Nations Of Magic

 

#OnThisDay May 24, 2005. #MichaelJackson attended this Tuesday at Santa Maria Courthouse in California. His mother Katherine always by his side and support. Attorney said Jackson will not testify. Talk-show host Jay Leno testified Tuesday that he received several phone messages from Michael Jackson's accuser in 2000 and talked to him briefly on the phone.

Leno's testimony came as a Jackson attorney said Tuesday the defense would rest its case Wednesday -- without calling the pop star to the witness stand.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. told the judge comedian Chris Tucker, who took the stand late on Tuesday, would be its last witness.

In his opening statement, Mesereau suggested that Jackson would testify when he used the phrase "Michael Jackson will tell you" several times while addressing the jury.

Testifying for the defense Tuesday, Tucker said his first introduction to the family of Jackson's accuser was at the Laugh Factory, a Los Angeles comedy club.

The boy's father had come up to him and said that his son "loved me and was dying of cancer," Tucker said. The comedian testified that he then agreed to attend a fund-raiser for the boy at the club, where they met for the first time.

After the fund-raiser, Tucker said the boy told him the event "didn't make any money, and they needed some money," so Tucker wired the family $1,500. He also testified that he took the boy and his siblings to the mall to buy clothes and also to an amusement park, and that he often included them on outings with his own son.

In 2001, Tucker said the family traveled to Las Vegas as his guests to visit him on a movie set. He said he also gave the accuser his phone number, and the boy began calling on a regular basis.

Tucker also revealed that it was through the boy that he first met Jackson, whom he said he now considers a friend.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon said the prosecution's rebuttal case, which would begin after Tucker concludes his testimony Wednesday, should be wrapped up by Thursday.

Also taking the stand briefly Tuesday was the 9-year-old granddaughter of the late Marlon Brando, whose father, Miko, is a friend of Jackson.

The girl said she was visiting Neverland at the same time as the accuser and his younger brother, and she saw them crashing golf cars on purpose and throwing candy from the top of the carnival rides. "They were driving all crazy," she said.

In testimony that lasted about half an hour, Leno failed to support Mesereau's assertion in his opening statement that the comedian would say that he was so suspicious of the family's motives that he contacted police.

Leno said police called him to ask about his interactions with the family, a conversation that he later learned was secretly recorded. The identity of the police agency that called him was not disclosed in court.

Leno's appearance at the Santa Maria courthouse drew stronger-than-usual interest in the Jackson trial. More than 110 people lined up early to compete in a daily lottery for seats in the courtroom, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

Tuesday's testimony by Holzer concerned a civil suit the family filed against J.C. Penney in 1998, alleging that they had been beaten and injured by security guards during an altercation that began when the guards tried to apprehend Jackson's accuser for shoplifting. The case was later settled out of court.