Jacko Witness Invited Along on 'Kidnapping'
Friday, May 20, 2005
By Roger Friedman
Jacko: Accuser's Mom Invited Pal On 'Kidnapping'
One of the most anticipated witnesses in the Michael Jackson trial finally showed up yesterday and wowed the crowd.
I am not talking about Larry King, who turned out to be a dud. The person of the hour was Azja Pryor, a beautiful, articulate casting assistant from Los Angeles who also happens to be the mother of comic Chris Tucker’s 6-year-old son.
Pyror, sometimes fighting back tears, told the jury how Janet Arvizo wheedled her way in and out of her life. Her testimony was compelling, truthful and exculpatory for Jackson as she exploded into more fragments the government’s conspiracy case against Jackson.
Pryor, with guidance from Tom Mesereau, concisely laid out the genesis of her friendship with the Arvizos. Her biggest bombshell was that Arvizo invited her to come on a trip to Brazil for Carnivale. This was the same trip that Arvizo and her kids allege was actually a ploy by Jackson to send them out of the country for good.
According to Pryor, Arvizo was excited about the trip and wanted her to come along. The trip never happened, Pryor said, and eventually Arvizo stopped mentioning it.
The friendship between Pryor and Tucker and the Arvizos began when Tucker met the family at the Laugh Factory comedy club.
The three children and their father, David, got closer to the couple when the oldest boy – now accusing Jackson of molestation – was diagnosed with cancer. Pryor quickly came to the family’s aid, even writing them a check for $600 for Christmas presents in 2001.
But soon David Arvizo was usurped by his wife in the relationship with Pryor and Tucker. Until then, Pryor had witnessed David sleeping by his son’s side in the hospital, never eating or leaving him alone. There was no sign of the mother.
But when the health picture improved, Janet Arvizo was suddenly on the scene. Her husband, whom she divorced, was now painted as abusive and unfeeling.
Pryor’s testimony underscored several important points. Even though she spoke to Janet Arvizo regularly, the mother never told Pryor that she’d been in a fracas with J.C. Penney, sued them and won $153,000.
She didn’t tell her “best friend” a lot of things, apparently. Janet Arvizo, for example, claimed in the Penney case that their security guards had broken her son’s arm. She told Pryor the accident happened in a softball game because the boy’s mitt was worn out. Pryor immediately bought him a new one.
Arvizo is a passive aggressive master, according to witnesses who have said she never asks for money. She simply lays out for her targets a tale of woe that inspires voluntary contributions. She’s an artist -- a con artist.
For example, at the same time she accepted the $600 Christmas gift from Pryor, Arvizo was also orchestrating other fundraisers and gifts from strangers. She was also stringing along a boyfriend with a big paycheck -- who is now her husband. Her secret was to keep everyone away from each other. It worked.
Pryor, who speaks with a lilting voice and could easily have been a fashion model, recounted independent verification of many traits of the Arvizo kids testified to by others. She characterized the boys as “tough,” and said they continually roughhoused. They helped themselves to things that weren’t theirs.
Under oath, Pryor conceded that though she was in daily contact with the Arvizos in February and March 2003, no one of them ever mentioned being kidnapped, held against their will or extorted by Jackson. None of them signaled an accusation of molestation, either.
But Pryor said under direct questioning that the family – having been offered a promise of a new car by Tucker – pursued the gift with unrelenting enthusiasm. They even faxed Pryor, unsolicited, Janet Arvizo’s driver’s license and other pertinent information on Feb. 13, 2003 – the same time Arvizo claimed that her family was being held by Jackson.
Pryor met Jackson, although she spent a lot of time at Neverland. Her straightforward accounting, along with that of actress Vernee Watson-Johnson the previous day, demonstrated that the conspiracy charges in this case should never have been filed.
Added to next week’s testimony from Tucker – widely thought to be the defense’s final witness – it should seal off a possibility of a conviction in that part of the case, for good.
Source:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,157141,00.html