All language subtitles for Michael.Jackson.The.Verdict.S01E02.NF.WEB.H264-EDITH.en[sdh]

[unsettling music playing]

[Kerry] First day of the trial,

Michael got up
at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.

This was a big day.

This was one of my biggest days,
and I know Michael's biggest days.

He looked sharp. His makeup was done well.

His attire was toned down
for this trial proceeding.

But he still was Michael.

Okay, we're recording.

- [woman 1] Michael!
- [woman 2] Michael!

[woman 3] Michael!

[Kerry] I wasn't a fan of videoing

because that takes me away
from what I'm supposed to do.

But it was at Michael's request.

[Michael] Can you zoom in
on her sign, Kerry? Then pull out.

[Kerry] Yes, sir.
I'm zoomed as much as I can go.

Inside, I was concerned, I really was,

because they were gonna bring witnesses
accusing him of these crazy things.

If he was convicted
on any one of those charges,

he would be going to jail
for the rest of his life.

- Michael!
- [screams]

Innocent, innocent, innocent!

[unsettling music continues]

Okay.

More than one year after his arrest,

Michael Jackson's
high-profile child molestation trial

has finally begun.

[crowd] Michael, innocent!

I walked into what looked like a circus.

Michael is innocent!

There were news media tents everywhere.

Satellite trucks lining the streets.

We had ABC, NBC, CBS,

and you could see helicopters flying over.

Every other person
had a camera on their shoulder.

[reporter] You're covering this
for Mexico?

Yeah. Television Azteca. TV Azteca.

We are a TV station from Taiwan.

It's a very big story in Japan.

[man 1] By some estimates, as many as 1000
Jackson fans from all over the world here.

There's even a U-Haul truck
giving away free T-shirts that say,

"I support Michael Jackson."

It was the case of the century.

[man 2] This trial
goes to the very heart and soul

of what the American
justice system is all about.

It touches on race. It touches on wealth.
It touches on celebrity.

[woman] They've got the lights
and cameras ready.

All they need now
at Santa Maria courthouse is the action.

[suspenseful music playing]

[crowd yelling indistinctly]

[car horn honking]

[Kerry] From the minute
we left the freeway, the fans were just…

They were chaotic.

Michael! Michael, we love you!

They're showing Michael the signs,

and he's letting the window down,
drawing them in.

- You're innocent, Michael! We love you!
- We're with you!

Innocent! We love you!

[Kerry] He wanted protection,

but the most important thing to him
was his fans.

[yelling]

We had threat assessments done

that there was idiots saying
that they were gonna kill him.

Michael! You're innocent!

[Michael] Kerry, get the window down,
otherwise it's gonna be dark.

[Kerry] When you expose yourself to people
that say they're gonna kill you,

that's when they can obviously do it.

But he's like, "But the fans."
"But the fans."

When he would see how enthused they were
and how much they loved him,

that was like a shot in the arm.

[suspenseful music continues]

We were escorted
by police officers in uniform.

[man] Michael!

[Kerry] We made a turn on the main street.

[yelling]

[Kerry] I would describe it
as controlled chaos.

So my job
was in communication with my guys.

How's it looking?

Can we disembark and make sure
all the high ground was covered?

No snipers.

[crowd yelling indistinctly]

[Kerry] When we get out of the car…

[crowd roars]

…we were so vulnerable.

[man] Yeah, he's here. This is him.

[Kerry] You're in the open,
and we can't cover everything.

[crowd continues yelling]

We don't have anything but God
protecting us at this particular point.

[woman on TV] When he walks into Court 8,

he'll come face-to-face with his nemesis,

Tom Sneddon, the district attorney
leading the prosecution.

[Ron] Tom and I worked very well together.

We really felt that if we believe

that he had molested this child,

and we did,

then we have an obligation to pursue it.

This was a case about a man

who was one of the most
recognizable people in the world.

He was unique in his talent
and skill and his accomplishment.

And he was unique
in his victimization of children.

[ominous music playing]

[woman] On the other side of the court
will be Thomas Mesereau.

He's likely to say that the family
have a history of making false claims.

Tom Mesereau is incredibly thorough,
leaves no stone unturned.

