Judge Instructs Jury in Jackson Sex Abuse Trial

SANTA MARIA, Calif. —  Seated in the witness stand, the judge in Michael Jackson’s child-molestation trial Wednesday somberly read the jury some 98 pages of legal instructions that are to guide them as they determine the pop star’s future.

Jackson sat motionless, staring at the jury, as Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville recited dense legal language for more than 90 minutes. Jackson’s parents, and brothers Tito and Randy, looked on from the gallery.

With Melville’s instructions fresh in their minds, jurors will hear closing arguments starting this morning before retreating into the jury room for their first discussions about the case.

The defense and the prosecution each will have as long as four hours to make their final appeals in a cliffhanger trial that has careened from one dramatic piece of evidence to the next over nearly 14 weeks of testimony. The arguments could spill over into Friday.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy at Neverland ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley in 2003. He is also charged with giving minors alcohol to aid in the commission of a felony and of conspiring to keep the accuser and his family from leaving the ranch. If convicted on all charges, he faces more than 20 years in prison.

Among Melville’s instructions were rules for considering a videotape played just days ago that may be one of the most powerful weapons in the prosecution’s arsenal.

In the 2003 video, Jackson’s young accuser haltingly told Santa Barbara sheriff’s deputies that Jackson had molested him. The nervous 13-year-old boy on the tape was a marked contrast to the wisecracking, sometimes prickly 15-year-old who testified at the trial in March.

Defense attorneys tried to show that the accuser’s mother coached him to come forward with the molestation allegation so the family could sue Jackson. Melville reminded jurors that they could view the videotape only to observe the boy’s demeanor and gauge whether he was parroting a fabricated story, and not to decide whether he had been molested.

The judge issued similar instructions about other videos that were shown during the trial and which may be replayed during closing arguments and during the jury’s deliberations.

Separating a witness’ demeanor from the legal concept known as “the truth of the matter” will be quite a trick, according to some experts.

“It’s easy on paper but hard in reality,” said Andrew Cohen, a legal analyst attending Wednesday’s court session. “Jurors will be fighting over the meaning of those videos and what they’re allowed to take away from them.”

The other videos include “Living With Michael Jackson,” a British TV documentary in which the pop star admitted that he enjoyed nonsexual sleepovers with children. The worldwide uproar following that broadcast prompted a “rebuttal video” from Jackson in which the accuser and his family lauded him as a loving father figure.

Jurors saw the rebuttal video several times in the trial and are likely to see snippets again. Prosecutors allege that Jackson held the family hostage to force them to make the video.

The defense has used the tape to argue that the boy and his family, so enthusiastic about Jackson before the camera, were not captives.

In his instructions, Melville also said the jury may opt to find Jackson guilty of a misdemeanor -- furnishing wine to a minor -- rather than the more serious charge of administering alcohol in order to commit a felony. That instruction may offer jurors some room to negotiate.

“I could see some horse-trading going on,” Cohen said.

At the end of the court day, Jackson and his entourage left without comment. His spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, said the star was “a little upset” as the charges against him were read.

Asked whether Jackson was conferring with anyone to prepare for the possibility of prison, she said he wasn’t. “He’s a grown man,” Bain said. “He knows life and what life is all about.”

Coverage of today’s closing arguments in the Jackson case can be found at www.latimes.com.