Jackson asks for passport amid exile rumours

The Sunday Times ^ | June 19, 2005 | John Harlow

[MadIvan]

HUNDREDS of Michael Jackson fans were gathering outside his Neverland ranch yesterday in the expectation that he may leave America following his acquittal on sex abuse charges.

Jackson’s lawyers are seeking the speedy return of his passport, which has been held by police since they raided his home north of Los Angeles in November 2003.

Reports suggested that the 46-year-old pop star, cleared last week after a lengthy trial of abusing a teenage boy at Neverland, may fly to Europe as early as this week. He was said to be considering the possibility of a holiday in Switzerland at the Gstaad home of Elizabeth Taylor, his cinema legend friend.

Financial advisers are waiting for approval to put his 3,000-acre fantasy ranch on the market for up to £40m as part of a package to help the singer pay off debts estimated at £200m.

Jackson is reluctant to lose Neverland, and has thought about turning it into an orphanage or a hospital for sick children, but financial realities seem to have dissuaded him.

Staff have begun moving the remaining animals out of its zoo and mothballing the fairground. A train that Jackson used to take visitors around the grounds has broken down and there is no money for repairs.

Fans who had been drifting away from Neverland after last Monday’s 10 “not guilty” verdicts, began returning on Friday night after his family held a “celebration of thanks” at a casino near the ranch.

Around 400 family and fans packed the Chumash Indian casino, where Jackson’s father Joseph stayed during the 14-week trial. The guests included the singer’s mother Katherine, Robert Sanger, a defence lawyer, and Pauline Coccoz, one of the jurors who acquitted him. The crowd erupted as Katherine Jackson appeared on stage at the end of the evening to thank fans.

“We couldn’t have done it without you,” she said, standing alongside one of her sons, Tito. There was no sign of Michael Jackson.

Some fans claimed to have been given colour-coded armbands to allow them access to Neverland for “one last visit” yesterday afternoon before going on to meet Jackson’s parents and other family members.

Jackson has not been seen since he was carried away from Santa Maria Court in an apparent daze after the verdicts were read out. His brother Jermaine said he was “sleeping a lot”.

Jermaine, part of the original Jackson Five act that turned Michael into a superstar nearly 40 years ago, fuelled speculation about the family’s future last week after he announced on television that they were considering going abroad.

A German concert promoter said last week that Jackson would perform at a party for his father in Berlin on July 23, but has since withdrawn the claim.

Gavin Arvizo, Jackson’s accuser, said he did not intend to launch a civil action against his former friend. “I want to get on with my life,” he said. On Friday, Thomas Mesereau, Jackson’s lawyer, accused Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara district attorney, of using Arvizo as part of a “personal vendetta” against his client.

Now 16, he has recovered from the cancer that brought him to Jackson’s attention and hopes to join the US navy.

[thathamiltonwoman]

Go Michael, go! Thailand, a country more understanding of your um..... habits awaits. I actually think he'll land in France. As long as he follows the Oscar Wilde (before he made his last huge mistake) rule he'll be fine there.

[SkyPilot]

Yes--a moronic jury raised the bar of justice to the heavens, and one of the pathetic jurors went to the "Celebration Victory Party" held 2 nights ago and said she was crying tears of joy.

Just because Jackson is "Not Guilty by Reason of Celebrity" does not mean we can't comment on it.

Here are some sites where you can go celebrate with their ilk.

http://www.michaeljacksonimposter.iwarp.com/

http://mjjsource.com/

By the way, the case was not weak. According to legal experts, pedophiles are convicted in 98% of the cases where instances of past abuse are introduced as evidence. Jackson's jury just didn't want his rabid, insane fans to ruin their lives. They are cowards.

Jackson will abuse again. When that happens, I'll be sure to ping you.

[verity]

Damn. I was hoping this was about Jesse. Oh, well....

[atlanta67]

Did anyone see Triumps The Insult Dogg video at the Michael Jackson Trial?


Funniest thing Ive ver seen.

[fightu4it]

I was looking forward to the "I'm Bad II" prison album.

