Jurors heard from a Neverland Valley ranch maid yesterday as she testified about an alarm that sounds each time someone enters Michael Jackson's bedroom suite.
At the beginning of the trial, Prosecution witness Star Arvizo testified he witnessed Michael molesting his brother after sneaking into the bedroom unannounced. However, the Defence contend an alarm installed for Michael's protection would have alerted him that someone was entering the suite. Neverland maid Maria Gomez took the stand and told jurors how a test conducted on the alarm this year had shown it is as loud now as it has ever been. Another witness to take the stand was forensic accountant Mike Radakovich, who testified about financial records concerning the Arvizo family. The witness testified that the family received $152,000 in a civil lawsuit against store chain JC Penney, and that $32,308 of that was deposited into the account of the Accuser's Mother, Janet Arvizo. The witness also testified how the Arvizo family spent $7,000 in one week shopping and dining temselves, all at Michael's expense, and in a week they claim they were being held captive by Michael's employees.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services worker Mercy Manriquez (pictured here) also took the stand. She testified how Janet Arvizo stated in an application for welfare assistance that she had no other source of income, despite only ten days earlier winning the financial settlement from JC Penney.
An editor of the Mid-Valley News in El Monte took the stand to testify about an article that appeared in her publication in 2000 about Gavin Arvizo's cancer. Connie Keenan said she felt "duped" by Janet Arvizo after she found out the family were covered medically with insurance and that the money raised through the article was used for every day expenses. "I had some bad feelings about the whole incident and the whole story," Keenan said.
Janet Arvizo's ex-sister-in-law Marian Arvizo also testified. She told the court how she learned about Gavin Arvizo's illness through a report on the local news, so she started blood drives to find more blood of the Accuser's type. Instead of appreciating the effort, Arvizo demanded more according to the witness, "She told me that she didn't need my (expletive) blood, that she needed money."
Today is expected to see comedian Jay Leno take the stand to testify about a phone conversation he had with Gavin Arvizo in which it was his belief the Mother was in the background coaching her son to ask for money.