And I think the term "shock and awe"
does indeed apply to this defense case.

[Diane] I want you to remember
the defense team pecking order here.

Tom Mesereau is the lead attorney.

There is a local attorney here.

And then there is Brian Oxman.

Now he's been a Jackson family attorney
for a long, long time.

He adores the Jackson family,
every one of them.

[Brian] I did Randy's divorce.
I did Jermaine's divorce.

I did Tito's divorce.

I did La Toya's divorce.

And I did Michael's divorce.

I believed Michael was innocent
from the very get-go.

No way he had done these crimes.

I just didn't believe it.

[ominous music continues]

Despite Michael Jackson's
enormous fame and privilege,

Michael Jackson, at the end of the day,

was still a Black man

being charged by a white prosecutor.

And he was going to be judged
by a mostly white jury.

[Melissa] I was juror number eight.

I grew up in Detroit, in the Motor City.

And I remember watching
the Jackson 5ive on cartoons on Saturday.

That was like one of my favorite cartoons.

[together] The Jackson 5 has arrived.

Ta-da!

The Jackson 5, eh?

["ABC" playing]

He had the talent
and the voice and the moves.

[chuckles] He just was everything.

[Tammy] I was juror number six.

My 23rd birthday
was the day I was selected.

[suspenseful music playing]

I felt a little excited

and a lot nervous.

I didn't want to be responsible

for sending somebody innocent to prison.

And I didn't want to be responsible
for letting a pedophile walk free.

[crowd yelling indistinctly]

[Trent] The judge made the decision

that despite the enormous interest
that the media and the public had,

that cameras weren't
allowed in the courtroom.

When Judge Melville decided there would be
no cameras in the courtroom,

I-- I was-- I was thrilled.

Where the cameras were in the courtroom,

what happens is people start, uh,
trying the case to the cameras,

not to the judge, not to the jury.

It begins to affect your decisions.
I mean, prosecution and defense.

It's just a human response to knowing

you're going to be
on the six o'clock news.

[ominous music playing]

[Melissa] I sat in the very back
against the wall.

And Michael Jackson walks in.

He was real. [chuckles]

Michael was scared to death.

We were beside ourselves.

[Ron] We believed he was a criminal
in a very profound way.

And he was able to get away with it

because he had the power
of his fame and celebrity.

[Diane] The defense said, "No, no, no."

"Michael Jackson is a kind,
wonderful man who loves children."

"It's all been misconstrued."

"And people who say these horrible things
are just after the money."

[Thomas] It was our opinion
that this family

began to come up with these allegations

only when they realized
that they were on the way out.

They needed to do something else to stay
involved in his life and get a big payday.

And this is what they came up with.

[tense music playing]

[woman] Based on opening statements
in Michael Jackson's trial,

the pop star is either a sexual predator,
according to the prosecution,

or the target
of an elaborate extortion scam,

according to the defense.

[Kerry] Tom Mesereau and the team said,

"Let us do our job,
and we can get you out of this."

But that's easier said than done.

I turned around.
I said, "How do you moonwalk?"

He said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "You just moonwalk."

I said, "That's just how
you have to approach this."

All you got to do is be you.

Be there. We'll handle this.

[ominous music continues]

[Diane] Witness number one, Martin Bashir.

This is the man whose documentary
has sparked this entire criminal trial.

[man on TV] Today,
the British journalist Martin Bashir,

who made the controversial documentary
Living with Michael Jackson,

is expected to take the stand.

The first prosecution witness
to give evidence in this trial.

[Martin] The anxiety levels
are through the roof.

I'm frightened by the rhetoric

that's being written
about the film and about me.

I'm distressed about the way
his legal team and his PR people

are attacking the program.

You know, you're petrified.

[crowd yelling indistinctly]

[Diane] In the courtroom,
he spots me and I spot him.

And we shook hands with each other.

It was pretty clammy, that hand,

so I knew that he was nervous.

The prosecution played the Martin Bashir
documentary in its entirety.

[Martin on TV] Eight months ago,
I put a proposal to Michael Jackson.

Show me the real man,
but show me everything.

