VERITAS PROJECT
Some really good stuff in the defense of Michael Jackson is now being erased from the internet – that is why the VERITAS (Latin for TRUTH) Project is no longer available there.
It was a joint effort of a group of Michael’s supporters in 2005 who collected precious information about the main players in the 1993-2003 scam against Michael Jackson.
Surprise-surprise, but literally all those who were involved in both the 1993 case and the 2003 case turned out to be related to each other.
Here are the main players involved in the 1993-2003 case:
This material is very much worth reading and would be a shame to lose – so it is being archived here:
THE VERITAS PROJECT
Prologue
| Before the summer of 1993, Michael Jackson was sitting on top of the world of entertainment much like a king sits upon his throne. Surrounded by dedicated fans and fellow celebrities alike, Jackson had just been inducted into the Grammy Legends Hall of Fame in February of the same year. Just a few months later, Jackson sent tongues and ratings wagging when he did a primetime, sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey that garnered a larger viewing audience than former President Bill Clinton’s televised town hall meeting.Then, in June 1993, all hell broke loose as news of child sex abuse allegations exploded around the world and life for Jackson has never been the same.So began the saga that continues to drag on unmercifully today, particularly in the wake of Mr. Jackson’s arrest and indictment on child molestation and attempted kidnapping.Jackson could spend potentially the next twenty years in prison if convicted. If one were to judge the merits of both allegations against Mr. Jackson solely upon the sensationalized “exclusives” from the likes of Diane Dimond or NBC’s Dateline, one would logically conclude that the chickens have simply come home to roost for the beleaguered music legend.Perhaps justice would finally be served after eleven years of innuendo, accusation, and legal drama. Perhaps Mr. Jackson would finally be exposed for the cold, calculating child predator that a great deal of the media is determined to portray him as.
There is, however, one minor problem. We believe that based on what we have discovered after sifting through mounds of documents, articles, and interviews that the alleged abuse in 1993 and 2003 never happened. Hence, the Veritas Project concerns itself with providing key commentary on what we perceive to be lies that have, for too long, been allowed to fester on the personal reputation of Mr. Jackson. In addition, the Veritas Project is particularly concerned with the unencumbered manner in which people of questionable character and motive have been allowed to peddle their fabrications and accusations against Mr. Jackson like crack dealers on a street corner. Out of both a concern and quest for ultimate truth concerning the matter, the Veritas Project attempts to offer a detailed assessment of the “facts” presented by the tabloid media and by those who do the prosecution’s bidding. Contributors to this project are not fanatical Jackson worshippers who blindly follow the whims of their master. On the contrary, we are mothers, fathers, students, spouses – everyday, ordinary citizens who refuse to drink from the toxic wells of tabloid media pollution. We invite readers to not only peruse the findings provided here but also to draw their own conclusion about the matter. The Veritas Project |
Part I: The Anatomy of a Scam
| In January 2000, a woman named Janet Arvizo consulted with a civil lawyer about suing Michael Jackson for having allegedly molested her son.1This would have been the second child molestation lawsuit filed against Jackson, the first being the result of sexual abuse allegations that were made by a 13-year-old boy in 1993.The problem, however, is that in January 2000, Janet Arvizo had never met Michael Jackson; neither had her son. In fact, it would still be another seven months before Jackson would even be introduced to the Arvizo family.Three years after their initial meeting in August 2000, Janet Arvizo’s son accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse; the pop star is currently preparing to fight these claims in court.
During a recent pre-trial hearing, Arvizo’s plans to sue Michael Jackson before she had even met him were made public by Jackson’s lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. According to Mesereau, Arvizo had revealed this information to investigators in June 2003, when she and her children first made accusations against Jackson.2 Did Janet Arvizo set out to meet Michael Jackson with the intention of eventually filing a child abuse lawsuit against him? And if they were aware of Arvizo’s potential motives before they arrested and charged Jackson, why did authorities choose to go forward with the case? The following report takes an in-depth look at the Arvizo family, their history of making sexual abuse allegations for personal gain, their attempts to cash in on their connection to Michael Jackson and, finally, their involvement with several major players from the 1993 child molestation case against Jackson. BEFORE THE BEGINNING Prior to accusing Michael Jackson of child molestation, the Arvizo family had been involved in two other sexual abuse cases. In 1998, Janet Arvizo, her husband David and their three children Anne*, John* and Rob* accused security guards from JCPenney and Tower Records of physically assaulting them after pulling them over for shoplifting. Two years after filing a $3 million lawsuit against the companies, Janet Arvizo also accused the security guards of sexually assaulting her during the altercation, an allegation that had never come up in her initial deposition. The companies settled out of court for $152,500 without admitting guilt.3 Tom Griffin, the attorney who represented JCPenney in the case, told NBC’s Mike Taibbi that the Arvizo family had no evidence to substantiate their claims. “[The mother] just came up with this fairy tale, not a fairy tale, it’s a horror story, and just ran with it,”4 Griffin said. A psychiatrist hired by JCPenney during the investigation said that the children’s testimonies sounded scripted and rehearsed,5 a suspicion that was confirmed by their father. In an affidavit, David Arvizo admitted that the children had been coached by their mother to lie. According to Russell Halpern, an attorney for Mr. Arvizo, “[The mother] wrote all of their testimony. I actually saw the script.”6 Halpern was hired when a bitter custody battle arose between the Arvizos following their divorce in 2001. The dispute took an unexpected turn when Janet Arvizo accused her ex-husband of being abusive, an allegation that was initially denied by the couple’s three children. In October 2001, social workers were called to investigate the Arvizo family following an altercation that had taken place in their home. When questioned on their own, the children did not allude to any abuse on the father’s part. “There was no hitting, just yelling, and not a lot of yelling,” the children told social workers. When Janet Arvizo returned home and discovered that the Department of Children and Family Services had interviewed her children without her there, she immediately got in contact with the agency. Social workers returned to the family’s apartment and interviewed the Arvizos again. In the presence of their mother, the children drastically changed their story, alleging that their father was indeed abusive. In the follow-up report, David Arvizo is accused of kicking Anne and allegedly breaking her tailbone, hitting Rob in the head and punching him in the stomach, slapping one of John’s scars while it was still in the process of healing and holding Janet Arvizo’s head under water. The children alleged that their father had threatened to have them killed if they ever told anybody about the purported abuse.7 Janet Arvizo further claimed that her ex-husband had molested and falsely imprisoned their daughter 12 years earlier, allegations that only materialized during the custody battle. According to court documents, Mrs. Arvizo “could not provide any other pertinent information regarding [the alleged molestation].”8 Years later, Janet Arvizo and her children would level similar allegations against Michael Jackson. David Arvizo pleaded no-contest to the charges and was barred from seeing his children as a result. During an interview on Larry King Live, Russell Halpern, who is currently trying to obtain visitation rights for his client, discussed court documents that indicate that the abuse allegations against the father were false. “[Janet] was specifically asked, ‘did he ever hit you?’ and she said ‘no’ and then she elaborated by saying he was a wonderful husband, he had never touched her, he didn’t have it in him to touch a woman and he had never touched the children, never as far as even spanking the kids.”9 In court papers that were later filed during the custody proceedings, Janet Arvizo painted a startlingly different picture of her ex-husband, claiming that her children were terrified of him. “Every single night, one of my sons barricades the front door by putting two chairs in front of the door,” she alleged. “He also puts a boogie board and an archery arrow against the front door… Both boys sleep with baseball bats.”10 How can Janet Arvizo’s conflicting statements regarding her ex-husband be explained? It should be noted that the allegations against the children’s father only materialized in October 2001 – exactly one month before the Arvizos were set to receive a $152,500 settlement from JCPenney. The above incidents lend credence to the defense theory that Janet Arvizo has a propensity for telling contradictory stories, coaching her children to lie and using abuse allegations for her own personal gain. JACKSON MEETS HIS ACCUSER But just how did Michael Jackson, arguably one of the most famous entertainers on the planet, get involved with the troubled Arvizo family? Four years ago, Janet Arvizo’s oldest son John, a recovering cancer patient, made a request through the Make a Wish Foundation to meet Michael Jackson. Jackson obliged and eventually formed a friendship with the boy and his family. Mrs. Arvizo characterized her children’s relationship with the singer as a “loving father, sons and daughters one,” even crediting Jackson with helping John overcome his bout with cancer.11 Court documents reveal that this was not the first time that the Arvizos had used the boy’s cancer as a way to get close to celebrities. According to a report filed by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services: “Mom said that they met the celebrities due to her son’s illness and that the celebrities are very supportive of her son and their family.” Janet Arvizo also told a caseworker that through her son’s cancer, she had “found ways to get things for her kids,”12 a claim that is supported by the following stories. In late 2000, a local newspaper ran an article about the Arvizo family after Mrs. Arvizo told the editors about her son’s plight with cancer. “She pleaded her case that her son needed all sorts of medical care and they had no financial means to provide it,” recalls editor Connie Keenan. At Mrs. Arvizo’s request, Keenan asked her readers to donate money to help the family pay for John Arvizo’s cancer treatments. The newspaper managed to raise a total of $965 for the Arvizo family, money that Mrs. Arvizo wanted to have “sent to her in her name, at her home address.” Investigative reporter Harvey Levin later revealed that all of John Arvizo’s medical bills were covered by insurance. “There were no medical bills,” Levin reported. “The father of this boy was covered, the entire family covered, by insurance, one hundred percent. They didn’t have to pay a cent.” Evidently, Mrs. Arvizo had lied to the newspaper, using her son’s illness as a means to con readers into giving her money. When interviewed by Celebrity Justice, Connie Keenan expressed outrage over Mrs. Arvizo’s actions. “My readers were used. My staff was used. It’s sickening.”13 A similar incident occured less than a year later. In October 2001, John and Rob Arvizo were cutting class when two members of the Los Angeles Police Department approached them. When the officers asked the children why they were not in school, Rob began to cry and explained that they were on their way to the hospital to visit their mother who had just undergone surgery. The officers took pity on the boys and offered to drive them. On route, John announced to the officers that he had just had a 16-pound tumour, his spleen and his kidney removed; he then proceeded to show them his scars. Coincidentally, the same officers ran into Janet Arvizo several weeks later. Mrs. Arvizo informed them that she was unemployed and on her way to a job interview. Deciding that they needed to help the Arvizos, the officers bought the family Christmas dinner, presents, ornaments for their tree (which had been donated to them by another group of officers) and school supplies.14 While the officers involved deserve to be commended for their generosity, it remains to be seen why the Arvizos were accepting money and gifts from strangers less than a month after receiving a six figure out of court settlement from JCPenney. Just like the LAPD officers, Jackson got involved with the Arvizo family because he “felt bad.” In an interview with journalist Ed Bradley, Jackson explained that he simply wanted to give John “a chance to have a life… he was told he was going to die… they told his parents [to] prepare for his funeral, that’s how bad it was. And I put him on a program. I’ve helped many children doing this. I put him on a mental program.”15 In February 2003, John Arvizo was featured in Living with Michael Jackson, a British documentary on Jackson’s life. While journalist Martin Bashir’s interview with John briefly touched on the positive influence that Jackson had had on the boy’s recovery, the focus of the interview shifted when John announced – seemingly out of nowhere – that he had once spent the night in Jackson’s bedroom. “There was one night, I asked him if I could stay in the bedroom and he let me stay in the bedroom,” John told Bashir. Jackson quickly pointed out that the boy, accompanied by his younger brother, had slept in Jackson’s bed while Jackson slept in a sleeping bag on the floor.16 Regardless, this scene – along with Jackson’s claim that there is nothing inappropriate about falling asleep next to a child – led to a firestorm of controversy. As the public outcry against Michael Jackson reached a fevered pitch, sexual abuse allegations that had been made against the singer ten years earlier would soon come back to haunt him. 1993: REVISITED The media backlash that accompanied the February 2003 airing of Martin Bashir’s documentary reached its pinnacle when a past scandal involving Jackson and child molestation allegations resurfaced. In 1993, a 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler had accused the singer of sexual abuse. Several days after Living with Michael Jackson aired, the boy’s graphic deposition from that case was released on the Internet.17 Many felt that given the nature of those allegations, it was highly inappropriate for Jackson to be sharing his bedroom with children. Although Jackson was never criminally charged in 1993, it is a widely known fact that he settled a civil lawsuit that had been filed against him by Jordan Chandler and his parents. The boy then refused to testify against Jackson, leading many to believe that his silence had been bought. Court documents reveal, however, that the settlement did not prevent the Chandlers from testifying against Jackson in a criminal trial; it was their own decision not to cooperate with authorities.18 So why did Michael Jackson opt to settle the civil lawsuit? According to legal secretary Geraldine Hughes, the civil trial was scheduled to precede the criminal trial, which would have been a violation of Jackson’s constitutional right to not self-incriminate. This, Hughes contends, prompted Jackson’s lawyers to advise him to settle the case. Consistent with Hughes’ explanation, court documents show that Jackson’s lawyers filed a motion in 1994 asking for the civil proceedings to be stayed until after the criminal case was resolved; had their request been granted, any potential settlement would have been negotiated after the criminal trial was over. The motion, however, was denied. Hughes describes the implications that would have resulted from the judge’s refusal to postpone the civil proceedings. “There was the threat of Michael Jackson having to face double jeopardy in having to defend himself in the criminal case as well as the civil case, even though the law is clearly designed to prevent a defendant from having to be tried twice on the same issue at the same time.” Jackson’s lawyers filed another motion in 1994 asking for the District Attorney to be blocked from obtaining evidence used in the civil proceedings, a request that was also rejected. Hughes explains, “The District Attorney’s office was also laying in wait to utilize the information that was going to be uncovered or revealed in the civil lawsuit for use in their criminal investigation.” Had Jackson not settled the civil case, he would have put his defense strategy in jeopardy by revealing his exculpatory evidence to the prosecution months before the criminal case went to trial. Hughes was a legal secretary for Barry Rothman, the divorce lawyer who represented Jackson’s accuser’s father Evan Chandler. In her book Redemption: The Truth Behind the Michael Jackson Child Molestation Allegations, Hughes asserts that the allegations were part of an elaborate plan conceived by Chandler and Rothman to extort money from Jackson,19 an opinion that is substantiated by an audiotape of Chandler speaking to his son’s stepfather on the phone. On the tape, which was recorded before the boy had made any allegations, Chandler can be heard saying, “I am prepared to move against Michael Jackson. It’s already set. There are other people involved that are waiting for my phone call that are in certain positions. I’ve paid them to do it.” “Everything’s going according to a certain plan that isn’t just mine. Once I make that phone call, this guy is going to destroy everybody in sight in any devious, nasty, cruel way that he can do it. And I’ve given him full authority to do that.” He continues, “And if I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I’ve checked that inside out. I will get everything I want… and Michael’s career will be over.” “This attorney I found, I picked the nastiest son of a bitch I could find. All he wants to do is get this out in the public as fast as he can, as big as he can, and humiliate as many people as he can. He’s nasty, he’s mean, he’s very smart, and he’s hungry for the publicity.”
