XPost: alt.music.michael-jackson, soc.culture.usa, alt.true-crime   
   XPost: us.talk.headline-news   
   From: artbygds@bellsouth.net   
      
   Jackson Won't Share Bed With Kids Again   
      
   Published: 6/14/05   
      
      
   SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - Basking in the jurors' decision to acquit his   
   client of all counts, Michael Jackson's lawyer said Tuesday the singer will   
   no longer share his bed with young boys.   
      
   "He's not going to do that anymore," attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. told NBC's   
   "Today." "He's not going to make himself vulnerable to this anymore."   
      
   Jackson was found not guilty Monday of child molestation, conspiracy and   
   other counts. Jurors said the accusations of a young boy and his family were   
   not credible - a total legal victory that triggered jubilation among the pop   
   star's fans and embarrassment for the district attorney's office.   
      
   But Mesereau said the singer was still recovering from the ordeal.   
      
   "He's going to take it one day at a time. It's been a terrible, terrible   
   process for him," Mesereau said Tuesday.   
      
   A raucous welcome greeted Jackson as he returned to his Neverland Ranch on   
   Monday afternoon. As a convoy of black SUVs carrying him and his entourage   
   pulled through the gates, his sister LaToya rolled down a window, smiled   
   widely and waved. The crowd responded with a euphoric cheer.   
      
   "All of us here and millions around the world love and support you,"   
   proclaimed a banner strung across a fence by the compound in Los Olivos that   
   Jackson said he created to provide himself with the childhood he never   
   enjoyed.   
      
   "It's victory," said Tracee Raynaud, 39. "God is alive and well."   
      
   There was no comment from Jackson or his family Tuesday. He has no media   
   representative since Raymone K. Bain was dismissed last week, and neither he   
   nor his family issued any statements Tuesday morning.   
      
   The acquittals marked a stinging defeat for Santa Barbara County District   
   Attorney Tom Sneddon, who displayed open hostility for Jackson and had   
   pursued him for more than a decade, trying to prove the rumors that swirled   
   around Jackson about his fondness for children.   
      
   Sneddon sat with his head in his hands after the verdicts were read.   
      
   "We don't select victims of crimes and we don't select the family. We try to   
   make a conscientious decision and go forward," Sneddon said afterward,   
   adding "I'm not going to look back and apologize for anything that we've   
   done."   
      
   Jurors may have acquitted Jackson of all charges of molesting a 13-year-old   
   cancer survivor, but not all of them were convinced the King of Pop had   
   never molested a child.   
      
   "He's just not guilty of the crimes he's been charged with," said Ray   
   Hultman, who told The Associated Press he was one of three people on the   
   12-person panel who voted to acquit only after the other nine persuaded them   
   there was reasonable doubt about the entertainer's guilt in this particular   
   case.   
      
   Prosecutors presented testimony about Jackson's allegedly improper   
   relationships with several boys in the early 1990s, including the son of a   
   maid who testified that Jackson molested him during tickling session between   
   1987 and 1990. Another, Brett Barnes, took the stand to deny that he was   
   molested during sleepovers at Neverland.   
      
   But Hultman said he believed it was likely that both boys had been molested.   
   He said he voted to acquit Jackson in the current case because he had doubts   
   about his current accuser's credibility.   
      
   "That's not to say he's an innocent man," Hultman, 62, said of Jackson.   
      
   Some jurors noted they were troubled by Jackson's admission that he allowed   
   boys into his bed for what he characterized as innocent sleepovers.   
      
   "We would hope first of all that he doesn't sleep with children anymore and   
   that he learns that they have to stay with their families or stay in the   
   guest rooms or the houses or whatever they're called down there," jury   
   foreman Paul Rodriguez said. "And he just has to be careful how he conducts   
   himself around children."   
      
   Some jurors acknowledged they flatly disliked the accuser's mother,   
   portrayed by the defense as a welfare cheat who brought a trumped-up lawsuit   
   against J.C. Penney, accusing store guards of roughing her and her family   
   up. "I disliked it intensely when she snapped her fingers at us," said one   
   juror, a woman, who declined to give her name.   
      
   Another woman juror said she felt sorry for the accuser and his siblings,   
   believing they had been trained by their mother to lie. "As a mother, the   
   values she has taught them, it's hard for me to comprehend," she said. "I   
   wouldn't want any of my children to lie for their own gain."   
      
   The verdict means Jackson will be free to try to rebuild his blighted   
   musical career. But his legal victory came at a terrible price to his image.   
      
   Prosecutors branded him a deviant who used his playland as the ultimate   
   pervert's lair, plying boys with booze and porn. Prosecution witnesses   
   described other bizarre behavior by Jackson: They said he licked his   
   accuser's head, simulated a sex act with a mannequin, kept dolls in bondage   
   outfits on his desk.   
      
   Defense lawyers described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect   
   kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star.   
   The boy had asked to meet the star when he thought he was dying of cancer.   
      
   The defense said the family exploited the boy's illness to shake down   
   celebrities, then concocted the charges after realizing Jackson was cutting   
   them off from a jet-set lifestyle that included limo rides and stays at   
   luxurious resorts.   
      
   Jackson was cleared of 10 charges in all, including four counts that he   
   molested the boy in early 2003. Jackson also was charged with providing the   
   boy with wine - "Jesus juice," the pop star called it - and conspiring with   
   members of his inner circle to hold the accuser and his family captive to   
   get them to rebut a damaging documentary. Jurors also had to consider four   
   lesser charges related to the alcohol counts, forcing them to render 14   
   verdicts in all.   
      
   The case was set in motion by the 2003 broadcast of the British TV   
   documentary "Living With Michael Jackson" that Jackson had hoped would   
   actually improve his image. In the program, Jackson held hands with the boy   
   who would later accuse him, and he acknowledged sharing his bed with   
   children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.   
      
   After the verdict, a weary Jackson retreated to Neverland where, according   
   to his family, he went straight to bed. The entertainer, who appeared   
   exhausted as he shuffled out of court, is "trying to get back his strength,"   
   said his father, Joe Jackson.   
      
   "I feel justice was done," Jackson's father said. "We thank the fans for   
   supporting us."   
      
      
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