Make nothing off-limits.

[Diane] And I think the prosecution

wanted to show

the eccentricities of Michael Jackson.

Do you come out here on your own?

- Yeah.
- How often?

All the time.

- You come out on your own?
- Yes.

The problem was because there were
so many clips of music,

you could see that the jury
were kind of enjoying the film

because it was fabulous,

and the music
was the music of Michael Jackson.

["Billie Jean" playing over speakers]

[Randy] I looked around,

and all the people
in the courtroom and the jury

and, you know, the judge,

and everybody's just
bobbing their heads up and down.

They're literally swaying in their seats.

I remember me moving in time to his music.

At one point, Tom jabbed me and said,
"Would you stop moving your foot?"

Seeing him sitting there
while they're playing his music,

it was neat.

I thought,
"Wow, they really love this guy."

[tense music playing]

But when it came to that scene with Gavin,

the court was very quiet.

There was one night I stood in
and asked if I could stay in his bedroom.

He let me stay, and I was like,
"Michael, you can sleep on the bed."

"If you love me,
you can sleep on the bed."

I was like, "Oh, man."

[Diane] Michael Jackson was holding hands
with Gavin, talking about his cancer.

Gavin puts his head on his shoulders.

[Martin] …when they say,
"Is that really appropriate?"

[Diane] You know,
jurors are allowed to take notes.

And during the Bashir documentary,

I didn't notice any jurors
taking any notes at all.

They were just enthralled with the show.

The prosecution strategy from the outset

was that if they showed
the film to the jury,

it would unsettle them.

When people hear
that children from other families

have come and they've stayed
in your house,

they've stayed in your bedroom.

[Michael] Well, very few.

[Martin] But, you know, some have.

And they say,

"Is that really appropriate for a man,
a grown man, to be doing that?"

How do you respond to that?

I feel sorry for them
because that's judging someone

who wants to really help people.

[tense music continues]

Then after that, I was brought
into the witness box and questioned.

[Diane] Tom Mesereau said,

"You always went in thinking
you were going to get a big scoop

and make a big sensational splash, right?"

That was the tone of Tom Mesereau
talking to Martin Bashir.

[man on TV] After the viewing,
there followed tense exchanges

between Bashir and Jackson's lawyer,
Thomas Mesereau.

I think it was clear that Tom Mesereau
wanted to smear Martin Bashir

and his intentions from the get-go.

When you actually
invite children into your bed,

you never know what's going to happen.

But when you say bed,
you're thinking sexual.

They make that sexual. It's not sexual.

What do you think
people would say if I said,

"Well, I've invited some
of my daughter's friends round,

or my son's friends,
and they'll sleep in bed with me"?

[Michael] That's fine!

[man] The TV journalist refused to answer
most of the questions put to him.

At one stage, Bashir told the court,

"I want to stand by the film
and let it speak for itself."

[Martin] I was briefed by our lawyer

as to how to respond to any questions.

And I was told to say,

"I'm not going to answer that question."

And that was substantively what I said
to every question that I was asked.

[Thomas] Martin Bashir
was a disaster for the prosecution.

He wouldn't even answer basic questions
about the work he had done

and what he did and why he did it.

And that had to have looked very evasive,
I think, to the jury.

Would I let my kids sleep
with somebody that's famous like that

and share a room with them? No.

But I thought Martin Bashir
was trying to trap Michael Jackson

into saying something wrong

to kind of make things out
that weren't there.

[Thomas] My opinion was that Mr. Bashir
was very cleverly

and very maliciously manipulating him
down a path of destruction.

He made Michael Jackson think this
was going to be a positive documentary,

but it was the biggest mistake
Michael Jackson ever made.

- [woman] How are you feeling today?
- Angry!

[woman] Anger.

[man] Michael Jackson simply
couldn't contain his frustration

after a day of relentless questioning,
but precious few answers.

This trial always promised drama,

and it's delivering.

[crowd screaming and cheering]

[Kerry] On the drive back to Neverland,

he referred to Martin Bashir as another
demon just trying to destroy him.

Because this is what started it.

He's all a part of this conspiracy.

"They're trying to kill me,"
kind of thing.

