Case of the Ex – employees

In the trial of Michael Jackson, prosecutors in the case called upon ex-employees of Mr. Jackson to give their account of ‘alleged’ acts they supposedly witnessed which would be deemed inappropriate. The ex-employees of Mr. Jackson all confessed to having sold salacious stories to the highest profiting tabloid. These professed stories contained information on Mr. Jackson and his personal relationships with his long-time friend, Mr. Macauley Culkin and ex-wife, Lisa Marie-Presley. In testimony by Adrian McManus, she admitted she did not have knowledge on the personal relationship between Ms. Presley and Mr. Jackson, yet she signed contracts agreeing to give insight on how they spent their intimate time together. It was also said by Ms. McManus that all the ex-employees used ‘media brokers' to profit off of hearsay to pay for the multi-million-dollar wrongful termination suit against Mr. Jackson; this case they lost in court and were given the mandate to pay Mr. Jackson $1.4 million. Ralph Chacon, an ex-security guard who was also a part of the suit against Mr. Jackson, gave a testimony giving explicit details on an act Mr. Jackson allegedly committed with a young child. The defense for Mr. Jackson depicted Mr. Chacon’s account as a way ‘to get even’ for being pushed into filing bankruptcy due to a court’s judgment in favor of Michael Jackson. In addition to the ex-employees, former chef Phillip LeMarque requested $500,000 to tell a tabloid that he witnessed Mr. Jackson’s hand in an inappropriate place on Macauley Culkin when he was a child. Mr. LeMarque has said, “Everybody was trying to sell our stories.” Although Mr. Culkin has always remained grounded with his statement that nothing improper has ever taken place between Mr. Jackson and himself, he has been quoted by his spokesperson that he will not have anything to do with the current case against Michael Jackson. It is an inquiry among experts whether the testimonies given by the ex-employees helps or damages the case against Michael Jackson. Loyola Law Professor and former prosecutor Laurie Levenson speaks, “These witnesses are totally eclipsing the current case. Tom Sneddon is trying the case he didn’t get to try in 1993.” She is also noted saying, “For prosecutors the Achilles’ heel of presenting this type of evidence is they have these low-life witnesses who sold their souls to the tabloids.” However CBS News Analyst and author of Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, J. Randy Taraborrelli, stated that as he was researching for his book twelve years earlier, he interviewed several Neverland employees that are now testifying. He decided not to quote them due to their financial motives. Mr. Taraborrelli said, “If these people did not have this baggage and if their stories ended with, ‘And then I went to the police’, my reaction would be - ‘Oh my God,’" he said. “But if you saw these things, a normal person would call the police; you don’t call the National Enquirer.” It is true that none of the ex-employees phoned the authorities until after they were contacted and were asked for evidence against Mr. Jackson. What kind of a person would wait to telephone protection for someone who was allegedly abused in such a foul manner? “The legislation was never intended to just take all the garbage you can find in the defendant’s past and smear him enough to convict him. At this point, the case is looking like a smear campaign. It’s a legal free-for-all.” – Laurie Levenson, Loyola Law School Professor. Source: AP/MJJForum/eMJey