1991-2005 SPECIAL REPORT: "THE TRIALS OF MICHAEL JACKSON"
People v. Jackson (full title: 1133603: The People of the State of California v. Michael Joe Jackson) was a 2005 criminal trial held in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California. American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, at his Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos, California.
Jackson had previously been accused of child sexual abuse in 1993; he denied the allegations and settled the accuser’s civil lawsuit. In 2003, the documentary Living with Michael Jackson showed Jackson holding hands with Arvizo and defending his practice of giving his bed to children, triggering an investigation. Jackson was indicted on four counts of molesting a minor, four counts of intoxicating a minor to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation, one count of conspiring to hold Gavin and his family captive, and conspiring to commit extortion and child abduction.
The trial spanned approximately four months, beginning with jury selection that began on January 31, 2005. Gavin and his brother testified that Jackson had given them alcohol, showed them pornography, masturbated before them and made sexual advances. The defense characterized the witnesses for the prosecution as disgruntled ex-employees or individuals seeking to exploit Jackson for money. Witnesses for the defense included testimony from celebrities including former child actor Macaulay Culkin and comedian Chris Tucker. Coverage of the trial was described as a media circus, and some media outlets were quick to portray Jackson as guilty.
Jackson was acquitted on all counts on June 13, 2005. He never returned to Neverland Ranch, and spent the first several months after the trial living abroad in Bahrain and Ireland. In 2013, four years after Jackson’s death, one of the defense witnesses, Wade Robson, changed his position and filed a lawsuit, saying he had been abused by Jackson. Jurors of the trial who appeared on The Jury Speaks in 2017 said they still would vote to acquit.
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