I'm not supposed to be really
focusing on your conversation.

I'm supposed to be doing my job.
But I do hear it.

And I'm thinking, "This is the first guy."

"Wait till these other witnesses
get up here

with the kind of stuff
they're going to say."

[tense music playing]

[sheriff] There's a lot of people here
that want to get tickets.

We need your cooperation.

If you do not cooperate,

and we can't do this
in an orderly fashion,

then we won't do it.

[woman] What's up? What's happening?

I was at the courthouse steps
no later than about 5:30 a.m.

because I know around 6:30 a.m.,

they are drawing tickets

to who could sit
in the actual courtroom that day.

[sheriff] Again, everybody must have
a picture ID before we start the lottery.

In January, I let my boss know
that I would be resigning

from my preschool teaching job,

and I would be moving to Santa Maria
for the Michael trial.

And that's exactly what I did.

- [sheriff] Let's go.
- [woman] Come on.

[Sheree] A lot of people don't realize
love is not a word.

It is an actual action.

[sheriff] Keep walking down.

[Sheree] As fans and advocates
and people of love, soldiers of love,

at your lowest point, here we are.

[sheriff] 7-2-4.

6-7-4.

8-2-6.

- Yes! Thank God. Bless.
- [crowd cheering]

[man] Go, Sheree! [barking]

[Sheree] The media had decided
that Michael was guilty

and that he was going to jail.

That was their angle.

So I knew the media
wasn't going to cover it.

Transcripts wasn't gonna
allow you to really find out

exactly what was going on

unless you were sitting in the courtroom
and hearing it for yourself firsthand.

[suspenseful music playing]

[crowd chanting] Michael is innocent!

[man] Michael!

[man on TV]
Jackson arrived at the courthouse,

his parents and brother Jermaine with him,

while the brother of his accuser
was coming in through another entrance.

[Diane] It's the two brothers' testimony

that's at the crux
of the prosecution case.

Gavin Arvizo, the alleged victim,
and his younger brother Star,

these are the two most critical witnesses
of the entire trial

because that's what it's all about.

Did he or did he not molest a child?

[tense music playing]

The prosecution took Star
through what happened at Neverland.

And Star said, "Well, Michael Jackson
took us aside and said,

'Ask your parents if you can
spend the night in my room.'"

And they did.
And the parents gave permission.

And once in the bedroom,

Star said they were shown
a laptop computer

with many porn sites on it.

Now, Star Arvizo, 14 years old,
doesn't know the word "grooming."

But the prosecution made it clear

these were the steps
of grooming these boys.

[unsettling music playing]

[Ron] You have to understand a little bit
about the layout of Neverland.

The house itself
is an older Tudor-style home.

And there's a separate entrance
into the bedroom suite.

There's a combination lock.

The kids knew the combination
to the combination lock.

Their mother didn't.

[unsettling music continues]

There was a loft that you went up
a set of stairs to be able to get to.

And in the loft was a king-size bed.

Above the bed was a painting.

The painting was a depiction
of the Last Supper.

Um, but the Christ figure in the middle
was not Christ.

It was Michael Jackson.

[Diane] Star said once in the bedroom,

the pornography was brought out.

Jackson always said, "Don't tell anybody."

When you feel like you're in the company
of someone otherworldly, almost,

and they tell you to,
shh, keep the secret,

you keep the secret.

[on TV] From the master bathroom,

three books of nudes in a plastic bag,

a couples' magazine,
a book of nude photos of men.

And from the den
and a second floor closet,

a book of nudes called Naked as a Jaybird,

and several porno magazines
in a black briefcase.

[Ron] There was one particular publication
that I thought was noteworthy.

And it's a publication
that was titled Barely Legal.

And it depicted nude, young-looking women.

They looked like the girls
these boys would go to school with.

And if this was designed
to groom children, and it was,

then it would be effective
in sexualizing children

by showing them
what they would find to be intriguing.

[unsettling music continues]

Star testified that he was walking
up the stairs in the bedroom

and was able to see
Michael Jackson doing something

that was suspicious with Gavin.

And Gavin appeared
to be completely out of it.

