Jackson Accuser Says Nothing Bad Happened

by **Admin** Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:48 pm

Jackson Accuser Says Nothing Bad Happened

Michael Jackson's accuser acknowledged under cross-examination today (March 14) that he told a teacher nothing bad had happened to him at the singer's ranch.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. read to the boy from what appeared to be a transcript of an interview of the teacher, Jeffrey Alpert. Mesereau quoted the John Burroughs Middle School teacher as saying, "Look at me, look at me ... I can't help you unless you tell me the truth -- did any of this happen?"

The boy acknowledged from the witness stand that his answer was "no." At another point the 15-year-old boy said, "I told Mr. Alpert he never did anything to me."

Mesereau walked the boy through his disciplinary history at the Los Angeles school, and the boy acknowledged he had argued with teachers and been disruptive.

The question about the teacher triggered a discussion among attorneys about what exactly the boy told District Attorney Tom Sneddon about the conversation with Alpert.

ABC News' "Good Morning America" reported today that prosecutors and defense attorneys met during the weekend to interview the former teacher, and that the teacher's attorney, Thomas Forsyth, said he expects his client to be called as a witness.

Citing unidentified sources, the network reported that the conversation between the boy and teacher happened in spring 2003. That would have been after the airing of the TV documentary "Living With Michael Jackson" and the time period in which the molestation allegedly occurred, but before Jackson was indicted.

Jackson was shown holding hands with the boy in the documentary, which set off a storm of criticism.

Mesereau had begun cross-examination of the accuser last Thursday. Today, he quizzed the boy about similarities between a statement he testified Jackson made about masturbation and an earlier statement the boy attributed to his grandmother.

He recalled that the boy testified Thursday that Jackson told him that if men don't masturbate they might rape women. The attorney noted that the boy told sheriff's investigators in an interview that his grandmother had told him the same thing.

The boy said that the context was different. "She was telling me it was OK to do it and Michael was saying you have to do it," the boy said.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson, 46, molested the boy at his Neverland ranch in 2003, gave him alcohol and conspired to hold his family captive to get them to rebut the documentary in which Jackson said he shared his bed with children.

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