In a lengthy rebuttal to Fischer’s article, the boy’s uncle Ray Chandler claimed that the sodium amytal allegation was false; he even went so far as to declare that the entire story was a “fairytale” concocted by somebody within the Jackson camp.21 Surprisingly enough, official documents that are currently for sale on Ray Chandler’s website corroborate Fischer’s report. A transcript from one of Jordan Chandler’s therapy sessions describes the circumstances under which the boy first told his father about the alleged abuse. Jordan Chandler’s account of what happened is exactly consistent with Fischer’s. According to the boy: “[My father] had to pull my tooth out one time, like, while I was there. And I don’t like pain, so I said, ‘could you put me to sleep?’ And he said sure. So his friend put me to sleep; he’s an anesthesiologist. And um, when I woke up… my Dad said, ‘I just want you to let me know, did anything happen between you and Michael?’ And I said ‘Yes,’ and he gave me a big hug and that was it.”22 Based on Jordan Chandler’s own recollection of events, he was indeed given a drug before he came forward with the abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. While the boy never specified the name of the drug, it is likely that it was in fact sodium amytal because every other detail from Fischer’s report turned out to be accurate. If Jordan Chandler was given sodium amytal before he accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse, what implications does this have on the veracity of the boy’s allegations? Although sodium amytal was originally believed to be a truth serum, subsequent experiments found statements made by those under its influence to be highly unreliable. “Investigations noted that the drug makes patients vulnerable to either accidental or deliberate suggestions from the interviewer,” explains August Piper Jr., an expert on false memory syndrome.23 According to Jordan Chandler, it was only after he had been drugged that his father began to probe him about his relationship with Jackson. After the drug had been administered, Evan Chandler took his son to see a psychiatrist; while there, the boy came out with the explicit allegations against Michael Jackson, prompting a police investigation. The prosecution, led by Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon and Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti, was unable to find any credible corroborating evidence; once the boy refused to testify, the case fell apart. Fischer sums up the 1993 case by saying, “police and prosecutors spent millions of dollars to create a case whose foundation never existed.”25 Tom Sneddon clearly disagreed with Fischer’s assessment of his case. He repeatedly implied that there was indeed evidence to corroborate the boy’s story but failed to provide an explanation as to why two grand juries did not indict the pop star if such evidence actually existed.26 In 1995, he told Vanity Fair magazine: “The state of the investigation is in suspension until somebody comes forward.”27 Upon viewing the Living with Michael Jackson documentary, Sneddon saw an opportunity to re-open the case. In a press statement released on February 5, 2003, Sneddon said: “After conversations with Sheriff Jim Anderson, it was agreed that the BBC broadcast would be taped by the Sheriff’s Department. It is anticipated that it will be reviewed.” Regarding Jackson’s comments that he had allowed children to sleep in his bedroom, Sneddon replied by saying that it was, “unusual at best. For this reason, all local departments having responsibility in this are taking the matter seriously.” Elsewhere in the statement, Sneddon stressed the fact that the case could not go forward without a “cooperative victim.”28 Coincidentally, the very same boy who appeared in the documentary would later become Jackson’s second accuser. Sneddon was not the only principal player from the 1993 case who came out of the woodwork after the airing of the Bashir documentary. In February 2003, the Chandlers’ former civil attorney Gloria Allred made numerous television appearances where she demanded that Jackson’s children be removed from his custody.29 Larry Feldman, the civil lawyer who negotiated the $15 million settlement on behalf of the Chandlers in 1994, also spoke to the press, vehemently denying that his office was responsible for leaking Jordan Chandler’s deposition.30 Finally, in a salacious Dateline NBC special entitled Michael Jackson Unmasked, Bill Dworin, a retired LAPD officer who had worked on the Jackson case and Ray Chandler, the uncle of Jackson’s accuser, spoke to correspondent Josh Mankiewicz. Both Dworin and Chandler claimed that there was strong evidence to prove Jackson’s guilt in the 1993 case.31 According to the defense, it was during this time that the Arvizo family began to cause problems within the Jackson camp. The family’s alleged suspicious behaviour coupled with the public relations disaster that ensued after the airing of Living with Michael Jackson prompted Jackson to hire criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos. THE ARVIZOS GO ON RECORD “I was brought in [in February 2003] when somebody wisely, in retrospect, felt that there was something wrong here with this particular family,” Michael Jackson’s former defense attorney Mark Geragos explained during an interview on Larry King Live. “We put a plan into action in terms of investigating and documenting things because people… suspected that something was going to happen.” The “plan” involved getting the Arvizos to sign numerous affidavits where they swore that nothing inappropriate had ever happened between John Arvizo and Michael Jackson. Geragos also had his Private Investigator make video and audio recordings of the Arvizo family defending Jackson.32 The prosecution would later claim that the Arvizos were intimidated into making these statements33 but testimony from Janet Arvizo’s husband Jay Jackson seems to contradict this theory. According to Jay Jackson, the Arvizos were at his house, not Michael Jackson’s, when Geragos’ Private Investigator interviewed them.34 Jackson’s former videographer Christian Robinson recalls taping another interview with the Arvizo family where he repeatedly asked them whether or not Jackson had done anything wrong. “They were very up front and they of course said absolutely not. All of them… I’d ask them one thing and it’s almost like they were getting mad at me, [saying] ‘why are you asking us this? Michael is innocent.’”35 Journalist Ed Bradley had a similar experience with the Arvizo family when he visited Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in February 2003. “We sat in the kitchen having coffee and doughnuts and sodas and [Janet Arvizo] and the kids said they were willing to go on television to say what a great person Michael Jackson was.”36 In addition to making positive statements about Jackson to his defense team and to his employees, the Arvizos also denied any wrong doing on Jackson’s part to social workers throughout February 2003. AUTHORITIES GET INVOLVED  Read the DCFS Report Prompted by what was shown on the Living with Michael Jackson documentary, a school official contacted the Department of Children and Family Services and requested that they investigate Jackson. From February 14th to February 27th, 2003, social workers interviewed the Arvizos, who all maintained that Jackson had never acted inappropriately around them. Mrs. Arvizo stated that her children had never been left alone with Jackson and that they had never slept in a bed with him.37 Another investigation was launched when media psychiatrist Carole Lieberman filed a complaint with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department in February 2003. She asked for Jackson to be investigated and also demanded that his children be removed from his custody. “Bubbles the Chimp [Jackson’s former pet] is reportedly now living in an animal sanctuary. One would wonder how and why that came about. If Mr. Jackson is unable to take good enough care of his pet chimpanzee, shouldn’t you be concerned about his children?” About the boy in the documentary, Lieberman noted: “There was an unmistakable sense that something sexual had occurred with [the boy], as evidenced by his body language and his submissive demeanour towards Michael.”38 The SBCSD investigated and closed the case on April 16th with “no further action required.” The SBCSD report cites interviews with the Arvizos that were conducted by three Los Angeles social workers. According to the alleged victim: “Michael is like a father to me, he’s never done anything to me sexually.” He added that he had “never slept in bed with Michael,” and that his mother was “always aware of what goes on in Neverland.” Janet Arvizo told social workers that: “Michael is like a father to my children, he loves them and I trust my children with him.” Of Jackson, she said he had “never been anything but wonderful. My children have never felt uncomfortable in his presence. Michael has been a blessing.” The boy’s older sister also defended Jackson saying, “Michael is so kind and loving.”39 How did the Arvizo family go from praising Jackson to making such serious allegations against him? If we are to believe the prosecution’s version of events, Jackson’s employees intimidated the Arvizo family into defending Jackson to social workers, Private Investigators, journalists and virtually every other person who had come into contact with the family after Living with Michael Jackson aired. Once Jackson had all of their statements on record, he then molested the boy. But if Michael Jackson is telling the truth, the family only made accusations against him when their other attempts to get money from him failed. NOT AFTER MONEY? After the airing of the Bashir interview, Janet Arvizo and her then-boyfriend Jay Jackson made several attempts to cash in on their connection to Michael Jackson. They sold their story to a British tabloid but, at that point, only had positive things to say about the pop star.40 Janet Arvizo seemed outraged by people’s reaction to Bashir’s documentary and filed an official complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Commission.41 Janet Arvizo also planned to file a lawsuit against the company that aired the documentary and, in February 2003, hired civil lawyer William Dickerman to represent her in the case. Dickerman told ABC News: “[The boy] had been on camera, there had been no consent given and when she found out about it, she was absolutely livid.”42 Michael Jackson seemed equally angered by the tone of the documentary and began compiling footage for a rebuttal video. To counter the negative publicity surrounding his relationships with children, Jackson had John Arvizo and his family film interviews where they made statements in the pop star’s defense. The footage was supposed to be included in the rebuttal video but Jay Jackson demanded financial compensation in return for the family’s participation. During a pre-trial hearing, Jackson recalled saying to one of Michael Jackson’s associates: “This family has nothing and you’re making millions from [the rebuttal video] and what are you going to do for this little family?” To appease Jay Jackson, the associate offered the family a house and the children a college education in exchange for their permission to use the footage. Jackson refused the offer, instead making a demand for money. Jay Jackson also testified that in February 2003, he was approached by two British journalists who were interested in paying for the family’s story.43 According to one of the journalists who got in contact with the family, “The starting figure was $500 from myself, and that’s supposedly when [Jackson] consulted with the mother.” Jackson came back with a demand for $15,000 and was turned away.44 When their attempts to cash in on the post-Bashir controversy failed, the Arvizo family filed for emergency help in March 2003. Court documents reveal that a week later, Janet Arvizo filed for an increase in alimony from her ex-husband and asked for her child support to be doubled.45 Shortly after, she returned to Dickerman with plans to sue Michael Jackson for an issue unrelated to child molestation. Dickerman began writing a series of letters to Mark Geragos, claiming that Jackson was in possession of some of the family’s belongings including furniture and passports. Dickerman demanded the return of these items and also alleged that the family was being “harassed” and “terrorized” by Mark Geragos’ Private Investigator Bradley Miller.46 It would be months before the Arvizo family would take these claims to the police. While the letters were seemingly sent to assist the Arvizos in getting their furniture and passports back, it appears that Dickerman was more interested in gaining access to any evidence that could potentially prove Jackson’s innocence if the family were to later accuse the pop star of child molestation. In a letter dated March 26, 2003, Dickerman wrote: “The Arvizos demand that Jackson immediately provide the originals and all copies of all tapes, films and audio recordings… that were made by or on behalf of Jackson… and return to them the papers they have signed including… documents in connection with the legal action in Britain concerning Living with Michael Jackson and anything else bearing their signatures.”47 While the relationship between Michael Jackson and the Arvizos had obviously become contentious after the airing of the Bashir documentary, they maintained all along that Jackson had never sexually abused the boy. That all changed in May 2003, when Larry Feldman – the civil lawyer who brokered a $15 million settlement for Jackson’s first accuser – entered the picture. ENTER: LARRY FELDMAN After meeting with Larry Feldman, the civil lawyer who had represented Michael Jackson’s first accuser, John Arvizo finally came forward with the sexual abuse allegations against the pop star; his younger brother Rob backed up his story, claiming to have witnessed the alleged abuse. Feldman sent the boys to see psychiatrist Stan Katz, who had also been involved in the 1993 case.  Dr. Katz, “Look, if you go ahead with this civil lawsuit, your family will get money if they win.” According to documents obtained by NBC, Dr. Katz told John Arvizo, “Look, if you go ahead with this civil lawsuit, your family will get money if they win.” Suddenly, lurid details about the alleged abuse began to materialize. John Arvizo claimed that while at Neverland he “drank alcohol every night and got buzzed.” When he told Jackson that his head hurt, he was supposedly told to: “keep drinking, it will make it feel better.” Rob Arvizo alleged that he and his brother “constantly sleep in Michael’s room with Michael… in Michael’s bed.” He claimed to have witnessed Jackson touch his brother inappropriately on at least two separate occasions.48 These were the same children who, less than four months earlier, had vehemently defended Jackson to social workers. For some reason, after all of their previous denials of abuse on Jackson’s part, the Arvizo children drastically changed their story after getting involved with Feldman and Katz, two key players from the 1993 case against Jackson.  Larry Feldman personally reported the case to Tom Sneddon Feldman visited the Department of Children and Family Services and asked them to overturn their “unfounded” ruling from February 2003. The DCFS refused, saying that because the boy was not in immediate danger, there was nothing else they could do.49 Dr. Katz then reported the alleged abuse to the Santa Barbara Police Department who subsequently launched an investigation in June 2003. In addition to having been involved with both Jordan Chandler and John Arvizo, Dr. Katz had another connection to the Jackson case – his list of patients also included Bradley Miller, the Private Investigator who had been hired by Mark Geragos to keep an eye on the Arvizo family throughout February 2003. Katz told authorities about Miller’s involvement in the case and also informed them about a tape that Miller had made of the family defending Jackson in mid-February.50 In what appears to be a highly unusual move, Santa Barbara authorities then asked the accuser’s stepfather Jay Jackson to help them investigate Miller. Working as a “confidential agent,” Jackson was sent to scope out the location of Miller’s office and report his findings back to the SBPD.51 After five months of investigating, the Santa Barbara Police Department was ready to go forward with its case. But first, the Arvizo family would have to agree to put their civil lawsuit on hold and go forward with the criminal case against Michael Jackson. JACKSON IS ARRESTED AND CHARGED In June 2003, Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon began to personally investigate the Arvizo family’s claims against Michael Jackson. In a police interview, Janet Arvizo alleged that Jackson’s employees had relentlessly victimized her and her family. In one instance, Jackson’s representatives allegedly showed up at the Arvizos’ apartment and demanded that the family move to Brazil. “One of the reasons was because there was [sic] people that were gonna kill the children and me… mostly my children,” Mrs. Arvizo told investigators. Janet Arvizo believed that the true motive behind the alleged proposed trip was to prevent the family from speaking to investigators. She further claimed that Jackson had begun to spy on her when he felt that she was asking too many questions about his alleged relationship with her son. “One time I remember the kids telling me that up on the top of the hill, there’s like a little… like, a thing. And Michael had taken up the kids up there to look in my bedroom. Like a telescope thing and I thought they were kidding. Michael wanted to see what I was doing in there.” When Mrs. Arvizo eventually tried to put an end to her son’s alleged relationship with Michael Jackson, the boy supposedly shot her in her pinkie toe with a BB gun. During the interview, Janet Arvizo assured investigators that she was not after Michael Jackson’s money. “God handpicked me and the kids because he knew that we weren’t going to fall for any of their money. That it was going to be justice more than anything.”52 On the contrary, notes from the boy’s therapist reveal that at the time, the Arvizos were planning to file a lawsuit against Jackson with the help of civil attorney Larry Feldman.53 Their plans to sue the pop star, however, would have to wait; after 1993, Sneddon amended California law so that if civil and criminal proceedings arose over the same allegation, the civil proceedings would be stayed until after the criminal case was resolved.54 Consequently, if the family had chosen to go forward with their lawsuit, the proceedings would have remained inactive until the statute of limitations in the criminal case expired. While it would be years before the Arvizo family could seek monetary damages from Jackson in court, Sneddon informed them of a state victim’s fund that would provide them with financial compensation if they persisted with the allegations. In November, Sneddon met with Janet Arvizo in an empty parking lot to provide her with the necessary paperwork to apply for the fund.55 Less than a month later, the case went forward.
After raiding Neverland on November 18th, 2003, authorities also searched the office of Mark Geragos’ Private Investigator Bradley Miller and the home of Jackson’s former videographer Hamid Moslehi. During the raid of Moslehi’s home, Sneddon confiscated a tape that featured footage of the accusing family praising Jackson. The contents of the tape would present a problem for the prosecution: the interview with the family was conducted in February 2003 but according to the family’s affidavit, Jackson had molested the boy and kidnapped the family that very same month.57 Having access to this tape gave Sneddon an opportunity to familiarize himself with Jackson’s defense strategy, which would most likely centre on the Arvizo family’s inconsistent statements. In spite of this evidence, Sneddon continued with the case. On November 19, he held a press conference where his behaviour led many to believe that he had a grudge against Michael Jackson stemming from the 1993 case. Despite the serious nature of the allegations, Sneddon and Sheriff Jim Anderson created a jovial atmosphere by making several jokes at Jackson’s expense.58 After Jackson was arrested, Sneddon gave an exclusive interview to tabloid reporter Diane Dimond where he referred to the pop star as “Jacko Wacko” but strongly denied having a vendetta against him.59 He later apologized for his comments, saying, “If my mom was still alive she would take me to task for not being a good person.”60 On December 18th, 2003, Jackson was charged with 7 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 14 and 2 counts of administering an intoxicating agent. These alleged acts took place on or between February 7th and March 10th.61 As soon as the charges against Jackson were filed, many inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case were revealed. The Arvizo family’s litigious past, for example, immediately became the focus of much media attention. The general public learned about the accusations that Janet Arvizo had leveled against JCPenney and her ex-husband, as well as her alleged history of coaching her children to lie under oath. Many also began to question the timing of the supposed abuse. According to the charges, the alleged molestation began on February 7th – the day after Martin Bashir’s Living with Michael Jackson documentary aired in the United States. Many found it implausible that Jackson would have started to molest the boy while in the midst of a huge scandal involving him and past accusations of child abuse. Furthermore, both the Department of Children and Family Services and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department had investigated Jackson in February 2003 and concluded based on their interviews with the Arvizos that no abuse had taken place. It seems unlikely that Jackson could have molested the boy while being investigated for suspected child abuse by two separate government agencies. But perhaps the most damning blow to the prosecution’s case was Mark Geragos’ claim that Jackson had an alibi. “The timeline is ridiculous. Michael has a concrete, ironclad alibi for the dates they are saying this abuse took place. The fact of the matter is, no abuse ever happened.”62 To overcome these inconsistencies, Tom Sneddon made several changes to the charges against Jackson. JACKSON CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO KIDNAP Although Tom Sneddon had officially filed a criminal complaint against Michael Jackson in December 2003, he