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The Michael Jackson Trial

Accuser's sister breaks down in Jackson trial

Woman recounts how brother's behavior changed


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The accuser's 18-year-old sister testified Friday for the prosecution.
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The sister of Jackson's accuser testified in the child molestation case.

A former public relations expert for Michael Jackson testifies.
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SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- The sister of a teenager at the center of Michael Jackson's child molestation trial broke down on the witness stand Friday as she testified that her brother's behavior changed after contact with the pop superstar.

On the stand Friday as a prosecution witness, the accuser's 18-year-old sister began to cry as she said her brother -- now 15 -- changed from a "very affectionate" boy who liked to be kissed and held to one who mostly wanted to spend time by himself.

"It just hurts, because I'm his older sister," she said.

The sister also said she saw Jackson frequently hug and kiss her brother on the head or on the cheek, and she related an incident in which she saw Jackson repeatedly kiss the boy on the head while the two of them were on Jackson's bed.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., the woman testified that her estranged father, not her mother, spearheaded efforts to contact celebrities to raise money for her brother's cancer treatment.

Mesereau, in his opening statements earlier in the week, said that the accusations against Jackson were cooked up by the boy's greedy mother after she realized her family would no longer benefit financially from their association with Jackson. (Monday's opening statements)

Jackson, 46, was indicted in April by a state grand jury on 10 felony counts for incidents that allegedly occurred in February and March 2003: four counts of committing a lewd act on a child; one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion; one count of attempting to commit a lewd act on a child; and four counts of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The woman's testimony followed the playing of video footage of the boy and his family lauding Jackson, and saying nothing untoward happened between the singer and the adolescent.

In the tape -- prepared by Jackson's camp two years ago to rebut a controversial television documentary by British journalist Martin Bashir -- the boy's mother described Jackson as "an answered prayer to my children and me," and gave Jackson credit for helping her son beat cancer.

"God elected to work through Michael," she said. "When we saw no hope, Michael would say, 'There is hope.' "

Jackson's accuser described him as "loving, kind, humble" and said he looked up to him like a father.

"I took to him really quick," said the boy.

The mother said that people alleging that Jackson's relationship with the boy was sexual were "missing out on something very beautiful that they have tainted."

The prosecution has alleged that the family was coerced and intimidated into making the rebuttal tape. On the stand Thursday, the boy's sister said they were told what to say.

Under questioning Friday, the woman tried to explain her mother's effusive comments about Jackson, saying her mother was "trying to make it more dramatic because that's what they wanted," referring to Jackson's camp.

She also said her mother and the accuser were told to hold hands on the tape to counter the damaging image of the boy and Jackson holding hands in the Bashir video, in which Jackson also defended his practice of allowing children to sleep in his bed.

The first part of the tape showed four family members -- the accuser, his mother, his sister and his younger brother -- appearing relaxed, arranged on a lighted set. In a later portion of the tape showing just the accuser and his mother, she interrupts him a number of times to answer questions he was asked.

The footage was unedited and showed that the taping was started and stopped several times because of confusion about what various family members would say. No script was visible in the hands of any members of the family, but they repeated similar phrases when answering questions about Jackson.

At the end of the tape, the unidentified man who had been asking questions off camera comes into the frame and can be seen with papers in his hand. The sister testified Friday that those papers were a script.

As the tape played, Jackson's mother, Katherine, who has attended court with her son during every day, wept.

On Thursday, the accuser's sister testified that she saw Jackson give what appeared to be alcohol to the accuser and his younger brother at the singer's Neverland Ranch.

She also said she saw Jackson take his accuser, then 13, into a hotel bedroom at least twice, where they were alone behind closed doors, and that her brother seemed to withdraw from the close-knit family around the same time.

The sister also detailed efforts by Jackson and his associates to control the family after broadcast of the Bashir documentary, including a sudden trip to a resort in Miami and efforts to get them passports for a trip to Brazil. (More on Thursday's testimony)

She also said they were taken to a Los Angeles hotel by Jackson associates and told they could not leave because death threats had been made against them.

In the Bashir documentary, Jackson and his accuser are shown holding hands, and Jackson defends his practice of allowing children to sleep in his bed.

Jackson arrived at the courthouse Friday with his mother, brother Jermaine and sister LaToya. He wore a black jacket, white shirt and oversized red tie.

CNN's Miguel Marquez and Dree De Clamecy contributed to this report.


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