SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Prosecutors had the last word in Michael Jackson’s trial Friday when they closed with a video of the teen accuser describing his alleged introduction to alcohol and sex at the pop star’s hands.
Both sides rested their cases minutes after jurors saw the 13-year-old cancer survivor on a big screen TV saying Jackson told him to “keep on drinking” when he didn’t like the taste of alcohol, and then molested him “five times or less.”
The tape brought to an end 60 days of testimony from 140 witnesses.
In a hushed and darkened courtroom, prosecutors played the 70-minute film of the boy’s first interview with police on July 7, 2003, when he reluctantly disclosed the alleged abuse.
“You’re gonna feel a lot better when you get this off your chest,” urged Detective Steve Robel. “You really are. I don’t care who Michael Jackson is. Michael Jackson has done wrong to you and your family.”
“After you’ve been through hell,” Detective Paul Zelis added.
The boy was seen in denim shorts and a blue shirt, slumped in a chair. He scratched his arm and fumbled with a button on his shirt.
“He put his hands in my pants. He started masturbating me,” the boy said. “I told him I didn’t want to do that and he kept on doing it. I told him no.”
With his head down and frequently pausing, he described the alleged molestation in a low voice.
“He said that he wanted to show me how to masturbate,” the boy said. “I said no. Then he said he could do it for me.” The boy looked down, then resumed haltingly.
“He grabbed me,” he said.
Robel asked him where he was grabbed.
“My private area,” the boy said, going on to describe the masturbation and saying that Jackson touched him for “a long time.”
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(c) 2005, New York Daily News.
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AP-NY-05-27-05 2255EDT
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