Posted by Changing Charges+Changing Timeline=Desperate DA MJEOL Bullet #135 There are 10 felony charges against Michael Jackson. But before the shock sets in, there are some things which are seen as bizarre if not downright comical about what the current district attorney in Santa Barbara is now alleging happened. The accusing familys ever-changing story has become yet more convoluted with the timeline changing and the new charge of conspiracy being added. There are no longer 7 counts of lewd acts upon a child. That figure has decreased to 4 counts. There are no longer 2 counts of administering alcohol. That number has increased to 4. Sneddon tacked on 1 count of attempt to perform a lewd act against the accuser. What? The alcohol didnt take that time? But seriously, what has really spun this case into a bizarre stratosphere is a new count of conspiracy which is basically child abduction and kidnapping. Sneddon is now claiming that the alleged abuse stated not Feb 7, but on Feb 20 and ended not on March 10, but on March 12. Lets break down what was happening. LA Child services were investigating this family Feb 14 Feb 27 2003. The Santa Barbara sheriffs dept. opened their first 2 month long investigation, which lasted from Feb 18 April 16 2003. That investigation ultimately found no criminal activity on Jacksons part:
It was February 18th, last year. The investigation of “Suspected Child Abuse” was given a case number and daily report number On April 16th, the Santa Barbara’s sheriff’s department reached a conclusion. “Based on the interviews with the children and their father, it was determined that the elements of criminal activity were not met. Therefore, this investigation was classified as a suspected sexual abuse incident report, with no further action required. Case closed.” Case closed after a two-month investigation that took place much of the period when Jackson is said to have molested his alleged victim 7 times. (see article)
This means that the Santa Barbara sheriffs department was investigating Jackson a little over a month of when the DA is claiming abuse had stopped occurring and when the family allegedly escaped from Neverland. No one called the police or went to any authority during this March 13 May 2003 period. If this was a script, it would be relegated to the category of a B-Movie because of the ridiculousness of the claims. Remember reports that the family would claim they were held hostage at Neverland? Well this would be why the charge of conspiracy was added. What this new charge does is to take this case out of the he-said/he-said realm and bring in an entire group of potentially exonerating witnesses for the defense. Some in the media will try to paint this new charge as potentially a stronger case for the prosecution. However, sources say this could be exponentially more detrimental to the prosecution instead. It has been speculated that certain people around Jackson, namely Frank Tyson and Vinne Amen, will be dragged into this nonsense. Their lawyer, Joe Tacopina, has said all along that they are more than ready to meet these hostage charges head on in a court of law. April 21 2004, Tacopina appeared on The Abrams Report to discuss this issue. He says, unlike what the accuser and/or his brother told the psychologist while making the allegations, Frank Tyson is not a bodyguard or security guard. Tacopina says he is an assistant to Jackson who only weighs about 130 pounds and is a long time friend of Jacksons:
He wasnt a security guard, a bodyguard, any sort of a guard. And the allegation, like many of the other allegations Ive heard in this case, are going to fall by the wayside when tested, when challenged, when examined under cross examination, if Im given that opportunity. (see transcript)
Tacopina also says hes very confident in his clients innocence given the evidence hes seenthe huge accounts of exonerating evidence theyve kept on the family:
Im so confident that we will shatter the notion that Frank or Vincent did anything wrong. Im not only confident based on my conversation with my clients, based on witness conversations, but there are documents out there that will absolutely shred these allegations.
Tacopina was also on Fox news Live April 18. There, he told Rita Cosby that his clients steadfastly stand behind Michael Jackson:
Frank and Vinnie both stand by, steadfastly, Michael Jackson and maintain his innocence as well as their own. They did nothing wrong They never saw Michael Jackson do anything wrong. Its basically simple as that as far as Im concerned at this point.
This corresponds to an April 22 report from Fox Newss Roger Friedman. Friedmannot a Jackson apologist by any meansreports that documents do exist which would tend to exonerate Jackson. In fact these documents may also disprove both the conspiracy charge as well as the alleged molestation:
A mutual acquaintance tells me that their main fashion accessory is a briefcase full of documents on this subject. It contains receipts, correspondence, and loads of other evidence that piece together their experience with the woman, her boyfriend, and the children. (see article)
The article goes on to practically warn the prosecution that they seriously could be barking up the wrong tree by pursuing hostage/conspiracy charges:
I saw some of this evidence a few months ago, and I can tell you that District Attorney Tom Sneddon is walking into a buzz saw if he thinks this pair can help his case.
Also adding suspicion to these charges is the fact that the DA contacted the mother of the accuser as early as Feb 16 2003 according to the Fox news report:
In fact, I am told, Tyson and Amen will recount how, when they returned the family to their own apartment in East Los Angeles on February 16, 2003, a business card belonging to Sneddon had already been slipped under the door of their apartment.
Sources say the DA is absolutely desperate to try to explain away why the accuser and all of his family members cleared Jackson repeatedly during various investigations by the authorities. We now know that hes going to claim people were preventing them from telling the authorities. But why, then, when they finally escaped from Jacksons people (yeah right), didnt they contact the police first before seeking out various civil attorneys? In fact, according to that Fox report, the mother wanted a house from Jackson and had to be ejected from Neverland because they did not want to leave:
They will describe her as a conniving opportunist and leech. According to my sources, they will also recount how the mother did not want to leave Neverland once she had allowed the pair to move her in from her impoverished flat in East Los Angeles. In fact, she told them each on numerous occasions that she thought Jackson should buy her a house in Solvang, a stone’s throw from Neverland.
Tacopina was on Crier Live today (April 30) via telephone. He says that he has yet to get a phone call from Sneddon or anyone else saying that his clients were indicted. And given Tacopinas earlier comments, and reports about Tyson and Amen having documentation up the wazoo about the mothers actions, this new conspiracy charge could be the card that collapses the larger house of cards built of unfounded, ridiculous, bizarre and convoluted allegations of molestation and kidnapping in this case. -MJEOL