Innocent!
Innocent! Innocent!
'Michael Jackson is back in court for what could be the most crucial phase'
of his trial on child abuse charges.
A key prosecution witness is expected to testify today.
We needed to put Gavin's mother on the witness stand.
Janet was intelligent,
not well educated, but intelligent,
and had a very good memory of events.
This is someone who was a guest at Michael Jackson's ranch
during the period of time that he engaged in the alleged molestations,
and they were worried about her.
She was capable of blowing a whistle
in a way that could be very harmful for them.
'Gavin's mother is a key witness, and some observers believe
'the outcome of this trial could hinge on her testimony.'
Throughout the trial I had to give Michael Jackson
the benefit of the doubt.
That's what a defendant has a right to.
Not guilty until proven guilty.
But I thought, when Janet Arvizo got on the stand,
she would be convincing enough to make things look bad
for Michael Jackson.
I wanted the jury to know that when Janet was in Neverland,
she was very distrusting of what was going on.
They were continuously trying to separate her from the children.
She told the jury that she's relegated
to one of the guest cottages on the property.
Her sons are in the house, in his room.
The front door is locked.
So her kids are no longer with her and she doesn't have access to them.
And you couldn't just walk into his bedroom unannounced.
There's a combination lock in the access to the bedroom suite.
And then you walk down a hallway,
and the hallway had chimes in it that were activated
by a motion detector. So he would hear chimes going off
if somebody was walking down the hallway.
Do you think Janet knew that her son was being molested?
I asked her that many times.
She certainly had concerns.
She reached the point where she knew she just
had to get out of there, and she had to get her kids out of there.
But she just wasn't allowed to leave.
To keep her and the kids on Neverland, they were telling her,
there are killers who want to do harm to her children,
you need to stay here.
Very quiet. Thank you.
Janet told the jury she was compelled to do this video
by Michael Jackson's people, because they knew
that the Bashir documentary was a problem for him.
So they had the whole family sitting in chairs talking about
how wonderful Michael Jackson was,
but it was a tape that they did deliberately
to be able to use in the contingency of this happening,
where there was an arrest, where there was a prosecution.
My responsibility of a mother is to make sure that my children
are in safe...
...safety.
They were controlling her and where she went,
and what she did, and who she talked to.
You know, they were desperate to keep this under the carpet.
The stories by these accusers were extraordinarily convincing.
I'm sorry, I can't comment.
Was she kidnapped? Absolutely not.
Most false fabrication you ever heard in your life.
Most of the jurors were really taken aback by what Janet said
on the witness stand.
But I think they were not totally convinced
that the allegation was true.
None of it computed, none of it made sense to me.
My family's visit to Neverland coincided with the Arvizo family.
We said hello to them and we got to know them
and their kids seemed like, really friendly.
Gavin, thank God, seemed healthy, which was a really good thing.
And I spoke to his mother and she explained to me the journey
they had been on.
I felt that they were very happy to be at Neverland.
Gavin was completely normal and there was no weirdness
with his family, so none of this stuff makes sense.
I am subpoenaed by the prosecution
to testify about what I saw at Neverland.
'His name is Rudy Provencio.
'He reportedly has kept diaries and logs about some of the weirdness
'and things that he thought wasn't quite right.'
I was fearful and anxious,
but I didn't see anything wrong with just telling
the truth of what I know, especially when a child
might have been violated in some way.
It's a person's responsibility.
I told the jury I had overheard a conversation
that is being told to the mother
that these killers could be out there to get you, and you have
to be careful, you need protection.
It was obvious to me that they were worried
that the Avrizos were going to talk and make the problem worse
for Michael.
One of the witnesses that I remember quite clearly was Rudy Provencio.
Um, I totally believed him.
Thought he was telling the truth about his feelings,
about the Arvizos, and that they were being held at the ranch.
Rudy was a compelling witness.
And not only that, we found a tape where they recorded the call,
and they told her there are killers
who are out there who want to do harm.
'The DA revealed today that they actually corroborate
'some of the points she claimed. So a lot of the stories
'she tells seems to be true.'