Either asleep or possibly unconscious.

[Diane] It was bombshell.

I mean, pornography,
liquor, acts of molestation.

[Jim] This witness is huge.

If the defense cannot
shake up this witness

or have him recant on major issues,
I think this is a big part of the case.

[Brian] Oh my God.

Talk about devastating testimony
from a child.

What do you do with that?

When a child says that
very plainly, very clear,

that's what his testimony was.

What do you do?

[suspenseful music playing]

[man on TV] In California,

defense attorneys
in the Michael Jackson molestation trial

will try to discredit
a key witness later today.

[woman] The 14-year-old brother
of Jackson's accuser

is to return to the witness stand today
for cross-examination.

[suspenseful music continues]

[Diane] When the prosecution
was questioning him,

Star did a really good job describing
all the pornography that they saw

on the computer and in the magazines.

On cross-examination,

Tom Mesereau pointed
to one of the exhibits,

a copy of Barely Legal,

and he said, "Is this the one you saw?"

And Star said, "Yes, that's the one
Michael Jackson showed us."

[Sheree] He continued to ask him,

"Is this the magazine
that Michael showed you?"

He got him to say point-blank,
"Yes, it is the magazine."

Then he uncovered the date.

And that magazine was at a date
where they had long past left Neverland.

[man 1 on TV] "Look at the magazine
on top," says Mesereau.

"It's dated August 2003,

long after your family
left Neverland for good."

[man 2] It seems it couldn't have been
the actual magazine.

But I think more important
were the inconsistencies

about exactly what he saw.

On different occasions,

he described
what he saw quite differently.

And Tom Mesereau pointed that out.

There was apparently an alarm
or chime that would sound

when you would enter the doorway
of Michael's bedroom.

So the question is, didn't that go off?

[unsettling music playing]

[Melissa] Star goes up those stairs.

In order to get to those stairs,
you have to go through a door.

The door has bells.
And then you're going up the stairs.

You have more.

Don't you think Michael Jackson
would have heard that

and stopped what he was doing

and rolled over
and pretended he was asleep?

[Sheree] Everyone in the courtrooms
were just like…

[gasps] "Oh my goodness."

You know, "That just totally show
how much you're lying."

"And you're willing to just keep lying,

even though somebody
is asking you over and over again."

I remember Tom Mesereau
calling Michael to the side,

just right there in the courtroom.

And we could see them
just chatting a little bit.

And then Tom Mesereau came back and said,

"This, beyond a shadow of a doubt,
had proven Michael innocent."

He was a total master of his game,
Tom Mesereau.

[man] Michael, how did you feel
hearing those allegations today?

I'm sorry, I'm under gag order.

[Melissa] Hearing some of the things
the prosecution said

really got to me.

But in this country,

it's you're innocent
until you're proven guilty.

So the prosecution
had to prove to me that he did this.

[crowd screaming and cheering]

My sources are telling me
that after this young boy testifies,

his brother, the accuser,
will be on the stand.

I mean, this is what
the case is all about.

It comes down to what this boy
says occurred to him.

[woman on TV] Gavin Arvizo is now 15.

It's his story that will
make or break this case,

and he will have his day in court.

[unsettling music playing]

[telephone ringing]

[Kerry] Between 2:00 and 3:00,
I get a call from Michael.

And he told me,

"Kerry, come up to my room. I need help."

He said, "I fell, and I hurt myself."

I noticed that he had a cut on his face.

His shirt was disheveled.

And he had on some pajamas.
Like, what happened?

He told me he slipped in the shower.

I said, "Okay, well,
let's go to the hospital."

So I took him to the hospital.

They injected him with something.

A sedative or whatever.

But Michael would just keep talking,

saying that he was in pain
and he couldn't sleep.

I went out, and I said, "Mr. Jackson
would like some more pain medication."

"It's not working."

[ominous music playing]

They came in
and they gave him something else.

Forty-five minutes later,
he's still not going to sleep.

It's, you know, four o'clock,
five o'clock in the morning.

He says, "Kerry, go tell them
I need something else. It's not working."

So I go tell them he needs something else.

And the doctor comes in, and he says,
"I can't give him nothing else."

