Bill Dickerman Interviews

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December 29, 2003
Jackson Says Authorities 'Manhandled' Him
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:30 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Michael Jackson says he is still in pain from being put in police handcuffs last month and tells CBS's ``60 Minutes'' that authorities ``manhandled'' him.

The pop star said he suffered a dislocated shoulder from the way he was cuffed and handled during his arrest on child molestation charges.

``It's hurting me very badly,'' Jackson said in an interview broadcast Sunday. ``I'm in pain all the time.''

Representatives of the Santa Barbara County sheriff's department did not return a call seeking comment Sunday. District Attorney Thomas Sneddon has said Jackson was treated fairly while in custody.

Jackson denied the molestation charges against him in a partial transcript of the interview released Friday, and said he still believes it's acceptable to have children sleep in his bed.

On Sunday, CBS released the full transcript of Jackson's Christmas night interview with Ed Bradley.

Jackson, 45, is charged with seven counts of performing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. After surrendering to Santa Barbara, Calif., authorities Nov. 20, he was set free on $3 million bail.

``It seemed to me like he reindicted himself,'' Bill Dickerman, an attorney who represented the family of the alleged victim and remains close to them, told ABC's ``Good Morning America'' Monday after reviewing a transcript of Jackson's interview.

``He said many things that were not in his favor,'' Dickerman said. ``His reference to being Jack the Ripper or a pedophile or not being Jack the Ripper or a pedophile I thought was very strange.''

During the televised interview, when Jackson was asked if he thought it was still OK to sleep with children given the charges against him, he answered: ``Why not? If you're going to be a pedophile, if you're going to be Jack the Ripper, if you're going to be a murderer, it's not a good idea. That I am not.''

``Before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists,'' Jackson said.

The pop star also said authorities sought to belittle him when he was taken into custody.

``They were supposed to go in, and just check fingerprints, and do the whole thing that they do when they take somebody in,'' he said. ``They manhandled me very roughly. My shoulder is dislocated, literally.''

The pain from being handcuffed behind his back ``keeps me from sleeping at night,'' he said.

Jackson said he was locked in a restroom for 45 minutes after he asked to use the facilities. He said the room was smelly because of feces thrown all over.

His bedroom at his Neverland ranch was left a ``total wreck'' by investigators acting on a search warrant, Jackson said, although he admitted he has yet to see it.

Bradley pressed Jackson, a father of three, on whether he would allow his own children to sleep in a bed with a 45-year-old man and if he understood the way this appeared to others.

``People think sex,'' Jackson said. ``They're thinking sex. My mind doesn't run that way. When I see children, I see the face of God. That's why I love them so much.''

:nav Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Mi...-Interview.html

 

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Posted: Dec 29 2003, 03:44 PM

Lawyer for Jackson accuser denies money the motive
1 hour, 49 minutes ago



NEW YORK (AFP) - The family of the boy that has accused Michael Jackson (news) of child molestation is not motivated by money, their lawyer said in response to charges by the pop star that the parents are manipulating the boy.


The lawyer, Bill Dickerman, told ABC television that the family are "credible people", "religious people," and "unsophisticated people."


He went on "I can tell you that on many occasions they indicated, especially the mother, that they were not interested in money. Money is not what is motivating them."


Jackson, 45, is charged with seven counts of molesting a boy under the age of 14 and two counts of plying him with alcohol.


Each child sex charge carries a jail sentence of between three and eight years on conviction, while those of administering an intoxicating agent to a minor carry a maximum sentence of three years each.


The boy, who is now 14, is said to be a cancer sufferer who first met Jackson in hospital.


In an interview with CBS television broadcast on Sunday night, Jackson said the case was about "money".


"It's Michael Jackson. Look what we have here. We can get money out of this. That's exactly what happened," he said, again declaring his innocence.


But Dickerman said that Jackson had appeared to "reindict" himself in his latest comments, particularly that he saw nothing wrong with sleeping with a child.


"Like it's okay to be a grown man, sleeping, sharing your bed with boys," said the lawyer. "He reiterated that again when asked."


A friend of the family, who was not named, told ABC that the boy desperately needs a kidney transplant but that his general condition has improved.


"Improved but still very down," said Jamie Masada, who has known the family since 1999 and introduced them to Dickerman, a top US lawyer.


Masada said that half of the boy's face was covered in blisters. "And his kidney is failing, he needs a new kidney. And having 'O' negative blood it is hard to find a kidney for him."