later brought his case in front of a grand jury, which resulted in a new 10-count indictment. The new charges indicate that either the Arvizos drastically changed their story or Tom Sneddon intentionally made alterations to his case in order to make the accusations appear more logical. On April 30th, 2004, Jackson was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent, one count of attempted child molestation and one count of conspiracy. These alleged acts took place on or between February 20th and March 12th 2003.63 According to the original complaint, the sexual abuse timeline began on February 7th. A memo from the Department of Children and Family Services, however, reveals that on February 20th, the entire family defended Jackson to social workers and maintained that he had never even been alone with the boy. Based on these statements, it seems highly unlikely that any abuse occurred between February 7th and February 20th. In the new set of charges, these three weeks have disappeared from the timeline. The abuse is now alleged to have begun after February 20th, rendering the family’s initial statements to social workers irrelevant. Another notable difference in the accuser’s story – besides the shift in the timeline and the change in the amount of times he was allegedly abused – is that the charges in the complaint state that John Arvizo was only given alcohol twice, indicating that he was sober throughout most of the occurrences of alleged abuse. The charges in the indictment, however, suggest that the boy was intoxicated throughout every incidence of alleged abuse. The most questionable change, however, is that the conspiracy allegation was not included in the original charges. In the indictment, Jackson is accused of 28 overt acts of conspiracy including child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.64 The prosecution alleges that Jackson conspired with five unnamed employees to kidnap the Arvizo family and force them into making positive statements on his behalf. According to prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss, Jackson did this to improve his public image after the airing of the Living with Michael Jackson documentary.65 He then allegedly molested the boy. As a result of the conspiracy charge, the prosecution can now attempt to discredit all of Jackson’s exculpatory evidence. The Arvizo family’s previous denials of abuse, for example, can be justified by the allegation that the family was forced to defend him. Secondly, testimony from potential defense witnesses who may have observed erratic or suspicious behaviour on the part of the Arvizos can now be discredited by the charge that Jackson’s associates were involved in a criminal conspiracy against the family. Finally, if Jackson does have an alibi for all of the dates of the purported abuse, the prosecution can simply claim that the alibi was also involved in the supposed conspiracy. To the average observer, the allegations against Michael Jackson might now appear consistent but to those who have followed the case closely, the question remains why the charges only took their current form after Jackson’s defense strategy was revealed to the prosecution. Although the major discrepancies in Sneddon’s case have been eradicated, there are still several problems with the charges against Jackson, particularly with the allegation that he held the Arvizo family hostage at Neverland throughout February and March 2003. According to Janet Arvizo’s divorce attorney Michael Manning, his client was still praising Michael Jackson as late as May 2003. “‘He was really good to us’ – that’s what she said at the time,” Manning recalled. “If it turned sour, I don’t know how.”66 Another problem with the conspiracy allegation is that although five of Jackson’s associates were allegedly involved in the kidnapping of the family, Jackson is the only one who has been charged with a crime. The five alleged co-conspirators remain un-indicted and have all been offered immunity if they agree to testify against Jackson. Joe Tacopina, an attorney for one of the accused co-conspirators, insists that his client has rejected Sneddon’s offer of immunity and maintains that the Arvizo family’s claims are ludicrous. “If [Mrs. Arvizo] were being held hostage, then I guess during one of her shopping sprees on Rodeo Drive she could have told a store manager while she was buying a thousand-dollar dress,” Tacopina told the Santa Barbara News Press.67 In another interview, Tacopina claimed that the kidnapping allegations “are going to fall by the wayside when tested, when challenged, when examined under cross examination… there are documents out there that will absolutely shred these allegations.”68 An attorney for another alleged co-conspirator had a similar story to tell. “From what [my client] saw, [the Arvizos] were certainly in no way under any type of duress,” Michael Bachner told a reporter. “They freely went around to speak to whomever they wanted. They went shopping. They made phone calls. They did everything free people do.”69 Ron Konitzer, a former employee of Jackson’s who is now accused of conspiring against the Arvizos, insists that innocent facts have been twisted to fit the prosecution’s version of events. “It was a very natural development of events and a normal professional move that has been taken out of context,” Konitzer said of the measures that were taken to restore Jackson’s image after Living with Michael Jackson aired, measures that are now being used by the prosecution as evidence of a conspiracy. “There was no cover-up,” Konitzer continued. “We were working around the clock at the ranch for 10 days in a row – with my family even there – and I can tell you the one thing I remember is a bunch of kids running around and having fun. There was nothing I saw that even resembled anything near imprisonment.”70 Even testimony from Janet Arvizo’s husband seems to contradict the family’s claims of kidnapping. Jay Jackson testified that Janet Arvizo and her children had returned to Neverland several times in April 2003 – one month after the conspiracy timeline ended. “She somehow or another got back there,” Jackson told the court.71 If Michael Jackson had kidnapped the family in February 2003, why was Janet Arvizo still praising the pop star in May 2003? Why did she return to Neverland after allegedly being held hostage there? Why did it take her three months to contact the police? Why did she contact a civil lawyer first? Another aspect of the case that has come into question is the behaviour of the authorities involved. Recently, Jackson’s defense team challenged the indictment, alleging that the prosecution engaged in excessive misconduct throughout the grand jury proceedings. In a 126-page motion filed by the defense, Sneddon is accused of bullying witnesses, failing to properly present exculpatory evidence, refusing to let the jurors question the prosecution witnesses and providing the jurors with a false legal definition of the term ‘conspiracy.’ According to the motion: “There is simply no evidence that Mr. Jackson had the specific intent to agree or conspire with anyone about anything.” To support this contention, the defense pointed out that a key witness to the alleged conspiracy had never even met Jackson. Transcripts reveal that when she testified, the witness, who was employed by Jackson for ten days in February 2003, answered questions with responses such as “I’m not sure,” “I guess,” “I assume,” “I don’t know exactly” and “I think.” 72 It was also revealed that Sneddon used Jackson’s predilection for a clean household to support the conspiracy allegation. The motion reads: “It is simply not reasonable to infer that Mr. Jackson’s preference for a well run household demonstrates the specific intent to commit crimes. Evidence that Mr. Jackson would complain to his staff when household chores were not done properly is not evidence that he was directing a criminal conspiracy.”73 In another motion, the defense charged that because Private Investigator Bradley Miller worked for Jackson’s former defense attorney Mark Geragos, the evidence taken from his office during the November 18th raid is protected by attorney-client privilege. Although Sneddon admittedly told Jackson’s defense team that he was aware of Miller’s professional relationship with Geragos at the time of the raid, he later retracted his confession, claiming it was a “mistake borne out of being upset and angry.”74 Judge Rodney Melville ruled in favour of the prosecution, deeming the raid on Miller’s office legal despite the fact that Jackson’s attorney-client privileges had been violated.75 According to the defense team: “There is no case in the history of the state of California that has condoned anything like the abuse of power demonstrated in this grand jury proceeding.”76 The question still remains, however, why a veteran prosecutor would risk his reputation by filing such dubious charges, especially when the case in question has garnered unprecedented media attention. Does Sneddon truly believe that Michael Jackson is guilty of the crimes of which he has been accused or are there other motives involved in his relentless pursuit of the pop star? A careful examination of these questions reveals a sordid pattern of greed, corruption and blackmail within the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office. Endnotes: 1“Ms. Doe testifies that she hired a lawyer before meeting Michael.” Online posting. 18 Sept. 2004. MJJForum. (http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=37558) 2Team MJJSource. “Mesereau Calls Prosecution ‘Vindictive.'” MJJSource. 29 Dec. 2004.(http://mjjsource.com/main/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=304&Itemid=44) 3Murr, Andrew and Jennifer Ordonez. “King of the Tabloid Case.” Newsweek. 15 Dec. 2003. (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3660632) 4“Is the Michael Jackson Case a Shakedown?” Today Show. NBC. 4 Mar. 2004. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4448227) 5“Is the Michael Jackson Case a Shakedown?” Today Show. NBC. 4 Mar. 2004. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4448227) 6Deutsch, Linda. “Mother Coached Children to Lie in Court Before?” Associated Press. 25 Dec. 2003. 7 Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services Report. Oct 2001. (http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/documents/04/01/jacko_dept.pdf) 8 Hobbs, Dawn. “Jackson’s Accuser’s Mom Made Similar Claims in 2001.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 12 Oct. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/101204accusersmom.htm) 9 Interview with Russell Halpern. Larry King Live. CNN. 13 Feb. 2004. (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/13/lkl.00.html) 10 “Jackson Accuser ‘Afraid’ of His Estranged Father?” Celebrity Justice. 17 Mar. 2004. TTC West Coast Inc. (http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0403/17a.html) 11“Take 2: The Interview They Wouldn’t Show You.” Fox. 20 Feb. 2003. 12 Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services Report. Oct 2001. (http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/documents/04/01/jacko_dept.pdf) 13“Jackson Accuser’s Mom Falsely Solicited Charity for Son.” Celebrity Justice. 3 Jan. 2005. TTC West Coast Inc. (http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0501/03a.html) 14 Heard, Bill. “Chance Encounters with Cops Lead to Merry Christmas for LA Family.” MTA Report. 21 Dec. 2001. (http://intranet2.mta.net/mtanews_info/report/transit_family.htm) 15Interview with Michael Jackson. Sixty Minutes. CBS. 28 Dec. 2003. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/28/60minutes/main590381.shtml) 16 “Living with Michael Jackson.” ITV. 3 Feb. 2003. 17Steepleton, Scott. “Explicit Story of Jackson ‘Old News’ to Sneddon.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 12 Feb. 2003. 18“Michael Jackson’s Big Payoff.” The Smoking Gun. 16 Jun 2004. Courtroom Television Network. (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0616041jacko1.html) 19Hughes, Geraldine. Redemption: The Truth Behind the Michael Jackson Child Molestation Allegations. Radford: Branch and Vine Publishers, LLC. 2004. 20 Fischer, Mary A. “Was Michael Jackson Framed?” GQ Magazine. Oct. 1994: Pg. 214. 21Chandler, Ray. “GQ Article.” Media Analysis. (http://www.atgbook.net/GQFinal.html) 22“Psychiatric Interview with Jackson’s First Accuser.” Michael Jackson Molestation Case. Court TV Online, pp. 30-31. 10 Jan. 2005. (http://www.courttv.com/news/jackson/docs/psychiatric.html?page=30) 23Piper, August. “Truth Serum and What Really Happened.” Selected Columns of August Piper, Jr., M.D. (http://www.fmsfonline.org/APiper.html#AP1) 24 Elam, Peggy. “Dissociative Disorders and Sodium Amytal Interview.” Ivillage Health. (http://www.ivillagehealth.com/experts/emotional/qas/0,,234280_1280-1,00.html) 25Fischer, Mary A. “Was Michael Jackson Framed?” GQ Magazine. Oct. 1994: Pg. 214. 26“Grand Jury Disbanded in Michael Jackson Case.” Showbiz Today. CNN. 2 May 1994. T.Sneddon 28“Current Events and Press Releases.” Michael Jackson Case Information. 5 Feb. 2003. County of Santa Barbara. (http://www.countyofsb.org/da/press.asp) 29Steepleton, Scott. “Explicit Story of Jackson ‘Old News’ to Sneddon.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 12 Feb. 2003. 30Friedman, Roger. “Jacko’s Got Dubious Character Witnesses.” Fox 411. Fox News. 12 Feb. 2003. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78351,00.html) 31Mankiewicz, Josh. “Michael Jackson Unmasked.” Dateline NBC. NBC. 17 Feb. 2003. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080078) 32Interview with Mark Geragos. Larry King Live. CNN. 18 Dec. 2003. (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0312/18/lkl.00.html) 33 Deutsch, Linda. “Prosecution Alleges Jackson Imprisoned Boy, Family at Neverland Ranch.” Associated Press. 28 Jul. 2004. 34 Deutsch, Linda. ” Stepfather Says He Sought Money for Michael Jackson Accuser, Family.” Associated Press. 20 Aug. 2004. 35 “Did Jackson’s Accuser Declare Star as Innocent?” Good Morning America. ABC News. 26 Feb. 2004. (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=128004&page=1) 36Interview with Ed Bradley. Larry King Live. CNN. 4 Feb. 2004. (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/04/lkl.01.html) 37“Michael Jackson Bombshell.” The Smoking Gun. 9 Dec. 2003. Courtroom Television Network. (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/dcfsmemo1.html) 38 “Latest News.” The Official Website of Carole Lieberman, M.D. 11 Feb. 2003. (http://www.dr.carole.com/news.htm) 39“New Revelations in Michael Jackson Case.” The Today Show. NBC News. 16 Mar. 2004. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4513744) 40“Michael is My Children’s Angel.” Sunday Telegraph. 8 Feb. 2003. (http://www.mjni.com/news/details.aspx?ArticleNo=195) 41 “Take 2: The Interview They Wouldn’t Show You.” Fox. 20 Feb. 2003. 42 “Former Lawyer for Jackson Accuser Speaks.” Primetime Live. ABC News. 29 Jan. 2004. (http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132405&page=1) 43 Deutsch, Linda. ” Stepfather Says He Sought Money for Michael Jackson Accuser, Family.” Associated Press. 20 Aug. 2004. 44 The Abrams Report. MSNBC. 20 Aug. 2004. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5796832) 45 Friedman, Roger. “Jacko Accuser’s Mom Was in Mental Hospital.” Fox 411. 5 Feb. 2004. Fox News. 20 Jul. 2004. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110526,00.html) 46 “Former Lawyer for Jackson Accuser Speaks.” Primetime Live. ABC News. 29 Jan. 2004. (http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132405&page=1) 47 Order for Release of Redacted Documents. [Exhibits 2-18 from Pen. C. §1538.5 Hearings (Parts 1 and 2)] 12 Nov. 2004. (http://www.mjjforum.com/main/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=602&func=fileinfo&parent=folder&filecatid=601) 48“Civil Suit Brought up by Therapist.” The Today Show. 19 Mar. 2004. (http://site.mjeol.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?cid=17&lid=95) 49 Blankstein, Andrew and Richard Winton. “Leak of Jackson Memo Criticized.” LA Times. 8 Jan. 2004. 50 Deutsch, Linda. “Lawyer: Psychologist’s patients on both sides of Jackson case.” Associated Press. 17 Aug. 2004. 51Deutsch, Linda. “Stepfather Says He Sought Money for Michael Jackson Accuser, Family.” Associated Press. 20 Aug. 2004. 52“Accuser’s Mother Police Videotape.” The Insider. 15 Sept. 2004. (http://site.mjeol.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?cid=24&lid=227) 53 “Civil Suit Brought up by Therapist.” The Today Show. 19 Mar. 2004. (http://site.mjeol.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?cid=17&lid=95) 54Deutsch, Linda and Tim Molloy. “Prosecutor Says Law Won’t Allow Jackson to Pay Off Accuser Before Trial.” Associated Press. 19 Nov. 2003. 55“Does Memo Suggest DA Vendetta Against Jackson?” Good Morning America. ABC News. 29 Apr. 2004. (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=116524&page=1) 56Deutsch, Linda. “Prosecution Alleges Jackson Imprisoned Boy, Family at Neverland Ranch.” Associated Press. 28 Jul. 2004. 57Hobbs, Dawn. “Tape Called Evidence of Jackson Conspiracy.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 11 Aug. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0811tapeevidence.htm) 58 Press Conference. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon. 19 Nov. 2003. 59 Bean, Matt. “Court TV Exclusive: D.A. discusses case against Michael Jackson.” Court TV. 20 Nov. 2003. (http://courttv.com/people/2003/1120/jackson_exclusive_ctv.html) 60“DA Apologizes for Joking at Jackson News Conference.” CNN. 5 Dec. 2003. (http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/26/sneddon/index.html) 61Hobbs, Dawn. “Sneddon Comes Out Swinging.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 19 Dec. 2003. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/1219sneddonswinging.htm) 62Brown, Stacey. “Geragos says he’s in charge of Jackson Defense.” MSNBC. 6 Jan. 2004. (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3891212) 63Hobbs, Dawn. “Jackson Pleads Not Guilty.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 1 May 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0501pleadsnot.htm) 64Hobbs, Dawn. “Jackson Pleads Not Guilty.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 1 May 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0501pleadsnot.htm) 65Deutsch, Linda. “Prosecution Alleges Jackson Imprisoned Boy, Family at Neverland Ranch.” Associated Press. 28 Jul. 2004. 66Molloy, Tim. “Accuser’s Mother Said to Praise Jackson.” Associated Press. 25 Nov. 2003. 67Hobbs, Dawn. “Timeline Emerges in Jackson Abuse Case.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 31 Jul. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0731timeline.htm) 68The Abrams Report. MSNBC. 22 Apr. 2004. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4806856) 69Hobbs, Dawn. “Timeline Emerges in Jackson Abuse Case.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 31 Jul. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0731timeline.htm) 70Hobbs, Dawn. “Timeline Emerges in Jackson Abuse Case.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 31 Jul. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0731timeline.htm) 71Deutsch, Linda. “Stepfather Says He Sought Money for Michael Jackson Accuser, Family.” Associated Press. 20 Aug. 2004. 72Notice of Motion and Motion to Set Aside the Indictment (Penal Code §995) 6 Jul. 2004. (http://www.mjjforum.com/main/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=61&func=fileinfo&parent=folder&filecatid=188) 73Reply to Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Set Aside the Indictment. (Pen. Code §995) 23 Jul. 2004. Page 12 (http://www.mjjforum.com/main/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=212&func=fileinfo&parent=folder&filecatid=214) 74Hadly, Scott and Dawn Hobbs. “Jackson Team Goes on Offense.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 17 Aug. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/0817jacksonteam.htm) 75Hobbs, Dawn. “Jackson Case Judge Rules in Favor of DA.” Santa Barbara News-Press. 15 Oct. 2004. (http://www.newspress.com/mjacksonupdate/101504judgerules.htm) 76Notice of Motion and Motion to Set Aside the Indictment (Penal Code §995) 6 Jul. 2004. (http://www.mjjforum.com/main/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=61&func=fileinfo&parent=folder&filecatid=188) |
Part II: Tom Sneddon – A Strange Obsession
| “Sneddon is a very determined individual who will go further than almost anyone to prove something which he feels needs proving.”– Attorney Michael Cooney |
PATTERN OF ABUSE
When it comes to political corruption in Santa Barbara, anyone familiar with the workings of this county knows that nothing happens without the tacit approval of the good District Attorney Tom Sneddon.
Often referred to as “the single most powerful person in all of Santa Barbara County,”1 his admirers point to the fact that he has run unopposed for the last six terms as evidence of his beloved status. Butterball sidekick Jim Thomas, former sheriff of Santa Barbara, defends him, insisting: “Tom Sneddon is and has always been an aggressive prosecutor, which is why he’s been re-elected so many times unopposed.”2
To understand the method of Tom Sneddon and how he operates, one only needs to consider the testimony of several persons who have borne the wrath of his prosecutorial obsession.
GARY DUNLAP
One of the worst examples of such behavior is Sneddon’s attack on Santa Maria attorney Gary Dunlap. Sneddon had charged Dunlap with a slew of charges including perjury and witness tampering. After being acquitted of all charges, Dunlap filed a $10 million lawsuit against Sneddon and his hood of bandits for violating his civil rights during the investigation.3 In an interview with the highly respected MJJForum, Dunlap leveled a number of serious charges against Sneddon and those in his office. This gentleman has been a practicing attorney in the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara area for nearly forty years and is not pulling stories of horrific prosecutorial misconduct out of his behind. In fact, a number of persons who do not even know each other are claiming the exact same thing with tangible proof of said misconduct. Among the many charges that Dunlap levelled against Sneddon:
| § Sneddon and the law enforcement officials assigned to Dunlap’s investigation performed illegal searches and seizures. “Well, they engaged in a sting operation, which they manufactured and allowed to get out of hand, and it essentially became just a real witch hunt. There were a number of violations of my rights in the investigatory stage as well as during the prosecution stage.”