I told Michael, I said, "Michael, if you had done this,
"it makes you a freakazoid.
"It makes you horrible."
He says, "I know, Brian."
Michael said, "Brian, I didn't do those things.
"Never. Never. Brian, show them it's not true.
"Tell them. Tell the world."
I told Michael I would overturn every stone, and I did.
Michael Jackson's defence team got a hold of every record
dealing with the entire family.
Not just Gavin, but everyone.
So, any job application that their mother had ever applied for,
they were able to get their hands on it.
Medical records, they got their hands on.
Gavin, of course, had been horribly sick and undergone surgery.
They had all of his medical records as well.
They had the gynaecological records of his sister,
who at the time was 15 years old.
There was no piece of paper that they ever generated
that they weren't going to get their hands on.
There was nothing in their lifetime
that they weren't going to know about.
The mother was getting welfare
from the Los Angeles County Bureau of Welfare.
When you apply for welfare,
you must do a full welfare application.
And I sat in my office looking at this, going,
"Oh, my, oh, my, oh, my, oh, my!"
Talk about a gold mine.
Michael Jackson's defence team gets its first chance today
to cross-examine the mother of the pop star's main accuser.
The documents showed repeated continuous falsity,
concealing the money that Michael spent taking him to day spa,
getting him bikini wax, buying this and paying that,
and, and, and luxury dinners.
They concealed it all.
They lied to welfare.
And you won't believe what they did before.
'The jury heard, she made previous accusations of sexual assault,
'claiming security guards at this JCPenney store...'
'..and that a Tower Records security guard...'
The family had claimed that they were molested by a security guard
at JCPenney.
The guard just said, "Oh, you got to be kidding."
Well, JCPenney's parted with $152,000,
and all of this was concealed from welfare.
They're just defrauding everybody they can defraud.
And when Michael Jackson brought this family into his fold,
this was a moment of opportunity
that they took to bring down
the greatest, biggest superstar in the world.
This was all a scam.
The defence was painting the accuser's family as grifters,
as people who went after celebrities for money.
What I've learned covering trials is that the best lawyers
are good storytellers, and if they tell a story
that the jury can picture and absorb and go,
"Aha, I get that", that is damning.
They were trying to show that she was just looking for a payday.
I knew it wasn't true, but this was what Michael Jackson would do.
Discredit the mothers of these children.
Even as Michael Jackson, through the course of the trial,
was becoming frail and more gaunt and thinner,
it looked like the chances of him walking away a free man
were increasing with every disastrous prosecution witness.
'Next month, Wade Robson leaves his home town of Brisbane
'for Los Angeles, where he'll live
'with the reclusive millionaire entertainer.'
What's the thing you most want to do then?
- Um, stay with Michael forever. - Really? All right.
I understood the importance of being able to locate other victims.
And, of course, um, Wade Robson was at the top of the list,
because we knew that he had been involved with Michael Jackson
for years.
We were absolutely convinced that he was a victim,
even though he had not come forward and disclosed it.
Wade Robson was a successful choreographer
and Jackson was instrumental in getting his career going.
Thank you, Britney.
We reached out to him hoping that he would testify and he said no.
There was another young boy from Australia, Brett Barnes,
who travelled with him throughout Europe
and South America over a year.
But he wouldn't testify.
Jimmy Safechuck, we believed he was a victim,
but he wouldn't come forward either.
So we needed the cooperation of all of them
and we had the cooperation of none of them.
But, you know, I understand.
I handled a number of child molest cases over the years.
It's a tough thing for kids to come forward
and publicly talk about having been victim of sex crime
and they disclose when they disclose.
And there's nothing we can do to speed up that process.
- Michael innocent. - Michael innocent.
We also understood that it's not easy
being an accuser of Michael Jackson.
It's not easy dealing with his fans.
There are multitudes of them and they can be vicious.
I was getting death threats on a regular basis saying,
"I know where you live. I know where your children are.
"I know your wife's name. I'm going to kill all of them."