:nav Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...on_031229195227

 

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Posted: Jan 30 2004, 05:27 AM

Surprising New Allegations Against Michael Jackson

LOS ANGELES – ABCNews' Good Morning America has obtained an explosive series of letter, which document claims of a bizarre pattern of harassment by Jackson and his associates.

Attorney William Dickerman says the boy's family first came to him for help last February, shortly after the famous Martin Bashir documentary aired. At the time the family was living at Neverland. Dikerman no longer represents the family, but continues to speak out.

ABC'S Senior Legal Correspondent Cynthia McFadden spoke with Dickerman who said the family was very closely monitored and closely guarded.

In the first of 10 letters spanning two months, Dickerman complained to Jackson attorney Mark Geragos that the pop star and his staff were engaged in "despicable behavior" and that "Jackson has relentlessly hounded and harassed the children and their mother almost daily since they left Neverland."

On March 26, 2003, Dickerman wrote that Jackson's camp was making "direct threats" against his clients, "surveilling and photographing the children's school" -- banging on the family's "door at all hours" -- telephoning the boy's mother and leaving her "disturbing notes" -- "stalking the family by auto," " holding the families passports" and "threatening them with dire consequences, if they sue Jackson."

The attorney went on to write the "obvious purpose of these actions (was) to terrorize" the family. Warned, for the child who was a young stage-4 cancer patient, "Jackson's conduct could seriously impair or reverse his recovery.".

In the months that followed Dickermans first meeting with the family, the boy begain to talk about being abused by Jackson and those allegations resulted n the Santa Barbara District Attorney filing charges.

In the meantime, with a trial still many months away there is concern about the still-fragile health of Michael Jackson's accuser.

And how could this affect the Jackson case?

Legal expert Shawn Chapman doesn't think the letters will be admissible in court, but they could lead to an investigation.

:nav Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/012904_nw...ackson_gma.html

 

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Sordid Details
Sources Tell More About Boy’s Molestation Allegations
ABCNEWS.com
Jan. 30– Michael Jackson encouraged the boy who later accused him of molestation into appearing in a British documentary with the suggestion of a movie career, a former lawyer for the boy's family tells ABCNEWS' Primetime.


Jackson brought the boy to his Neverland ranch and "gave him some inducements about things that might happen if he did a good job on camera … like he might have a movie career," William Dickerman told Primetime's Cynthia McFadden. The interview took place before a judge issued a gag order in the case earlier this month.
In the documentary, Jackson is seen holding hands with the 12-year-old, who also rests his head on Jackson's shoulder. The boy tells the interviewer he and his brother had spent a night in the singer's bedroom, and Jackson says he slept on the floor.

Dickerman and others told Primetime that at the time the documentary was shot, according to the boy, both Jackson and the boy were telling the truth: There had never been anything sexual in their relationship.

But according to a source familiar with the boy's allegations, the boy says that after the cameras were turned off later that same day, Jackson showed him pictures of naked women and cuddled him. The boy told no one.

No Stranger to Controversy

Dickerman said the boy, who was befriended by Jackson when the youngster was critically ill with cancer, was brought to Neverland expressly to do the interview. He hadn't been there for months.

"I suppose he was trying to clean up his image, put a young boy in front of the camera who says, 'Yeah everything is OK, he doesn't sleep with me, there is nothing torrid happening in bed,' " he said.

When the program aired last February, the boy's mother contacted him, Dickerman said – not because she had any suspicions about child molestation, but because she felt the documentary's producers hadn't treated her son fairly.

"He had been on camera, there had been no consent given," said Dickerman. "And when she found out about it, she was absolutely livid and she would never have given her consent."

Jackson disappeared from the boy's life for five months after the interview, a source says. The source says he reappeared just before the British documentary was set to air on ABC, amid of storm of controversy.

Dickerman said the family told him that Jackson asked the then-13-year-old boy to fly without his family to this exclusive resort in Miami. Dickerman says Jackson told the boy that they would hold a joint press conference there denouncing the documentary.

"He wanted to take just the kid and mom said, 'No, we're all going,' which apparently was not a big hit with Michael Jackson, who reportedly has no use for moms and for kid sisters," said Dickerman.

At the mother's insistence, Dickerman said, she and the boy's brother and sister arrived at Turnberry resort in Miami, but there was no press conference.

