Director Martin Bashir made a documentary about Michael Jackson's life named « Living with Michael Jackson », which had been broadcasted on ABC, a famous American TV channel. This film wasn't that much about his musical career. Michael's story wasn't told from an artistic point of view. Bashir had deliberately decided to show all aspects of his private life, until he admitted that he sometimes invited young boys to sleep at home. When it has been broadcasted, the documentary generated a lot of reactions, and chocked the media, who hurried to make lots of interpretations…

 

On February 2003, one of the Gavin Arvizo's teachers, a young boy, spotted in the documentary by Michael Jackson's sides, contacted the American authorities to denounce a case of child molestation. The prosecutor then decided to started an official investigation about it.

 

1) The first accusations

 

On November 2003, an arrest warrant was issued against Michael Jackson, but he was released for a $ 3, 000, 000 sum.

However, the following month, Santa Barbara County's prosecutor Tom Sneddon announced the ten charges issued against Michael:

 

He incurred a twenty-year jail sentence if he was declared guilty :

 

• n°1 : Accused of criminal association (violation of article 182 of California's Criminal) Code for child induction attempt, illegal confinement attempt (article 236), and extortion attempt (article 518) between February the 1st and March the 31st of 2003, in Santa Barbara County (where Neverland is situated).

   

• n°2, 3, 4, 5 : Accused of sexual abuse of minors (violation of article 288) between February the 20th and March the 12th of 2003.

   

• n° 6 : Sexual abuse attempt of minors (violation of articles 664 and 288) between February the 20th and March the 12th of 2003.

   

• n° 7, 8, 9, 10 : Accused of administration of a toxic agent with the aim of committing a crime (violation of article 222), for having incited a less than fourteen-year old minor to consume some alcohol, with the intention to commit a sexual abuse between February 20th and March 12th of 2003.

 

 

The court's recitals specified that charges 2 to 5 constituted charges for "serious crimes".
 

2) The preliminary hearings

 

On January the 16th of 2004, Michael Jackson had his first public appearance at the Santa Barbara's court, where he pleaded “not guilty”, with his lawyer Mark Geragos by his side.

Millions of fans are waiting outside the court to support their idol.

 

Seeing the effervescence around the case, the medias asked Judge Melville to broadcast the trial on live television but their request is rejected.

 

On march 1st, Michael himself launched a new website called “MJJ source” in order to communicate with his fans and the medias.

 

Months later, we noticed an important change in the affair, with Michael choosing a new lawyer, Thomas Mesereau.

 

On April 30th, Michael Jackson decided once and for all to plead again “Not guilty”, for all the charges alleged against him.

The defense then announced that no financial deal could ever be concluded between the two parties.

 

The judge Melville announced that the trial will begin on January, 31st of the following year.

 

On August, the defendant and all his family came to a new preliminary hearing, while his presence wasn't compulsory.

 

On September, there's another preliminary hearing. Michael Jackson is here once again, because this one is where the plaintiff's mother, Mrs Arvizo, is took for questioning.

 

3) The trial

 

On January 31st of 2005, the trial finally began. The first step is the selection of the jury.

In accordance with American law, 12 jury members and 8 substitutes must be designed. 50% of them are designated by the defense, and the other 50% by the prosecution.

 

In March, April and May, the testimonies took place in Santa Barbara’s court. As there are a lot of them, we made a table to help you understand the process, and who was in favor of who.

You can read it on: https://mon-partage.fr/f/T0T08t4m/

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4) The verdict

 

On May 31st, after months of testimonies, lawyers from the two parties and the judge made an assessment of the past months, and decided which instructions they have to give to the jury members.

 

On June 1st, Judge Melville summoned jury members in Santa Barbara to give them the last instructions. During the audience, he announced that the charges about alcohol can be set apart from the other charges; and that they can decide if the facts were premeditated or not.

 

On June 2nd, the last pleas occurred:

• The prosecution highlighted the fact that Michael Jackson is a “predator”, and that the young boy has a disease.

• The defense brought out the lies and dishonesty of the Arvizo family, the instability of Gavin and his mother, and the naive attitude of the signer.

 

Then, the deliberations took place for one week, from June 6th to June 13th.

 

On this very last day, the jury decided that Michael Jackson was finally innocent of the 10 charges alleged against him.