In the Jackson trial the star defendant Michael Jackson is certainly not the only one being tried as evident by the way Jackson's defense counsel is setting the stage for their case. The accuser and family are a far cry from a typical ‘victim’; in fact, it is quite the contrary with the family carrying a load of excess baggage themselves.
Jackson's defense is likely to strategically exploit the family's money troubles, past litigations, the accuser's mother's mental health, an abusive father and a divorce which has left the family in many desperate situations.
Already the accuser and his two siblings, deemed as the most important witnesses in the Jackson trial, has given conflicting testimonies in front of a jury with defense attorney Thomas Mesereau successfully chipping away at their credibility.
The mother who had aspirations for her brood to reach Hollywood riches instead found ways to extract money from some of Hollywood's who's who. Only Jackson's legal team knows how much potentially damaging information it has on the family. Available public records contain allegations regarding the mother's mental health, the parents' 1993 bankruptcy and the family's attempts to profit from the son's cancer, as well as from the case against Jackson.
Celebrities linked with the now infamous 'Laugh Factory' a comedy camp where the accuser and his siblings attended lessons have brought forth claims which corroborate with the defense's contention of a family scheming to extort money while using the accuser's then battle with cancer as leverage.
Defense attorneys could use a JC Penney's lawsuit win in which the family was detained for shoplifting. Authorities in the retail store claim that the boy and his father were guilty and ignored calls from security men who later had to restrain the father and handcuff the mother after she tried to attack the security guard as court papers reveal. In September 2001, the family received a $152,000 out-of-court settlement.
At least two court documents refer to the mother having been diagnosed as "delusional and schizophrenic" by psychiatrists in the Penney's case. One of Jackson's attorneys, in subpoenaing depositions from that case, said the material being sought included "the diagnosis of [the mother] with paranoid schizophrenia with delusions".
The accuser's parents divorced in 2001 leaving the mother with sole custody of her three children after a judge granted a request for a restraining order against her ex-husband for being abusive. In 1993, while still married, the couple filed for personal bankruptcy, listing assets of $2,795 and liabilities of nearly $30,000, including almost $11,500 in credit card debt.
The Jackson trial somewhat strangely is deeply rooted in the Bashir documentary of the entertainer, 'Living With Michael Jackson', which is said to have prompted investigations into the star's relationship with children, particularly Jackson's current accuser who was featured in the documentary. The defense contends that molestation allegations materialized as a result of the mother's failed attempts at extracting money from Jackson for her son's appearance in the documentary although in her grand jury testimony last year, she denied asking for money from Jackson. "I don't want the devil's money," she said.
The conspiracy charges stem from what the prosecution claims as an attempt by Jackson and his co-conspirators to hold the family under duress in order to force them to record a rebuttal video to the damaging documentary.
The mother told a grand jury when asked how she managed to look sincerely pleased and thankful towards Jackson's charitable gestures in the rebuttal video, the woman claimed that she was used to 'pretending' to look happy amidst adversity as her years of enduring abuse from her ex-husband had given her that experience. She went on to state "So, yes, I got really good at smiling. I got really good at pretending everything was OK".
Source: LATimes/MJJForum/eMJey