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A meandering trail of evidence

At the Jackson trial, logs detailing the pop star's travels with the accuser and his family leave many questions

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

April 25, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Spectators in Michael Jackson's child molestation case could be forgiven for thinking they had walked into the wrong courtroom late last week. Like a spicy thriller accidentally spliced with a video showing cement hardening, the case took a mind-numbingly dull turn as prosecutors began wrapping up their case, something they expect to do this week.

But the intricate, messily scribbled logs that purport to show the comings and goings from Jackson's Neverland Valley ranch, and that witness No. 60 was led through in ponderous fashion, may be crucial to the trial's outcome. Could it be that Jackson's alleged victim was at his Neverland ranch the night of Feb. 6, 2003, instead of in Miami with the pop star as a key witness insisted? And on the night of Feb. 19, 2003, is it possible the accusers were again at Neverland instead of 100 miles away being forced to make a video praising Jackson, as they have claimed?

Only the logs know for sure, as a local cop who moonlighted as a Neverland security guard, Brian Barron, testified over two painstaking days last week during which he was put through a direct examination, a cross-examination, a redirect, and a re-cross.

Certainly there were some intriguingly voyeuristic moments. Names on the logs showed a never-ending stream of visitors to Neverland ranging from a septic tank repairman to Marlon Brando's son, Miko, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. On some nights, there were so many visitors that people slept in the theater and video library, apparently because all the guestrooms were occupied. The records show that one day, the boy Jackson now stands accused of molesting was scolded for crashing a golf cart known as the "Batman car" into a fountain and damaging it. A few months later, documents indicate the same boy's foot was run over in another golf cart mishap.

Barron appeared to drop a bombshell when he confirmed that one log, dated Feb. 19, 2003, contained a directive confining the boy to Neverland. That's the same time that the boy's mother says the family was being held captive.

Under cross-examination, though, Barron told Jackson attorney Robert Sanger it was routine for children visiting Neverland without their parents to not be allowed off the retreat.

With the demeanor of a stuffy professor trying to liven up his delivery with frequent chortles, Sanger then had Barron review more than three weeks of logs maintained by security guards at Neverland.

Compared to recent witnesses' descriptions of alleged sex acts, misbehaving pet monkeys, food fights and mysterious killers said to have haunted Neverland, Barron's version made it appear mostly a hangout. However, the Feb. 6-7 and Feb. 19-20 entries could prove pivotal as the defense attempts to poke holes in the timeline provided by the mother of Jackson's alleged victim.

According to her testimony, she and her three children would have been at a Miami hotel with Jackson the night of Feb. 6, 2003, the same night a damaging documentary called "Living With Michael Jackson" aired on U.S. television. The woman said she remembered being prevented from watching the documentary. The documentary triggered the criminal case against Jackson. Prosecutors say it also prompted him to imprison the family to force them to make a rebuttal video.

The woman said she and her children were flown back to Neverland the next day with Jackson. According to Neverland logs from Feb. 7, though, the family had spent the previous night there, and a log entry from Feb. 6 indicates that someone referred to as "owner" - presumably Jackson - arrived at Neverland at 10:45 p.m. along with "guests" - presumably the family.

From Feb. 17-20, the log indicated the family was at Neverland, and spent the night there Feb. 19. But the mother testified that they were driven out the night of Feb. 19 and taken to a home in Calabasas, 100 miles away. There, she says they were forced to make the rebuttal video, which she says was scripted by Jackson associates.