Sources told Primetime that Jackson then flew the boy and his family back to Los Angeles in a private jet. After the documentary aired, Jackson urged the family to abandon their modest apartment in working-class East Los Angeles. He convinced the family – given the uproar around the documentary – that for their own safety they should leave their home and move in to Jackson's Neverland ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley.

‘Hounded,’ ‘Harrassed’ and ‘Terrorized’

At the Neverland ranch, the mother stayed apart from her children. "They were very closely monitored and closely guarded," Dickerman said.

It was sometime in February 2003, sources say, that the boy says cuddling first gave way to incidents of sexual touching. But he did not speak of molestation to his family. Nevertheless, Dickerman says, the boy's mother was becoming increasingly uncomfortable at Neverland, believing that they were being closely monitored – and followed – whenever they left the ranch.

The family felt like they were under house arrest at the Jackson compound, Dickerman said. In a letter to famed criminal defense lawyer Mark Geragos, who had already been hired by Jackson, Dickerman said Jackson or his staff engaged in "despicable behavior" and that the children were "hounded," "harassed" and "terrorized."

Dickerman said Jackson or his agents were:

surveilling and photographing the children's school
eavesdropping on their phone conversations
in possession of the family's belongings
and holding the family's passports and visas.

The passports were arranged for them by the Jackson staff, allegedly to send the family out of the country. Dickerson said Jackson and his staff might have withheld the documents because "if they showed that they had the passports and the visas, it might suggest they were trying to send them somewhere, you know?"

According to sources, Michael Jackson's associates proposed that the family relocate to various places, among them Phoenix, Australia, Brazil or Argentina.

What Is ‘Jesus Juice’?

Geragos spoke to ABCNEWS in detail before the gag order was issued. He told McFadden that the child and his family have made up all the allegations of abuse, and called them just the latest attempt to shake down his client with false accusations. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Dickerman sees the child's story differently. He believes the boy was molested, "without a doubt."

Dickerman said of the alleged victim: "He was very, very reluctant to speak. His sister and brother weren't, but of course they weren't the alleged victims. And it wasn't easy especially because he had been humiliated. He also really adored Michael Jackson."

Sources told Primetime the boy has given many details of the alleged molestation, including that Jackson gave his sister vodka, and him and his brother wine – which they say Jackson called "Jesus juice." Sources also told Primetime that alcohol was detected during a blood test for the boy's cancer treatment.

According to a source, a person who is not a member of the family also corroborates the drinking.

But asked about these allegations – if Jackson gave the boy wine, sleeping pills, or showed him pornography – Dickerman said: "I can't say. These are all part of the case and – I don't want to step on the district attorney's toes."

In the meantime, with a trial still many months away, the family has moved to an undisclosed location and there is concern about the still-fragile health of the boy.

"They seem to be doing OK if basically being a prisoner in your home is OK," Dickerman said. "They're not essentially in hiding. They're in hiding."


:nav Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/E...n_040130-1.html

 

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Family, lawyers of accuser reportedly receive threats
Request made to seal phone records

By DAWN HOBBS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER


Prosecutors in the Michael Jackson molestation case asked that certain phone records be sealed because of recent alleged threats and vandalism against the accuser's family and their attorneys, the News-Press has learned.

A source close to the boy's family said Friday that the family's attorneys and a friend of the alleged victim received death threats for their involvement in the case.

The source said that an unidentified person made a threatening call to the cell phone of Jamie Masada, the Los Angeles comedy club owner who introduced the boy to the entertainer. The caller also threatened the family's civil attorneys, William Dickerman and Larry Feldman, the source said.

In addition, a car parked in a private garage and belonging to one of the people threatened was scratched with a key and a plate-glass window in a home was shattered by a baseball, said the source.

The family source declined to be more specific, adding, "This could all be coincidental or it could be intimidation. We just don't know."

The reported death threats and vandalism prompted Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon's prosecution team to file the request with the court on Jan. 28, a second source confirmed.

A gag order issued by Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville prohibits prosecutors, Mr. Jackson's attorneys or potential witnesses in the case from commenting.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Gerald Franklin asked in his motion that unspecified phone records be sealed because they would likely contain the names of potential witnesses, which if made public, could subject them to possible intimidation.

"I am informed by sheriff's investigators, and believe, that the prior experience of the investigators in this matter has shown that potential witnesses whose identities are made public before they are contacted and interviewed have sometimes been subjected to intimidation and have become reluctant to be forthcoming and candid with investigators who seek to interview them," the document stated.

