Day three in the Michael Jackson trial was underway Monday in Santa Maria after a one-week continuance. Jury selection entered its second stage of voir dire, where attorneys from both sides launch a variety of question at prospective jurors to determine if they would be able to be fair in their judgment of the case.
Wearing a black suit with a red satin shirt, a red and gold brocade vest, with a sunburst pin on his jacket pocket, Jackson stood and smiled as the potential jurors entered the courtroom.
Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville started the day off by urging the 240 potential jurors to relax and remain open-minded. He relayed that the greatest fear of a litigant is that a judge or juror in the case against them has been "bought and paid for."
"I can assure all of you there will be a fair trial here, based on me being the judge," Melville addressed the court prior to the start of attorney questioning of the prospects on their possible links to Jackson.
"I'm not bought and paid for," the judge added. "I have not made up my mind in this case and I want to select a jury that feels exactly the same way.
"We expect the same honesty from you (that) we expect from witnesses once the evidence part of the trial gets going," he said.
Melville read a shortened version of the ten-charge indictment against Jackson to potential jurors, warning that the fact that charges exist did not mean the singer was guilty.
On each of the counts, the judge told the prospects: "You'll have to decide if the defendant's guilt has been proved beyond reasonable doubt. The fact he has been charged is not evidence of anything."
Melville elicited laughter when he suggested jurors might be able to better relax if they thought of the selection process as "a job interview."
Upon speaking with the prospects, lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau read off a star-studded defense list of celebrity witnesses, which included reporter Martin Bashir, illusionist David Blaine, journalist Ed Bradley, relatives of Marlon Brando, LA Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant, pop stars Nick and Aaron Carter, "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, actress Elizabeth Taylor, and musicians Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder, as well as two of Jackson's three young children, Prince and Paris Jackson.
The list also included Jackson's accuser and members of the boy's family, singer Barry Gibb, comedians Steve Harvey and Chris Tucker, talk show hosts Larry King and Maury Povich, and lifestyle guru Deepak Chopra. It had been previously reported that directors Brett Ratner and Brian Michael Stoller, comedian George Lopez, L.A. weatherman Fritz Coleman, and Fox News reporter Rita Cosby also appear on the defense list.
Relevance of the potential witnesses was not disclosed to the prospective jurors. A number of the celebrities on the list are friend of Jackson and others may have met his accuser.
The prosecution has Debbie Rowe, Jackson's ex-wife and mother of two of his children, listed as a witness, as well as Jamie Masada, owner of the Los Angeles based "Laugh Factory" comedy club.
Prosecutors said they might call on two others who claimed at one time to have been molested by Jackson, one being a man from Los Angeles and the other the son of a former Jackson maid. Settlements were reportedly reached in both instances.
The defense and prosecution together submitted nearly 400 names of potential trial witnesses.
Jury selection continues on Tuesday, February 15, 2005. Jackson will be present.
Source: AP/AFP/FoxReno/LA Times/Reuters/MJJF/eMJey