I mean, it was horrible.
Michael innocent, Michael innocent.
There was that absurdity.
And almost like a cult-like following.
People who loved Michael Jackson, they defended him to the teeth.
You know, they referred to him more like a god.
SCREAMING
He trained his fans to be his soldiers.
There's no question.
His behaviour, this idea that he was such a victim
and he needed this protection.
His fans bought it hook, line and sinker.
And boy, oh, boy, did they ever come to his defence.
It's been a white knuckle ride,
but now, 43 days after it started, the prosecution has rested its case.
And it's time now for Michael Jackson
to tell his side of the story.
The prosecution had said that Wade Robson
was molested by Michael Jackson.
I had called Wade.
He was in Australia.
"Wade, you've got to come and testify."
"Bryan, I have told everybody it's not true.
"I wasn't molested. I'm not coming.
"No, I'm not. I'm not setting foot anywhere near this."
I must have called him at least six times.
Finally, he says, "You're a persistent man."
I say, "Yes, I am, Wade."
The first witness for the defence was Wade Robson.
It's interesting because Wade Robson has said
that he declined and then was subpoenaed by the defence.
But when he did take the stand, he was a very strong witness.
Wade Robson told jurors he first met Jackson at age five
and shared a bed with him more than 20 times until he was 14.
He got up in that courtroom and he said,
"Michael Jackson never molested me.
"Michael Jackson never put his hands any place
"that they weren't supposed to be.
"Michael Jackson never harmed me.
"Michael Jackson did not commit child molestation with me."
Uncanny testimony.
Fabulous.
That was a problem for us
because we were really hammering on the fact that he was a victim
and he's up there saying, "I'm not. I'm telling you, it didn't happen."
The second defence witness, Brett Barnes,
said the same thing, adding,
"I can tell you that if he had, I wouldn't be here."
Did they do a good job?
Oh, my. You betcha.
The defence has now presented its witness list
and there are some big Hollywood heavy hitters on there.
When this started,
a lot of people felt that this was an open and shut case,
But it became a soap opera, as they say,
but really a soap opera on steroids.
The prosecution was claiming that Michael's employee
saw Michael put his hands up Macaulay Culkin's pants
and play with his privates.
OK. Well, what does Mac say?
What does Macaulay Culkin say?
One of the most anticipated witnesses
in the Michael Jackson case took the stand today.
Macaulay Culkin denied it
and to this day denies that he was molested by Michael Jackson.
You know, I remember cross-examining Macaulay Culkin
and he's an actor, you know,
and so everything has a certain flair to it.
His appearance, his fame, his celebrity.
He was just an extraordinarily effective witness.
We live in a celebrity driven society,
and people are really attracted to celebrities.
They're mesmerised by them.
So that certainly happened at the trial
and I'm sure the jury was impacted too.
During the trial, Gavin's mind was completely scrambled.
It was heartbreaking.
They were just stuck in this apartment for months and months.
There was a school...
..out the window
and they'd just look at the kids going.
They just wanted to be in school.
This was... This was really tough on everybody.
Gavin was by himself in that trial.
He was literally by himself.
And it made...
It was very burdensome for him.
It was very challenging.
But he was courageous and he never told us,
"I'm not going to do it. I can't do it.
This is just ruining my life."
But he understood the importance of it.
At 15, he understood his obligation to do it.
The trial had raised a lot of doubts, in my mind anyway.
So I wanted to talk to Gavin.
I wanted to, you know, get a chance to talk to him myself.
You know, obviously all was off the record,
and, I didn't report it because, you know,
I wanted to respect his privacy.
He says, you know, "The world has me all wrong."
He says, you know, "I enjoyed my time with him.
"You know, just the things he did was wrong. He hurt me."
And I just thought, wow, you know,
this kid is telling me that this grown man,
this international icon, hurt him.
I couldn't help but to believe him.
I found no reason not to believe him.
Michael, are you happy the case is almost over?
His silence will be maintained.
It's now certain that Michael Jackson
won't be taking the witness stand in his own defence.
