Tucker testified that at one point he took the family to Las Vegas at his own expense to watch him work on a movie, but after several weeks they were still hanging around. He said while in Las Vegas the mother "was always saying I was their brother and all that stuff and she loved me. I was getting a little nervous because my whole thing was just to help the kid, not get involved with the whole family."
Tucker also said the accuser was disruptive on the set and caused complaints from the director and others. "Everybody had to say, 'Chris, we have a job here to do'," Tucker said.
After the Bashir documentary aired in early February 2003, Tucker said the mother called him for help in contacting Jackson, who was in Miami. "Everybody was excited to go down there and see Michael," Tucker said. Tucker said he flew with the family on his chartered plane to Miami and brought them to the hotel where Jackson was staying.
Tucker told the court he then talked to Jackson privately. "I told him to watch out for [the mother] because I felt suspicious about her. I took him in the room and I was trying to talk to him, I said, 'Michael, something ain't right."'
The trial now enters the rebuttal stage, which allows both sides to call more witnesses to clarify various issues. Prosecutors called their first rebuttal witness, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Deputy Timothy Rooney, who testified that visitors' logs involving the family of Jackson's accuser were not in file cabinets he searched during a Nov. 18, 2003 raid on Neverland Valley Ranch, while the defense had previously called ranch employees who testified that the logs were there at the time of the raid.
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