.

Amid the histrionics, though, was a tale of a needy, financially strapped woman in an abusive marriage taken in by Jackson after he met her son in 2000 while the boy was treated for cancer. In subsequent years, she said, Jackson and his associates became like "family" to her and her children, inviting them to Neverland and vowing to protect her from her estranged husband.

"I wanted friends so bad. I did, because David [her husband] always told me nobody loved me," she sobbed.

After her son's cancer was in remission, she said, he often visited Neverland without her, but that she never thought anything was amiss. It was not until February 2003, after the documentary aired, that she said Jackson demanded the family fly to Miami to give a news conference rebutting suggestions he acted improperly with children. Thus began weeks of what she said was false imprisonment for her and her children at Neverland.

Asked if she saw anything unusual on the overnight flight from Miami, she described standing up and seeing Jackson licking the hair of her son as he slept. "Like this, over and over," she said, demonstrating a licking action. Asked if she said anything to anybody about it, she said no. "I thought it was me! I thought I was seeing things!" she cried loudly.

When she asked to go home with her children, she said two close Jackson associates - un-indicted co-conspirators in this case - warned that they could "have her erased" if she did not do as they, and Jackson, wanted. "They terrified me," she said.

JACKSON TRIAL AT A GLANCE

In Court

The mother of the teenager who is accusing Michael Jackson of molestation testified in court but said she would not answer questions about welfare payments received. Earlier, the stepfather was cross-examined about the family's time at Neverland ranch.

Heard

"The witness has made a claim of privilege under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."- Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville