Trial of Michael Jackson
People v. Jackson, filed under the number 1133603, put the pop singer Michael Jackson in front of a jury at Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California, in 2005. The charge was that he had molested Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse. The alleged abuse took place at Jackson's Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos.
Jackson denied everything. The prosecution's case rested on Gavin, his younger brother and a line of former employees. The defense answered with famous friends, records of old lawsuits and a hard look at the family that had accused him.
How did a television documentary set a criminal case in motion? Why did so many witnesses on each side come with money and motives attached to their stories? And what did a jury's decision leave unanswered?
In 2000, a businessman and comedian named Jamie Masada introduced Jackson to Gavin Arvizo, a child cancer patient. Gavin was receiving chemotherapy and had lost his spleen and his left kidney. His father, David Arvizo, was separated from Gavin's mother and often asked celebrities for money to pay for treatment. Jackson and Gavin became friends, and Jackson invited the family to Neverland Ranch.
Gavin once thanked Jackson for "helping him be happy and beat cancer". According to Gavin, though, Jackson suddenly stopped calling after a few visits, and Gavin felt abandoned.
In 2002, Jackson invited the 12-year-old Gavin to take part in an ITV documentary called Living with Michael Jackson. The presenter, Martin Bashir, interviewed the singer over eight months. On camera, Jackson and Gavin held hands. Bashir asked whether it was appropriate for a grown man to hold sleepovers and share his bed with a young person.
Jackson said he let guests sleep in his bed while he slept on the floor, and that nothing about it was sexual. He called it a "beautiful thing" and said he had shared his bed with many children, including the actors Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin.
The broadcast brought calls for Jackson's children to be taken out of his custody. Jackson called the film deceptive and a "gross distortion of the truth". Gavin's mother, Janet Arvizo, said it misrepresented her son's friendship with Jackson. She instructed the London law firm Theodore Goddard to file complaints against the Independent Television Commission, which oversees ITV.
Bashir stood by his work. He said: "Here's an individual who is 44 years old, sleeping in the bed of children who have no biological relationship with him. I did not set out to ensnare him with a child."
Jackson's own production team answered with a two-hour film, The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See. The Fox Broadcasting Company screened it. Jackson chose to release it after feeling betrayed by Bashir.
Macaulay Culkin went on Larry King Live to say that nothing inappropriate had happened at Neverland. He pointed out that Jackson's bedroom had two stories and three bathrooms. He added that Jackson "isn't very good at explaining himself."
Gloria Gruber, president of Prevent Child Abuse California, wanted authorities to interview the children Jackson had shared his bed with. She called his sleeping next to unrelated children "definitely a red flag and concern."
The Santa Barbara district attorney, Tom Sneddon, had tried to bring Jackson to trial over earlier allegations. Even he said at first that under California law, sleeping with a child without "affirmative, offensive conduct" was not illegal. In his words: "sleeping in bed with a kid is not a crime that I know of."
In 1993-13-year-old Jordan Chandler accused Jackson of child sexual abuse, allegedly at Neverland. In January 1994, Jackson settled the resulting lawsuit for $23 million, with $5 million going to the family's lawyers. The settlement was not an admission of guilt. Jackson said he settled to keep the suit from interfering with his career, and he later regretted it. Prosecutors pursued a criminal case and presented evidence to two separate grand juries. Neither returned an indictment.
The Arvizo matter began with a social services inquiry. From the 14th to the 27th of February 2003, a few weeks after the documentary aired, the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services investigated Jackson and Gavin. A confidential report based on interviews with the Arvizos leaked to the media. In it, child welfare officials said they believed the accusations of illicit conduct were unfounded.
Sneddon reopened the investigation in June 2003. In July and August he interviewed Gavin, along with his father David, his mother Janet and his younger brother Star. In November, Gavin told police that Jackson had molested him several times between the 7th of February and the 10th of March 2003.
According to Janet, Jackson had held the family captive at Neverland during those weeks. The grand jury indictment later revised the timeline, stating that the alleged acts occurred between the 21st of February and the 12th of March 2003.
On the 18th of November 2003, police searched Neverland Ranch with a warrant. Jackson and his three children were in Las Vegas, where he was shooting a music video for his single "One More Chance". Jackson was arrested on the 20th of November. He was released an hour later after posting a $3 million bond.
Soon afterward, Jackson issued a statement saying the claims were "predicated on a big lie". In an interview with the news program 60 Minutes, he said police had mistreated him and complained of a dislocated shoulder. He insisted he would not settle out of court, as he had in 1993. In August 2004, the California attorney general's office finished an independent investigation. It concluded that Jackson was neither "manhandled" nor mistreated during his arrest.
On the 18th of December 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to commit a felony. On the 16th of January 2004, the day of his arraignment, he climbed on top of his car to dance and wave to fans. On the 21st of April, a grand jury indicted him on additional related charges, including conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
Jackson pleaded not guilty on the 30th of April. He faced up to 18 years in prison if convicted. Donald Trump spoke up for him on Larry King's show: "I'm gonna stick up for him because nobody else is, and I don't believe it."
Judge Rodney Melville, who presided in Santa Maria, had a contentious relationship with the news media. He banned cameras from the courtroom and placed a gag order on both sides. Jackson was hospitalized, reportedly with flu, so Melville delayed the three-day jury selection by a week.
Sneddon led the prosecution. Jackson's lawyers tried to have him and his staff disqualified for bias, citing his earlier attempts to prosecute Jackson. Melville dismissed the effort. The defense was led by the celebrity lawyer Thomas Mesereau, whom fellow attorney Johnnie Cochran had recommended to the Jackson family.
Melville let prosecutors introduce testimony about past allegations, including the 1993 case, to show whether Jackson had a propensity for such crimes. Prosecutors hoped to establish a pattern of abuse with boys. They described Neverland as a "fantasy hideaway" of candy and theme park attractions, built to lure boys and groom them. They also said Jackson flattered parents with gifts.
The 1994 settlement was another matter. The judge called it "irrelevant and inflammatory". Mesereau argued that Jackson's insurer, Transamerica Insurance Group, was responsible for it. He said the company negotiated the deal over the protests of Jackson and his lawyers, and that evidence of it would deny Jackson due process.
Jordan Chandler, the central figure of the 1993 case, left the country rather than testify. He had been legally emancipated from his parents. His mother, June Chandler, did take the stand. She said her son had complained that she would not let him spend time in Jackson's bedroom, which seemed to upset Jackson. She quoted him: "You don't trust me? We're a family. Why are you doing this?" She told the court she had never suspected anything inappropriate and had not spoken to Jordan in eleven years.
On the 1st of March, Martin Bashir took the stand while prosecutors played his documentary for the jurors. He refused to answer questions from the defense attorneys.
On the 4th of April, Jason Francia testified. His mother had worked as a maid at Neverland. He said Jackson abused him several times when he was between seven and ten years old. Francia told the court: "every time I was being tickled there was some sort of exchange of money", given with the understanding that he would not tell his mother.
His mother said she had reached an out-of-court settlement with Jackson, reportedly for $2 million. She also sold her story to the tabloid National Enquirer and the television show Hard Copy. On cross-examination, Francia admitted that in his first 1993 interview he told detectives Jackson had not molested him. He said he denied it because he did not want to be embarrassed at school.
In April 2005, Ralph Chacon, a former security guard at the ranch, testified that he had seen Jackson abusing Chandler in the early 1990s. A former maid, Adrian McManus, said she had seen Jackson kissing boys, including Macaulay Culkin, and touching Chandler. Culkin has always denied being abused by Jackson.
The defense went after both witnesses. As The Observer put it, each had a "horrific story... Yet, rather than calling the police, each appears to have sold that story to a supermarket tabloid." McManus had denied seeing any misconduct in a 1993 sworn deposition. She said she lied then because she feared Jackson would report her to her superiors.
In the 1990s, Chacon and McManus had joined a wrongful dismissal suit against Jackson. After Jackson counter-sued, that suit was thrown out as fraudulent and malicious. According to testimony, they were found guilty of stealing items worth more than $50,000 from his house and ordered to pay more than $1 million in legal fees.
On cross-examination, the pair confirmed that they had been paid for media interviews. McManus also acknowledged that she and her husband had defrauded a relative's children and stolen a sketch by Jackson worth $35,000. Mesereau said the pair were trying to "get even" and called them money-seekers.
Other staff told different stories. The housekeeper Kiki Fournier said the Arvizo boys "trashed" their guest rooms and that Star once pointed a knife at her in Jackson's kitchen. She never saw Jackson give the boys alcohol. The flight attendant Cynthia Bell said she never saw him share his drink with Gavin, and that Gavin was demanding and unruly on a flight. She had come up with the custom of serving Jackson wine in soda cans, because he did not like to drink openly in front of his children.
