First accuser's mom: Jackson begged me to let my son sleep with him
By Lisa Sweetingham
Court TV
SANTA MARIA, California (Court TV) -- Michael Jackson's relationship with a 13-year-old boy more than a decade ago was revealed in court Monday by the boy's estranged mother.
The woman, whose son was allegedly molested by Jackson in 1993, testified that shortly after meeting the King of Pop, he showered the family with expensive gifts and first-class trips before making a tearful plea to allow the boy to sleep with him.
"He was sobbing, crying, shaking, trembling," the mother testified of Jackson's breakdown one evening in March 1993, during a trip to Las Vegas.
The woman testified that Jackson then said, "We're a family," asking her why she wouldn't allow her son to be with the singer. "I said, 'He is with you,' and he said, 'But in my bedroom. ... Why can't he sleep in my bed? There's nothing going on. Why don't you trust me?'"
The woman said she relented, allowing her son to join Jackson in his room at the Mirage that night. Jackson rewarded her for her trust the next night with a gold Cartier bracelet.
From that point on, the woman testified, her son and Jackson were inseparable. She allowed him to sleep in the singer's bedroom at Neverland Ranch, where she knew there was only one bed.
She testified that she also let him stay in Jackson's hotel room when they joined him on trips to Florida to visit Walt Disney World, and to Monaco for the World Music Awards. And she said she let Jackson sleep in her son's bedroom, behind closed doors, during some 30 nights in 1993 when he stayed in her Santa Monica home.
The woman spoke in court in a demure voice. As she testified, Jackson watched her stoically from the defense table and did not react to her testimony, other than to occasionally whisper to his attorney.
Former Jackson employees testified last week in his child-molestation trial that they saw the boy and the singer engaged in lewd sexual acts in 1993.
The alleged victim from the 1993 case, now an adult, is not expected to testify.
The mother, her ex-husband and their son took part in a multimillion settlement with Jackson in 1994, in which no party admitted any wrongdoing and the family would remain silent.
The alleged victim received a $15.3 million dollar annuity, while the parents each received $1.5 million in cash, and Jackson paid their legal fees. Attorney Larry Feldman, who represented the family from the 1993 case, also represents the family of Jackson's current accuser.
The mother of the 1993 case admitted during cross-examination that she has had more contact with Feldman than with her son, who 25 and with whom she has not spoken to in 11 years.
Jackson is on trial for allegedly plying a 13-year-old cancer survivor with alcohol as a means of committing lewd acts on him in spring of 2003.
Jackson maintains his innocence. He was never charged for the alleged past "bad acts," which jurors are being allowed to hear insofar as they relate to an alleged pattern of criminal behavior.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
Boy meets idol
The boy from the 1993 case met his idol in summer of 1992, his mother told jurors, when the pop star showed up at Rent-A-Wreck car rental in Los Angeles, where the boy's stepfather was employed.
The mother said she had divorced in 1985, remarried another man that same year, and was in the process of separating from her second husband by the time Jackson came into her son's life.
The mother said she gave Jackson her home number and told him if he wanted to see her son again, "to give a call." A month or two later, Jackson called.
"He was excited to hear from him," the woman said, smiling when she spoke of her son.
Jackson and the boy began having long talks at all hours, and 10-minute conversations would soon become 90-minute conversations, the woman said.
The first trip to Neverland was in February 1993. By the third trip, the woman said, her son asked if he could sleep in Jackson's bedroom, like the other little boys who visited. At first she said no. After the Vegas incident in March, she gave her son permission.
Prosecutors contend that Jackson preyed on young boys, under the age of 13, who had passive mothers he would shower with gifts in exchange for unfettered access to their children.
Jackson says he is the one being preyed upon by former employees with an ax to grind and greedy families he once treated as his own who now see only dollar signs.
Showered with gifts
The relationship between the 34-year-old Jackson and the 13-year-old boy intensified in May 1993, the mother testified, when they joined Jackson on a trip to Monaco for the World Music Awards, where Jackson was being honored.
The woman testified that her son no longer wanted to be with her, adding that her boy grew sullen when Jackson was not around. "He started dressing like Michael, acting withdrawn and smart-alecky."
While in Monaco, Jackson and the boy came down with the flu at the same time, the woman said. According to her, the singer and boy stayed in Jackson's hotel room, while the mother took her daughter on a shopping trip and was given Jackson's credit card.
The woman said she received expensive gifts from Jackson around this time: gold earrings, a necklace, a ring, and a $7,000 gift certificate to the Los Angeles boutique Fred Segal.
Jackson even visited the boy on family vacations, she said. Once, when she took her children to New York for her brother's wedding, the mother said, Jackson showed up and stayed in a room across the hall, where the boy spent nights.
The mother said that once her brother confronted her with his concerns, she began to worry and, in turn, confronted Jackson.
"He said, "Why can't we be a family?'" the woman testified. "He was upset that I wanted my son back, that I didn't like the situation. It was getting out of control."
According to the mother, Jackson's sleepover visits to the family's home ended in May 1993. In August, the boy was taken to child welfare authorities, where he made a report about Jackson's alleged sexual misconduct.
On cross-examination, the woman admitted that she never saw her son shower or bathe with Jackson.
She also conceded that she told the Los Angeles district attorney that her husband once declared that the boy's relationship with Jackson was "a wonderful way for the boy not to have to worry for the rest of his life." She refused to speculate on what he meant.
"Did you ever take your son and leave?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked.
"No," she said plaintively.
During re-direct testimony, the woman spoke briefly about her broken relationship with her son, who lived with his father shortly after the family began talking with attorneys about Jackson's alleged sexual advances.
The prosecutor asked the woman if she regretted trusting Jackson that night in Vegas, when she decided to allow the bedroom sleepovers to begin.
The woman choked up as she replied, "Very much so."
