I think that judge has to go -- right away. What makes him believe Michael is not telling the truth?
Posted 3/10/2005 11:51 AM Updated 3/10/2005 12:10 PM
Judge issues warrant after Jackson is late for court
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — An angry judge issued an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on Thursday after he failed to show up for his child molestation trial on time and his attorney announced the singer was being treated for a serious back problem.
Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said he would also forfeit Jackson's $3 million bail unless he appeared in court within one hour.
The announcement came after a few minutes after court was to have begun. Jackson's accuser was expected to begin a second day of testimony against the singer.
The jury was not yet in the courtroom when the judge entered.
Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr., said, "Mr. Jackson is at Cottage Hospital in Santa Ynez with a serious back problem. He does plan to come in."
The judge, obviously angry, declared, "I'm issuing a warrant for his arrest. I'm forfeiting his bail. I will hold the order for one hour."
Mesereau, whose request that the judge talk to Jackson's doctor on the phone was turned down, said a short time later that Jackson was on his way.
Hospital spokeswoman Janet O'Neill said Jackson left Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital at 8:45 a.m. It is about a 35-mile drive from the hospital to the court. O'Neill had no comment on Jackson's condition.
Mesereau had been observed talking urgently on his cell phone for about a half-hour before the session was to begin.
Jackson has had health problems that previously interrupted the proceedings. During the first week of jury selection he went to a hospital with flu symptoms. But he has been on time or early since then.
At the time of the bout with the flu, Melville told prospective jurors the delay was not part of a calculated attempt by anyone to slow down the trial.
"Mr. Jackson really was sick. He really did have the flu," the judge said at the time. "I talked to his doctor. ... I wouldn't let anyone take advantage of us that way."
On Wednesday, Jackson's young accuser faced the singer for the first time since leaving the singer's Neverland Ranch in March 2003, and described viewing sexually explicit images with the singer in his bedroom.
The 15-year-old was not asked about the molestation allegations before court ended Wednesday, but described viewing adult Internet sites with Jackson and others after the singer suggested he and his brother sleep in his room on their first visit to Neverland in 2000. The boy also testified that Jackson told him to "call me daddy" during the taping of a documentary.
The accuser followed to the stand his 14-year-old brother, who testified he saw Jackson fondle his sibling in late February or early March 2003.
The accuser gave the same account his brother had of looking at sexually explicit Web sites on their second night at Neverland after their parents gave them permission to sleep in Jackson's room.
The boy said one of Jackson's employees, Frank Tyson, began looking at sites on the Internet as the others watched.
The witness said they looked at women or teenage girls on about seven sites for a period of 15 to 30 minutes, and he repeated an account his brother had given about a remark Jackson allegedly made.
"There was this girl with her shirt up and it was all quiet and stuff and Michael's like, 'Got milk?'" he said.
At another point, Jackson whispered in the ear of his sleeping son, Prince Michael, saying his son was missing out and using a slang for female genitalia, the accuser said.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting the boy, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to rebut a damaging TV documentary in which Jackson said he allowed children to sleep in his bedroom. Jackson's defense contends the family has a history of filing false claims to get money.
The accuser, who was a cancer patient when he met Jackson, talked about attending a Los Angeles comedy camp hosted by club owner Jamie Masada, whom he would later ask to put him in touch with Jackson.
The boy said Jackson invited him to Neverland the first time they talked. He said Jackson called his hospital room as he was being treated for cancer, and they later talked on the phone about 20 times.
The boy said Jackson later invited him to appear in a documentary being produced by British journalist Martin Bashir and coached him on what to say. It aired on Feb. 6, 2003.
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