§ Stacking charges against defendants. “…I don’t know if you realize how difficult it is when they throw the kitchen sink at you, I mean, when they throw seven felonies against you, how difficult it is to get an acquittal on all charges. You know, I mean it’s one thing to be charged with one crime and have a trial and be acquitted on it, but the District Attorney in Santa Barbara has a policy that if they throw enough charges against you, the jury is bound to convict you on something.” Sneddon’s kitchen sink manufacturer must be working overtime, tossing sinks at the Michael Jackson case like friends toss Krispy Kreme donuts at Rosie O’Donnell. § Intimidation of officials whom they cannot control. “…but in one instance there is a gentleman in Santa Maria who had announced his candidacy for a public office and shortly thereafter he was illegally detained by sheriff’s deputies on what were pretty clearly bogus charges, and instead of the District Attorney acknowledging that, the District Attorney attempted to cover up the police officers’ excessive force by filing charges against him and attempted to prosecute him on those charges and essentially ruined his opportunity to run for public office. He ultimately sued the District Attorney as well as the law enforcement officers and won a judgment in the federal court for several thousand dollars and several hundred thousand dollars in attorney’s fees.”4 This particular story from Dunlap sounds remarkably similar to Bill Wegener’s experiences. Is it any wonder that Dunlap is suing Sneddon and his cronies? |
| JUDGE DIANA HALL
Intimidating foes he can no longer control is a particular talent for Sneddon. Just ask Judge Diana Hall. When the judge “ran” for the bench (more on that later), she was actually seen as an ally to the Sneddon regime but for whatever reason, that changed and so did Sneddon’s approach to dealing with her. In September 2003, Hall was convicted of misdemeanor drunk driving but was cleared of the more serious charges that had been brought against her such as brandishing a weapon and battery. While Hall’s legal troubles had seemingly come to an end with the resolution of the trial, her contentious relationship with the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office would only intesify when she was later accused of election funding fraud.During the 2002 re-election bid, Hall’s ex-lover Deidre Dykeman had donated an unreported $20,000 to Hall’s campaign, a donation that eventually led to eight new misdemeanor charges being brought against Hall in 2004. Her attorney Mike Scott is none too pleased. “The District Attorney knew about this gift from her former roommate in December 2002,” he said. “They did nothing with it until the DA failed to secure a felony conviction against Judge Hall last August. It was well known prior to the trial and should have been included in the original charges.”5To say that Sneddon and his people were not thrilled that the felony charges did not stick the first time they prosecuted Hall is no doubt an understatement according to unnamed sources. Despite the prosecution’s stance that they were merely punishing a judge who had violated state campaign funding laws, someone with a brain and glasses not fogged by corruption thought differently and prevented the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office from prosecuting Hall. Perhaps the most important reason for removing the DA’s office from the case is the fact that Hall is slated to serve as a witness for Gary Dunlap in his civil lawsuit against Tom Sneddon.6Can you say conflict of interest? Now, if I was a District Attorney who was being targeted for violating the civil rights of some local attorney and I knew that one of the judges on my watch was testifying for the plaintiff (Dunlap, in this case), I would do my best to make sure that by the time she testified, her reputation would be so soiled with political and criminal scandal that she would not be considered credible.If making Hall look bad meant stacking a bunch of ridiculous charges against her or prosecuting her for essentially covering up a gay relationship, so be it. Of course, this is merely the hypothetical meanderings of a curious observer.We doubt that Ms. Hall, once she has hopefully been freed from the vengeful clutches of a twisted legal scene in Santa Barbara, will allow Sneddon to rest much. We see him being sued big time for his illegal and unethical antics. Not shockingly, Hall is not the only public official Sneddon has it in for. ART MONTANDON Just when you thought that massage parlor lovin’ had given way to chat room sex, two sisters in Santa Maria set out to prove that there is still a market for this hands-on service to the male segment of the community, even law enforcement officials (allegedly). Two sisters, April and Irene Cummings, were accused of running a prostitution ring through the guise of a massage parlor. Art Montandon, the Santa Maria city lawyer at the time, was conducting his own investigation in an attempt to get information on one of the persons alleged to have been serviced at the parlor – the Santa Maria police Chief John Sterling. A number of rumors swirled as names were floated as possible customers of the Cummings sisters, the biggest being one very important person: Tom Sneddon.As one could imagine, Sneddon vehemently denied the allegations, even threatening to sue the sisters if they did not recant. “It’s outrageous…”I’ve never had a massage in my life,” Sneddon claimed. After meeting with Sneddon about the allegation, the Cummings’ sisters attorney Michael Clayton said that “the sisters likely confused the District Attorney with a man named ‘Tom’ who looked similar to Sneddon and allegedly visited their business on that day” and that he thought “(April) was genuinely mistaken… I don’t believe (Sneddon) was a client of either of them.”7 Making matters even more interesting was the rumor that Bill Wegener (yes, that Bill Wegener), had caught Chief Sterling on tape but none of the parties – Wegener, Montandon, or even the members of Sneddon’s office – have ever claimed to have seen such a tape.8 Enter Tom Sneddon and the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office whose job it was to prosecute the case. And this is where the trouble truly begins. As it turns out, Montandon had evidence that would prove beneficial not for the prosecution but for the defense. Upon learning about the existence of this evidence, the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office accused Montandon of bribery and interfering with their case. Although the DA’s office attempted to prevent Montandon from providing the evidence to defense attorneys, a judge would ruled that Sneddon’s office did not have the authority to stop Montandon from doing his own investigation. Montandon later promised that he would provide “the full and complete story of not only the District Attorney’s unprofessional conduct, but the inappropriate conduct and motives of others working behind the scenes to cause community conflict.” Montandon also fired back his own assaults on Sneddon and his office, accusing them of “prosecutorial misconduct in pursuing a local attorney.” Just who was Montandon referring to? That’s right – Gary Dunlap. In addition, Montandon even found time to chide his enemies: “Unlike (Assistant District Attorney Christie) Stanley and current and former members of her office, I have never had my license to practice law suspended by the State Bar, have never been convicted of a crime, and have never been terminated from any attorney job.”9 After “retiring” after 19 years of service, Montandon filed an official complaint against Sneddon and his office, citing that Sneddon and his employees had engaged in “discriminatory, abusive, defamatory (and) negligent” tactics against him.10 After it was revealed that the California Bar Association was investigating Sneddon and others for misconduct Montandon added that: “We’re geared up to file a federal court lawsuit in the next two months.”11 We in no way necessarily endorse the actions of any of the parties who have accused Sneddon nor do we support coddling criminals in such a way that they have carte blanche to whatever they please. We believe in law and order. We also happen to believe in due process. But it only gets more interesting when we consider another often overlooked and often threatened person who had the courage to speak up about what really goes on in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria: Dr. Thambiah Sundaram. Thambiah Sundaram In an interview with Online Legal Review’s Ron Sweet, Thambiah Sundaram claimed that he was arrested and prosecuted by the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office for, among other things, grand theft, malicious mischief, and impersonating a doctor. The case was later dismissed by then Judge Barbara Beck, who called the allegations against Sundaram “ridiculous.” The seriousness of Beck’s charge is quite obvious and adds proverbial fuel to speculation that Sneddon has a predilection to misuse his prosecutorial authority. It is little wonder that Sundaram sued Sneddon and his office for malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of power, and conspiracy and was awarded over $300,000 for his trouble. But Sundaram also had a great deal to say about Tom Sneddon and his subordinates in the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office in regards to the way they operate in other ways. Sundaram alleges that in late 1994 or early 1995, he heard racist comments being made by the likes of now Senior Deputy District Attorney Mag Nicola as well as Tim Rooney – all in the glorious presence of Tom Sneddon – at a private fundraising function. For instance, a man named Rajan Ayyar was referred to as a “nigger” by Nicola as he and other government officials allegedly plotted about how they were going to “go after” him. Apparently, the fact that Ayyar was a Black man who claimed to be a Stanford alum was simply too much for these respectable white folks. Moreover, they were alleged to have believed that they could get whatever they wanted since they had just put a judge on the bench whom they were blackmailing at the time with some “dirt” on her personal life. That judge? Diana Hall.12 It would take ten years and would come without Hall’s involvement but their plotting paid off and Ayyar was convicted last year of “10 counts of grand theft, four of forgery and one each of securities fraud and commission of a fraudulent securities scheme.” And take a guess who Rajan Ayyar’s attorney was? Gary Dunlap.13 Ayyar was not the only “nigger” against whom they were purportedly plotting. Sundaram also maintains that the group discussed what to do with Michael Jackson. Among the things that authorities allegedly said about Jackson: – Some of Sneddon’s friends wanted Jackson’s property to convert it into a thriving vineyard. Consistent with Sundaram’s claims, wine-making is the leading agricultural industry in Santa Barbara where Jackson owns 2,700 acres of prime real estate. – Authorities laughed and bragged about passing around pictures of Jackson’s genitalia, pictures that were taken during the 1993-94 investigation. This was done to embarrass Jackson. (These pictures were supposed to be sealed but are not. Even Geraldo Rivera admits that he has seen them) – Nicola lamented that they had done everything they could to get “that nigger” out of town but had failed. Apparently, authorities did not like the fact that Jackson was the richest resident in Santa Barbara, that he had married a white woman (Lisa Marie Presley) and that he owned all of that property. They promised they would not fail to get rid of him the next time around. – Sneddon allegedly stated that his goal was to get “some dirt to get him to leave” and that he wanted to “run him out of town.”14 These tidbits of information have been challenged by Sneddon supporters and Jackson haters alike as unsubstantiated gossip. However, if this information has any kernel of truth to it (and we believe it does), then it makes the events of November 2003 a mere fulfillment of an alleged obsession with Jackson on Sneddon’s part. SNEDDON’S OBSESSION WITH JACKSON Not too long after the now-infamous November 2003 press conference in which Tom Sneddon joked about Michael Jackson with Sheriff Jim Anderson, Sneddon was quick to point out that he did not have a vendetta against the superstar.15 In light of the aforementioned accusations from others in the Santa Barbara area along the same lines, one should at least be willing to consider the possibility. Sneddon went so far as to state that he had not even thought about the singer or the allegations during the ten-year interval between the cases. However, a plethora of articles from news outlets from 1994-2003 reveal something altogether different. The following quotes, courtesy of Talkleft.com, are evidence of Sneddon’s lack of attention to Jackson:
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Part III – Diane Dimond: Paragon of Deceit
| “During all the coverage of Michael Jackson’s supposed molestation of this teenage boy, I turned on ‘CBS This Morning’ and saw Diane Dimond being interviewed by Paula Zahn. And I remember thinking, ‘This is a seminal moment in the regression of TV journalism.'”1 – Los Angeles times TV critic Howard Rosenberg |
DIANE PUTS HER FOOT IN HER MOUTH… AGAIN
The moment Michael Jackson was arrested and charged with child molestation, Diane Dimond insisted that she did not go looking for this story but rather it came looking for her.Of course, she must have forgotten ever making such a statement when, during another interview, she asserted, “I’ve been working this story for 10 years.”2We would, however, prefer to call her work “jury tainting” in light of several absolutely unprofessional and unethical activities that have caused observers to question her “journalistic” inclinations and sensibilities.Dimond, like her good buddy Tom Sneddon, has often decried any assertion that she has a vendetta against Jackson or that she is obsessed with the child molestation allegations. In her own words, she is just a determined investigative journalist who is determined to get to the bottom of a huge story. To her credit, Dimond did offer some sound advice concerning how to evaluate a story: “You have to listen carefully to the reporters. If they’re giving their opinion, that’s not necessarily the truth. You have to, as a listener or viewer, think logically for yourself. What is true and what is false?”3 Following these wise words, we invite readers to assess the veracity of several stories Ms. Dimond has reported.For instance, Dimond stated confidently, “I am 99.9% sure that Jordan Chandler will testify during the grand jury.”4 The only problem was that it never happened. Dimond did her best to make it appear as if the prosecution had scored a windfall. Of course, one has to ask logically: If Jordan Chandler was so eager to testify as Dimond was reporting, why did the prosecution (or sources close to them) whine about not being able to serve him a subpoena? If Chandler was eager to see justice done for the alleged injustice done to him, one would logically assume that no writ or court order would have even been necessary to get him to the stand. Score one for logic and against Dimond’s “objective” and truth-centered reporting.Dimond was also one of the first to report the erroneous story that the prosecution had seized love letters allegedly written by Jackson to the latest accuser. On a November 24, 2003 edition of Larry King Live,5 Dimond, along with famed attorney Johnnie Cochran, Chris Pixley and Court TV’s Nancy Grace, did not hesitate much when discussing them: |
| KING: Do we — hold it! Does anyone here — does anyone here — anyone — know of the existence of these letters?
DIMOND: I absolutely know of their existence! KING: Diane, have you read them? DIMOND: No, I have not read them, but I absolutely know that that was tops on the list of the DA and sheriff’s department, things to look for inside Neverland. Listen, Larry, these are letters that are written in Michael Jackson’s hand. They are said to be — no, I’ve not read them, but they — they went after them because they’re said to be so sensational and so salacious in nature that this could be a key to the prosecution. |
| When pressed about her certainty of the letters Dimond got very defensive. Consider this entertaining exchange between her and Pixley : |
| PIXLEY: I think it’s inevitable that they’re going to report the story in one way, though, Larry, and that’s to say that Michael Jackson is guilty of these charges…
DIMOND: Oh, BS! PIXLEY: … before there are even charges. I’m sorry, Diane… DIMOND: Baloney! PIXLEY:… have you entertained for a moment the idea that these love letters that you know nothing about may be just that, nothing? DIMOND: First of all, Chris, I do know about them, and I know about them from high law enforcement sources. But I have always said, I don’t know if Michael Jackson is a pedophile. This charge should go to court. PIXLEY: You said they play it close to the chest, you think this is a good DA’s office that doesn’t leak stories, that play it close to the chest. But you know from high-ranking officials exactly what these letters say, or at least… DIMOND: I didn’t say I know what they say! PIXLEY: … what they are likely to say… DIMOND: If you’re going to… PIXLEY:… that they’re salacious. DIMOND: And you know what, Chris? Get it right! I get it right when I quote somebody! You get it right when you quote me! PIXLEY:Who are you quoting about the letters, then, Diane, so we can get it right? Who is it that you’re quoting? DIMOND: I’m not going to… PIXLEY: You don’t have anyone to quote. DIMOND: … give you my sources! I’m not giving you my sources! PIXLEY:Then why are we talking about this as though it’s a fact? |
| Of course, Dimond did not “get it right” at all concerning this story and her merely quoting a source did not make the story right either.As Pixley hinted, the story was as phony as a three dollar bill,6adding fuel to the notion that Dimond has little intention of reporting the truth but rather reporting what she knows to be false and potentially damaging to Jackson and his defense team.We will not even bother to speculate as to who her “source” was (the person’s identity should be quite obvious). It suffices to say that this person appears to have had little intention of disseminating truth and used whatever willing vessel he (or she) could find.Dimond fit the bill. Yet we are supposed to trust this king of reporting to provide “unbiased” information concerning the case.
