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Jackson's cousin takes witness stand

The 12-year-old boy testifies that alleged victim and his brother urged him to watch porn at Neverland

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

May 19, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - A 12-year-old cousin of Michael Jackson cried yesterday as he testified that two brothers, who later accused the star of molestation, urged him to watch pornography and masturbate with them at the entertainer's Neverland Valley Ranch.

Rijo Jackson, who was 10 at the time of the alleged 2003 incident, said the two even brought a bed into the room for him to lie on as they each lay on their own beds watching "naked girls ... and nasty stuff" on television.

Instead, the slight, soft-spoken boy told defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. that he fled to another room. "They said, 'Why don't you do that with us?'" he said, referring to the two boys' actions. "I said I didn't want to because it was nasty."

The testimony of Rijo and his sister, Simone, 16, painted a far different picture of the accusers than prosecution attorneys, who called witnesses that testified Jackson introduced the older boy, who was 13 at the time, to alcohol and pornography and offered to teach him to masturbate, all with the aim of molesting him.

The molestation is said to have occurred in March 2003, several weeks after the brothers, along with their sister and mother, claim to have been held captive by Jackson and his associates at Neverland.

The defense has responded with an onslaught of witnesses to impeach the accusers.

Rijo and Simone Jackson testified to having seen the brothers steal alcohol, and Rijo said he also saw them swipe money.

Afterward, a filmmaker who helped produce a pro-Jackson video featuring the accusers said there was no sign the family was forced to make the video or told what to say. The mother was "very eager" to do the interview, said Christian Robinson, contradicting her testimony that Jackson strong-armed the family into participating.

The video was made in February 2003, in response to a TV documentary that had proved damaging to Jackson's image. Robinson said the mother appeared angry about that documentary and was happy to do a rebuttal video "to make the situation right for Michael."

The only glitch came when the mother refused to sign consent forms for her children to be videotaped, something Robinson said he found illogical.

Capping a dismal day for the prosecution, yesterday's final witness said she suspected the mother was a money grubber when she refused to set up a bank account for her cancer-stricken son.

The witness, TV actress Vernee Watson Johnson, was teaching acting for children in 1997 when she first met the family. When the eldest boy - the alleged molestation victim - fell ill with cancer a couple of years later, Johnson began visiting him regularly in the hospital and began planning a fund-raiser for the family.

But Johnson said she dropped the idea after the mother refused to open a separate account for the boy to receive the fund-raiser money. "She said, 'don't worry about it - you can put it [the money] in my account,'" Johnson said. "I didn't trust her."