"I've given him enough
to tranquilize an elephant."

[man on TV] His accuser once called
Jackson the coolest guy in the world.

Today, the 15-year-old
will be on the stand

face-to-face
with the world-renowned pop star.

[Aaron] Will the jury believe the story
told by the young teenager

who is accusing Jackson of molesting him?

It's that simple.

If they don't believe, Jackson walks.
If they do believe, he goes to jail.

[Diane] This is the first full day
of testimony of Gavin Arvizo.

We all get into the courtroom, 8:30,
like we're supposed to.

There's no Michael Jackson.

[David] Turns out the self-proclaimed
King of Pop is in the town of Solvang

at a small 22-bed hospital

seeking treatment for a, quote,
"serious back problem."

He's still in a lot of pain.

And I eventually asked the doctor, I said,

"Will you call the judge?"

"Because now, somebody should be in."

That's how late it had gotten.

[Diane] Tom Mesereau stood up
and said to the judge,

"Um, well, Your Honor,
he's at the hospital."

And the judge didn't hesitate.

He said, "There's a warrant for his arrest
in one hour if he isn't here."

"You get him here right now."

"The bond will be revoked,
and I will put him under arrest."

It's the only time
I ever saw Tom Mesereau flustered.

What he told me was virtually impossible.

I got to go back to Neverland

and then drive, you know,
45 minutes to Santa Maria Court.

And I'm like, "This is a setup."

I just said, "We got to go, Michael."

[tense music playing]

[David] With a national audience watching
and his very freedom on the line,

Jackson must hurry.

It's a 37-mile journey,

a 45-minute drive
in the best of circumstances.

As the Jackson entourage
speeds down the 101,

exceeding 90 miles an hour,

Jackson's attorney
nervously paces outside.

He constantly checks his cell phone.

8:49, 9:09,

9:14, 9:20,

9:29.

It's clear to all who are watching
the clock, it's going to be close.

Michael was terrified,
upset, beside himself.

He thought that his whole life
was evaporating.

[woman] Can you imagine

your client not showing up?

And there's Mesereau on the barbecue,
taking the heat.

[suspenseful music playing]

An hour went by,
and there's no Michael Jackson.

And then suddenly,
we were told that two reporters,

a print person and a television person,

could go out and watch the arrival,
and I was one of them.

- [crowd yelling indistinctly]
- [ominous music playing]

We show up to court.

And I'm looking at Mesereau.

And he's gone like,
"What the heck? What? What is this?"

[woman on TV] It has to be
the most shambolic public appearance

Michael Jackson has ever made.

The usually immaculately groomed star

shuffled into court
in pajamas and slippers.

He was disorientated, disheveled,
and over an hour late.

[Ron] He was almost being carried
by his assistants,

as if he's the most feeble person
in the world, right?

All a show. All a show.

[Stacy] Michael played the victim

better than anybody I've ever seen.

It was timed to distract
from Gavin's testimony,

but also to say,
"See? I'm the victim here."

"I'm injured."

"They're dragging me into court
in my pajamas."

"I'm the victim."

So I just think
it was master manipulation.

[poignant music playing]

[Diane] I remember saying, you know,

"Good morning, Mr. Jackson.
How are you feeling?"

No answer.

"Are you on pain medication, Mr. Jackson?"

Nothing.

And he went into the court
and, like a zombie,

walked down the aisle very slowly,

took his seat, and slumped down.

[ominous music playing]

[Randy] So there was a big sort of buildup
to the moment when Gavin,

this supposed victim,
would finally be on the stand.

I had never met Gavin.

We just knew it had to be bad
because we're here, right?

When he was finally there in person,

the thing that struck me was,
"Wow, he's just a kid."

[Ron] What we saw, I thought, was a child
who had experienced sexual abuse.

But you also saw a child who presented
as very intelligent and very honest.

I was hoping that a jury
would come to see that.

[Diane] This is my notebook
from the court,

and it says, "The boy looks frequently
at Michael Jackson with a steely gaze."

The boy described how Jackson asked him,
"Do you masturbate?"

And he said, "I felt uncomfortable
with this conversation."