DIANE PLAYS THE BLAME GAME Perhaps the most egregious transgression Dimond committed revolved around the now-not-so-confidential settlement Jackson reached with his 1993 accuser’s family. Note the following excerpts from her “reports” on the matter:
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Part IV – Jury Pool Tainting, Gag Order Style
| One of the customary acts of a judge who presides over a high-profile case such as the Michael Jackson case is to issue a gag order, binding all parties pertinent to the case to silence in order to prevent leaks and to maintain fairness for both sides.Not surprisingly, the minute Michael Jackson was arrested, his former defense attorney Mark Geragos called a press conference declaring the innocence of his client and labelling the latest accuser’s mother a scam artist.Shortly after, there a gag order was issued and press conferences became a thing of the past. This was supposed to prevent public grandstanding, jury tainting, and leaking of prejudicial information that could prevent Mr. Jackson from receiving a fair trial. Despite these limitations, however, Tom Sneddon has creatively found several viable and willing avenues by which to sidestep that trite and flimsy thing known as a gag order:
TELLEM INTERNATIONAL Ask anyone in the public relations business (other than Susan Tellem, of course) whether or not there is any issue with a public relations firm representing a District Attorney’s office and you might get more than your share of stares and questions.Yet, Sneddon and Ms. Tellem insist that Tellem International is merely handling media requests and concerns for the sake of efficiency. In addition, Ms. Tellem offered her services for free. Wow! Score one point for benevolence! Not.Tellem, via its prime connections to Sneddon’s Girl Friday Diane Dimond and other major media outlets like Fox, has been instrumental in spreading poisonous and venomous stories about Jackson. Even worse, the firm also managed to sponsor jury tainting stories that have been carried by such illustrious news programs as the Dan Abrams show and Catherine Crier Live. There are far too many examples of these shady jury pool tainting tactics. Consider this crass comment from their website concerning the case and their standing in it:”The first thing you learn in Journalism School is to check sources. Some media have relied on third-tier sources like Brian Oxman, a self-appointed Jackson family spokesman, to do their fact checking for them. This has resulted in inaccurate information. We request that media give us call if they need to check facts.”1 It simply makes little sense to us that a public relations firm with no bias concerning Jackson’s guilt or innocence would be accusing a Jackson defense attorney of lying. This statement is an obvious attempt to discredit any source that provides information that contradicts what their client would like to surface. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of reliable sources are the ones providing information favorable to the defense. In addition, Tellem should be the very last place for one to “check facts” considering that they only know how to tell one side of a story. We do understand that they are faithfully representing their client; however, they would do well to take others to task for merely saying things their “client” would agree with. When Tellem is not taking personal swipes at Jackson attorneys and supporters, they are pushing the envelope of professional ethics. Consider one of their prime acts as representatives for the prosecution: “In addition, Tellem used AP as a breaking news tool since the DA’s office had no budget for BusinessWire or other fast acting national distribution service. When a story needed telling, Tellem contacted AP, and they put it on the wire immediately.” But Tellem gets even bolder concerning their “mission” when they remind us that “On January 8, 2004, the DA requested a gag order, which remains in place. While this has reduced the number of calls, each time there is a court appearance, they begin again. An unexpected consequence of working with the DA was death threats from Jackson fans (these were turned over to the FBI).”2 We are simply floored by the blurring of professional and ethical lines in the media. How are we to receive objective news from AP when Tellem uses it as its own little mouthpiece to spread the gospel of Sneddon? One would think that Tellem had the “budget” to use BusinessWire to accommodate their client. We are not simply arguing that they do not have the right but merely pointing out the blurring of ethical lines that could jeopardize news on any case or issue being reported objectively. Equally troubling to us are the claims that Jackson fans have threatened Tellem. We do not under any circumstance condone any so-called fan threatening the life of anyone regardless of what side of this case they happen to be on. Such behavior is not only illegal and abominable but morally repugnant. We do, however, believe that it is absolutely necessary that such claims be followed up and reported on in order to remove the specter or stain of guilt upon anyone who supports Jackson or may happen to be a fan. JIM THOMAS For someone who has not been sheriff of Santa Barbara since 2003, Jim Thomas sure has gotten a great deal of mileage out of tossing his status around on television in order to cop TV time. Thomas of course has been a mouthpiece for Sneddon over the last eleven years. Eager for face time and free drinks (please Dimond segment), Thomas has done nothing but lie on national television, repeating his mantra that he knows of numerous “other victims” who are too afraid to come forward and accuse Jackson. Thomas, from the time this nonsensical railroad job began, has made a big issue that Jackson’s settling of the 1993 allegations should be a strong indication that the pop legend is guilty and clearly has something to hide. One has to wonder, however, if Thomas really believes this since he was a part of a settlement in February 2001 involving the Santa Barbara County Libertarian Party (SBLP). The SBLP had accused the good former sheriff of misappropriation of tax payer dollars after he apparently used $10,000 to produce an endorsement video of a measure he was supporting. Thomas insisted that the $15,000 settlement that Santa Barbara County officials procured “doesn’t assign blame. It is an agreement between sides not to go any further.” Of course, Bill Hansult, the attorney representing the SBLP in the case, had another take. “In essence, the sheriff stole taxpayer money, defended himself with taxpayer money, and the fine was paid with taxpayer money.”3 This is not the first time actions attributed to Thomas or his department has cost Santa Barbara big money. Thomas and his merry band of deputies also cost Santa Barbara County taxpayers a cool $1 million after some of his subordinates allegedly beat up two men at a bar in Lompoc in 2001.4 If we follow Thomas’ line of reasoning that a settlement on Jackson’s part is a clear sign of guilt, then what are we to make of the settlements he was involved in? We are not surprised that Thomas is involved in the current case against Mr. Jackson. After all, according to one source, he was spotted having drinks after a court hearing with Diane Dimond and Maureen Orth, two tabloid writers who are anything but objective when it comes to reporting on Jackson. From what we understand, the loquacious Thomas appeared to be mighty chummy with Dimond and Orth. RAY CHANDLER Furthermore, he continues to show his love for his nephew by writing a book about the boy’s alleged ordeal, questioning the young man’s sexuality, and continuing to profit off of an alleged childhood incidence of sexual abuse at the hands of a living music legend. Of course, there is no mention as to whether Chandler’s troubled nephew will receive any of the proceeds from All That Glitters, a book that tells the story of a poorly written sham with as much flatness and banal imagery as one would find in a Bill O’Reilly novel (Yes, he wrote one and it is a flaming hot mess). To put it succinctly, Ray Chandler is a liar. Hence, it should not be shocking that, in an attempt to perpetuate a distorted and felonious image of Jackson, Dateline NBC used this man as a source for a number of their damaging exposes concerning the case. But do not think for a minute that Chandler suddenly stumbled upon the idea to use an alleged devastating incident to his own economic gain. Chandler has been hocking his version of the events surrounding the 1993 allegations for several years. In 1998, Chandler claimed to have already had what we now call All That Glitters completed and even threatened to release dozens of pages of the project onto the Internet.5 Even more ridiculous was a 1995 interview he conducted with Entertainment Weekly in which he claimed that despite Jackson’s alleged victimization of his nephew, “It’s too bad to see his career take the hit it did and we all hope he gets it back.”6 Does this care and concern for Jackson and his career square with the care and concern one would have for a predator who preys on innocent children? This simply does not make sense. The contradictions did not stop with this nearly ten year old interview. In his book All That Glitters, Chandler makes a number of bumbling and utterly ridiculous contradictory statements about the 1993 case. First, he admits that the main reason media whore lawyer Gloria Allred was dismissed as the leading attorney for Evan Chandler and his son was because she was too insistent on seeking media attention. He maintains that the last thing his brother Evan and his brother’s attorney Barry Rothman wanted was too much media attention since they wanted to settle the case quietly and get the money as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Enter crooked tort lawyer and crooked toothed Larry Feldman. Such an admission is utterly amazing. Ray Chandler rants throughout the book about how irate and disturbed Evan Chandler was over the possibility that Mr. Jackson had molested his son. It is highly unlikely that the average father would have taken great pains to protect the privacy of the man who victimized his young son unless of course there was no molestation, just a merciless scam to get money from the unsuspecting Jackson. Clearly Evan Chandler was more concerned with getting his multi-million dollar settlement than he was with his son. In a phrase, it was “all about the benjamins.” Another ridiculous and contradictory element of Chandler’s book was the documentation he provided to support his claims. Contrary to his claim that his documents provide the hard facts of Jackson’s guilt, they actually point to something altogether different. For instance, the authenticity of several documents has been called into question by Barry Rothman’s former secretary Geraldine Hughes. On MJJForum.com, Ms. Hughes insisted that she is certain that a number of the documents purported to be typed by her are actual forgeries since she did not type them.7 Her accusation is also supported by clear evidence of the forgery of Barry Rothman’s signature. Compare the following signatures: Though none involved with the Veritas Project are, as far as we know, handwriting experts, the Three Blind Mice could see that the “Rothman” signatures do not match. Even more remarkable is the fact that one of the documents is not even signed by “Rothman.” It is one thing to use authentic legal documents to substantiate your point. It is quite another thing, however, to use falsified papers to attempt to do the same. One could wonder how Ray Chandler, a lawyer since 2001, could commit such an act of fraud in a book not even worth the paper it is written on. However, considering that Chandler got his “law” degree from the very college where Tom Sneddon “teaches” law students every unethical thing he knows, one has to assume that Chandler took notes well from his master. Some of Chandler’s “proof” supplied at the end of his book actually support the claims of Hughes and Mary Fischer, the investigative reporter who wrote the GQ Magazine article “Was Michael Jackson Framed?” The documents concerning the custody issues as well the negotiations between then-Jackson investigator Anthony Pellicano and Barry Rothman only support what Hughes and Fischer wrote, not what Chandler is trying to put over on us. Perhaps the most despicable element about Chandler’s book is its dogged portrayal of Michael Jackson’s sexuality. The loving uncle spends essentially the entire book trying to get readers to believe one thing: Michael Jackson is a closet homosexual. Chandler even tries to cite psychological studies to prove that Jackson is a gay pedophile. Consider this quote: “Whatever the nature of his son’s relationship with Michael, Evan believed the singer truly loved Jordie and would not put either of their lives in jeopardy just to conceal his homosexuality.”8 Chandler makes this comment after a discussion about Evan Chandler’s concerns that Jackson may have been exposed to the AIDS virus due to being treated by a dentist who was allegedly infected with the deadly virus. Chandler’s assumption that Jackson is gay is also supposed to be supported by a “love letter” Jackson allegedly wrote to Jordan: “[Boy’s name], you’re not only my cousin but also my best friend. I can’t stop loving your mother and sister. I have found true love in all of you. If more people were like us the world would change instantly. I have such golden dreams for you. I want you to be a giant in the industry. You are my new inspiration. I love you. Doo doo head. Applehead. Disneyland soon. Love, doo doo. Call soon, bye, doo doo head. Tell Mom I love her.”9 The substance of the letter is not convincing. In fact, one would be better served inferring Jackson’s fondness for Jordan’s mother June rather than for the boy. Anyone who can detect the slightest sexual tension or innuendo between Jackson and the boy needs as much counseling as Jackson critics claim he needs. If nothing else, the letter he leaked to prove Jackson’s proclivity for Jordan actually shows Jackson having a loving relationship with Jordie’s entire family, particularly Jordan’s mother June as well as his sister. It is not the least bit shocking that Chandler may have been a source for Victor Gutierrez’s horrific book Michael Jackson Was My Lover (more on that nonsense later). Shamefully, Ray Chandler’s book has garnered more attention than Ms. Hughes’ Redemption, a book whose documentation is far more reliable than the former. Even worse, NBC has placed a great deal of faith in Chandler’s lies, giving him a place on another Jackson-bashing Dateline exclusive in September 2004. But the media feeds on sensational lies and innuendos to grab big ratings and advertising dollars. There is, however, one silver lining in this dark cloud of a sham: Ray Chandler did get the attention of someone with his stories – Jackson’s defense attorneys, who promptly subpoenaed him as a “custodian of documents.” Now, the caring uncle will get to tell an eager audience of his “peers” whether or not the documents he has been shopping around to the media are actually authentic. In addition, he will have to explain how he, not even a part of this 1993 settlement, has possession of those records. Ray Chandler, you’re going to be a STAR! VICTOR GUTIERREZ: TABLOID FUGITIVE
Included in Gutierrez’s supposed expose are exclusive documents from the case, never before seen photographs of Jordan Chandler and excerpts from a “secret diary” that was allegedly kept by the boy. Because this information could have only been provided to Gutierrez by somebody close to the case, many began to speculate that the accuser’s father Evan Chandler might have assisted Gutierrez in writing the book. In addition, this sophomoric, pornographic, C-Level farce of a book claimed that Jackson had given the boy a venereal disease. One book reviewer described Michael Jackson was my Lover as a “pedophiliac opus” and recounted some of the salacious details contained in the book: “…the photo section alone includes sketches of the [Jackson’s] genitalia, photos of the ‘actual bathroom’ where alleged sexual transgression took place, as well as snapshots of one of the reputed victim’s ‘shit and urine stain[ed]’ underwear… results of [the boy’s] VD test, explicit transcripts detailing [Jackson’s] seduction techniques… [and] the identities of several other child stars who reportedly had sex with Jackson.”10 Needless to say, the book was banned from the United States due to its explicit content. Shortly after releasing Michael Jackson was my Lover, Gutierrez began making the TV rounds. During an appearance on the tabloid television show Hard Copy, Gutierrez told reporter Diane Dimond that he had seen a videotape of Michael Jackson molesting his nephew Jeremy. According to Gutierrez, the alleged tape had been captured by one of Jackson’s security cameras and given to the boy’s mother by an unknown source. Upon viewing the tape’s contents, Gutierrez says, the mother contacted the Los Angeles Police Department only to have her claims ignored by investigators. Unsure of what to do, she got in contact with Gutierrez, arranged a meeting with him in a hotel room and showed him the alleged tape. “And now she is scared,” Gutierrez told Dimond. “The District Attorney is trying to get these tapes and I guess through my sources, they already (sic) been in contact with the mother. So, it’s up to the mother now to make the final decision.”11 LEGAL FALLOUT In response to the allegations, Jackson filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Victor Gutierrez and Hard Copy. During the civil proceedings, the boy’s mother Margaret Maldonado testified that, contrary to what Gutierrez had reported, neither of her two sons had been molested by Jackson, she had not received any money from Jackson and she had never met Victor Gutierrez.12 Maldonado later discussed the case in her book Jackson Family Values:
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Epilogue
To say that all of Michael Jackson’s enemies have converged in Santa Barbara might be an understatement. Contrary to the flimsy observations of the likes of paperboy Dan Abrams of “The Dan Abrams Show” as well as those of media ho Diane Dimond, this is a setup, folks.Just take a look at our chart below. One would have to suffer from cataracts not to see the “pattern” of conspiracy perpetrated against Jackson, not by him.From the very beginning, the 2003 case against Michael Jackson looked like a bad rerun of 1993 with essentially the same cast of ridiculous characters:Click on the image to view how the following people are connected to one another. When persons involved with this project first resolved to do it, we took it on with the sole purpose of reporting what mainstreaming media appears to be afraid to report. For reasons still not clear (alright we think we know why), few if any news/media outlets have even touched on the subject of the suspicious involvement of virtually the same players from the 1993 allegations in the latest case against Mr. Jackson.It is our hope that persons reading this report will take the time to ponder what we have found, process the information, and decide for themselves. We are particularly hopeful that journalists interested in reporting the story as objectively as possible will consider this modest offering and perhaps decide to investigate bothsides of the case for themselves. All we can do is hope.The Veritas Project |
APPENDIX: FLOW CHART COMPANION
The Main Players in the Michael Jackson Case
| Sneddon and the Chandlers (1) District Attorney Tom Sneddon, who attempted to bring charges against Michael Jackson in 1993 and who is now prosecuting the current case against Jackson, is on the faculty at the Santa Barbara College of Law.Ray Chandler, (2-3) the uncle of the boy who accused Jackson of sexual abuse in 1993, studied law at the Santa Barbara College of Law and is currently a real estate lawyer.(4) Dave Schwartz, the stepfather of Jackson’s first accuser, is the founder of Rent-a-Wreck, a car rental agency that is represented by the public relations firm Tellem. After Jackson was arrested in 2003, Tellem offered Tom Sneddon their services – for free. The Chandlers’ Former Attorneys and their Ability to Find “Victims” (6) Feldman sent Jordan Chandler to see psychiatrist Stan Katz for an evaluation. (7) In 1993, Jackson’s former maid Blanca Francia was deposed by civil lawyer Larry Feldman for the Chandlers’ lawsuit. In the deposition, Francia claimed to have seen Jackson act inappropriately with other children, including her own son. She later recanted these statements but members of the District Attorney’s office often refer to Francia’s son as an alleged victim of Jackson’s. (8) After getting in contact with Larry Feldman, John Arvizo accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse; the boy was then sent to see Dr. Katz (9). Note that less than four months earlier John Arvizo and his family had vehemently defended Jackson on numerous occasions.Feldman is not the only former attorney for the Chandlers who can’t seem to stay away from the Jackson case. (10) The Chandlers’ first attorney Gloria Allred has also made it her life mission to seek out other accusers. We’re sure her efforts are solely motivated by justice and have nothing to do with the cut of the settlement that she would inevitably receive if one of her clients were to successfully sue Jackson. (11) In February 2003, after seeing a documentary that put a sinister spin on Jackson’s relationship with John Arvizo, Gloria Allred contacted Tom Sneddon and demanded that he investigate Jackson. At the same time, “media psychiatrist” Carole Lieberman also filed a complaint against Jackson. Sneddon responded to Allred and Lieberman’s complaints by stating that although he would take the matter seriously, he could not reopen the Jackson case without a cooperative victim.Months later, John Arvizo told Larry Feldman that Michael Jackson sexually abused him. Once again, Allred missed out on the opportunity to represent a Jackson accuser. As for Lieberman, she made sure to advertise on her website that she was the first psychiatrist to demand that Jackson be investigated. (12) Not to be one upped by Feldman and Katz, Allred and Lieberman teamed up on another collaboration – an accuser named Daniel Kapone. After being treated by Dr. Lieberman, Kapone suddenly remembered having been abused by Jackson when he was just three years old. Once Lieberman helped him recover his “repressed memories,” Allred signed on as his attorney. Unfortunately for Allred and Lieberman, it was later determined that Kapone had never even met Michael Jackson. 1993: The Media (13) During the 1993 case, many of Jackson’s former employees cashed in on the allegations by selling salacious stories to the media. The most visible opportunist from the 1993 case was the aforementioned Blanca Francia, Jackson’s former maid. She first sold her story to Diane Dimond during an interview on Hard Copy and later collaborated with Chilean journalist Victor Gutierrez on his book Michael Jackson was my Lover. (14) Aside from providing Blanca Francia with a platform for her sensational stories, Gutierrez and Dimond had something else in common; they were both were sued by Jackson for spreading a false story about him in the mid-90s. During an interview on Hard Copy, Gutierrez claimed to have seen a videotape of Jackson molesting one of his nephews; Dimond later repeated his story on a local radio station. It was eventually proven that no such tape existed and Jackson filed a lawsuit against Gutierrez and Dimond for defamation of character. 2003: The Media While the mainstream media has been collectively irresponsible in their coverage of the Jackson case, NBC seems particularly intent on ruining Jackson’s reputation by hiring several well-known Jackson detractors to cover the case. The following people either have an axe to grind with Jackson, have spread false rumours about him in the past or have connections to the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office. Take a look: (15) Despite the fact that Jackson sued her for spreading an irrefutably false story about him, NBC hired Diane Dimond to cover the Jackson case in 2003. (16) Dimond also admittedly receives information from the District Attorney’s office and there has been much speculation regarding the nature of her relationship with Tom Sneddon. (17) Tim Russert, the senior vice president of NBC News, is married to Maureen Orth, a journalist who has written three slanderous articles about Jackson for Vanity Fair magazine. Two of these articles were written about the case and were full of half-truths and rumours. (18) NBC hired Jim Thomas as a special analyst; Jim Thomas is admittedly good friends with Tom Sneddon. (19) NBC produced two salacious Dateline NBC specials about the Jackson case. The most recent one featured interviews with Jim Thomas and Ray Chandler and was heavily slanted in favour of the prosecution’s version of events. (20) The special was produced by none other than Victor Gutierrez, who was hired by NBC to cover the Jackson case even though he still owes Jackson $2.7 million dollars from a defamation of character lawsuit that Jackson filed and won against him. Conflict of interest anyone? Gutierrez and the Chandlers (21) Many have speculated that Victor Gutierrez collaborated with Evan Chandler, the father of Jackson’s first accuser, to write Michael Jackson was my Lover. The book contains personal photographs of Jordan Chandler and court documents that only somebody directly involved in the case could possibly have access to. (15) Victor Gutierrez and Ray Chandler recently worked together on the Dateline NBC special, which Gutierrez produced. Conclusion Is it merely a coincidence that all of the people who have accused Michael Jackson of acting inappropriately with a child are connected to one another? Every accuser, every professional who has worked with each accuser, every tabloid hack who has reported negative stories about Jackson – literally all of the players involved in both the 1993 case and the 2003 case are related to one another. Is it a conspiracy? Nah.
