UPDATE
Count 1 – not guilty
Count 2 – not guilty
Count 3 – not guilty
Count 4 – not guilty
Count 5 – not guilty
Count 6 – not guilty
Count 7 – not guilty
lesser offense – not guilty
Count 8 – not guilty
lesser offense – not guilty
Count 9 – not guilty
lesser offense – not guilty
Count 10 – not guilty
less offense – not guilty
At 12:30pm PT the jury for the Michael Jackson child molestation and conspiracy trial announced it had reached a verdict after 14 weeks of testimony on 10 charges.
Judge Rodney S. Melville also issued a statement saying that the jury asked and withdrew a question Monday morning, and confirmed that on Friday the jury had a read-back of testimony and there were four meetings in chambers with attorneys.
The verdict will be announced at 1:30 PT, 4:30 ET, giving Jackson and his attorneys time to get to the court house in Santa Maria.
Jackson is charged with molesting a 13 year-old boy in February or March of 2003, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him, and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. The jury has been given permission to reduce the alcohol charges to misdemeanors if it feels Jackson did not molest the alleged victim.
Our extensive and ongoing coverage of the case can be found here.
UPDATE
MSNBC is showing the Jackson motorcade live as it drives from Neverland to the court house – shades of OJ.
UPDATE
Jackson is running late, will be in court by 1:45pm PT
UPDATE
MSNBC is saying an ambulance will be on hand in case Jackson is convicted and responds “poorly.”
UPDATE
Five more minutes.
UPDATE
MJ and entourage have arrived – much speculation as to the possibility of misdemeanor-only convictions on the alcohol charges, likely no jail time.
UPDATE
Jackophiles on the scene expected to freak either way – may attempt to lynch media members if guilty verdict.
UPDATE
They keep saying over and over again: no one knows what’s going to happen: “Usually reporters covering a big trial like this have a sense of how it will go – this time they don’t.”
UPDATE
Security is tight, inside and outside of the court.
UPDATE 2:05 PT
All parties are in the court – the calm before the storm.
UPDATE
The judge is reviewing the verdict on all ten charges – they will be read at any moment live on TV.
UPDATE
There 25 pages worth of material to get through, we are told.
UPDATE
The mike is on:
Count 1 – not guilty
Count 2 – not guilty
Count 3 – not guilty
Count 4 – not guilty
Count 5 – not guilty
Count 6 – not guilty
Count 7 – not guilty
lesser offense – not guilty
Count 8 – not guilty
lesser offense – not guilty
Count 9 – not guilty
lesser offense – not guilty
Count 10 – not guilty
less offense – not guilty