Comedian-actor Chris Tucker wrapped up his testimony for the defense in the Michael Jackson trial today and the defense then rested its case shortly after 11 am PT after calling 50 witnesses over a surprisingly short 15-day period.
Tucker ran through his experiences with Jackson's accuser and his family, whom he met in 2000 when the boy, now 15, was suffering from cancer. The boy said he wanted to be a comedian and contacted a number of performers, who gave him gifts and planned benefits for the family.
"I wasn't aware that he was fond of that many comedians," Tucker testified. "His father said I was his favorite comedian … I didn't know he was contacting the whole town."
Tucker developed a relationship with the boy that included gifts, outings to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park, shopping malls and Oakland Raiders and Lakers games (where he was introduced to Kobe Bryant), and an invitation to Tucker's brother's wedding.
"He was really smart and he was cunning, but at the time I always overlooked it," Tucker said of the boy. "He was always saying stuff like, Chris, let me have this, let me have that. Come on, I'm not feeling good."
"I was getting nervous," he said. "I thought, 'I need to watch myself,' because I'm high-profile and sometimes when people see what you've got they try to take advantage of you. I had to pull back."
And Tucker said of the boy's mother, "Something in my spirit didn't feel right about her. I started getting nervous." In discussing a truck that Tucker proposed giving to the family, he said the mother "started crying, not in the normal way. She started acting like frantically, like mentally. Something wasn't right."
"I got a little suspicious. I thought I was doing too much (by giving the vehicle), so I said no," Tucker testified.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
not an ounce of satire here, my friends
2 - nicolas
I know but look at the result: When you are fair you don't attract readers !
3 - Eric Olsen
readers, just not commenters
4 - Jeffery Haas
Hmmmm...Jacko Jacko and more Jacko....
Oh well at least you're not part of the media machine that's currently rehabilitating Mary Kay Letourneau's image from convicted child molester to pop icon.....oh....(cough) wait a second....oops...(cough)
5 - Eric Olsen
just doing what has been requested of me
6 - james mclafferty
Very good post ERIC:-)
7 - Eric Olsen
thanks James, but it's actually pretty boring - I'll be heading back to rash generalizations for the wrap-up!
8 - james mclafferty
ERIC, Yes but fair. You only printed what you got from the court. And didn't add any poetic licence. But i know what you mean, controversy is more interesting.
9 - Eric Olsen
fair is boring, which pretty well sums up th emedia dilemma, doesn't it?
10 - james mclafferty
It certainly does.
11 - Wendy Bellevue
why isn't this on the news? The boy was a con artist!!
That little *ss-wipe!!!
I love ya Mike
12 - koreafan
??? I love you