[em2vn]

You have leveled a lot of charges but there isn't anything to back them up.
The case againt Jackson was as weak as wet tissue paper.
Have you ever noticed that on FR the jury is blamed when someone is found not guilty, whereas, it is that prosecutors simply go to court with weak cases.
The Robert Blake case would be a good example. That poor slob spent over a year in jail without bail and the prosecutor had no case to begin with. His two star witnesses consisted of one severly warped drug addict and the other suffered from a severe mental disorder.
I think the prosecutors often want to build political careers on the basis of big name convictions. The burden of proof is no less or more for a celeb. I would hope that the FR family viewed cases in the same manner.

[SkyPilot]

Blake, OJ, and Jackson. All celebs who skated and will still face the ultimate judgment of God.

I won't worship at the alter of our justice system like you seem to. Although it is a better system than most, it is terribly fallible. The Jackson case just proves it--especially in California, where justice is a joke.

[em2vn]

Worship,no! Expect a well presented and factually sound prosecution case, certainly.
One can piss and moan all one wants but in both the Blake and the Jackson cases the prosecution was inept and damn short of evidence.
Fortunately for both of those men they had the finances to hire very good defense attorneys to defemd them against the full weight and treasury of the state of California. Imagine how difficult this is for a blue collar guy.
The prosecutor is an arm of the state as is the full scope of the judiciary, with nearly limitless manpower and finances to be brought to bear against one citizen. I think the wealth of people and monies is what drives some of the prosecutors to decided to move forward with questionable cases. They experience no repercussion from their failed cases. The failure is simply blamed upon the jury when the blame frequently falls fully upon the state's weal case and a lack of evidence.

[eccentric]

I thought he would have left the country right after the verdict was announced.

[Randy Larsen]

JMHO, I beleive MJ now becomes a marked man for somebody who wants to make a name for themselves, I wouldn't change places with him for all the Jackson money! Just a matter of time.

[SkyPilot]

Who is "pissing and moaning" now?

What is your issue? Are you a defense lawyer, or were you or someone you know once brought up on charges? You certainly are more passionate about this than your average joe.

Moreover, many, many legal analysts disagree vehemently with your repeated charge that the evidence against Jackson was "tissue paper thin." Court TV, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX all had former prosecutors on their shows who said this was one of the strongest cases they had seen. Child molestation usually doesn't have eye witnesses to the actual act. The jury said in the post verdict conference they demanded a "smoking gun." Please.

To rub salt in the wound, one of the jurors did attend a post "victory party."

You can read about it right here.

This excerpt sums up the profanity of "justice" being done by this travesty of a jury decision:

Among the approximately 400 people who arrived at the Chumash Indian Casino was juror Pauline Coccoz. When she walked into the casino and heard Jackson's music playing, Coccoz said, the enormity of what had transpired hit her. "They were playing 'Beat It,' and I almost started to cry," she said as she waited to enter the showroom. She said that earlier in the day, she had received a wristband needed for admission to the party.

In the final analysis, an evil pedophile is free to molest again, and our legal system allowed this to happen.

God help us all.

[em2vn]

What I am interested in is our system of justice.
I am surprised that the networks had prosecutors on who said the case was strong, nor would I be surprised if they had defense attorneys on who said the case was weak. In each case I would be interested in how much of the evidence each of the commentators had seen. They may well have been basing their opinions on radio, television, newspaper and magazine reports, as I have. Or they may have been acting as simple talking heads.
I don't find anything final about your analysis. You have an opinion. I have an opinion. Nothing is final about either.
My opinion is that the prosecution's case was a mound of light and sound without any lightning. It followed the Scott Peterson trial in that the point was to make Jackson appear to be an evil bastard so that the jury could over look a lack of evidence an feel comfortable in putting an evil man away for what he may have done in the past if the current charges couldn't be supported.
The job of a prosecutor isn't to present a case and let the jury decide guilt or innocence. The job is to present the evidence that the prosecutor believes proves a guilty person's guilt.
It would be a sorry state of affairs if people were tried on the chance they could be judged guilty even if the state didn't believe they were guilty or that a jury could be swayed to a guilty verdict even with a lack of evidence.

[Redleg Duke]

Give it to him and good riddance!

[SkyPilot]

Fair enough post.

[dfwgator]

Wacko Jacko heard about this Gay Paris place and is all set to give it a shot.

Imagine his disappointment when he goes to London and finds out Big Ben is a clock.

[Redcloak]

No... Not Switzerland. They have laws against having sex with children. Thailand might be a better bet. In theory, pedophilia is illegal there too, but the authorities often look the other way. And since Michael's mostly Bondo and silicone now, he needn't worry about HIV.