Is this good for MJ??
-Hope you ejoyed your b/day
[/QUOTE]
Jackson Videographer Didn't See Rehearsal
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...chael_jackson_6
7 minutes ago
By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The man who recorded a video featuring the family of Michael Jackson's young accuser testified Wednesday at the pop star's child molestation trial that he did not see them reading or rehearsing from a script.
The testimony of Hamid Moslehi did not support an account by the boy's mother, who alleges she was forced to closely follow a script praising Jackson as part of a scheme in which her family was held captive to get their help in rebutting a damaging television documentary about Jackson.
Moslehi testified that the boy, his brother and sister were at his house for two or three hours before the taping began and he saw them playing but not rehearsing. He said the mother was there for about an hour before the taping and that he did not see her reading or rehearsing either.
Moslehi, Jackson's former videographer, also said he did not see anyone coaching the mother as she applied her makeup for the taping in his bathroom.
The woman has testified that Jackson associate Dieter Wiesner coached her on what to say.
Wiesner and associate Ronald Konitzer, who are named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case, were also the subject of Moslehi's testimony on Tuesday.
He said the two men became Jackson's managers in late 2002, a few months before they allegedly took part in a conspiracy to hold the family captive.
Prosecutors asked Moslehi about Wiesner and Konitzer to try to link them more closely to the singer. The mother of the accuser has testified that the German businessmen intimidated her family.
On cross-examination, Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. tried to show that Jackson was a victim of Wiesner and Konitzer, not a close associate.
Mesereau asked Moslehi if he knew that Wiesner and Konitzer had stolen close to $1 million from Jackson. The question drew a prosecution objection, and the judge did not allow a direct answer. When Mesereau repeated it without the dollar figure, the witness answered no.
It was not certain who would testify after Moslehi, but prosecutors were expected to soon call Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe, who is in a family court battle with him over visitation of their two children.
She is expected to say that a video in which she praised Jackson was scripted, a claim the mother of Jackson's accuser has made about video also she recorded on the pop star's behalf.
On Monday, the judge overruled defense objections to allowing Rowe to testify but stressed he would "look to ways to restrict that testimony."
Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold his family captive to get them to rebut "Living With Michael Jackson," in which the singer tells an interviewer he lets children sleep in his bed, though not in a sexual way.
Moslehi said when he shot the rebuttal video and other footage to be used in a TV show defending Jackson, Wiesner and Konitzer promised him a percentage of net profits. He said he received no profits, nor was he paid for his work. He said he received only a small part of $250,000 in invoices and has a suit pending against Jackson.
Moslehi said he filmed the accuser and his family three times and that after the third taping, he gave the accuser's mother $2,000 as a loan because he felt sorry for her.
The defense contends that the mother has a history of trying to obtain money from celebrities and others, and that the family is now targeting Jackson. The mother took the Fifth Amendment to avoid questions about alleged welfare fraud, and jurors heard that the family obtained a $150,000 settlement in a lawsuit against a department store.
Also Tuesday, a travel consultant testified that she was asked to arrange a one-way trip to Brazil for the family, but the journey was abruptly canceled.
Cynthia Montgomery said all of the orders for the planned March 1, 2003, flight were given to her by Marc Schaffel, another Jackson associate prosecutors have named as an unindicted co-conspirator. She said he canceled the trip at the last minute, telling her "his plans had changed."
On cross-examination, she acknowledged she had never spoken to Jackson about the Brazil trip.
Montgomery's testimony was offered to support a prosecution claim that Jackson was planning to kidnap the accuser and his family and send them to Brazil for an indefinite period in the aftermath of the damaging documentary, which aired on Feb. 6, 2003.
Montgomery, who testified under a grant of immunity, also acknowledged that she is at the center of a dispute involving the secret taping of Jackson and his former attorney during a charter jet flight on Nov. 20, 2003.
She said she has been interviewed by the FBI and is embroiled in a legal battle of her own with Jackson.
In another development, An 18-year-old man who is a potential defense witness for Jackson pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and impairing the morals of a minor.
Ahmad Elatab of Clifton, N.J., is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl. He remains free on $25,000 bail.
Said Elatab, the defendant's father, told reporters, "We are having this problem because we support Michael Jackson. ... I think Michael Jackson is innocent, and I think my son is innocent also."
In previous interviews with The Associated Press, Elatab said he never saw Jackson engage in any inappropriate conduct with children at Neverland.
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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deustch contributed to this report.