Mourad Mesellaty

 

#OnThisDay May 18, 2005. #MichaelJackson attended Wednesday testimonies at Santa Maria Courthouse in California. A young cousin

of Michael Jackson provided graphic testimony Wednesday as the singer's defense attorneys continued to challenge the credibility of

the pop star's accuser and family.

Also Wednesday, a videographer who conducted an interview with the accuser and his family in February 2003 testified that their responses were not scripted and they didn't see questions in advance.

Christian Robinson's testimony contradicted earlier testimony by the accuser's mother, who insisted the interview was planned and exhaustively rehearsed.

On the witness stand Wednesday, the 12-year-old Jackson cousin testified that he saw the accuser and his brother gratifying themselves while he was staying in a guest cottage with them overnight at Neverland Ranch in February 2003.

The defense has been trying to impeach their allegations with testimony designed to show that the boys engaged in those activities independently of Jackson.

The Jackson cousin also testified that he saw the accuser and his brother stealing money from a drawer in the Neverland kitchen, and he said they also took some small crystal objects from an office. However, he said he did not report the thefts to anyone at the time.

The interview with the accuser and his family, conducted by Robinson on February 19, 2003, was designed to be part of a program rebutting "Living With Michael Jackson," an unflattering documentary about the pop star by British journalist Martin Bashir that had aired earlier that month.

The rebuttal, for which Jackson was paid $3 million, aired on the Fox network, although the family's interview was completed too late to be included, according to earlier trial testimony.

In the footage, shown during the trial, family members heaped praise on Jackson, describing him as a father figure and denying that he ever engaged in any improper conduct.

Robinson described the rebuttal as part of a damage control effort after Bashir's documentary showed Jackson holding hands with his accuser, then 13, and defending his practice of sharing his bed with children.

While Jackson was a "musical genius," he was also "a PR nightmare in a lot of ways," Robinson testified.

He said he was asked to emphasize a series of talking points: Jackson was a good person; he'd made the accuser's family part of his own; he was a father figure to them; he was a good parent to his own children; he was misunderstood as a person; and he helped the accuser overcome a bout with cancer.

Robinson described the family as "very eager" and "very happy" at the taping and said their answers were "spontaneous." He said there was no indication they were being held against their will or mistreated, as the prosecution alleges.