Breaking News: Judge rules on prior allegations

Michael Jackson Forum

Just came in: The judge has ruled that testimony from prior molestation accusations is admissible. There will be 5 boys testifying against MJ about their alleged molestation at MJ's hands.
Will post more as it comes in...

FIVE males? Five? Dang. That is not good. I had no idea there were that many on record.

wait 5 males saying things happened that were questionable or saying something in fact definitely happened.

I've heard of more than just 5 sleeping with him and saying nothing happened, but if they have 5 plus this kid saying something did happen.....that isn't looking too pretty.

I knew he had paid two kids off previously, but 5? That's a revelation.

I think if there's one, you can say people were maybe trying to extort him, if there was two, maybe a second person cashing on it, but 5 makes a hell of a difference. I can handle one "coincidence" but 5? No way

At least he could say honestly in court that he's had more nose jobs than kids he's molested...

-HECK!

Anyone know about this??????

Jackson Jury Can Hear of Past Allegations

Mon Mar 28,11:00 PM ET Top Stories - AP


By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - In a major setback for Michael Jackson, a judge ruled Monday the jury can hear allegations the pop star molested or had designs on five other boys, including actor Macaulay Culkin and two youngsters who reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the singer.



District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson's inappropriate activities with these boys included kissing, hugging and inserting his hands into their pants. He also said there was a pattern of "grooming," or preparing the boys for molestation, but did not elaborate.


Jackson, 46, is on trial on charges he molested one boy — then 13 — at his Neverland ranch in 2003. In most criminal cases, evidence of past behavior is not admissible against a defendant. However, the California Legislature changed that in 1995, specifically in cases of child molestation and domestic violence.


Sneddon said the testimony about the five cases will show Jackson has a consistent pattern of abuse.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked Judge Rodney Melville to exclude the allegations, saying they were based on third parties, many of whom were after Jackson's money. The reference was to former Jackson employees who sued the singer in the past and lost, and were then ordered to pay the singer $1 million in damages.

The incidents allegedly occurred 12 to 15 years ago, and the prosecutor acknowledged only one of the five boys has agreed to testify at Jackson's trial. Some of the other testimony would come from the mothers of the two boys who won settlements.

And Mesereau said Culkin, a frequent visitor to Jackson's Neverland Ranch, "has repeatedly said he was never molested."


Mesereau told the judge he would put on a "mini-trial" on each allegation the jury is allowed to hear. "You can't stop the defense from putting on a full-blown defense and I mean just that," the defense attorney warned.


Jackson was not present during the arguments but arrived later to cheers from fans.


Culkin's publicist, Michelle Bega, said Monday the "Home Alone" star "is presently not involved with the proceedings and we do not expect that to change."


After the judge's ruling, comedian George Lopez took the stand and told about helping Jackson's current accuser as the boy battled cancer. Lopez said he came to believe the boy's father was more interested in money than helping his son. He testified the father accused the comedian of stealing $300 from the boy's wallet.


Lopez said he finally cut off the family because of the father's frequent and aggressive requests for help. When the father asked what he was supposed to tell his son, Lopez testified he responded: "Tell him his father's an extortionist."


The defense contends Lopez, star of the ABC sitcom "George Lopez," is among celebrities who were targeted by the accuser's family in schemes to make money. But prosecutors contend any such schemes were the work of the boy's father, who is now divorced from the mother.


Sneddon said one boy from the five earlier cases will come forward and his mother also will testify. That case involved a boy who was allegedly involved in a 1990 incident and received a $2.4 million settlement from Jackson in 1994.


The district attorney also promised testimony from the mother of a boy who said he was molested in 1993 and reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with Jackson in 1994.


It was unclear exactly what Jackson was accused of doing with each of the five boys, though the 1993 accuser claimed he was repeatedly molested, and Sneddon said the boy in the 1990 case was touched twice over his clothes and once under his clothes.


The judge excluded two other boys named by the prosecution but did not say why.

In a hearing after jurors left the courtroom, Sneddon said he planned to begin presenting evidence of the past allegations in about two weeks. The judge said he would give jurors special legal instructions on the issue of past acts before that testimony is offered.

Meanwhile, media attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. filed an appeal Monday with the California Supreme Court seeking permission to copy exhibits in the Jackson case — including a videotape of the search of Jackson's ranch and one in which his accuser praises the star. Melville had denied such permission and an earlier appeal was rejected.

My comments on the Culkin situation...

If nothing happened...why did MJ pay him money?

I dont think Culkin would admit it because he thinks it could damage his career or would have damaged his career if he would have said someting earlier..I mean th ekid was a huge child actor...he wasnt gonna risk that, and his parent wouldnt risk it either...Culkin was making a fortune for his parents as well. They lived off this kid big time.

But why take money if nothing happened?

Something happened.

It didn't say that Macaulay Culkin got money from M.J. I knew they hung out together back in the day, but Culkin never made any allegations. I think the prosecution is going to use old testimony from Culkin that shows a patter of behavior.

-HECK!

This may be the beginning of the end for this dude. I mean what an idiot because if he is innocent, then after being accused by so many children, why keep up this stupid behavior of sleeping with them?

Mike will never make it in prison. He's almost disintegrating before our eyes in court. What a tragedy. He has no one to blame but himself, innocent or not.

I wonder if he'll skip out of the country before the verdict. I agree he would never make it in prison, I wonder if the trial starts to turn away from his favor with these new witnesses, if he'll just take off.

Notice that there were NO little girls that have ever accused him. ALL boys. There were 7 total but only 5 are allowed in the trial. Looks like a pattern to me.

Macaulay Culkin's Dad Goes To Bat For Jacko

Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com reports that according to a treatise written by Macaulay Culkin's estranged dad Kit, Michael Jackson never acted inappropriately with the 'Home Alone' actor or any of his siblings. "I never saw or heard anything at all during my early days of knowing Michael to suggest that he was a pedophile," Culkin writes. Read more.

- Pop Dirt

THere is no way he would have touched Kit Culkins kids. The guy is a notorious hot head AND Mac was a huge star in his own right. Too big of a risk for Jacko, but I do think he had unpure thoughts about the kid.

Same, I think if MJ did molest anyone, it'd be low-profile kids. Not any famous kids.

Hold on gang, after reviewing some facts in this ruling I think the judges’ error laid the ground for a serious appeal should Mike lose.

The prosecutor argued that not the victims but witnesses of Michael’s alleged behavior on other children should be allowed to testify. In other words no victims but accusers of 3 of the 5 be allowed to testify despite no trial or not even an arrest in those cases. One of the last 2 is Maculkin who categorically denies any such thing took place.

And to top it all off, these accusers were found to be lying in civil court about what they witnessed so much so that Michael Jackson was awarded civil damages totaling over $1 million for defamation. Now the Judge is going to allow these same people to come into criminal court and testify that they saw MJ molesting children?

I’m no lawyer by any means but if you ask me, I’d say any appellate court is going to overturn any convictions in this case should these people be allowed to testify.

Macaulay Culkin's Dad Ripped Off? Neverland Staff Stiffed?

Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com reports that on Sunday, Macaulay Culkin's father Kit Culkin was horrified to see in the New York Daily News an "exclusive" interview that he supposedly gave Barak. He says that he never gave the interview and didn't authorize it. A spokesperson for Barak said that she did have the right to use the material. Read more, including news that Jackson has missed payroll to staff on his Neverland Ranch again, here.

- Pop Dirt

CA law allows allegations of prior abuse to be entered into the record. It shows a pattern. IF they convict him, I think it will stand up to appeal.

The jury may convict on the counts of giving alcohol to minors. That could send him to jail for some serious time.