Jackson praised as 'angel' by accuser's mom
By Dan Whitcomb
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The mother of Michael Jackson's teen accuser praised Jackson as an "angel" and was eager to participate in a 2003 video defending his reputation, a family friend testified on Thursday in the singer's child molestation trial.
The sometimes emotional testimony by actress Azja Pryor, the ex-fiancee of movie star Chris Tucker, was a further blow to the prosecution.
Prosecutors claim that Jackson conspired to imprison the family of his accuser and compel them to make a video in his defense at a time when his reputation and finances were threatened by a critical documentary that highlighted his practice of sharing his bed with children.
Earlier on Thursday the judge had barred testimony from television talk show host Larry King, who was prepared to tell jurors about a conversation he had with a lawyer who met with the boy's family and described the mother as "wacko."
Jackson's defense team, which is nearing the end of its case after three weeks of testimony, has painted the accuser's mother as a grifter out to get money from the entertainer and the boy and his brother as having run out-of-control during their stay at Jackson's Neverland estate.
Jackson has been charged with molesting his accuser, then 13, at Neverland in early 2003, plying the boy with alcohol and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
The 46-year-old entertainer, who has pleaded innocent, faces over 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Pryor became friends with the boy's family after she was introduced to them through Tucker at a Los Angeles comedy club when the accuser was battling cancer and a number of celebrities became involved in efforts to help them.
RELUCTANCE TO TESTIFY
Early in her testimony, Pryor broke down and cried when asked her about the family. "It's hard for me because I really do love the kids a lot," she said in an apparent reference to her reluctance to testify against them.
But under questioning from Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, Pryor said the accuser's mother had asked her to take the family back to Neverland in February 2003, just after the family met with a social worker investigating possible child abuse by the entertainer.
On that trip, the boy and his brother spent the day playing at Neverland and even asked the ranch manager to be allowed to stay in Jackson's bedroom at a time when the entertainer was away.
The accuser's mother, Pryor said, never spoke critically of Jackson and praised him in lavish terms. "It was something to the effect (of) what a great man he is. He is an angel. His love is great," Pryor said.
The woman also talked with excitement about heading to Brazil for Carnival, Pryor said. That countered prosecution claims Jackson had planned to spirit the boy's family away to head off trouble in the wake of a televised documentary in which he appeared holding hands with the boy.
The mother's participation in a "rebuttal video" in Jackson's defense was voluntary, Pryor said.
"She was very anxious to tell the world that this beautiful friendship was nothing more than they saw -- a beautiful friendship," Pryor said.
Earlier, in a hearing without the jury present, King said attorney Larry Feldman, who was asked to represent the accuser in 2003, had told him during a breakfast conversation that he had dropped the case because "he thought the woman in this case was wacko and was only in it for the money."
In earlier testimony, Feldman had said the mother had no intention of suing Jackson and was not interested in money.
Feldman represented a then-13-year-old boy who accused Jackson of molestation in 1993 and won a settlement worth about $20 million. Jackson was never charged in that case.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050519/en_nm/...e_jackson_dc_23
By Dan Whitcomb
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The mother of Michael Jackson's teen accuser praised Jackson as an "angel" and was eager to participate in a 2003 video defending his reputation, a family friend testified on Thursday in the singer's child molestation trial.
The sometimes emotional testimony by actress Azja Pryor, the ex-fiancee of movie star Chris Tucker, was a further blow to the prosecution.
Prosecutors claim that Jackson conspired to imprison the family of his accuser and compel them to make a video in his defense at a time when his reputation and finances were threatened by a critical documentary that highlighted his practice of sharing his bed with children.
Earlier on Thursday the judge had barred testimony from television talk show host Larry King, who was prepared to tell jurors about a conversation he had with a lawyer who met with the boy's family and described the mother as "wacko."
Jackson's defense team, which is nearing the end of its case after three weeks of testimony, has painted the accuser's mother as a grifter out to get money from the entertainer and the boy and his brother as having run out-of-control during their stay at Jackson's Neverland estate.
Jackson has been charged with molesting his accuser, then 13, at Neverland in early 2003, plying the boy with alcohol and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
The 46-year-old entertainer, who has pleaded innocent, faces over 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Pryor became friends with the boy's family after she was introduced to them through Tucker at a Los Angeles comedy club when the accuser was battling cancer and a number of celebrities became involved in efforts to help them.
RELUCTANCE TO TESTIFY
Early in her testimony, Pryor broke down and cried when asked her about the family. "It's hard for me because I really do love the kids a lot," she said in an apparent reference to her reluctance to testify against them.
But under questioning from Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, Pryor said the accuser's mother had asked her to take the family back to Neverland in February 2003, just after the family met with a social worker investigating possible child abuse by the entertainer.
On that trip, the boy and his brother spent the day playing at Neverland and even asked the ranch manager to be allowed to stay in Jackson's bedroom at a time when the entertainer was away.
The accuser's mother, Pryor said, never spoke critically of Jackson and praised him in lavish terms. "It was something to the effect (of) what a great man he is. He is an angel. His love is great," Pryor said.
The woman also talked with excitement about heading to Brazil for Carnival, Pryor said. That countered prosecution claims Jackson had planned to spirit the boy's family away to head off trouble in the wake of a televised documentary in which he appeared holding hands with the boy.
The mother's participation in a "rebuttal video" in Jackson's defense was voluntary, Pryor said.
"She was very anxious to tell the world that this beautiful friendship was nothing more than they saw -- a beautiful friendship," Pryor said.
Earlier, in a hearing without the jury present, King said attorney Larry Feldman, who was asked to represent the accuser in 2003, had told him during a breakfast conversation that he had dropped the case because "he thought the woman in this case was wacko and was only in it for the money."
In earlier testimony, Feldman had said the mother had no intention of suing Jackson and was not interested in money.
Feldman represented a then-13-year-old boy who accused Jackson of molestation in 1993 and won a settlement worth about $20 million. Jackson was never charged in that case.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050519/en_nm/...e_jackson_dc_23