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Source: http://mjjr.net/content/mjcase/part1.htmlThe Veritas Project also has a second part called “The Michael Jackson case”.Let me repeat here its front page. Click on the articles to get to the respective site:
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Trackbacks
- Michael Jackson : DUCES TECUM, VERITAS et autres « "Mon reflet dans le miroir… c’est toi" – Blog des amis de MJ
- “Was Michael Jackson Framed?” Revisited | mjjjusticeproject
- Χάρη σ’εσένα, κανείς δε θα ξαναδεί τον Μάικλ Τζάκσον στη σκηνή, επειδή τον σκότωσες!!! | The truth about Michael Jackson
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Vindicating Michael 
WR had 2 mental brekdowns.His father was bipolar and committed suicide. What kind of mentalbreakdowns did WR have?Real ones which include psychosis if you want to be at least somewhat correct about the concept..And did he have delusions too?. Ofcourse the psychiatyrist cant tell anything ,but he hopes to be paid.at least.
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Helena,
The below story while not about Michael raises some interesting questions concerning the matter of justice and a system that is supposed to go after and convict the bad guy and identify the real victim. Or at least not make new ones.
The points of interest in this case are many. Some remind me of investigations and tactics done to Michael by the SB County Sheriff and DA’s office.
As far as the writing of this particular article I get the feeling either the author went easy on the former DA and his part in this.
But I liked many of the 6900 comments made. Who knows, if enough of these cases are brought to light, maybe there will be some criminal convictions for wrongful conviction and false imprisonment rather than the slap on the wrist or the State paying out due to civil suits.
http://news.yahoo.com/man-cleared-nyc-murder-25-years-prison-182841043.html
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“Though the Robson claim is connected to the trial somehow we should concentrate on the court proceedings. The testimonies of Alif Sankey and Karen Faye were so important , they confirmed a lot of what you wrote before. “ – Susanne
Susanne, I will try to do my best and collect everything that has been said for the past week. The problem is that I need to go way for a couple of days and will have no access to the Internet. But will still try to make a summary.
We do need to focus on the trial and not go in the directions AEG and this Robson keep sending us.
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I am not totally sure, that Robson made his claims because of money. There are lot of other ways how to buy peoples. With AEG in game… Are his family OK? Robson must have know, that he is ruining his career and that his claims sound absurd. And real chance to get money from estate is minimal.
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I’m glad you came to this conclusion, Helena. It’s the same I thought last night after thinking and studying and reading the whole day. Though the Robson claim is connected to the trial somehow we should concentrate on the court proceedings. The testimonies of Alif Sankey and Karen Faye were so important , they confirmed a lot of what you wrote before.
Like for example that Michael repeatedly said: “Why can’t I choose?” and the fact of the concert schedule being too narrow.
We cannot get distracted from that by this “creditor claim” of Robson, who with his “regressed memory” apparently still knows that Michael threatened him 7 long years and told him not to tell anybody because “their lives would be ruined”. It’s just too ridiculous. This man ruins his career and himself forever, he will never be able again to find the way back to what Michael opened for him. Whether AEG used him or not for their purpose – I’m almost sure this will not be successful.
So l try to stay calm, follow the trial first and listen what the witnesses have to say.
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AEG is living up to their word-it´s going to be dirty.This should be a great indication of how dirty they treated Michael. They are showing their true colours.
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This letter from Majestik may look like a contradiction to what I have just said but it isn’t.
We must indeed do everything for Michael and speak up at every venue, but the feeling inside should be that of peace and calm. The Almighty himself has sent us a reply, so discard all fear and do what ought to be done – unite as one against the dirt and evil:
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“Today is also Ascension Day.” – Sina
We live in different places and what is Easter in my place is Ascension day in your place. But it does not matter. It is still about one and the same thing.
I’ve read an article about today’s testimony at the AEG trial and it gave me a reply what to do with this Wade Robson story.
Just don’t pay too much attention.
Today’s testimony came from one of the producers of the show, and she said that Michael kept saying to Ortega that he could not understand why God was talking to him:
This immediately set my mind at peace. Who else but Him could arrange it in such a miraculous way that exactly at the time when so much dirt is flowing from every tabloid we would hear a testimony from a producer about Michael speaking to God and him being incredulous about it?
With so much craziness around Robson now it is like hearing a calm and peaceful voice which says to all of us – stay quiet. They are doing their best to distract attention from themselves. They want you to go there and get stuck in their dirt, while the real truth is here and will be neglected if you don’t pay attention.
They have thrown a huge stink bomb into the crowd and made us terribly busy with it for a time being. I myself spent almost two days on rereading all those testimonies and I am very sorry that I wasted so much time.
Okay, I’ll probably remind everyone of what Robson said at the trial but this will be it.
The AEG trial is going on and this is where the truth is. They simply don’t want anyone to hear it.
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Thank you for deleting the comment Helena.
Today is also Ascension Day .
I wish there would be one day when everything went quiet for Michael.
When every fansight, forum or blog would close down for 24 hours . That would be so powerful.
Since he passed away there was not one single second that he had his peace. I believe the soul needs a rest sometimes. That has been a wish of mine since I visited his resting place on a day and time when I was there alone and it was so quiet and peaceful there , almost surreal.
I wish the day of silence could be accomplished some time.
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“Do you know where I read the first time about this solar eclipse? Last week on Paris Jackson’s twitter – she asked if anybody knew when the solar eclipse will be.” Susanne
Michael’s children… What are these people doing to his children?! How will they survive it?
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Sina, qualifications of this psychiatrist do not matter. The first thing that matters is money, the second thing is BIG money and the third is VERY BIG money. And the fourth factor is Robson’s own messy mind. This is all that matters here.
Let me say that what the media, public and prosecution have been doing to all those Michael’s friends (or fake friends) is the worst abuse possible. When they interrogated them since age 12 up to age 22 and constantly crammed into their minds various ideas, and when every person in the crowd looked at them – “Hey, you are MJ’s “boy” – I wonder why they all of them simply did not go mad and stayed sane at least for some time.
If Robson is bankrupt now and is going through a divorce it could be exactly the moment when he could say to himself – “If it hadn’t been for Michael my life would have been normal. It is him who is to blame for all the mess and wreck it has turned into”.
In short he is probably in a state in which a proposal of really big money will look like a fairy-tale finally solving all his problems. Unfortunately very few people can resist it. This is the worst part of it.
P.S. Sina, I’ve deleted the comment as you requested.
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Yes, I agree. Let’s stay quiet and pray today.
Do you know where I read the first time about this solar eclipse? Last week on Paris Jackson’s twitter – she asked if anybody knew when the solar eclipse will be.
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Helena, Im just reading your plea to stay quiet and pray( or meditate)
I agree with you
Can you please delete my comment about Wade Robsons psych . I will keep on searching but for now its better to not get sucked into this negative energy.
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“Exactly, Sina, 1993, 2003, 2013. The next 10 years are over, and it seems time for the devil to play a new game.”
Susanne, I will still try to make a post today or tomorrow, but the best way to behave today is staying quiet and pray.
May 9-10th 2013 is the period of a solar eclipse which this year also coincides with the worst lunar day in a month (29th lunar day) which is associated with the darkest time on earth and the Beast.
No time or possibility to explain what it means, but the general idea is that even the universe is telling us who we are fighting. The darkest evil.
ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE THIS MAY 9 AND 10, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du7gkl9l1mw
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There’s people claiming he’s on the verge of bankruptcy and going through a messy divorce, which is true.
So I think we know why the claim has gone in.
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Where are the receipts Wade paid whatever psychologist to uncover these 20 year ago suppressed memories. Or did they pop up spontaneusly. A lttle note from AEG maybe.
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“And I would recommend people look into his taxes. Probably has issues with the IRS for all we know.”– newrodrigo
Is it possible for anyone to check it up?
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“AEG promised that it will be dirty and they kept their word. But they are so transparent it would be comedy if it wasnt that serious.” – Sina
I have been thinking how to differentiate between Wade Robson extorting the Estate for money and Wade Robson being paid for what he is doing.
If he wanted to simply extort he would have done it quietly. And not at the beginning of the AEG trial. He would have waited for Katherine to get the money and then would have approached her on a one-to-one basis. Something like “Could you help me out with a couple of millions? I am suffering so terribly because my memory is suddently beginning to return to me and I need all this money for the recovery process”.
But instead he is going for a big scandal. And since 20 years of amnesia are complete BS, which no normal psychologist will ever go for, it can mean only one thing – ROBSON IS BEING PAID FOR WHAT HE IS DOING NOW.
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Repressed memory???
This is complete BS!
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“I just read about Wade Robsons claim. I am shocked one way but somehow expected it.” – Sina
The shock is terrible, and the timing is tale-telling. I’ve read Robson’s and Blanca Francia’s testimonines once again and though have very little time hope to write a post about it. For some reason I never liked the expression of Robson’s face. He was probably using Michael from the very start of it.
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I’m not sure.
But I imagine now that this has happened, more bloodsuckers will appear now that the ball has started rolling again.
And Wade has zero credibility. The repressed memory is his way of avoiding perjury.
He needs AEG because he works at their stadiums etc.
He’s no Saint. Wasn’t he done for some kind of sexual assault before?
And I would recommend people look into his taxes. Probably has issues with the IRS for all we know.
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Do you think there will be more coincidences?This is indeed a good time for them to occur as you will be assured of support from the press and the mighty AEG.
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Terrible business about Wade. It’s all we need.
But it’s not as surprising as I would’ve thought.
This is AEG’s doing. No doubt about it.
Repressed memory? Seriously? Nice try guys…but if anybody is mental enough to believe that tripe, then God help them lol
My cousin who was dating the footballer was offered money and business deals to say all kind of sleazy things after they broke up, as I mentioned before.
None of this fazes me. I know how and why these things happen.
But it’s a blow to Michael still which is obviously the worst part.
Now we have to clean up this evil lie.
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Exactly, Sina, 1993, 2003, 2013. The next 10 years are over, and it seems time for the devil to play a new game.
Robson proves that Michael never could trust anybody in his life, not even “good friends”, hence his fears and paranoia were always for a reason. There was always the big money between them.
It proves also that any time someone tries to seek justice for Michael, other allegations emerge. We can see the system working again. But the more it happens, the easier it is to recognize.
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I just read about Wade Robsons claim. I am shocked one way but somehow expected it .
AEG promised that it will be dirty and they kept their word.
But they are so transparent it would be comedy if it wasnt that serious.
They are amateurs at everything they do even fraud.
I am most curious who this genius psych is who helped Wade recover his memory exactly at the time AEG s criminality is exposed..
Anyone who says conspiracy does not exist, think again. This is a text book example of how it works and what they did to Michael in 1993 and in 2003. Thank God most people now see through the bs.
I hope Wade will be charged with purgery. There should be no mercy on criminals. An example needs to be set that noone gets away with crime. Not the big fish like AEG and not the small ones like Wade Robson.
I hope there is an investigative journalist who delves into the connection between AEG and Robson and others they bribed, maybe even ‘fans’.
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“Should the judge not set a limit? What does these old matters already dealt with have to do with Murray´s hiring?”
Kaarin, you didn’t understand. It is just a coincidence that Wade Robson filed his suit right at the beginning of the AEG trial. Just a coincidence, you see?
All these 20 years the poor boy was suffering from repressed memory:
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AEG throwing their net far and wide,looking for any speck of possible dirt(as they hope to find!).
It would be appropriate here to re-publish the article by Chilean journalist, Navarro Morales(?) who wrote of the shame esp. as it related to Victor Gutirrez.I don´t remember his name. just my best guess. They must have gone with a fine comb over all things Michael .Should the judge not set a limit?What does these old matters already dealt with have to do with Murray´s hiring?
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“I think the Wade Robson thing is related to the AEG trial. Why does this happen NOW?” – Susanne
Because God wants the whole innocent truth to be told at last.
P.S. Oh, I see the news now. So once there is a smell of money in the air Wade Robson is going after it too. Nothing is new under the sun. They could have simply bribed him with a billion or two.
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Helena, I think the Wade Robson thing is related to the AEG trial. Why does this happen NOW?
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Very Nice get. Thank you for this ad.
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“I believe there will be a need for a new larger matrix. There may be a need to include new names to one which has one name too many already.” – Dial
Yes, we need to make a new one, but again the AEG trial is now a priority. By the way in the course of the trial some things may become clearer too. There are a lot of people to be added to the matrix, but what are we to do with all the media and the public who played a perfect background for all these games? No matrix can hold so many people!
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Helena,
I believe there will be a need for a new larger matrix. There may be a need to include new names to one which has one name too many already. I imagine by tomorrow other way or another there will be a new story to deal with. Whether true or not, accused or not the timing I find to be absolutely perfect.
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“Highly descriptive post, I enjoyed that a lot. Will there be a part 2?” – Rhea
Veritas project is a great project done by a team of selfless volunteers on the eve of the 2005 trial. There was no continuation to it.
However you can regard the work done in this blog as parts 2, 3, etc. of the same project. We are also volunteers and are also doing research – of the Chandler case, the Arvizo case, Murray’s case, AEG’s case and what not. All in all there are 339 posts each of which is bringing us closer to the truth.
When (if) this online investigation ever finishes we will probably write the true history of Michael Jackson.
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Highly descriptive post, I enjoyed that a lot. Will there
be a part 2?
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“As much as I deplore doing so, I am recording from News outlets, particularly CNN as DD has reared her head. I will be sending you clips of her commentaries and reports if she is an in court reporter.” – Dialdancer
Dial, thank you for your offer of Diane Dimond’s commentaries, but as you understand they will be good only for satire. There is a silver lining even to her horrendous reporting at the 2005 trial, because now we know her true worth and there is no power on this planet to make me believe her single word. Even the best of her intentions will sound as hypocrisy now and this is the price every liar is paying for the lies told.
With similar kind of journalists in my country I employ the method of believing the opposite of what they say, and it has never let me down – if they say that it is black I know it is white, and vice versa. As simple as that and it works with an almost 100% guarantee.
Of course if some readers are willing to hear lies they are welcome to go and listen to Dimond’s stories. As to me – no, thank you.
However for the purposes of media analysis and the way they distort the truth it would be very helpful to have a file on Dimond, so if you intend to do it please do. By the way if Diane Dimond knows that Michael’s fans are collecting a new portfolio of her stunts she will probably check herself a little.
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Helena,
It should be incredible Michael will once again be on trial not only for his own death, but be retried for molestation allegations for which he has been found innocent. It should be, but it is not. As much as I deplore doing so, I am recording from News outlets, particularly CNN as DD has reared her head. I will be sending you clips of her commentaries and reports if she is an in court reporter. I thought to post them on FB, but there seems the non-advocates are having a difficult time with it. This way either you or your admins can use or them if you decide to do so.
I know it is not Christian, but I hope Paris, Prince & T. Mez rips AEG, Randy Phillips and all those who are supporting this retry Michael tactic a new Butt.
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“I always enjoyed Herodotus’ account of the phoenix”.
Oh Dial, I’ve read it too and find it hilarious. But the idea is encouraging, my dear friend.
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I always enjoyed Herodotus’ account of the phoenix.
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June 14, 2012
The blog has been shut down. Many people are sending me messages and wondering why. Earlier one of my former colleagues shared her reflections on the problem on my Facebook page. She sounded a little surprised: “We may have really offended her in some way that we aren’t even aware of”.
If this colleague of mine and other people still do not understand “what offended me” and why all this happened, here is just one quote from the earlier public discussion made by the same colleague on the same Facebook page. There were many similar ones – said directly or implied – during the several months of non-stop correspondence forced on me instead of giving me a chance to do quiet research, but out of many I selected just one. It will explain to you how I feel and why:
(my former colleagues think that the context may change the meaning of the above so here is the link they suggest https://www.facebook.com/#!/helena1247a)
Of course it is only a figure of speech. But the idea is still there. They want to bury me. Or they want to bury my posts as they actually meant them as this same colleague later explained. But this does not make any difference to me. The only difference it makes is to Michael because if my posts are buried a lot of truth will be buried with them too.
It is a shock and disappointment for me to learn that these people are thinking in terms of burying anything or anyone at all. And they are not even “aware” of the fact that the above is offensive. And they believe that this is in line with how Michael would deal with people…
Well, they were asked to leave the blog. They did not agree. Then the blog had to be closed not to leave it in the hands of those who want to bury me and my work on vindicating Michael Jackson. This is not the best way out, but the only one in the circumstances.
All I can say on the above is repeat the words I started the blog with almost three years ago. This bitter prayer seems to be valid for all times:
“Father, Forgive Them; They Don’t Know What They Are Doing…”
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To the creators of the “MJ Case & VERITAS PROJECT” and to Helena the creator of Vindicating Michael, and guardian of them all. Thank you for the education and a place to receive it.
I believe like the VERITAS PROJECT, the Vindicating Michael site will continue to receive the respect and recognition it so rightfully deserves. I hope it continues to be a major go to reference site for MJ Fans, Advocates, writers and everyday people searching for documented information.
Although, there can be only one, many excellent sites can be built from the knowledge .
here within.
My best to you in your future endeavors,
Dial
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Helena,
I have an idea concerning updating some of the broken links on this page I’d like to run by you. Please check email for example.
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Lynette,
Happy Holidays and thank you. Now a slap for me on the forehead, I omitted posting the links not accessed.
