Trial of Michael Jackson
People v. Jackson was a 2005 criminal trial held in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California. The American pop singer Michael Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, at his Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos, California.
Jackson was first accused of child sexual abuse in 1993; he denied the allegations and settled in a civil lawsuit. In 2003, the documentary Living with Michael Jackson showed Jackson holding hands with Arvizo and defending his practice of giving his bed to children, triggering an investigation. Jackson was indicted on four counts of molesting a minor, four counts of intoxicating a minor to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation, one count of conspiring to hold the Arvizo family captive, and conspiring to commit extortion and child abduction.
The trial spanned approximately four months, beginning with jury selection that began on January 31, 2005. Gavin and his brother testified that Jackson had given them alcohol, showed them pornography, masturbated before them, and made sexual advances. The defense characterized the witnesses for the prosecution as disgruntled ex-employees or individuals seeking to exploit Jackson for money. Witnesses for the defense included testimony from celebrities including former child actor Macaulay Culkin and comedian Chris Tucker. Coverage of the trial was described as a media circus, with most media outlets quick to portray Jackson as guilty.
Jackson was acquitted on all counts on June 13, 2005. He never returned to Neverland Ranch, and spent the first several months after the trial living in Bahrain and Ireland. In 2013, four years after Jackson's death, one of the defense witnesses, Wade Robson, changed his position and filed a lawsuit, saying he had been abused by Jackson.
Background
In 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler. The abuse allegedly took place at Jackson's Neverland Ranch home in Santa Barbara, California. In January 1994, Jackson settled the lawsuit made against him for $23 million, with $5 million going to the family's lawyers. The settlement was not an admission of guilt; Jackson said he had settled to prevent the lawsuit interfering with his career, which he later regretted. Prosecutors pursued the criminal case and presented the evidence to two separate grand juries, neither of which indicted.In 2000, Gavin Arvizo, a child cancer patient, was introduced to Jackson by the businessman and comedian Jamie Masada. Gavin's father, David Arvizo, who was separated from Arvizo's mother, often asked celebrities for money to support his son's cancer treatments. Gavin was receiving chemotherapy and required the removal of his spleen and left kidney. Jackson and Gavin became friends, and Jackson invited Gavin and his family to the Neverland Ranch. Gavin thanked Jackson for "helping be happy and beat cancer". According to Gavin, after a few visits to Neverland, Jackson suddenly stopped calling him; Gavin said he felt abandoned.
In 2002, Jackson invited Gavin, now 12 years old, to be a part of an ITV documentary, Living with Michael Jackson. The presenter, Martin Bashir, interviewed Jackson over eight months for the film. Jackson and Gavin were seen holding hands. Bashir asked Jackson about the appropriateness of a grown man having sleepovers and sharing a bed with a young person. Jackson said he allowed guests to sleep in his bed alone while he slept on the floor, and that it was not sexual. He said it was a "beautiful thing", and that he had shared his bed with many children, including the actors Macaulay and Kieran Culkin.
The documentary drew controversy and calls for Jackson's children to be removed from his custody. Jackson called the documentary deceptive and a "gross distortion of the truth". Gavin's mother, Janet Arvizo, said it misrepresented her son's relationship with Jackson; she instructed Theodore Goddard, the London law firm, to file complaints against the Independent Television Commission, which oversees ITV. Bashir defended his interview, saying: "Here's an individual who is 44 years old, sleeping in the bed of children who have no biological relationship with him. I did not set out to ensnare him with a child."
Jackson's production team recorded a two-hour rebuttal film, The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See, which was screened by Fox Television. Jackson decided to release the film after feeling betrayed by Bashir. Macaulay Culkin appeared on Larry King Live to defend Jackson, saying nothing inappropriate had occurred at Neverland Ranch. He said: "Michael Jackson's bedroom is two stories and has three bathrooms. When I slept in his bedroom, you have to understand the whole scenario. The thing is that, with Michael, he isn't very good at explaining himself."