The cook Phillip LeMarque said he saw Jackson with a hand in Culkin's underpants. He and his wife had considered selling the story to a tabloid, but he dropped the idea because it was "against our principles". Jesús Salas, a former house manager, said he often saw Jackson drunk or affected by prescription drugs. Asked about wine served to minors, Salas said sodas had also been ordered for the children.
On the 28th of April, Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe was called. Prosecutors claimed she had been forced into a scripted videotaped statement supporting Jackson in early 2003. They hoped she would back Janet Arvizo's claim that the family was held captive and made to speak well of him.
Instead, Rowe stood by Jackson. She called his business associates Marc Schaffel, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer "opportunistic vultures" who wanted to exploit him. Prosecutors moved to dismiss her for not giving the expected testimony, but the judge let it stand.
Gavin Arvizo was 15 when he took the stand, and he described what he said happened after the documentary aired. He testified that Jackson served him and his younger brother wine, sometimes hidden in soda cans. He said Jackson showed them pornography and made sexual advances. He described two incidents of sexual contact after drinking, and said Jackson then told him that men who do not masturbate "might rape a girl".
Mesereau challenged him. The lawyer said Gavin had told sheriffs that his grandmother was the source of that remark. Gavin said he was not sure what his grandmother had told him. Gavin also testified that he had told a school administrator Jackson had not molested him.
Star Arvizo told the court he had twice seen Jackson molest Gavin. He said Jackson displayed his erection and masturbated in front of the brothers, telling them "everyone did it". Star said the alcohol came in soda cans, which Jackson called "Jesus juice", and that Jackson showed them internet pornography on his computer.
Then came the cross-examination about a 1998 lawsuit against J. C. Penney. The family had alleged that Star, Gavin and their mother were beaten in a parking lot by security guards after leaving with clothes they had not paid for. Janet also claimed she was sexually assaulted and falsely imprisoned. The family received a settlement of $152,000.
In a sworn statement for that case in 2000, Star had said his "mother and father never fought". Yet Janet and her children claimed David Arvizo had physically abused them for 17 years. Star admitted the statement was a lie. The defense counted that admission as a major victory.
There was a second problem. Testimony indicated the Arvizos had not visited Neverland since March 2003. Yet when shown a pornographic magazine dated August 2003, five months after the visits stopped, Star said it was one Jackson had shown them. Star later tried to recant this testimony too.
The defense portrayed Janet Arvizo as someone with a history of perjury and fraud. She admitted lying under oath in an earlier lawsuit. Prosecutors planned to call a domestic violence expert to say she might have lied because her ex-husband beat her. The judge refused, calling it irrelevant. The defense also presented evidence of welfare fraud, for which she was later convicted.
A welfare worker testified that Janet had not disclosed the J. C. Penney settlement, received just days before she filled out a welfare application. A paralegal said Janet had lied to win that lawsuit, blaming J. C. Penney guards for bruises her then-husband had caused.
Connie Keenan, editor of the Mid Valley News, said Janet had "duped" her into writing a story about Gavin's illness because the original story did not bring in enough money. Other defense witnesses showed Janet had spent $7,000 shopping and dining out at the same time she said Jackson kept the family captive. Her sister-in-law said she offered to help with Gavin's treatment by holding blood donation campaigns. Janet, she said, swore at her and turned the offer down.
According to Jackson's defense attorney Susan Yu, over 500 witnesses were prepared for the case. The most closely watched was Macaulay Culkin, the former child star. He testified that he had shared a bed with Jackson a dozen or more times between the ages of nine and 14. He said he was never molested and never saw Jackson act improperly.
Culkin told the court that his parents knew he was in Jackson's bedroom and "never saw it as an issue". He described shock on hearing the allegation that Jackson had molested him and called it "absolutely ridiculous". The two, he said, had bonded over the shared experience of child stardom. In a 2020 interview with Esquire, Culkin repeated: "I never saw anything; he never did anything."
Wade Robson was Jackson's first defense witness. He said he had slept in Jackson's bedroom several times without being molested. His first visit to Neverland was in 1989, and he stayed in Jackson's room on all but three or four of roughly 20 visits. They played video games, watched movies, talked and sometimes had pillow fights.
Brett Barnes first met Jackson at the age of five, when the singer toured Australia. He shared a bedroom with Jackson at least ten times and denied any impropriety. Barnes knew prosecution witnesses had claimed to see Jackson touch him inappropriately. He said: "I'm very mad about it. It's not true and they put my name through the dirt. I'm really not happy about it." In 2019, Barnes restated his denial.