Just as it seemed that this case was drawing quietly to an end,
there is word of a possible dramatic finale.
Months before the trial actually started,
the police had interviewed Gavin.
And I wanted the jury to see it.
Because I think if you watch that, it's very hard for somebody to watch that and say,
"Oh, yeah, they're making the whole thing up."
He wanted to show you how to masturbate?
OK.
Did he put it on the outside?
Inside?
And what did he do next?
OK.
If there was a smoking gun in the whole case,
that was Gavin's interview with the sheriff's department.
I had really been convinced that Gavin was telling the truth.
Others on the jury saw this as not being the case at all.
A lot of people in that courtroom were very moved by that video.
- I got to tell you, Jim... - Go ahead.
A lot of people were moved by that video,
but a lot of people thought the kid was acting.
You know, I suppose there's reasonable doubt that he made it up.
Or he was he was told by Janet to, erm...
..tell the sheriff's department that he had been molested.
It just didn't come across that way to me.
He absolutely looked believable.
- Michael's innocent! - Michael's innocent!
After 14 weeks of often lurid testimony,
Michael Jackson's trial is now entering its most crucial phase.
In Santa Maria, California, tonight, it's all in the hands of the jury.
Eight women, four men on the Michael Jackson jury
will decide whether or not he is guilty of child molestation.
I was worried about the jury.
I had complete faith in everything Gavin was saying.
And I... There was never a question in my mind
as to the honesty or accuracy of his statements.
Never.
But this was an international superstar,
one of the most powerful men in the world.
And that changes the equation.
No matter what humanitarian actions,
no matter what joy and entertainment he brought to the world,
if Michael was harming children, he was a monster.
But he was not a monster. He didn't do any of those things.
There are people here from more than 28 countries reporting on the trial.
Hotel rooms are booked within a 40 mile radius.
Special fences and security have been brought in
and the fan contingent continues to grow as well.
The fan presence was there from beginning to end
and they were vociferous.
Those are the hardcore Michael Jackson fans from around the world.
Innocent!
Michael had encouraged his family and by extension his fans
to wear white, saying that he was innocent.
But I thought at the very least it's going to be a hung jury,
but they'll probably get a conviction.
He could face nearly 20 years in prison.
If the jury comes back guilty, Jackson will be off
to Corcoran State Prisons Protective Housing Unit,
home to, among others, convicted murderer Charles Manson.
Michael was feeling...
..frightened.
You're the biggest star in the world.
You...
You have magic that nobody else has.
And you are scared to death.
Your life is coming to an end.
And I said to him, I said,
"Michael, we're going to win. Do you understand?
"We're going to win."
He says, Brian, "I'm so scared. I don't think so."
Transmission, can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?
Edgar, they're on the... Come with me. It's OK.
There is breaking news that the jury in Santa Maria, California,
has sent word that it has reached a verdict.
They announced that they had a verdict
and it would be presented in the courtroom in two hours.
He drove up the freeway from Neverland Ranch
and the convoy of cars and fans behind him
was unbelievable.
His motorcade, as you see from this helicopter shot live,
left his so-called Neverland Ranch within the past 30 minutes
and is winding its way...
In the car, you had Michael in the middle
and La Toya on the right.
And she prayed with him.
"Dear Lord, take care of Your child, Michael Jackson."
"He is Your servant, Lord.
"He does Your bidding."
"Protect him. Defend him."
And Michael is stoic.
He doesn't say a word.
Outside the courtroom was a zoo.
I'd never seen anything like that before.
Gavin was not there. It felt like too much to take on.
If he's found guilty, it'll be a journey
not back to Neverland, but straight to prison.
We're in a waiting game now.
By the way, we should point out that the local police department
has dispatched a number of officers trained to watch
for potential suicidal behaviour on the part of some of these fans.
- Brian, I'm told... - We can hear our producer.
He is opening each ballot one at a time.
I'm told the room is very silent.
- But some of them... - I'm sorry, we have to interrupt you
because we're beginning to hear a little bit of audio
coming from the courtroom.