Gloria Gruber, president of Prevent Child Abuse California, called for authorities to interview the children with whom he had shared his bed, saying: "The fact that he sleeps with children who are unrelated to him is definitely a red flag and concern." Santa Barbara district attorney Tom Sneddon, who had attempted to bring Jackson to trial over the 1993 allegations, initially said that, under Californian law, sleeping with a child without "affirmative, offensive conduct" was not illegal, and "sleeping in bed with a kid is not a crime that I know of".
Investigation and arrest
From February 14 to February 27, 2003, a few weeks after the broadcast of the documentary, the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services conducted a preliminary investigation of Jackson and Gavin. In a confidential report based on interviews with the Arvizos, which leaked to the media, child welfare officials stated that they believed that accusations of illicit conduct were unfounded.In June 2003, Sneddon reopened the investigation. In July and August, he interviewed Gavin along with his father David, mother Janet, and younger brother Star. In November, Gavin told police that Jackson had molested him several times between February 7 and March 10, 2003, when, according to Janet, Jackson had held the family captive at Neverland. This timeline was revised in the grand jury indictment, which stated that the alleged acts of molestation occurred between February 21 and March 12, 2003.
On November 18, 2003, police searched Neverland Ranch with a search warrant. Jackson and his three children were in Las Vegas, where Jackson was shooting a music video for his single "One More Chance". Jackson was arrested on November 20. He was released an hour later after posting a $3 million bond.
Shortly after the arrest, Jackson issued a statement saying the claims were "predicated on a big lie". In an interview with the news program 60 Minutes, Jackson said the police had mistreated him and complained of a dislocated shoulder. He reaffirmed his innocence and said that he was determined not to settle out of court as he had done in 1993. In August 2004, the California attorney general's office concluded, after an independent investigation, that Jackson was neither "manhandled" nor mistreated when he was taken into custody.
On December 18, 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent for the purpose of committing a felony. On January 16, 2004, the day of his arraignment, Jackson climbed on top of his car to dance and wave to fans. On April 21, a grand jury indicted Jackson on several additional related charges, including conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion. Jackson pleaded not guilty on April 30. He faced a sentence of up to 18 years in prison if convicted at trial. Donald Trump offered support for Jackson, telling Larry King "I'm gonna stick up for him because nobody else is, and I don't believe it.
Trial
The trial began on February 28, 2005 in the courthouse of Santa Maria, Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara County Judge Rodney Melville presided over the trial. Melville, who had a contentious relationship with the news media, banned cameras from the courtroom and put a gag order on both sides. He delayed the three-day jury selection process for a week while Jackson was hospitalized, reportedly with flu.Sneddon led the prosecution. Jackson's legal team attempted to have him and his staff disqualified from the trial, citing bias following his attempts to prosecute Jackson in 1993; Melville dismissed the attempts. The defense was led by the celebrity lawyer Thomas Mesereau, recommended to the Jackson family by fellow legal defense attorney Johnnie Cochran.
Melville allowed prosecutors to introduce testimony about past allegations against Jackson, including the 1993 case, to establish whether Jackson had a propensity to commit such crimes. The prosecution hoped to show that Jackson had engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse with boys. They called on witnesses to describe earlier incidents, including Jackson's alleged 1993 abuse of Jordan Chandler. The prosecution argued that Jackson used Neverland, his "fantasy hideaway" with candy and theme park attractions, to lure boys and groom them into sex, and flattered their parents with gifts. The prosecution also said that, after Living With Michael Jackson aired, Jackson and his entourage had attempted to hold the Arvizo family virtually captive at Neverland and force them to participate in a rebuttal film.
On March 10, as Gavin Arvizo was about to testify, Jackson was absent from court. Judge Melville issued a warrant for his arrest and said Jackson's $3 million bond would be forfeited if he did not arrive within an hour. Jackson arrived an hour and ten minutes late and appeared to weep in court. In an interview shortly afterwards, he said he had slipped in the shower and bruised his lung "very badly". He said the ongoing trial had been the lowest period in his life, and denied rumors about his financial problems, saying they were part of a smear campaign.