It may be the below listed “Protective Orders” were left under seal and may not be critically important now you never can tell what you will find. I understand what you mean by not finding a specific document sometimes. I downloaded all under their proper name and duplicated some which seemed imported using common recognizable terminology. Even before I began studying the documents from the Access Proponents I observed which major News & Magazine Publishing Agency was using the NBC hired law firm for first dibs access. These people did not care about the Defendant’s nor alleged Victim’s right or welfare. They just wanted all, fast and first. They employ the 1st Amendment like a tank built just for their use to plow down every other Amendment and right. (looking for the doc you said you misplaced)
———————————————————————————————————-
Links not able to access yet:
02/06/2004
Released
02/10/2004 Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s Memorandum Regarding Defendant’s Claim of Attorney-Client & Attorney Work-Product Privileges – REDACTED
Click to access 020604responsememo.pdf
HAVE UNREDACTED COPY – STILL WANT REDACTED IF AVAILABLE
Click to access 020604dftresponse-unred.pdf
05/25/2004 Addendum to Decorum Order Regarding Departments 8 & 9, Dated April 1, 2004
Click to access 052504decorumaddendum.pdf
LINK NOT BROKEN IT WON’T ACCESS DOCUMENT
08/27/2004
Released:
09/08/2004 Plaintiff’s Ex Parte Request for Order Facilitating Inspection of Certain Photographs in the Custody of the Los Angeles Police Department
Click to access 082704exparteinspect.pdf
08/27/2004
Released:
09/02/2004 Plaintiff’s Notice of Motion and Motion for Order Sealing Plaintiff’s Ex Parte Request for Order Facilitating Inspection of Certain Photographs, Etc. Until Further Order of Court
Click to access 082704pltnotice.pdf
08/31/2004
Released:
09/01/2004 Order Denying Bail Reduction
Click to access 083104orderbailred.pdf
09/01/2004
Released:
09/02/2004 Protective Order
Click to access 090104protectorder.pdf
09/03/2004
Released:
09/08/2004 Order to File Sealing Motion – Reply to Motion to Quash Certain Subpoenas
Click to access 090304orderseal.pdf
09/16/2004
Released:
09/17/2004 Plaintiff’s Ex Parte Request for Order Directing the California Department of Justice Produce Certain Documents and Evidence to the District Attorney Concerning the Arrest and Booking of Defendant
Click to access 091604expartecadoj.pdf
10/19/2004
Released:
10/20/2004 Findings and Order Re Sealing Plaintiff’s Memo Re: An Appropriate Limit to Cross-Examination of Witness Called by Defense on a Limited Issue etc.
Click to access 101904ordersealexam.pdf
10/20/2004
Released:
10/21/2004 Order Directing that Stipulation Re: Certain Items of Evidence be Maintained Under Conditional Seal Pending Further Order of Court
Click to access 102004orderrevidseal.pdf
11/02/2004 Order That Reply to the District Attorney’s Opposition to Motion for Recusal of Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office Pursuant to Penal Code § 1424 be Filed Under Seal
Click to access 110204orderreplyseal.pdf
11/09/2004
Released:
11/10/2004 Ex Parte Application to File Privilege Log for Computer Records Under Seal, to not Serve the Prosecution (Request for In Camera); Proposed Order
Click to access 110904exparteprivlog.pdf
11/09/2004
Released:
11/10/2004 Protective Order
Click to access 110904protectiveorder.pdf
ALL PROTECTIVE ORDERS SEEM TO BE MISSING
THESE TWO LOOK LIKE THEYHAVE THE SAME LINK ADDRESS BUT DIFFERENT
11/09/2004
Released:
11/10/2004 Protective Order Re: Privilege Log for Computer Records
Click to access 110904protectorder.pdf
11/09/2004
Released:
11/10/2004 Order Directing that Plaintiff’s Summary of Certain Items Seized Pursuant to SW-5135 Remain Under Conditional Seal Pending Further Order of Court
Click to access 110904orderpltsumm.pdf
11/09/2004
Released:
11/10/2004 Order for Release of Documents [Inventory Returns]
Click to access 110904orderrelinventory.pdf
01/24/2005
Released:
10/04/2006 Plaintiff?s Response to Defendant?s in Limine Motion for an Order Excluding Reference to His Collection of Sexually Explicit Materials [Unsealed pursuant to 6/16/05 court order]
There are 2. May be the same. Ending spelt different (one has an “e”, one doesn’t)
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/012405pltrspdlmoercsem.pdf (won’t collect)
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/012405pltrspdlmoercsm.pdf (This collected)
02/25/2005
Released:
03/18/2005 Plaintiff’s Notice of Motion and Motion for Court’s Review of Plaintiff’s In Limine Motion to Forbid Disparagement of Opposing Counsel Re: Supposed Motive, to Determine Whether Sealing is Appropriate
Click to access 022505pltmotdisparag.pdf
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@ Dial I have the documents that those link to. I will say that I found out early on that anything with Access Proponents was the press wanting to see everything. Second anything that say Filed Under Seal is just a short document asking for every pleading any side entered had to add to the filing. So there is one for every single thing that was filed.
The one that is interesting is the one where the prosecution is asking for an order to show cause for contempt. It was against Brian Oxman and it was Auchincloss for an article that he was quoted in a quote he never made. I have the links to that and the defense reply. There is one document that has the longer version of the timeline. It includes 2 follow up interviews that the SBSD investigators had with the Arvizo’s after the search and arrest. I found it sometime last Christmas and I haven’t been able to find it on my computer again. I don’t remember what the title was. Here are the links to those two documents.
Click to access 121304pltreqosc.pdf
Click to access 121504apprecallosc06.pdf
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Last year while downloading the “sbscpublicaccess.org” documents I notice and recorded 31 files I could not access.. I kept getting “the page cannot be found”. this morning I was trying again when I noticed the date on the doc link had seven numbers, an extra zero rather than six. I removed the zero the the file appeared.
So far I have retrieved 12. If anyone else has seen this and was able to obtain any of these docs please post about it here. For best and safest results correct from your address bar from within the official http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org site.
12/22/2003 Order and Notice of All Purpose Assignment
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/122303ordernotice.pdf (Should be 22 not 23)
06/04/2004
Released:
06/10/2004 Receipt for Release of Exhibits
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/060804receipt.pdf (should be 04 not 08)
08/06/2004 Findings and Order Re Sealing Motion for Release of Certain Evidence in Possession of Court
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/0806004sealmotionrel.pdf (Extra zero)
10/29/2004
Released:
11/02/2004 Ex Parte Application to File Under Seal Status Report Re Discovery
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/1029 expartesealstatusrpt.pdf (Missing yr 04)
11/02/2004
Released:
11/03/2004 Request for Leave to File Mr. Jackson’s Reply to the District Attorney’s Opposition to Motion for Recusal as the Reply to the Attorney General’s Opposition [DENIED]
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/110204req( )vfile.pdf (Missing “L” btw “q” & “v”)
11/19/2004
Released:
11/22/2004 Ex Parte Application that Motion to Release Transcripts of the Grand Jury Selection Process be Filed Under Seal
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/110904expartereltxscptgjseal.pdf ( 19 not 09)
11/24/2004 Order that Notice of Hearing Be Filed Under Seal
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/112404ordntohrg.pdf (“n” & “o” reversed)
12/13/2004
Released:
12/14/2004 Plaintiff’s Request for Order to Show Cause Re: Contempt of Court’s Protective Order by a Person Subject to that Order [redacted]
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/121304reqshowcuase.pdf (cUAse instead of cAUse)
01/10/2005
Released:
01/11/2005 Plaintiff’s Notice of Request for Order Directing that Plaintiff’s Reply to Opposition to Motion for Admission of Evidence of Defendant’s Prior Sexual Offenses, etc. be Maintained Under Conditional Seal
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/011105pltreqrepoppseal.pdf (10 not 11)
01/21/2005
Released:
01/24/2005 Access Proponents’ Opposition to Motions and Request to File Documents Under Seal that Have Been Filed Since The Last Opposition to the Parties’ Motions to File Under Seal
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/012104mediaoppseal.pdf (year 05 not 04)
01/25/2005
Released:
01/26/2005 Order that Ex Parte Application for an Order that Mr. Jackson be Allowed to Make a Public Statement Regarding Information Leaked to the Media be Filed Under Seal
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/012505orderrepmjstmtseal.pdf (Double “r”)
01/26/2005 Order that Ex Parte Application for an Order that the Defense Response to the District Attorney’s Motion in Limine for Admission of Expert Testimony on Defendant’s Finances, Dated 1/21/05, be Withdrawn be Filed Under Seal [redacted]
http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/012605orderrepliminewdrwseal.pdf (Double “r”)
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I believe I posted the first video as a response to one of the 2010 topics, but I want both to be a place marker for future reference:
Who owns CNN, ABC, MSNBC?
The site referenced is out of date, not had new info since the mid 2000’s
Who owns CNN, ABC, MSNBC?
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@ Teva,
I am praying the Forum returns, it is true it is not nearly as populated as once was, but it is rich in information too much to attempt to download. The Bullets are still there and that is a blessing. I had hoped Whisper was well and would return. Twitter has moved many away from the Forums & Blogs, but it cannot replace what is there in 140 characters, it will not allow you to read the entire article or transcript only provide a link to site which is dying due to inactivity. I was hoping MJEOL and others like it would one day become part of a historic archive available to anyone who wished to study the different aspects of Michael’s life.
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@Dialdancer,
I don’t know if it will return, the last time this happened it went offline for 2 weeks. It is really too bad because it was such a great site, but it needs regular admin maintenance. MJEOL was all over the 2005 trial with articles and updates, but in the past year it has not really added anything new.
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I think MJEOL is just dead both the site and the forum.
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Anyone know what has happened to the MJEOL Forum?
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Lynette,
Thank you. Maybe that explains Randy T. omitting that from the 96 and later books. I would very much like a copy of that CNN Transcript and the LA Times links. Send when convenient for you.
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I can answer that. The DCFS report was faxed to every media outlet there was at the time. I have the original article which is a transcription of DD and others on CNN discussing how this was so and in the book Tabloid Baby Burt Kearns confirms that it was just faxed to the producer and he gave it to Diane and let her take credit for it. It sounded at the time identical to the Declaration that was attached to the Palintiffs Motion for Michaels fianacial records that Feldman filed on 1/3/1994. The actual report is just Jordan . Before the DCFS could interview Evan, Nathalie and their kids a police officer came in and told them to leave that the police were taking over. The Police Officers name was Thomas Felix. There are a bunch of good articles on line in the LA times that cover all of that information.I can give you the articles to read or give you a link tomorrow if that is alright.
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Helena,
As I’ve said several times before, Roger may be an ass as a music critic, but he plays it straight when reporting on criminal cases.
Speaking of Spanish Forums I recently joined one. I have no Spanish only my online or the site’s translator to go by. I hate mangling such a beautiful language. I am, however an equal opportunity language mangler, my Hungarian makes me cringe, so different than German. Knowing Roger’s articles made it into the Spanish speaking countries makes me feel so much better and will help when I go looking for my own information.
Here is a question for anyone who may know. In 93 Dimond released a document(s) which was reported as the DCFS report on Jordan’s interview. Randy T. also called it such in one of his books accounting Dimond had it and gave it to another. I’ve never seen a copy of this “report” nor is it found in the documents made available by R.C. and V.G.
What was actually given to the Media, a copy of a DCFS interview, Feldman civil suit complaint or Jordan’s statement which has all the earmarks of having been written with the help of an adult with legal training? Is it possible Jordan’s statement found on Smoking Gun is supposedly the DCFS report leaked to the Media? Did DCFS interview Jordan?
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To go back in time a bit;”If the glove doesn´t fit you have to aquit”.
If I left one of my leather gloves out on the balcony for X amount of time exposed to rain ,weather and what not. Then let it dry. And then tried to put it on on top of a surgical glove=it would not fit.
Rhyming sounds nice and snappy.
The present trial against Murray is going south.Murray being granted delays into eternity for silly reasons.He is like someone banging his head against the wall hoping reality and truth will disappear.Why does the judge allow this?
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“Meanwhile, last week, Larry Feldman, the Los Angeles attorney who secured a $20 million settlement against Jackson for a 13-year-old boy in 1993, filed a promise to sue Los Angeles County for his latest clients, the family of the 14-year-old boy who is the plaintiff in the only other Jackson case in a decade. Strangely enough, it’s always the same professionals from previous Jackson scandals who discover the new ones. They must have a sixth sense for sniffing out Michael Jackson mishegos. No other lawyers or psychiatrists seem to have the same abilities.” – Roger Friedman
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121364,00.html
Dial, Roger Friedman is a marvel. All this time I’ve been studying Spanish posts and found in the process that Roger Friedman’s articles were always the best (even in back translation from Spanish). It is a shame that in 2009 he was fired by Fox news.
Guys, I am sorry I’ve been away for so long, but the Spanish forum is very big and I’ve read only half of their 9000 entries. As you understand I am looking for information about Victor Gutierrez, but found some other bits and pieces which might be interesting too.
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To me the most important part of this article is:
“Strangely enough, it’s always the same professionals from previous Jackson scandals who discover the new ones. They must have a sixth sense for sniffing out Michael Jackson mishegos. No other lawyers or psychiatrists seem to have the same abilities.”
Yeah, same professionals.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121364,00.html
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I’d like to know more about Judge Thomas R. Adams. Why was it he who signed those final search warrants in Dec 04 instead of Judge Melville?
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Helena should you see this please check your email. Important
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Ok has everyone seen this nonsense today? Brian Oxman just keeps hitting that head of his. I really don’t understand his malfunction. Why is this man (who never met a camera he doesn’t like) taking pictures with Gloria Allerd? Oxman is very low and I don’t trust him at all. smh…sigh
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Does anyone know who Officer/Sheriff or Detective Jack Green is. Does anyone remember seeing his name in the court documents?
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“Johnnie Cochran was a great lawyer, one of the best, but so is Larry Feldman. Feldman successfully getting a settlement for his client does not make Cochran inept, or the defense weak the settlement was reached because the defense couldn’t postpone the civil trial until after the criminal. That was the undoing of Michael Jackson. This was scene 2, act 1 in the beginning of the end.”
Teva, I agree that Johnnie Cochran found himself in an impossible situation when the civil case was placed first and that the battle had been lost before he joined the team. But what I don’t like about him is that he never explained the case properly though he could have. I remember his conversation with Larry King and the answers he gave about Michael made my hair almost stand on end – he never said a word about Michael being not guilty. I hope I find the link later but I can assure you – Thomas Mesereau would never have allowed himself to talk like that!
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@VindicateMJ
“That is why as long as we praise Jonnie Cochran as a “great lawyer” we will be actually doing Michael a disservice.”
Johnnie Cochran was a great lawyer, one of the best, but so is Larry Feldman. Feldman successfully getting a settlement for his client does not make Cochran inept, or the defense weak the settlement was reached because the defense couldn’t postpone the civil trial until after the criminal. That was the undoing of Michael Jackson. This was scene 2, act 1 in the beginning of the end.
@Teli
With OJ Cochran successfully argued, if the glove doesn’t fit then you must acquit. It didn’t fit and the jury said not guilty. Of course they were other circumstances, like a bumbling prosecution, but as David pointed out that was not the case in the 2005 Jackson trial. The prosecution was ready, they were ready for 10 years, all they need was a victim. Unfortunately Gavin Arvizo was painfully less than truthful and the jury didn’t buy what the prosecution was selling.
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“The only people who try to compare OJ Simpson to Michael Jackson are haters who are TOO LAZY to do any research!”
David, hello – glad to see you after the holiday. Yes, the people who compare Simpson and Michael Jackson ARE haters and they are doing it on purpose. But the most dangerous of them are those who place Simpson and MJ together as if by chance – for example, on the basis of the fact that both were defended by Johnnie Cochran (Larry Feldman likes mentioning both because of Johnnie). As long as Johnnie Cochran is the common component to both cases I’m afraid the stable association link between the two will continue.
It seems we need to do all in our power to draw a line between these two cases and show that what Johnnie Cochran didn’t do for innocent Michael Jackon he did for Simpson, who was probably guilty from what I hear of the case. This makes me angry with Jonnie Cochran whatever great lawyer he was.
However I may be wrong about Simpson as all I know about him comes from Wikipedia only which may have been written by somewhat biased. I would very much like to hear your opinion of that case.
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“Why do everybody compare the OJ Simpson trial to that of Michael Jackson? I hear people constantly saying that the fact that Michael Jackson was found not guilty doesn’t mean anything because OJ Simpson was also found not guitly but Simpson was guilty. Is here any post that compare the two trials so i can have a picture of what are those people talking about?”
Teli, your question is exceptionally interesting. You ask why they always compare them? Because the acquittal of OJ Simpson (though he was probably guilty) does cast a shadow of doubt on MJ’s acquittal in 2005 and is a wonderful pretext for Michael’s haters to say they don’t believe in non-guilty verdicts. Thus a mistake made in Simpson’s case can fully devalue the justice served in Michael’s case.
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that both Simpson and MJ had the same lawyer – Johnnie Cochran who successfully defended OJ but practically lost Michael to Larry Feldman. Reaching a settlement for MJ in 1993 can, technically speaking, send a message to some people that MJ was so guilty in the Chandlers’ case that “even the great Johnnie Cochran who successfully defended Simpson” couldn’t do anything for MJ in 1993. It is totally wrong but I cannot deny there is some logic in this statement.
In short, if we assume that in both cases Jonnie Cochran put the equal amount of effort in OJ and MJ’s cases the acquittal of Simpson and only a settlement for Michael puts Michael at a decided disadvantage.
But the problem is that Jonnie Cochran did NOT put equal amount of effort in these two cases – he didn’t fight for Michael AT ALL but surrendered him with his both hands to Larry Feldman in 1993 while in OJ’s case he was really doing the defense.
That is why as long as we praise Jonnie Cochran as a “great lawyer” we will be actually doing Michael a disservice. He may have shown himself a great lawyer in Simpson’s case but definitely not in Michael’s as he acted there like a coward to say the very least.
As regards Simpson’s case I hear that the acquittal there was purely technical, based on the mistakes made in the lab of the blood samples which made it impossible to determine the truth – so the jury just gave the defendant the benefit of the doubt. Which he didn’t live up to as later he committed some other crime (as I hear) and is now serving a sentence in prison and which proves that justice is always served – if not through people’s but through God’s will.