The microphone's on.
Superior Court of the State of California, count one verdict.
We, the jury, in the above entitled case, find the defendant not guilty.
CHEERING
Count two verdict, not guilty.
Not guilty!
Count three verdict,
not guilty of a lewd act upon a minor child.
He's vindicated! He's vindicated!
The clerk read it - Not guilty. Not guilty.
Not guilty. Not guilty.
Not guilty on all ten counts.
I always believed him!
I would not have come here if I thought Michael Jackson was guilty of these crimes!
I believed in him and I fought for him!
Michael Jackson is now free.
This case is over.
This is an all out vindication
for Michael Jackson and his supporters.
Michael got up...
..everyone congratulated everyone...
..didn't say a word, turned around, and he walked out.
There he is.
The first look at Michael Jackson
after his acquittal on all ten counts.
Clearly, this jury did not buy
that these people were telling the truth.
There's no doubt about it.
The defence said this family, this mother,
wanted to ride the gravy train.
Jurors realised that, you know,
in the celebrity land of Michael Jackson,
people do get accused of things that they haven't done.
Your reaction to the news, Stacey?
Well, Brian, I'm stunned.
I really thought that there was going to be a couple of convictions there.
He's dodged a bullet.
I truly felt that Michael Jackson was a child molester.
I felt that then and I haven't changed my mind now.
But the problem was proving it.
And the jury had a hard time believing the Arvizos.
We got Gavin on the phone.
And Gavin, poor Gavin...
I just remember that voice.
"Why didn't they believe me?
"Why didn't they believe me?"
It was over.
We would talk about Michael going through the fire...
..or the book of Daniel.
And I said, "Michael, you are being tested by fire. Michael."
As it turns out...
..this trial hurt him.
It hurt him badly.
He never went back to Neverland.
It was spoilt. It was ruined. It was defiled.
It was no longer the place of dreams.
So I think it was three days after the verdict,
Michael got in his limousine to LAX...
..to Bahrain.
Michael Jackson turned up at a Bahrain shopping mall,
hiding his face behind a veil and wearing a black robe
traditionally worn by Middle Eastern women.
He became what even his family described as a vagabond.
Michael and his kids would go from place to place,
anywhere he could find a home.
He was lost. Michael was lost.
Last night, his crown was looking distinctly tarnished.
Amid the adulation, the clear sound of booing.
Michael hated being hated.
He disliked being disliked.
He took it very personally.
He was very fragile in that regard. He was used to being loved.
But at that time, he really was...
..very unhappy at how hated he felt.
Michael Jackson finally came back to Las Vegas.
But he was...
..a broken man.
There were tremendous financial problems.
And also, it's believed that his drug problems continued to mount.
And there were terrible reports I got
that Michael was using medications.
And the family staged an intervention.
"No, no, no, I got this under control.
"I'm not addicted. I'm not."
Whatever, Michael. I tried. I tried, too.
After the trial, Gavin was a different person.
He was very different. He was subdued.
I would take him out driving.
We would just kind of...
..process everything that had gone on.
It just was tough. Things were tough.
They had all changed their names to go back to school.
But, erm, some of the Michael Jackson fans
had discovered their aliases and sort of outed them on Myspace.
He became extremely depressed.
It was very, very difficult for him to picture a life for himself.
Michael believed that if he could perform again,
that he would gain strength from his fans.
CHEERING
Because his livelihood and his life was the stage.
I love you.
CHEERING
I really do. You have to know that I love you so much.
Michael suddenly agrees to do 50 concerts.
See you in July!
CHEERING
50!
Michael couldn't get out of bed in the morning.
He was taking all this crap and all these drugs.
And 50!
Who ever got him to agree to that?
The only thing that was going to do was put so much pressure on him
that he would up the drug intake.
We were concerned that the phones were being disconnected.
Mrs Jackson had indicated at one point
she hadn't spoken to him in 12 weeks.
Every time she tried calling, the line was disconnected.
Well, that's the same thing that was happening to us.