"During the encounter,
he was masturbated by Michael Jackson."

"Michael Jackson
comforted him after the act."

At a minimum, what the prosecutor wants
from Gavin's testimony are the following…

Did Michael Jackson spend time with him
intimately and molest him?

The answer to that was yes.

And the prosecutor got Gavin Arvizo
to acknowledge that on the witness stand.

He said that Michael Jackson molested him
twice at the Neverland Ranch.

They also got the fact
that Michael Jackson gave him

what he says
Michael Jackson called Jesus Juice.

That was alcohol.

That was important because
part of the prosecution's narrative,

part of the allegation,
is that Michael Jackson used alcohol

to dull the senses,

to remove the inhibitions of Gavin.

[woman] This is a pretty
compelling witness, this young man.

And he was extremely detailed
about all the things that happened.

There were love notes
that Michael Jackson gave to him.

Uh, they were in bed together constantly.

They slept together,
many, many nights together.

And also with the brother.

So this is a lot of specific detail

that the defense is gonna have to overcome
and say that it's all made up.

[ominous music playing]

[Tammy] I think for such a young kid,
he held himself very well.

I tried to be open and feel for this kid

that possibly was molested.

[Melissa] He was asked,
"Do you miss being his friend?"

And Gavin goes, "Yes, I do."

That kind of tore my heart out
because looking at Gavin,

and I knew he was sincere about that.

I just remember Michael's head
going down like this.

And he was just, like,
devastated by this kid's testimony.

[Louise] After the trial started,

I would go over there
and visit the Arvizos.

They were pretty secluded.
The kids were not in school.

They had maybe a six-month period

where they really
didn't leave their house at all.

They were being stalked and followed
by reporters and fans

and all sorts of unsavory elements that,
you know, were potentially dangerous.

So I would just go over
and just sit and talk with them.

[poignant music playing]

Gavin was getting more and more…

in his head.

And a lot of it
had to do with him believing

that he would have no life after this.

Those were the words he used.

[man] We are not affiliated
with Michael Jackson or his people.

Okay? We are law enforcement officers.

[Louise] Gavin was a very sparkly,

outgoing, mischievous,

twinkly individual

with a smile for everyone.

And his personality dramatically changed,

not by cancer and a year
of aggressive chemotherapy,

but by his time with Michael Jackson.

I just saw it in his demeanor.

[unsettling music playing]

The defense then takes over
cross-examination on Gavin Arvizo.

And I made a note here in my notes

that, uh, Mr. Mesereau started off
by calling him Mr. Arvizo.

And Gavin shot back, "Yes, Mr. Mesereau."

And I wrote down,
"Oh boy, the gloves are off."

Mesereau was literally screaming at Gavin
for the first half hour.

You could hear him down the street,
he was screaming so loudly at him.

It was a vicious cross-examination.

[woman on TV] Tom Mesereau
came in like gangbusters

and started to try to rip up
this boy's story.

He's very good at that.

Now, this boy was feisty and talked back

to the point that the judge warned
both of them not to argue with each other.

When Tom Mesereau started
to question him on cross-examination,

Gavin changed.

He got flustered. He got confused.

He got angry at points.

And it didn't work in his favor.

Dealing with a child
who's already scared to death

and who's already mortified at the thought

that they're being accused
of being a liar and a manipulator

by this prominent attorney
standing in front of them,

screaming at them
in front of a room full of people,

being asked intimate questions about
whether their penis was touched or not,

the kind of question
none of us would ever want to answer

in a public setting
or even a private setting,

uh, then you understand
how harrowing that can be for a child.

And for jurors who don't
understand the phenomena,

all they see is a misbehaving child.

The prosecutor
can control a lot of things.

What they can't control
is the passage of time.

When they initially
interviewed Gavin years earlier,

he was a prepubescent boy.

But now it's different.
He's now pubescent.

He's now more combative.

He's got all the energy, the fire,
the hormones of a teenager.

Some of this appeared
to come out of nowhere.

And I don't think that he came across
as the kind of credible witness

that you would have expected
of your star witness

if you're the prosecutor.

