Michael Jackson Acquitted

Michael is Acquitted


By William Branigan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 13, 2005; 6:17 PM

Michael Jackson was acquitted by a California jury today of molesting a teenaged boy at his Neverland Ranch in early 2003.

The jury declared the pop star "not guilty" of all 10 felony counts in the case, and Jackson walked out of the courtroom a free man.

The verdict came on the seventh day of deliberations in the case, which presented starkly contrasting views of the eccentric 46-year-old pop star. Prosecutors portrayed Jackson as a pedophile who lured the accuser, now 15, and other boys to his ranch and molested them after plying them with alcohol and showing them pornography to loosen their inhibitions and arouse them. Jackson's defense team, led by Mesereau, charged that the family of the accuser, a cancer survivor who was 13 when the alleged molestation occurred, was motivated by a desire to extract money from Jackson through false accusations.

Before beginning their deliberations on June 3, the eight women and four men of the jury listened to 14 weeks of testimony and arguments in a case that has been closely watched across the United States and around the world. The jury sent word at about 12:30 p.m. Pacific time (3:30 p.m. EDT) that it had reached a verdict.

Jackson, who was indicted last year in the case, was charged with one count of conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion; four counts of committing a "lewd act upon a child;" one count of attempting to commit such an act and four counts of "administering an intoxicating agent to assist in commission of a felony." The conspiracy charge encompassed allegations that the boy and his family were held captive to get them to rebut a television documentary in which Jackson acknowledged sleeping with boys as the accuser sat by his side.

The jury was made up of seven whites, four Hispanics and one Asian. The jurors ranged in age from 20 to 79.