A BRIEF Comment on the MJ case

And by brief I don't mean little boys' underwear ... So I've not followed this case at all, but I figured some of my readers did. The sequence of events is very similar to the OJ case: Criminal Trial then Civil Trial.

Criminal Trial found Here

This is where the STATE prosecutes Jackson for Crimes. The jury acquitted Jackson of all charges. A charge is like Molestation, or Murder 1 - for those who watch Law and Order and the like. There were 10 counts (different charges) including 4 counts of molestation back in 2003.

As is normal in most states that protect children and elderly, the State may present some evidence of MJ's previous activities when they are identical to the elements of thsi crime. The Yahoo! article says this is unusual. It is not. I am pretty certain MD has a smiliar evidence law. The State was allowed to present evidence of other molestations and abuses by MJ. While this is evidence, it is not conclusive. You may not present past acts to prove a crime. There are certain exceptions to this, but I doubt your could argue that molesting boys is a trait. Usually past acts are used to impeach a witness (make him or her look bad so that she is not as believable to the jury). The states are definitely split on this one, but CA is not the only one. Plus CA is a pretty strong state for the promulgation of laws creating trends across the states, so I don't know where the Yahoo! article was going on this one. My evidence is rusty, but the Yahoo! article is wrong.

The Article also says that MJ never took the stand but spoke to the court in Video Tapes. MJ never addressed the court. He was never sworn in. The Videos were evidence against him, and not MJ's use of the court system. For MJ to actually address the court he'd have to take the stand and be sworn in.

They really need to get lawyers who can write to do these things, this is a really bad article. I've read around, and not found any that are much better.

I would guess a Civil Trial will happen next. This is where the Victims(or families) from the Criminal Trial bring a case in court for Monetary recovery. You would probably see things like intentional infliction of emotional distress, tortious battery (unwanted touching), negligent and reckless endangerment, and depending on california law you may have softer laws for the family to recover under. This is where you will also see lots of settlement, because MJ doesn't want any more bad press.

I'm not EVEN going to comment on my opinions of the case. I didn't follow much.

Have a good one

~B