Neverland Endgame

From FOX:

SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Michael Jackson targets vulnerable boys and brings them "into the world of the forbidden," a prosecutor told jurors Thursday in closing statements of the pop star's child molestation trial.

Firing back, the defense said prosecutors made a "barbaric attempt" to bring Jackson down by emphasizing his financial problems, collection of adult magazines and "sagging music career."

The singer's lawyers were to conclude their closing on Friday, and the prosecution was to deliver a rebuttal before the case goes to the jury. A verdict could come as early as next week.

Jackson, who looked glum as he left court Thursday, told reporters, "I'm OK." He faces more than 20 years in prison if he's convicted of all charges.

...[Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen] told the panel that Jackson has a pattern of going after susceptible boys and when he brings children to his Neverland ranch, he separates them from parents and authority and fills their days with candy, video games and other amusements.

Jackson followed the same "grooming process" with his accuser and the boy's brother, he said.

"At night they entered into the world of the forbidden. They went into Michael Jackson's room, which is a veritable fortress," Zonen said.

He said that in Jackson's room the boys learned about human sexuality "from someone who is only too willing to be their teacher."

Jackson's efforts to lower the boys' inhibitions included showing them pornography, appearing naked before them and simulating a sex act with a mannequin, he said.

[Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr.] responded that Jackson wasn't charged with possessing illegal pornography because everything in his home was legal, that no child pornography was found in his home or computers, and that prosecutors used the adult magazines just to make the singer look bad.

"They have dirtied him up because he's human. But they haven't proven their case because they can't," he said.
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I haven't followed this case closely. I really haven't followed it at all. Any information I took in was unintentional, so any predictions I would make about the trial's outcome would just be guesswork.

That said, it would not surprise me if Jackson walks away from this trial as a free man (boy, Peter Pan, whatever).

A not guilty verdict doesn't mean an absence of guilt. It means there was reasonable doubt about his guilt. No matter what the decision, Jackson's innocence, or lack of, will still be questioned. To me, his own words are the most damning.

In the Martin Bashir BBC documentary that aired in 2003, Jackson admitted, "I have slept in a bed with many children," but added, "When you say 'bed,' you're thinking sexual. It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in...It's very charming, it's very sweet."

It's not charming. It's not sweet. It's sick.

Michael Jackson is clearly a very troubled individual. Why didn't someone help him? He obviously has been making poor choices for years. Twenty years ago, he dated Emmanuel Lewis and Brooke Shields.

Why did a doctor agree to chop up his face? Why didn't Elizabeth Taylor tell Jackson to stop before he irreversibly hacked away at the nose he had at birth?

Wasn't there anyone around Jackson who cared about him enough to point out the inappropriateness of his behavior?

If he did abuse children, Jackson can't be considered just another bizarre celebrity who couldn't handle fame. He deserves to be called a pedophile, a sexual predator. He deserves to be imprisoned for a long time.

Nonetheless, I can't help but feel at least some pity for Jackson, and disdain for his friends and family for failing to keep him away from vulnerable children. How does one live with one's eyes wide shut for decades?

In the end, Jackson, and only Jackson, is responsible for his actions. I have trouble viewing him as a victim. However, it still does pain me to think of his pathetic existence.

It's all very sad.