In MJ’s case the situation was different – ALL possible and impossible evidence was scrutinized and all possible and impossible witnesses were listened to (even from the earlier 1993 case), but there was simply NOTHING serious to look into as the jury later confirmed in their statements.
In short in Simpson’s case the evidence was there but was mishandled by lab assistants but in MJ’s there was NO evidence – only a large amount of gossip, freely told to the press but nothing to look into by the jury. The key earlier accusers refused to go to court (Jordan and Ray Chandler) and the Arvizos’ story was crazy and absurd from beginning to end – just look at Gavin saying that the molestation began exactly when the media frenzy started and you will see what I mean.
However your suggestion is right – we need to make a thorough comparison of the two trials in order to find all the difference there is between them.
P.S. On how Michael was really defended by Bert Fields in the 1993 but was betrayed by Jonnie Cochran and Carl Douglas you can see David’s transcripts from the Frozen in time seminar here: https://vindicatemj.wordpress.com/frozen-in-time-seminar-2/
and my posts about the lawyers in the 1993 case here: https://vindicatemj.wordpress.com/real-story-of-the-1993-and-2003-cases-untold-by-larry-feldman/
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@ Teli
The only people who try to compare OJ Simpson to Michael Jackson are haters who are TOO LAZY to do any research! The only thing they have in common are the fact that they were high profile trials that were exploited by the media for ratings! OJ Simpson was guilty but got off on a technicality, but Michael Jackson was 100% innocent! He didn’t “pay off” the jury, the prosecution didn’t bungle the case (if anything they threw everything but the kitchen sink at him!), the jury wasn’t star struck, and Mesereau didn’t say “hocus pocus” and cast a magic spell on the judge or jury! Michael was innocent, plain and simple!
Here is an article written in May 2005 called “Michael Jackson May Be Paying for OJ’s Acuittal” that says that the media has taken a pro-prosecution slant in order to make MJ look guilty, which would lead to higher ratings. It also says, quite frankly, there are certain demographics within the population who want to see a rich and famous black man go to jail in order to “make up” for OJ Simpson!
This is an excellent article that EVERYONE should read, if you haven’t already
http://floacist.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/michael-jackson-may-be-paying-for-ojs-acquittal/
Here is a post that has a very brief overview of the accusations: https://vindicatemj.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/accusations-against-michael-jackson-overview/
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Hello,
i am new to this blog so can i have this question. Why do everybody compare the OJ Simpson trial to that of Michael Jackson? I hear people constantly saying that the fact that Michael Jackson was found not guilty doesn’t mean anything because OJ Simpson was also found not guitly but Simpson was guilty. Is here any post that compare the two trials so i can have a picture of what are those people talking about?
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@ Dialdancer
Just to piggyback off of what you wrote about prosecutorial misconduct putting innocent people behind bars, here’s an article about bad prosecutors who help the guilty go free! No wonder our justice system is so messed up!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2010-12-28-1Aprosecutorpunish28_CV_N.htm
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This may help understand why Sneddon got away with murdering an innocent Man’s character. It may also hold the answer to his vendetta. Sneddon would have been politically in the right place for judgeship in the 90’s.
Why are bad prosecutors so rarely punished?
http://reason.com/archives/2009/10/26/no-accountability
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Good news for those who do not own or have not read Aphrodite Jones’ book, Michael Jackson Conspiracy. It has been re-released at retail price on Amazon, Books A Million and Powell Books, but not Border Books.
This is a must reference for the 2005 trial. It is necessary we support those who support us to Vindicate Michael. It took a lot of effort to get this book once again carried by the major online book stores to make it easily available at a reasonable cost. (verus $150.00 from resell merchants) (Although Diane Dimond’s rag is not selling it continues to be made available for retail purchase)
For those who are new to Vindication I cannot stress how important this and Ms. Geraldine Huges’ book is. These are the books you will go back to as you begin understanding the hows and whys in both allegations, investigations and the trial. These are not a one time read. They require you to re-read them months later and then return to them again and again as a factual reference source.
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@Lynette although it’s the unreliable Sun talking that wouldn’t surprise me at all. Sneddon creating a Hollywood story out of nothing is very usual. He did that for “molestation”, “conspiracy”, “alcohol” so why not creating another fairytale as well? And all that from finding a vial. Wow. But again, he knew he didn’t have a case and he was desperate.
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I also read something similar about attempting to charge Michael with drug trafficking. Sneddon would not have authority or jurisdiction in other countries, but he could have tried it here in the States, once again using the FBI as his personal tool of vengeance. I think even the FBI was sick of this man and was tired of him using them. I find this very convenient finding of drugs in ridiculously obvious places suspect. Hash in a the Main Kitchen Utensil Drawer???????????? Demerol in the Video Arcade of the library two places with heavy traffic and subject to be found at any time? Not drugs but boys undies in Paris’ laundry hamper. I guess his next theroy would have been that Michael was so broke his was supplementing his income by trafficking drugs. I don’t think even the Media would have bought that one.
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questa ricostruzione fedele e correlata di collegamenti, è una dura e cruda realtà! ..ma è la verità !!..che ci sia una vera giustizia per Michael Jackson ! che arrivi, come è arrivata la verità !!! lo sostengo vivamente !!!
This faithful reproduction and related links, is a harsh and stark reality! .. But it’s true! .. There is true justice for Michael Jackson! it comes, as it came the truth! I support very much!
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I found something else out a week or so ago. I know the source was a British Tabloid The Sun so I don’t know how truthful it could be but it says that after finding an unlabled vial of Demerol in a bag in a closet in the video arcade area of the library Sneddon was calling for an investigation of Michael for trafficking drugs into Bahrain. Of course when he was contacted about it Sneddon made no comment. He did have a vendetta if he really did this his whole thing was to put Micahel Jackson behind bars no matter where he was in the world.
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From time to time I see the same question I asked over a year ago. “Why can’t Sneddon be charged with Prosecutorial Misconduct or Malicious Prosecution.
Michael was the only one who could have filed charges. In California there is only a 2 year statue of limitation to file suit. It took Michael almost a year to get back some of the items seized from his places of residence and businesses. He did not get back all. Some seemed to have been deliberately damaged as was parts of his home during the many raids.
Michael had more than just this period to deal with and fiance.
http://thedreammichaeljackson.forumcommunity.net/?t=2021413
It takes time to collect and prepare evidence for what would have been an even bigger case Media spectacle than his own. I do not think his soul could stand anymore of Sneddon and a vicious and tainted Media……do you? I can see Sneddon using this suit to try and re-try the 93 and 05 allegations. Also he threatened Michael that if he tried to bring suit he would once again bring up charges and start this ALL OVER AGAIN.
Whether it would have gotten pass another Grand Jury or Judge is debatable, but legally as the DA he was within his rights to do so.
There was Allred screaming to anyone who would stand still long enough to remove his children and place them in foster care. There were the impending suits for breach of contract due to concert cancellations and certain financial business contracts that Sneddon allowed the Media to see which were confidential.
And due to Sneddon’s tactics Michael had not been able to access the majority of his funds to pay just regular household bills and business expenses for almost 2 years, nor could he apply for a regular loan, hence the private loan from Malink.
For those who are asking, you are right Sneddon and gang do belong behind bars and not just sued, but it would have taken a legal body and a judicial system to admit that the case was not warranted, the evidence suspect and that the SB Court System was corrupt and then do something about it; and that was not going to happen.
So all that is left as far as those people are concerned is to find something which they did that violated Federal Law that can be proven and then make a massive and consolidated demand as TAX PAYERS and International Citizens (not as Fans) that something is done about it. Unless we can show inconclusively that all the allegations are false the Media and the system will continue to hide and we will be left slinging harsh words.
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verità e giustizia X Michael Jackson !!..un uomo , che è stato perseguitato, diffamato, ingiuriato, calunniato, infangato , e, poi ucciso !!! un grandissimo e geniale artista , uomo buono e filantripo generosissimo….che ha lasciato 3 minori, che adesso, subiscono anche loro, dato, che al padre, MAI , nessuno, ha reso onore !!! bisogna essere noi, il portavoce di Michael !! ..e che tutti coloro che gli hanno fatto del male, sìano diffamati, e, con giusta causa !!!…poi, che paghino, tutti i loro misfatti criminali….
@ Alyana: I have translated your comment for you:
truth and justice X Michael Jackson! .. a man who was persecuted, slandered, abused, maligned, discredited, and then killed! a great and talented artist, good man and generous filantripo. … that left three children, who now suffer too, given that his father, never, no, honored! must be us, the spokesman for Michael! .. And that all who have done evil, to be defamed, and with good cause! … Then, they pay all their criminal misdeeds. …
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Why in the world isn’t someone prosecuting these people? They lied on depositions, and they lied to the officers of the court. This is conspiracy to commit a crime (at least) and extortion by manipulation of the media and authorities.
Much of this must have been known by Michael’s defense team; Did Michael have to file charges if any of these people were to be investigated? If so, he simply didn’t have the strength to attempt that, and it probably came down to the fact that HE knew the truth and so do those who played a part in it.
The universe will take care of Michael, and it’ll also take care of the others…but in the meantime they will have to live with their conscious and that will be with them for the rest of their lives.
What is it going to take for all of us to realize that we are all the same? We are part of it all, and in helping others we help ourselves…and when we do things that are negative to others, we hold ourselves back. This sickness of personal possessions, money, and which congregation of church we do or do not follow has blinded us to everything important.
For all it’s worth; The love you take is equal to the love you make. Michael was the focus of the entire population of this planet following his death, and for quite a long time for that matter. That alone speaks volumes about him.
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Aldebaran, all your questions are true and valid – so let me repeat them here. The point about seizing Victor Gutierrez’s wages when he worked for the NBC is great – why didn’t anyone think of it???):
– How come there is no legal action against tom sneddon? Why doesn’t the state of ca take him on? or someone else? corruption charges or something?
– Where is V. gutierrez now? How come his wages weren’t seized as a result of the $2.7 millon judgement against him (wages from nbc)?
– Why aren’t “journalists” like dimond/orth required to have certain ethical standards? why aren’t they required to be certified or licensed, like doctors or dentists or psychologists?
– Imo some of these people should be behind bars for slander/libel–why aren’t they???
seems like michael encountered an unjust and corrupt world that conspired against him. thank god for tom mesereau. however, what is appalling is that the media even reputable media are still reporting the smears and slander even now. see a recent nyt article about taking the plywood off the auditorium sign. when will there be justice for mj?
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how come there is no legal action against tom sneddon? why doesn’t the state of ca take him on? or someone else? corruption charges or something? where is v. gutierrez now? how come his wages weren’t seized as a result of the $2.7 millon judgement against him (wages from nbc)? why aren’t “journalists” like dimond/orth required to have certain ethical standards? why aren’t they required to be certified or licensed, like doctors or dentists or psychologists? imo some of these people should be behind bars for slander/libel–why aren’t they??? seems like michael encountered an unjust and corrupt world that conspired against him. thank god for tom mesereau. however, what is appalling is that the media even reputable media are still reporting the smears and slander even now. see a recent nyt article about taking the plywood off the auditorium sign. when will there be justice for mj?
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Thanks so much for taking the time out to honor and recompense Michael from any wrong doing. He is such a beautiful person and does not deserve what was handed to him. Praise God for your work!!! If there is anything I can do, please let me know.
Renee
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I’m so glad to see that someone finally fighting for Michael. I really thought his family, especially his mother, would make it their mission to clear Michael’s name and also make sure Conrad Murray is put in prison. However, sadly it seems like all of the above are only interested in lawsuits for monetary gain. I was so disheartened to see Katherine Jackson had jumped on the bandwagon. Michael loved his fans who loved him in return. Fans are his family here on earth that will vindicate him because Michael is LOVE!!!!
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@ lcpledwards,
So we leave the original alone to preserve its’ integrity, but make second using the 93, 03 and any tie-in players. The side by side for comparison can be accomplished. Do you have my email address? If not I know someone who can send it to you.
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@ Dialdancer
I have the entire Veritas Project saved as a Word Document, and the flowchart was copied into the document from Excel. So we can’t make any changes to it, unless we re-do it from scratch and make our own additions, like adding in Stacy Brown and Martin Bashir to NBC. The Veritas Project was released in January 2005, but Brown wasn’t hired as an “analyst” until a few weeks later, and as we all know Bashir was hired a few months ago. I’m sure Maureen Orth was instrumental in their hirings, as well as with the hiring of Victor Gutierrez, who was one of her “unnamed sources” for her Vanity Fair hit pieces. NBC knew that MJ had sued both Dimond and Gutierrez, they knew that Brown was writing his tell all book “Man Behind The Mask”, and they knew that Sheriff Anderson was “friends” with Sneddon, yet they all got jobs at NBC! Is that a coincidence? NO!!!
I can email you the document if you like, because I can’t remember where I downloaded it from. I googled it a few months ago and found it somewhere. Also, I’m going to go through all of those court filings on that website over the next few months (and possibly years!). I’ve found a lot of great information from what I’ve already read! For example, Mesereau’s Private Investigator interviewed Janet Arvizo’s ex-husband, and he literally spilled the beans on her conniving ways! I reference this interview in part 2 of my settlements articles, coming this week! Thanks for giving us that link; I’m going to tell all of the other MJ bloggers to use it as well!
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I wonder if there is any way to make another diagram of the 1993/2003 players which includes any new major players or events and have them placed side by side for comparison.
There is word filtering back to us by some who attended the Los Angeles County Bar Association Continuing Education Seminar. From what is said the event was less about education and more of retrying Michael for the 93 allegation and 2005 trial with a very large dose of the guilty excusing their own sins and using the seminar as a means to continue mocking, defaming and blaming Michael. Louise Palanker is said to believe Michael guilty in 2005 and to believe in Gavin. Strange that is not what she was saying in 2004, but then again she wasn’t romatically involved with SDA Zonen then…..at least I don’t think so.
Zonen & Palanker Romance: http://allforloveblog.com/?p=3874
Palanker & Lawyer were not buying the story see page 11
Click to access 020405oppdamlieplidoefam.pdf
PALANKER AND WITNESS
Click to access 022805memojcp.pdf
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@ Jacqueline M,
No the Arvizo’s were grifters, con-men. They were experience enough to know a con when they saw it. (the Chandler extortion). Michael’s insurance company having paid up once made him a potential target. It is strange, they did not get any money and was outed by many Media types after they lead the whole world to believe Gavin was proof of Michael’s “P”, but it was this case which did Michael the most damage.
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Here is a prime example of why this program and its’ preservation is so important.
Here is a NY Post article. While they lie about the contents of Michael’s FBI File within the article, they cherry-pick pages which only say agents went here or there to investigate or to look for potential victims as if these pages with almost illegible handwriting reports some horrendous deed.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/fbi_bares_wild_BGkXv1H17Twf2eKT0N8RTN
Yes, I am aware that the NY Post is close to those who write about the 3 headed dog-boy, but there are those who read it anyway. Check out the person who calls themselves “The Judge”. They attempt to write as if one, while using improper terminology. P.2
I am deeply sorry that most of what was available for 1993 is no longer to be found.
All the 2005 trial document needs to be on something other than a city funded database which one day may be eliminated due to budget cuts or some other reason.
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Budsgirl54: “I am so honored to read your work”.
Oh dear, it isn’t mine. I only just tried to save this truly great work from oblivion as it disappeared from the internet and I had it copied.
Could you give a link to the MJJJusticeProject, please?
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Hi Helena and everyone. I was surprise with everything I read in this article, especially this: “Did Janet Arvizo set out to meet Michael Jackson with the intention of eventually filing a child abuse lawsuit against him? ” I didn’t know that. God, the more I learn about what they did to Michael, the more I get shocked and disgusted.
What kind of world do we live in? I can’t understand how people can act like this. Animals don’t act like this. I had never seen something like this sinse Jesus’ death. I mean, something so wrong, so unfair… I feel lost everytime I think about what they did to Michael’s life until they managed to send him to an early grave. And I wanted to know why. Money? Jealousy? Anger? What is this? These people simply don’t have a heart. It’s horrible what they did to Michael and it’s impossible to forget. And it seems that the media washed some people’s brain, because I know many people that don’t know anything about Michael but believe he is guilty. When I read all of this and remember how sweet, kind, lovely and gentle Michael was, I even loose my will to live in this world… I think Michael was too good for this world, that’s why God chose to take him to Heaven. Heaven deserves someone like Michael… When Gavin asked to meet him, Michael could simply turn his back, say that he was busy and go on with his life. But that wasn’t Michael at all. And his sweet heart would never allow him to turn the back to someone who needed help. I also feel glad to know that there are people like all of you who make these wonderful websites for Michael, trying to show the truth to the world. I love Michael with all my heart, but I’m horrible at researching things, that’s why I think it’s too beautiful that you dedicate a piece of your lives to defend him… I know he is totally innocent, but I like to read the facts to understand how things really happened. God bless you all…
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@ choupine.
Ugh! yes, I know exactly what you are talking about…….I could choke her.
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I am so honored to read your work. Every bit of it footnoted…!! Thank you… MJJJusticeProject is working to stop the continued malicious attacks on MJ’s reputation, that since the report of his death, have not CEASED. We are a world wide grassroots effort that has sprung up on Twitter, facebook and youtube. We need the support of all of his fans and non fans alike.. People who just want to see fairness in the press. FACTS not opinions, is what we desire. A fair representation of his true legacy..of love for the smallest among us, unparalleled philanthropic work, and universal brotherhood. WE must make a change. JOIN US
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This was realy instructive. I wish everyone could learn about it. It really make me sick that without looking for the truth pepole just drink everything the media said even if he is no more there. I remenber the ***** diane dimond face on the “last days of michael jackson” documentary i was like killing some one(herself) she is so hypocryt and then she conlude the documentary by telling that he “was a drug addict”
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Good to know the Veritas Project is somewhere safe. Was interference once, feared it had happen again.
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it has become nice this years
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