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Youth pastor to take stand at Jackson trial
Mother of boy who got $20 M settlement to testify
By DAWN HOBBS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A Santa Maria youth pastor is expected to testify today that 15 years ago, when he was a boy, Michael Jackson touched him inappropriately, the News-Press has learned.
A key witness in Mr. Jackson's child molestation case, the man, now in his mid-20s, is expected to be the first in a string of people prosecutors hope will bolster the current accuser's claim of molestation at the hands of the pop star. Prosecutors intend to show that Mr. Jackson has a history of molesting boys or grooming them for molestation.
Mr. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to charges of child molestation, administering alcohol to a minor to commit a felony, and conspiracy. His accuser, now 15, claims the incidents occurred at the entertainer's ranch in spring 2003. The defense insists the boy and his family are liars just out for the singer's money.
The youth pastor's mother, a former maid at Neverland Valley Ranch, is scheduled to take the stand after her son, News-Press sources said.
It is anticipated she will tell jurors how she once found her son and the entertainer, clad in pajamas, lying on top of a sleeping bag in a darkened room. She suspected wrongdoing had occurred, sources said. The mother and son eventually accepted a $2 million payment from Mr. Jackson.
This new phase in the prosecution's case marks the beginning of the sixth week of the high-profile trial.
Jurors in the past five weeks have heard more than 40 witnesses testify about allegations in the current case. Now, in this new stage, prosecutors are expected to bring in nine witnesses who will testify about Mr. Jackson's past relationships with five boys, including child actor Macaulay Culkin.
However, the Santa Maria youth pastor is the only one of the five who has agreed to take the stand for the prosecution. Mr. Culkin and two others are expected to testify on behalf of the defense, and to tell jurors Mr. Jackson never touched them inappropriately.
Defense lawyers, as they have with the current accuser and his family, plan to attack the credibility of the witnesses who have agreed to testify about the prior cases. Two of these witnesses were involved in a 1995 civil suit against Mr. Jackson, which they lost. After being ordered to pay the entertainer more than $1 million, they filed for bankruptcy. Others sold their stories to tabloids.
Conspicuously absent from the prosecution's lineup is the boy who was at the center of a high-profile child molestation investigation of Mr. Jackson in 1993. Charges in that case were never filed, but it was during the investigation that authorities discovered allegations about his relationship with other boys.
The accuser at the center of that investigation, now 25, has declined to testify in the current trial. The 1993 case fell apart when he refused to cooperate with authorities after his family accepted a $20 million settlement from Mr. Jackson.
His mother, however, has agreed to testify. She is expected to tell jurors how Mr. Jackson slept with her son in the boy's bedroom of their Los Angeles home every night for more than a month. She will also likely testify that when she and her son were in a limousine headed to Neverland, she saw Mr. Jackson kissing and caressing another boy sitting on his lap in what she considered an inappropriate manner.
Another key prosecution witness will be Ralph Chacon, a former security guard, who testified during a secret grand jury hearing in 1993 that he saw Mr. Jackson engage in suspicious behaviors with young boys.
Other former Neverland employees who have agreed to testify include housekeeper Adrian McManus, chef Philip LeMarque, personal assistant Bob Jones and Charlie Michaels. Charmagne Sternberg, of MJJ Productions, will also take the stand.
This phase of the prosecution's case is likely to last up to two weeks. The prosecution is expected to wrap up its case about two weeks after that.
Dawn Hobbs is also a news analyst NBC and MSNBC. You may e-mail her at dhobbs@newspress.com.
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