XPost: alt.music.michael-jackson, soc.culture.usa, alt.true-crime   
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   From: modpol@igs.net   
      
   Jackson Jury Ends 1st Day of Deliberations   
    By LINDA DEUTSCH | AP Special Correspondent   
   Posted June 6, 2005, 9:13 PM EDT   
      
   SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Jurors in the Michael Jackson   
   child molestation trial completed their first full day   
   of deliberations Monday without reaching a verdict.   
   Little more than an hour into the day the jurors sent   
   word to the judge that they had a question, but the   
   query and its resolution were not publicly disclosed,   
   drawing a protest from news media.   
      
   Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old   
   cancer survivor in 2003, plying him with wine and   
   conspiring to hold his family captive to get them to   
   rebut a damaging TV documentary about the singer. He   
   could get several years in prison if convicted on the   
   molestation counts.   
      
   The jury got the case Friday afternoon and deliberated   
   for about two hours.   
      
   Jackson fans waited outside the courthouse Monday   
   holding signs saying such things as "Only love. No   
   crime. He's innocent. Leave him alone," "We shall   
   overcome" and "Peter Pan rules." A woman held a sign   
   showing Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther   
   King Jr., and Jackson.   
      
   But the fans were outnumbered by an international   
   throng of reporters, photographers and TV crews. At one   
   point, Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, arrived and was   
   mobbed by cameras.   
      
   On the issue of the jury question, media pool   
   coordinator Peter Shaplen said Judge Rodney S. Melville   
   held a private meeting with lawyers in chambers to   
   discuss the question and how it would be answered.   
   Shaplen said the judge did not plan to reveal to the   
   public what the jurors asked about.   
   The procedure is unusual. Normally, questions from the   
   jury are a public record since they are submitted in   
   writing by the jury foreperson.   
      
   An attorney for news organizations including The   
   Associated Press filed motions seeking a transcript of   
   Monday's closed proceedings, immediate access to any   
   questions from the jury, and to any proceedings   
   concerning those questions.   
      
   Jackson was treated at hospital emergency room in the   
   town of Solvang on Sunday and rumors repeatedly swirled   
   through the press corps that he was returning there   
   Monday. Jackson spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain said he did   
   not and was feeling fine.   
      
   Sunday's treatment was for a recurrence of back   
   trouble, Bain said.   
      
   Copyright © 2005, Orlando Sentinel |   
      
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