SANTA MARIA, Calif. — On the most dramatic day in the first two weeks of Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial, Jackson rushed from a hospital and shuffled into court in pajamas bottoms to avoid arrest for being late. Pajamas also figured in some of the pivotal testimony in the case.
The 15-year-old alleged victim testified in his second day on the witness stand that he was wearing the singer's pajamas when Jackson twice groped him on his bed two years ago. The day's court session ended with 25 minutes of combative cross-examination by Jackson's lawyer that followed the boy's graphic account of drinking and sexual misconduct at the entertainer's Neverland Valley Ranch.
Jackson, 46, was absent when testimony was supposed to start. Defense lawyer Tom Mesereau told Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville: "Your honor, Mr. Jackson is in the hospital in Santa Ynez with a serious back problem, and the doctor is trying to reach you."
Last month, jury selection was delayed a week after Jackson was taken to a hospital with flu symptoms. The judge, who admonished Jackson in January 2004 when he arrived late for his arraignment, wanted no medical excuses this time. Melville issued a warrant for Jackson's arrest and ordered him to forfeit his $3 million bail. But he gave Jackson an hour to show up before the sanctions would take effect.
Jackson is on trial on charges of plying the boy, then 13, with alcohol, molesting him four times and conspiring to force the boy and his family to tape interviews exonerating the entertainer of misconduct.
When Melville issued the warrant for Jackson's arrest, the singer was at a hospital in Solvang, Calif. not far from Neverland. Cable TV networks went live. MSNBC showed a clock counting down the time remaining for him to appear.
Jackson arrived at the courthouse a few minutes past the deadline. He walked haltingly to the door. Aides held his arms to support him.
One of Jackson's lawyers, Brian Oxman, later told the Associated Press that the singer "tripped this morning and fell . . . as he was getting dressed. His back is in terrible pain. He was in terrible discomfort throughout the proceedings."
Melville told jurors: "Mr. Jackson had a medical problem this morning, and it was necessary for me to order his appearance," he said. He cautioned the jury not to "draw any adverse inference about his guilt."
When court finally began, District Attorney Tom Sneddon resumed taking the boy through a narrative of wild living at Neverland for him and his younger brother, now 14, who testified earlier this week.
The alleged victim said Jackson often gave him wine and told him "it was OK because Jesus drank it." The boys also frequently drank rum, vodka and whiskey with Jackson in the wine cellar and in Jackson's office and bedroom, he said.
The witness, a cancer survivor, said he had told Jackson "it was bad for me to drink alcohol" because surgeons had removed one of his kidneys.
The boy said the singer befriended him in 2000 during cancer treatment. The brothers later slept with Jackson in his bed and drank with him "every time he was there."
The witness said he passed out from drinking "once or twice." Jackson molested him "in my memory only twice," but "I kinda feel that it was more than twice," he said.
Sneddon then abruptly ended his questioning and turned the witness over for cross-examination. The prosecutor could have extended his questioning to the end of the day. That could have helped the jury better remember the boy's account through a three-day break. Friday, Melville holds hearings on various legal motions. Testimony resumes Monday.
Mesereau quickly bored in on the witness, at times not allowing the boy to finish an answer. They bickered, which prompted the judge to tell them not to argue.
Jackson's lawyer sought to get the boy to admit that he and his mother concocted stories about molestation after meeting with attorneys. One of those lawyers had represented another boy in a 1993 lawsuit against Jackson claiming molestation. Jackson settled that case for $20 million.
The boy said he hadn't told the lawyers about Jackson's misconduct. He revealed it to a psychologist.
Mesereau homed in on testimony by the boy that Jackson hadn't done much to support him during his cancer treatment. In fact, the lawyer said, Jackson had turned his home over to the boy's family.
"Your family stayed (at Neverland) for weeks at a time," Mesereau told the boy.
"Yes," the boy shot back, "and they also kept us there for weeks at a time when we wanted to leave."