Mr. Masada and Mr. Dickerman could not be reached for comment on Friday. Mr. Feldman said he could not discuss the case, citing the gag order.

Mr. Feldman was the civil attorney for another young accuser's family in 1993. In that case, criminal charges were never filed against Mr. Jackson. The boy declined to testify after the entertainer settled with his family for an undisclosed amount.

During that case, someone allegedly left dead birds on some witnesses' door steps and wrote threatening messages on the walls of others' homes, a source said. No charges were filed.

The two lawyers reportedly got involved in the current case when their relationship with Mr. Jackson soured. The boy's family asked Mr. Dickerman to assist them in retrieving belongings from storage that were allegedly taken by people from the Jackson camp, a family friend said. After several memos to Mr. Jackson's attorney, Mark Geragos, the items were returned.

The family also alleged that Mr. Jackson's people were attempting to make them move to Brazil. Mr. Dickerman then referred the family to Mr. Feldman because of his experience in the 1993 case.

JACKSON UPDATES

- Michael Jackson is not expected in court Feb. 13 when a date for a preliminary hearing is expected to be set and various motions regarding press access will be hammered out between attorneys for the media, the prosecution and the defense.

- District Attorney Tom Sneddon, who had said he did not oppose cameras in the courtroom until after the matter came to trial, has changed his mind. According to court documents filed Thursday by his office, Mr. Sneddon now is opposed to any cameras anytime.

- Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville denied the media's request to allow cameras in the courtroom in an order filed Friday.

– DAWN HOBBS

:nav Source: http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/02...eaththreats.htm

 

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By DAWN HOBBS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon has failed to adequately demonstrate why search warrants and phone records in the Michael Jackson child molestation case should be kept secret, according to attorneys representing several media outlets.

The District Attorney's Office asked that the records be sealed because they could contain the names of potential witnesses, which if made public could subject them to possible intimidation, according to court documents.

But the seven search warrants issued Jan. 22 should be made public because the "vague and generalized claims are insufficient to justify the blanket sealing order," media attorney Theodore J. Boutrous stated in a legal motion filed Feb. 6 and posted on the county Web site Monday.

This and other media-access issues will be argued by attorneys in a court proceeding set for Friday in Santa Maria. Mr. Jackson is not expected to attend.

During the hearing, Mr. Sneddon and Mr. Jackson's attorney, Mark Geragos, also are expected to propose to Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville how they want to deal with a so-called "safe harbor" provision.

When the judge issued a gag order during Mr. Jackson's Jan. 16 arraignment, he agreed to a special clause allowing attorneys to respond to rumors surrounding the case – from assertions that Mr. Jackson attempted to divert a jet to South Africa while he was en route to Santa Barbara to surrender, to speculation the entertainer had taken a Muslim bride.

The basis behind Mr. Boutrous' challenges to the sealing of documents and the gag order has been that public access is needed because court proceedings conducted in private will fuel speculation and distrust of the system.

The latest attempt to gain access to the documents stems from a request filed Jan. 28 by the prosecution to keep phone records sealed because of potential witness intimidation.

"The District Attorney offers no factual support for this bald assertion. Such vague and generalized claims are insufficient to justify the blanket sealing order," Mr. Boutrous stated in his motion.

The News-Press on Friday learned that prosecutors requested the records be sealed because of recent alleged threats and acts of vandalism against family members of Mr. Jackson's accuser and their attorneys.

A source close to the accuser's family said an unidentified person made a threatening call to the cell phone of Jamie Masada, the Los Angeles comedy club owner who introduced Mr. Jackson to his eventual accuser. During that call, the family's civil attorneys, William Dickerman and Larry Feldman, also were threatened, the source said.

Additionally, a car parked in a private garage and belonging to one of the people threatened was scratched with a key. Also, a plate-glass window in the home of another potential witness was shattered by a baseball, the source said.

There has been no indication that either the alleged threats or acts of vandalism came from associates of Mr. Jackson or his fans. The source close to the accuser's family said it could simply be coincidental.

In another motion filed Monday, this one seeking access to search warrant records containing information seized from Mr. Jackson's computer and from his private investigator's office in Beverly Hills, Mr. Boutrous stated: "Moreover, as the Supreme Court of the United States has explained, 'people in an open society do not demand infallibility from their institutions, but it is difficult for them to accept what they are prohibited from observing.'

