Posted on 06/08/2005 3:14:42 PM PDT by SkyPilot
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - In an unusual development with jury deliberations under way, the judge in the Michael Jackson case planned to release a statement Wednesday. The subject of the statement and the timing of its release were not immediately known.
The jury in Jackson's child molestation case ended deliberations for the day around 2:30 p.m. They finished and left the courthouse minutes after the plan to issue a statement was announced.
Word that the statement was planned came after attorneys on both sides met in chambers with Judge Rodney S. Melville, said Peter Shaplen, the news media pool coordinator for the trial.
The jury has now finished three full days of deliberations on the child molestation charges that could send the pop star to prison. The panel meets daily from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with three 10-minute breaks.
The defendant remained away from the courthouse Wednesday but his longtime friend, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, came by to advocate on his behalf before the news media.
Rev. Jackson charged that the jury was being subjected to "psychological warfare" because of a television report in which a former Santa Barbara County sheriff showed a jail where the singer might go if convicted and immediately ordered into custody.
"One might call it a kind of psychological warfare," Rev. Jackson said. "With an unsequestered jury, they are saying here is where he will stay."
In the Tuesday report, former sheriff Jim Thomas, a consultant for NBC, appeared at the main jail in Santa Barbara with MSNBC host Dan Abrams. Thomas showed Abrams the outside of the jail and talked about what would happen if Jackson is convicted and taken there. Pool video footage of the inside of the jail was shown.
Asked if the defendant was upset by the visuals of the jail, Rev. Jackson said, "He's not watching television."
Thomas responded to the Rev. Jackson's statements Wednesday, saying, "I think the jurors are quite capable of figuring out where he'll go, if he's convicted, without my help." The jury has been ordered to avoid all news reports on the trial.
Rev. Jackson said he spent four hours with the pop star Tuesday. He said the singer's parents, brothers and sisters were with him at his Neverland ranch.
"I came here as his friend and minister," he said. "I've known Michael since he was 8 years old. When people's backs are against the wall they turn to God."
The 46-year-old Jackson is charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003, giving him wine, and conspiracy involving an effort to hold the boy and his family against their will to get them to rebut a damaging documentary about Jackson.
Oh the courts in my area don't get their act together either .. but they jurors still had to be there at 8:30am
There were a few days we sat around till 11:00
"what are the chances that MJ will flee the country. somewhere with no extradition laws and the pheasants all are still wearing "Thriller" t-shirts?"
LOL!
"I would love to see him without the wigs and makeup, though."
Please be our friend. Don't put us through that.
Michael won't commit suicide...noooo. All the vanity that went into carving up that face...no way. He will run though. He has had plenty of time to stash the cash and make the plans. If he is convicted the lawyers will make a deal with the count that he will surrender to authorites on a certain day and he will disappear that night. I'm telling you the plans have been in effect since the beginning of this trial, maybe before.
That being said, I don't think he will be convicted. Remember OJ, we thought that there wasn't any doubt in that. Well, the defense has produced plenty of doubt in this one. I think the jury is mulling over the alcohol charges and some other minor things. He won't do a day in the slammer. He'll 'moonwalk' out of that courtroom.
Actually, they're trailing Latoya. They did a switcheroo.
By LINDA DEUTSCH
(AP) Pop star Michael Jackson leaves the Santa Barbara County Courthouse on May 12, 2005 in Santa Maria,...
Full Image
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - A controversy over the gag order in the Michael Jackson case erupted Wednesday when Jackson's spokeswoman held a press conference and said it had been approved by his attorney. The attorney quickly responded, saying no one had been authorized to hold news conferences on Jackson's behalf.
The development came as the jurors in Jackson's molestation trial wrapped up their third full day of deliberations. The statement from attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. appeared aimed at assuring the court that his defense team had not violated the gag order.
2:30pm, why does the jury end deliberations so early?
"I think the jury is mulling over the alcohol charges and some other minor things."
Actually I think they have already gotten the alcohol charges over with and are focusing on the major things -molestation charges and conspiracy. I say he is convicted on the molestation charges. Not sure about conspiracy. They may shock everyone and convict him on that too.
Juries can be very funny thing (OJ comes to mind).
Maybe she's a fake - no one hired her, just showed up and said she was.
< There is no money to pay the overtime for the bayliffs; that's why the jury isn't sequestered. >
They also can't pay them to stay after 2:30 or 3 either. That's why the short hours.
And yet she just sent a statement to Dan Abrams saying that that statement doesn't apply to HER.
Wonder if they mean Jesse?
At tradesports.com, the price of a contract for Jackson being found guilty of at least one count of intoxicating a minor is trading at about $0.665. A contract for him being found guilty of at least one count of committing a lewd or lascivious act against a minor is at $0.470. Both contracts are falling in price right now. It doesn't look good for Whacko Jacko.
ROTFLMAO at the typo...pheasants in t-shirts...with one little white glove on their leg..
He couldn't afford to live in a place so upscale they can afford to clothe all their game birds.
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