George Lopez said he had given the Arvizo family money while Gavin fought cancer. He came to believe the boy's father cared more about money than about helping his son, and he cut ties after the father grew more demanding. Lopez said the father once accused him of stealing $300 from Gavin's wallet. When the father asked what he should tell his son, Lopez replied: "Tell him his father's an extortionist."
Jay Leno made roughly 20 phone calls to sick children each week. In 2000 he began getting voicemail messages from Gavin, then a ten-year-old cancer patient. Gavin called Leno "his hero", which struck Leno as unusual: "I'm not Batman... It sounded suspicious when a young person got overly effusive." Leno also heard another voice in the background of one call. The defense argued that the voice was Janet telling Gavin what to say.
Chris Tucker said he had felt sorry for the Arvizos and gave them money and gifts. He thought they expected too much, calling him their "brother" and taking advantage of him. He told the court he had warned Jackson about the family, whom he described as "cunning".
The jury deliberated for about 32 hours over seven days. On the first vote, nine jurors favored acquittal and three voted guilty. On the 13th of June 2005, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on every charge.
Jurors later explained their reasoning. They found the prosecution's case weak. The timeline troubled them, because the alleged molestation came after the documentary aired, when media attention was fixed on Jackson and Gavin. They also thought Janet Arvizo's testimony was poor, and found it strange that she snapped her fingers and addressed them directly. The New York Times described her testimony as "rambling, incoherent, and at times combative". One juror believed she was a scam artist.
The foreman, Paul Rodriguez, drew a comparison between Jason Francia and Janet. He said Francia did not seem credible and "left too many little loopholes in his statements".
One juror said: "There wasn't a shred of evidence that was able to show us or give us any doubt in voting guilty. It was pretty obvious there was no other way to vote other than not guilty." At a news conference, another said: "We expected better evidence, something that was a little more convincing. It just wasn't there."
Sneddon suggested that Jackson's celebrity and the media had influenced the outcome. The foreman, a retired high school counselor, disagreed: "We looked at all the evidence and we looked at Michael Jackson and one of the first things we decided was we had to look at him just as another person and not a celebrity."
When news of the raid on Jackson's home broke, many channels switched to 24-hour rolling coverage. CBS, NBC, ABC and VH1 produced television specials. The networks E! and Sky TV worked together on daily re-enactments of trial highlights, using look-alike actors. The impersonator Edward Moss played Jackson. Commentators around the world called the trial a media circus.
In 2010, the British journalist Charles Thomson called it "one of the most shameful episodes in journalistic history". He said the coverage was "out of control... The sheer amount of propaganda, bias, distortion, and misinformation is almost beyond comprehension."
The HuffPost contributor Luka Neskovic wrote that the trial "displayed media at their worst", with "sensationalism, exclusivity, negativity, eccentrics, chaos, and hysteria". Neskovic said many outlets misreported pornography found in Jackson's home as child pornography. He also noted that the press favored the prosecution over the defense. The Hollywood Reporter, for example, chose not to cover two weeks of the defense case.
After the verdict, Mesereau said Jackson would no longer let people into his room or "easily allow people to enter his life". He described Jackson as a target for "people who want to extract money or build careers". Jackson moved to the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah, and then lived in Ireland.
According to Jackson's brother Jermaine, the family had planned to send him to Bahrain if he had been convicted, because it had no extradition treaty with the United States at the time. A treaty has existed since 2012. Jackson never went back to Neverland, saying police searches had despoiled it.
The allegations hurt his career. He sold out a series of concerts in 2009 but could not find sponsors or merchandise partners. In 2021, a judge observed that the fact that Jackson "earned not a penny from his image and likeness in 2006, 2007, or 2008 shows the effect those allegations had, and continued to have, until his death".
On the 25th of June 2009, four years after the acquittal, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Afterward, Martin Bashir told ABC News he never saw any wrongdoing by Jackson. He called Jackson's life "unorthodox" but not criminal. FBI files released after the death noted no outstanding leads or credible evidence items. In a 2017 episode of the true crime series The Jury Speaks, four jurors from the trial said they would still vote to acquit.
