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Witness: Jackson was warned of 'ruin'

BY JOHN RILEY | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

May 5, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Prosecutors in the Michael Jackson molesting and conspiracy case rested yesterday after their final witness said the star was warned that a 13-year-old boy could "ruin your career and blackmail you" in the aftermath of a documentary film that raised child sex abuse issues about Jackson.

At the completion of the prosecution case, which lasted more than two months, Jackson's lawyers moved to dismiss the charges for lack of proof. Judge Rodney Melville is expected to rule on the motion tomorrow, and some lawyers say there is a chance the conspiracy charge will be eliminated.

Jackson is accused of conspiring with several top associates to intimidate the boy and his family into making a video that would rebut molestation suspicions. Later, Jackson allegedly fondled the boy.

Yesterday's witness, Rudy Provencio, a record promoter working with Jackson and business associate Marc Schaffel on a charity CD, corroborated charges by the boy's mother that the family was held hostage at the singer's Neverland Ranch and threatened. Schaffel and other Jackson aides are unindicted co-conspirators.

Provencio said on one occasion, after the family temporarily left the ranch, Schaffel referred to the family as having "escaped," and Vincent Amen, another unindicted co-conspirator, used the same word to describe the departure.

The mother also testified that the family was told their lives were in danger to keep them in check. Provencio said Schaffel made a remark at one point about "killers that are after" the family. Provencio asked Amen what was going on. "There are no killers," he was told.

"Something fishy was going on," Provencio said.

Jackson was warned about the risk from the boy in a conference call, Provencio said, and participated in a discussion about flying the family to Miami for a news conference. But - like previous witnesses - he provided no direct link of Jackson to illegal intimidation.