"The District Attorney's latest efforts to keep the warrant records in this case secret contradict these fundamental constitutional values and should be rejected," he wrote.

:nav Source: http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/02...0mediapress.htm

 

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Youth involved in Jackson criminal case appears vital
BY MICHELLE CARUSO AND ALEC BYRNE

New York Daily News


LOS ANGELES - (KRT) - The young cancer patient who has accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse is now a robust teenager able to withstand the rigors of a military camp and scale 8-foot walls, the Daily News has learned.

He also has moved into a comfy condo on the upscale west side of Los Angeles, and his mom is driving a new car.

It is a remarkably different picture from what the family's friends have described.

In the swirl of publicity after Jackson was arrested for allegedly molesting the boy in November, family friends said the boy was desperately ill - in dire need of a kidney transplant - and so poor that he and his siblings didn't even have beds.

Comedy club owner Jamie Masada, who introduced the accuser to Jackson, broke hearts across the nation when he described the 14-year-old boy's failing health and grim living conditions in a series of interviews late last year.

"He has only one kidney and it's failing him, and part of his face is swollen up. ... It just breaks your heart," Masada told the Daily News in late November, adding that he donated bunk beds so the boy and his younger brother wouldn't have to sleep on the floor.

"They're poor people, simple people," Masada said.

In late December, he told The Associated Press, "The kid is not doing very good."

Weeks after Masada's heartrending media blitz, an in-depth investigation found the boy in good shape, despite his cancer bout, and strong enough to run, jump, scale fences and even hoist a rifle.

Masada, silenced by a court gag order, declined to comment.

The accuser and his mother are among the witnesses who reportedly have testified before a Santa Barbara County, Calif., grand jury probing abuse allegations against the pop star.

The 19-member panel will decide if Jackson should be tried on the charges, which could send him to prison for 21 years.

The Daily News learned the boy in early 2004 was practicing grueling rifle drills with the Sea Cadet Corps, a boot-camp-style youth group, hanging out with friends and enjoying family outings.

The newspaper's investigation also raises questions about reports of the family's deprivation and poverty.

The accuser's mother was repeatedly seen driving her brand new red 2004 Volkswagen Jetta with a $21,000 sticker price, a big-ticket purchase for someone struggling to make ends meet.

The family moved in with the mother's new boyfriend, U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Jay Jackson (no relation to Michael) sometime last year.

By January they had they relocated to a pleasant two-bedroom condo near L.A.'s posh Brentwood neighborhood - a far cry from their former run-down apartment on the city's dicey east side.

The no-nonsense Maj. Jackson, 42, a personnel administrator for an L.A-based Army unit, befriended the accuser's family about two years ago. He later found romance with the mother and took the family into his home sometime last year.

The investigation revealed even more surprises.

On Jan. 21, the family's former attorney William Dickerman told The Associated Press the family was "in hiding" from the media, adding, "They're very private people."

However, 10 days later, the accuser's mother allowed the boy and his 13-year-old brother to go on an unsupervised dining and shopping spree with a local TV reporter.

Photos show Fox 11-KTTV's reporter Barbara Schroeder and the boys cheerfully chatting on the Jan. 31 excursion. They lunched at a cafe, shopped at an electronic games store, where the accuser emerged with a bag of goodies, and spent 40 minutes at a video arcade.

When Schroeder brought the kids back 2-1/2 hours later, the mom came outside to chat.

Alarmed by news reports that the boy was gravely ill, the boy's father, who is barred from seeing his kids due to past convictions for domestic violence, rushed to court seeking emergency visitation and joint custody.

In court papers dated Jan. 27, two key law enforcement officials handling the Jackson sex-abuse case confirmed that the star witness against Michael Jackson is pretty healthy.

Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Ronald Zonen wrote: "(The boy) is in excellent health, not withstanding his prior battle with cancer. I spent the day with him Monday the 19th of January. He was in good spirits and presented himself as an entirely healthy 14-year-old boy. He is pursuing his education and is involved in sports and extracurricular activities."

Santa Barbara County Sheriff James Anderson agreed. "My investigators have met with (the boy) on two occasions within the last week and found him to appear in excellent health, despite his battle with cancer."

:nav Source: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/n.../8463413.htm?1c

 

[mj_fan_for_life31]

What A liar!!

 

[Off_the_wall]

eugh! who he think he is! Lying SOB!