In 2013, the Australian choreographer Wade Robson, who had testified that Jackson never molested him, reversed his position. He said Jackson had abused him over seven years in childhood. In 2014, another man, James Safechuck, alleged that Jackson had abused him as well. A documentary about their claims, Leaving Neverland, aired in March 2019 and prompted a fresh examination of Jackson's legacy.
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Common questions
What was the trial of Michael Jackson about?
People v. Jackson was a 2005 criminal trial in Santa Maria, California. Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 at the time of the alleged abuse, at Neverland Ranch.
What was the verdict?
On the 13th of June 2005, the jury found Jackson not guilty on every charge after about 32 hours of deliberation over seven days.
What was Living with Michael Jackson?
It was an ITV documentary in which presenter Martin Bashir interviewed Jackson over eight months. It showed Jackson holding hands with Gavin Arvizo and defending his practice of sharing his bed with children.
Who led the prosecution and the defense?
Santa Barbara district attorney Tom Sneddon led the prosecution. The celebrity lawyer Thomas Mesereau led the defense, and Judge Rodney Melville presided.
Why did the defense challenge the Arvizo family's credibility?
The defense pointed to a 1998 J. C. Penney lawsuit settled for $152,000, in which Star admitted lying in a sworn statement. It also presented evidence that Janet Arvizo had lied under oath and committed welfare fraud.
What happened to the allegations after the trial?
In 2013, Wade Robson, a defense witness at the trial, reversed his position and said Jackson had abused him. In 2014, James Safechuck made similar allegations, and the documentary Leaving Neverland aired in March 2019.
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101 references cited across the entry
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- 2MagazineMichael Jackson Child Sexual Abuse Allegations: A TimelineAmelia McDonell-Parry — January 29, 2019
- 3Jackson 'regrets' out-of-court settlementsSeptember 17, 2004
- 4Jackson Grand Jury DisbandedJim Moret — May 3, 1994
- 5Jackson Not Charged but Not AbsolvedJim Newton — September 22, 1994
- 6NewsProfile: The Arvizo familyJune 13, 2005
- 7The cancer victim who became a regular at NeverlandJune 14, 2005
- 8NewsTeenager admits saying Jackson did not molest himCatherine Elsworth — March 15, 2005
- 9NewsGavin Arvizo: wild child or frail victim?June 13, 2005
- 10NewsJackson 'devastated' by Bashir filmClaire Cozens — February 6, 2003
- 11NewsJackson has children in his room for 'sleep-overs'Hugh Davies — February 4, 2003
- 12VideoLiving with Michael JacksonABC — February 6, 2003
- 13NewsMother complains over Bashir interviewChris Hastings et al. — February 9, 2003
- 14NewsMichael Jackson fans demand an inquiry into his Martin Bashir interview: do they have a case?Ed Power — May 21, 2021
- 15NewsBashir defends Michael Jackson interviewFebruary 12, 2003
- 16NewsJackson never molested me, says Home Alone starCatherine Elsworth — May 11, 2005
- 17VideoMacaulay Culkin on Larry King LiveCNN
- 18NewsJackson sleepovers are 'no crime in California'February 7, 2003
- 19NewsJackson Is Formally Charged With Child MolestingJohn M. Broder — December 19, 2003
- 20NewsTimeline: The Michael Jackson chargesJune 13, 2005
- 21NewsPolice raid Jackson ranch following fresh allegations from boy, 13Duncan Campbell — November 19, 2003
- 22Jackson says sex abuse charges 'a big lie' – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)ABC — November 25, 2003
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- 24MagazineMichael Jackson Not 'Manhandled'August 16, 2004
- 25Michael Jackson formally charged in molestation caseDecember 19, 2003
- 26Michael Jackson Sexual Abuse Allegations: A TimelineJanuary 30, 2019
- 27Michael Jackson dances atop SUVJanuary 16, 2004
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- 29If convicted, Jackson's sentence could vary widelyJun 7, 2005
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- 31NewsJackson counts the cost of freedomJune 15, 2005
- 32NewsJackson's 'past' allowed in courtMarch 25, 2005
- 33NewsJackson defense loses bid to ban past allegationsCNN — March 29, 2005
- 34NewsEx-Guard Claims He Saw Jackson Abuse BoyLibby Copeland — April 8, 2005
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- 36NewsJackson to Jackson: Why I wore pyjamasGary Younge — March 28, 2005
- 37NewsMartin Bashir takes standDan Glaister — March 2, 2005
- 38NewsI saw Jackson molest boy, aged 11, claims former ranch guardAndrew Gumbel
- 39NewsJackson abused me and gave me money to keep silent, witness saysDan Glaister — April 5, 2005
- 40NewsReporter's log: Michael Jackson trialMay 5, 2005
- 41Did Jacko's Maid Meet Cops With a Reporter?March 25, 2015
- 42Son of Jackson maid says tickling escalated to fondlingApril 5, 2005
- 44NewsGuard 'saw Jackson assault boy'April 8, 2005
- 45The verdict Netflix Docu Series
- 46NewsNeverland housekeeper: Kids drank, slept with JacksonMarch 17, 2005
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- 48NewsJackson Lawyer Tangles With Psychologist Who Alerted AuthoritiesKimberly Edds — March 31, 2005
- 49MagazineMichael Jackson Cook Takes StandAlex Mar — April 11, 2005
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- 51People of the State of California v. Michael Joseph Jackson, court transcripts, April 4, 2005, pp. 4676, 4682, 4686–4687, 4761–4765 & 4773.
