Acres and acres of professional media coverage on the result of the trial, but for me, three letters from ordinary folks in today’s L.A. Times said it all.
First, “The only thing that Jackson is guilty of is being weird. Fortunately, being weird is not a crime or half the population of California would be in prison.”
Second, “There are three basic rules of parenting: (1) Feed your child daily. (2) Don’t let your child play in heavy traffic. (3) Don’t let your child spend the night with Michael Jackson. Any parent who breaks these rules should be charged and convicted of endangering their child and, in the case of the third rule, exploiting their child. ”
And third, “The Jackson trial was an example of prosecutorial misconduct. The motive was for the prosecutor to harass an individual with values and a lifestyle antithetical to his own. I believe an investigation of the prosecutor’s office is in order. ”
To that, I would include members of the fourth estate pressed by their publishers, not against their will, into service.
And those looking for book deals.
There’s more. In my opinion half of the proceeds of any book deals should go to Jackson, to help write off his expenses at trial, and all lawyers should be forced to reveal their money interest in the cases in which they participate. At least 30% of settlements usually go to lawyers, and it is clear that they are motivated to stir up trouble in a celebrity’s camp, and then jump in to create huge settlements, or failing that, huge billable hours.
If Jackson had lost and received prison time, he would have been held in a special place apart from other prisoners, under suicide watch. I believe that certain members of the press and certain legal people should then have been incarcerated with him, because they were all in it together, to keep that watch.
Fat chance!