Defense starts closing arguments

By Linda Deutsch ASSOCIATED PRESS 2:22 p.m. June 2, 2005 … Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau countered in his closing argument that the prosecution revealed the weakness of its case by attacking him. “Whenever a prosecutor does that you know they’re in trouble,” Mesereau told the panel, which is expected to get the case on Friday. “This is not a popularity contest between lawyers.” In rapid-fire delivery he attacked the accuser’s family, the accuser himself ands prosecutors. He said the family and others clearly are planning to sue Jackson after the trial. “Everyone is looking for a big payday at the expense of Michael Jackson,” Mesereau said. “There’s going to be great celebration in this group if he’s convicted of one single count in the case.” He noted that many prosecution witnesses have sued Jackson in the past and some have lost. “Aren’t they all after millions from Michael Jackson? Haven’t you seen one after another come in this courtroom who sued Michael Jackson? They’re all lined up,” he said. Prosecutors, he said, engaged in an a “mean-spirited, nasty attempt, a barbaric attempt” to attack Jackson personally by bringing up his financial problems, collection of adult magazines and “sagging music career.” Mesereau also showed charts suggesting it was ridiculous to believe that during a time when Jackson was under international scrutiny he would then choose to commit molestation. … Mesereau responded that Jackson wasn’t charged with possessing illegal pornography because everything in his home was legal, that no child pornography was found in his home or computers, and that prosecutors used the adult magazines just to make the singer look bad. “They have dirtied him up because he’s human. But they haven’t proven their case because they can’t,” the defense attorney said. Mesereau suggested the accuser and his brother feigned innocence on sexual matters. In a video of the accuser’s first interview with sheriff’s investigators “he acts like he doesn’t know what an erection is. He’s 13,” the attorney said. Mesereau also said the boy was unemotional as he described the alleged molestation in the video and in testimony. He asked jurors to remember the boy’s demeanor on the stand. “You saw no emotion whatsoever. When did you see him really get angry? When he talked about Michael Jackson abandoning his family,” Mesereau said. … Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050602-1422-ca-michaeljackson.html