Testimony in the Michael Jackson trial resumed in earnest on Tuesday, following a day dominated by legal motions.
On the witness stand yesterday was a former Jackson travel aide who testified that she was asked to arrange a one-way trip to Brazil for the accuser and his family.
Also giving testimony was a cameraman who worked for the singer and who had met the accuser on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, one of the trials most anticipated witnesses, Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, is expected to testify on Wednesday.
Travel consultant Cynthia Montgomery told jurors that the trip she was meant to have booked to Brazil for March 1, 2003, was abruptly cancelled. She admitted that she had never spoken to Jackson about the trip and dealt exclusively with his then associate Marc Schaffel – named by prosecutors as one of the unindicted co-conspirators. She said he cancelled the trip because "his plans had changed."
Prosecutors are attempting to prove increasingly convoluted charges that Jackson conspired to kidnap the accuser and his family following the broadcast of the television special ‘Living with Michael Jackson’. The family claims they were to be taken to Brazil against their will, in order to keep them from talking.
Montgomery admitted she had never met the accuser's family and had no idea who they were until the allegations surfaced. She said she regularly booked flights to Brazil for Schaffel, but that he had nonetheless asked her to book one-way tickets when this was not possible due to visa regulations. She told the court that she arbitrarily chose a return date for the flights in order to make the booking.
"Were plane tickets ever purchased for those flights?" asked Mesereau.
"No," she replied.
Source: AP/eMJey