Dan Abrams
Why Michael Jackson will not be convicted
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
If both the prosecution and the defense deliver what they promised in the opening statements, I find it hard to believe that the jury is going to find proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Jackson is guilty.
The prosecution claims Jackson (1) molested the child, (2) gave him alcohol in an effort to molest him, (3) and/or engaged in a conspiracy.
Maybe it's just the lawyering, but based on the opening statement, what the prosecutors are going to present are the accuser and his family's accounts of being holed up by Jackson and his team (in hotels and at the Neverland Ranch).
The boys will recount experiencing or witnessing abuse by Jackson. They'll have some corroboration, like evidence from other witnesses about Jackson putting liquor into Coke cans. It's at least clear that he had some porn in his Peter Pan-inspired getaway. But he's charged with plying the boy with liquor so that he could molest him. Without proving the intent to molest, the alcohol charge means nothing.
The success of the conspiracy charge is going to depend largely on the testimony of the mother, but she's a huge problem. Even prosecutors concede she's been a scammer in the past. She's made allegations about false imprisonment and sexual abuse. It looks like the defense may be able to show that at least some of those allegations were false.
But more importantly, the timeline laid out by Jackson's attorneys will be an insurmountable problem for prosecutors. The family repeatedly told investigators, social workers, and the media that Jackson is a great guy until February 21, 2003. The prosecutors say the abuse happened between February 20 and March 12.
Prosecutors want jurors to believe that after this negative documentary about Jackson aired, Jackson and his team frantically tried to make sure that the family said nice things about Jackson on a rebuttal tape. They want jurors to believe that at this point, Jackson's world is crashing down on him because he said in the documentary that "likes to have children sleep in his bed." And right then is supposedly when Jackson suddenly decides to molest the boy for the first time— a boy he's trying to imprison to make sure he says there was no molestation.
Why didn't any of them report any of this to the Department of Family Services?
Even the boy's own account is troubling. At the grand jury, he says he was definitely molested by Jackson twice, but he has dreamlike recollections of Jackson molesting him at other times as well.
The bottom line? In the same way prosecutors will be able to prove Jackson is weird, inappropriate, and at times maybe downright frightening, the defense will be able to show this family can't be trusted enough to take away Jackson's freedom.
I predict, and we'll see, that Jackson will be found not guilty.
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JWR contributor Dan Abrams anchors “The Abrams Report,” Monday through Friday from 9-10 p.m. ET on MSNBC TV. He also covers legal stories for “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw,” “Today” and “Dateline NBC.” To visit his website, click here. Comment by clicking here.
