Posted by Do Feldman Tapes Indicate Jackson Witch-Hunt?
February 10, 2005
A "Celebrity Justice" exclusive.
Former child-star Corey Feldman was grilled by Santa Barbara sheriff Sgt. Deborah Linden about the actor’s close friendship with Michael Jackson. The interview occurred in 1993, as cops conducted an investigation into charges of child molestation brought against Jackson.
On the tape, obtained exclusively by "CJ," Corey repeatedly insists that their friendship was totally innocent, while the cops repeatedly express suspicion, for over an hour.
"Is your belief in him and your love for him getting in the way of you telling us things?" Sgt. Linden is heard to say.
Feldman replies: "Everything I’ve told you is true and there’s… I mean, nothing happened."
Linden also states, "I’m so concerned that if something happened you’re not going to tell us because it would be so hard to tell us…"
"…No," Feldman insists.
Corey also tells Linden, "You don’t know how many times I have racked my brain and gone, ‘is there something I’m forgetting? Is there something that, you know, I’m thinking didn’t happen but it really did?’ If I could find something I would love to be able to tell you, but nothing happened."
We spoke with noted Beverly Hills defense attorney Jay Jaffe, who observed that, though Feldman certainly sounds believable on the tape, the investigators, "Want to hear what they want to hear, not what the witness wants to say."
Jaffe noted that, while the investigators on the tape did not break the law, Jackson’s defense team could use the cops’ repeated, aggressive questioning of the actor to bolster their claim that DA Tom Sneddon has long been on a witch-hunt against the singer.
"I think the defense would try to show that the investigators on this case are, in fact, not objective in their fact-finding process," Jaffe said. "What they have is an agenda and they’re looking for something against Michael Jackson, even in the face of a claim that nothing really existed."
Sgt Linden, who does most of the questioning on the tape, is reportedly the same investigator who wrote the 1993 affidavit to get court approval to photograph Michael Jackson’s private parts — an experience Jackson publicly decried, calling it, "a dehumanizing and humiliating examination by the Santa Barbara county sheriff’s department."
So the big question is will Jackson’s team try to use Corey’s 1993 interview in the current case? Now in his mid-30’s Feldman is now a family man with a wife and young child.
His reps confirm he has been subpoenaed by authorities to testify in Jackson’s current molestation case. And there are reports that Corey may now say there were things in his relationship with Jackson that were inappropriate and wrong.
Reports say Corey will not accuse Jackson of molestation. One anonymous source says Corey will claim Jackson showed him adult materials, including a Playboy magazine. Corey’s reps say he’s under the gag order and can’t comment.
However, if the judge allows Feldman to take the stand, he may also allow in the 1993 interview.
As Jaffe told us, "the defense could introduce the tape to impeach Corey Feldman. He said nothing ever happened and he said that repeatedly."
Source: http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0502/10b.html