But I don't think anybody really thought
it was anything very sinister going on.
When I heard that, I was shocked.
I'm like, that's pure bullshit.
Somebody took a recording and put it on slow motion.
That didn't even sound right.
I went...
I went to the emergency room.
And inside the emergency room was the family.
I saw them. I saw Mrs Jackson, I saw Mr Jackson.
And I was looking through the window...
..and in the background they were pumping somebody's chest.
I said, "Oh, my. Oh, my."
Michael Jackson is dead at the age of 50.
What I felt was absolute infernal...
..rage.
You stupid, stupid man.
Michael! Michael! What have you done?
You've orphaned your children.
I think it took a few hours for the rage to wear off.
And then terrible grief set in.
Michael's favourite word was 'innocence'
because Michael was robbed of that childhood innocence.
He said to me, "I never had innocence.
"My life has been a constant effort to reclaim lost innocence,
"like a return to Eden, a return to paradise."
There is new global backlash tonight
following the bombshell documentary Leaving Neverland.
The accusations made by Wade Robson, who is now 36,
and James Safechuck, now 41, are quite similar.
Both were befriended by Jackson when they were young boys
and both were brought to his Neverland Ranch,
where they claim the abuse began.
So what are you alleging that he actually did?
He sexually abused me from seven years old until 14.
I've lived in silence and denial for 22 years
and I can't spend another moment in that.
I was appalled.
I was shocked.
Wade Robson told the jury under penalty of perjury,
"It didn't happen."
And then he does this film and says, "Oh, yeah, it happened."
Well, the two don't jive.
It tells me that it's false.
I have never seen the documentary,
but I think these are cases of people coming out
and saying horrible things long after anything is provable
when there's a lot of money at stake.
The Michael Jackson I knew
was a really, really sweet, kind hearted person.
I don't know why I get so protective.
It doesn't make any sense. Do you think he's innocent?
After everything you've seen,
do you still think he's possibly innocent?
The world will say what it will say
and perhaps only God knows the truth.
Could I believe...
..that he was a paedophile?
Absolutely, categorically not.
But how do you know?
- How do I know that he wasn't a paedophile? - Yes.
Oh, I don't know.
I can only say, based on all the evidence,
all the trials and my personal knowledge of him,
he was absolutely incapable of harming a child.
I remember him putting...
..my hands on his head when he was down there.
I'll never forget the...
..the feeling of his hair.
The way they painted the picture
of inappropriate behaviour, sexual molestation, it moved me.
I just thought, oh, my gosh.
If you saw that documentary,
you have to have some compassion for Wade and James.
I think I was just like kind of wincing
and I was asking him not to do it,
but he did it and he said, "Oh, you'll like it."
It was so powerful. So powerful.
I was as big as Michael Jackson fan as anyone.
But that documentary showed how this man...
..manipulated not just those boys...
..not just their family...
..Michael manipulated the entire world.
I believe that the outcome could have been different
if Jimmy Safechuck and Wade Robson
had been able to talk about what had happened.
But I don't blame them.
I'm not angry.
I'm maybe a little frustrated, but I'm really not angry.
I'm glad that they have come forward now.
I think it's helpful. It's helpful for Gavin.
I think it's helpful for the rest of the country
to understand what actually happened.
A lot of folks did not want to believe Gavin.
They wanted to believe their hero, their idol.
We're talking about the King of Pop.
And we don't want to...
..believe that such a phenomenal talent is dangerous.
We just don't want those two things in the same place.
It's very difficult.
I'll be the first one to tell you because...
..I love his music, I love what he created.
But Gavin, his story has never shifted.
And we would know by now if the reason they had done this was money.
There's been no exchange of money in regards to any of this
for the Arvizo family.
So maybe we need to ask ourselves, is that body of work worth....
..the price of James Wade, Gavin...
Is that a fair price?
Gavin is doing extraordinarily well.
I'm just... I'm magnificently proud of him.
But he's fought for it.
He's fought hard.
Yeah, it's hard to talk about.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media