[unsettling music playing]

[Diane] On his direct examination,

Gavin talked about
how Michael Jackson told him,

"You must masturbate

because otherwise you'll grow up
to be a man that rapes women."

That's a pretty stunning thing
to tell a child.

But that's what he testified to.

On cross-examination,

Tom Mesereau said, "Wait a minute,
there's this statement, Gavin,

that you made to the sheriff's department
a while back,

and you said your grandmother
told you exactly the same thing."

"So who was it?"

"Was it your grandmother,
or was it Michael Jackson?"

"Were you lying then,
or are you lying now?"

These are the types of traps
that Mesereau got these children in.

[Trent] Gavin Arvizo
indicated very clearly

that Michael Jackson had molested him.

He'd touched him inappropriately.

But at the same time,

he admitted that he still
admired Michael Jackson.

He still wanted to hang out
at Neverland Ranch.

He wanted to go back to Neverland Ranch.

[tense music playing]

Gavin Arvizo was angry at Michael Jackson
because he wanted him out of his life.

I never believed he was angry at him
because he was molested.

[Brian] No more magic.

No more flying on airplanes.

No more having the time of your life.

You have been thrown out of Eden.

[Melissa] He's a kid.

I wanted to make sure
that I listened to what he was saying.

But then when Mr. Mesereau gets up
and then he puts it all in order,

it's like, "Oh, definitely,
that does make more sense."

[Trent] Tom Mesereau
brought out the inconsistencies.

He walked Gavin through the evidence.

He pulled the thread
of those inconsistencies

until the garment fully came apart.

I don't think there's any doubt,
now that Gavin has left the stand,

that the defense is ahead.

In fact, the star witness
for the prosecutor

now appears to be
the star witness for the defense.

[suspenseful music playing]

[woman] Michael, how did it feel
watching the accuser testify?

- Sorry.
- [woman] How was it facing your accuser?

- Sorry, I can't speak now, sorry.
- [woman] Okay.

- Are you hurting right now, Michael?
- Yes. Very much.

[crowd yelling indistinctly]

[Kerry] We put him in the car and,
you know, it was kind of silent.

And then you'd hear…

You'd hear him beating on the…

Like, how could you do that to a person?
How could you do that?

Meaning, how could Gavin
accuse him of these egregious acts?

[somber music playing]

[Randy] You know, despite the fact
that the prosecution's case was so weak,

we were all, like,
pummeled by this testimony.

The image that Michael
had created for himself,

that he'd been working on
since he was 8 years old,

was just shattered.

There was a lot being said
among the press corps about,

"Well, the Arvizos
were really discredited."

"This case is over."

Dismal as it looked
for the prosecution at that point,

what most people didn't know

was they had some real cards
up their sleeves still to play.

[tense music playing]

[Ron] Why would a man who has children,
who has a job,

who does well in his community,
all of a sudden decide to molest a child?

That just doesn't make sense.

Well, if you've got other kids
who come forward and say,

"Oh no, he did it to me too,"

now you have somebody
who clearly has a propensity for doing it.

And so if we can get
other kids to come in,

or adults who were abused as children,

and say, "Yup, he did it to me,"
it's overwhelming evidence.

[tense music continues]

[man 1 on TV] The defense
in the Michael Jackson trial

suffered a big setback today.

The judge said he will allow
the prosecution to present evidence

that Jackson has been accused
of molesting children before,

and that he paid
to settle two of the cases.

The allowance of prior bad acts
by the judge landed like a thud,

like a lead balloon, just in your stomach.

It made the prosecution feel,
"We can get him."

[man 2 on TV] In a clear victory
for DA Tom Sneddon,

the judge ruled that under California law,

jurors could hear about old,
unproven molestation allegations

involving five boys.

[Andrew] It's one thing to say one family
is out to get Michael Jackson.

Now they have to say
that many families are,

and they all have the same story,
they're all in it for money.

And that's a tough sell with the jury.

Now, this looked like a serial predator.

These people were bringing him down.

[Anne] This is now a trial
about pattern evidence, about propensity,

and once a pedophile, always a pedophile.

- [crowd yelling indistinctly]
- [dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music continues]

[music fades]