- 52Expert barred from Jackson trialApril 22, 2005
- 53NewsOne of the Most Shameful Episodes in Journalistic HistoryCharles Thomson — June 14, 2010
- 54Mother's Testimony Gives Jacko a LickingMarch 25, 2015
- 55NewsJackson 'shared bed with my son'April 11, 2005
- 56NewsJackson's Ex-Wife Depicts Him as a VictimJohn M. Broder — April 29, 2005
- 57NewsJackson dashes to court in pyjamas to save $3m bailCatherine Elsworth — March 11, 2005
- 58NewsPyjama-clad Jackson risks $3m court penalty for late arrivalDan Glaister — March 11, 2005
- 59NewsJackson showed us sex on net, boy tells jurorsDan Glaister — March 8, 2005
- 60NewsAccuser's Mother Trades Barbs With Jackson LawyerApril 16, 2005
- 61NewsKey Jackson case witness admits lying under oathCatherine Elsworth — March 9, 2005
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- 63NewsJackson trial mother admits fraudNovember 14, 2006
- 64MagazineLeno Takes Michael Jackson StandAlex Mar — May 24, 2005
- 65NewsJackson team turns heat on motherMay 24, 2005
- 66VideoWorld PremiereUniversal Studios
- 69NewsChild sex abuse claims against Michael Jackson dismissed as untimelyMay 28, 2015
- 70NewsTwo Jackson witnesses deny abuseMay 6, 2005
- 71NewsLeaving Neverland: who is Brett Barnes, Michael Jackson's 'other boy'?March 7, 2019
- 72Prior allegations permissible in Jackson trialMarch 28, 2005
- 73NewsCBS Chris Tucker
- 74NewsJackson's 'past' allowed in courtMarch 29, 2005
- 76The document says plaintiff for the People of the State of California, but in criminal law, it should be prosecution.
- 78MagazineWould the Michael Jackson trial jurors convict him if they revoted today?Joey Nolfi — 23 July 2017
- 80Michael Jackson Is Acquitted on All Counts in Molestation CaseJohn M. Broder — June 13, 2005
- 81NewsMichael Jackson Cleared After 14-Week Child Molesting TrialJohn M. Broder et al. — 2005-06-14
- 82Michael Jackson trial juror reflects on child molestation case: 'I would still vote not guilty today'Stephanie Nolasco — 2017-07-20
- 83News'Jury Acquits Jackson': How the King of Pop's child molestation trial was reported in 2005William Booth — 3 March 2019
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- 86Amid leaks and spin, media circus arrives for Jackson jury selectionJanuary 31, 2005
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- 92NewsJackson settles down to his new life in the GulfHabib Toumi — January 23, 2006
- 93Jermaine Jackson reveals escape plan for MichaelSeptember 10, 2011
- 94NewsForeclosure auction on Jackson's Neverland Ranch is canceledCNN — 2008-05-13
- 95NewsAfter years, court hands tax win to Michael Jackson heirsMay 5, 2021
- 96NewsMichael Jackson, King of Pop, dies of cardiac arrest in Los AngelesMatthew Moore — June 26, 2009
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- 99FBI Records: The Vault — Michael JacksonFederal Bureau of Investigation
- 100NewsJames Safechuck Alleges Sexual Abuse By Michael Jackson, Sues Singer's EstateAlroy Menezes — August 6, 2014
- 101'Leaving Neverland' sparks a re-examination of Michael Jackson's legacyBrian Stelter — 2019-03-04