Dec. 29, 2004 - Los Angeles Times 4,000
to Get Call for Jackson Jury
Notices could go
out this week for possible jurors in the star's molestation trial.
They can expect rigorous screening by attorneys
on both sides.
By STEVE CHAWKINS
Times Staff Writer
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Court officials here
plan to summon up to 4,000 prospective jurors for Michael Jackson's
child-molestation
trial,
with notices going out as early as this week in a case likely to
draw global attention not only to the pop superstar but also 12 of
his neighbors.
With jury selection set to begin Jan. 31, panelists will report to
the courthouse in shifts of about 150 each.
When they do, attorneys will be on the lookout for a lot more than
whether anyone has heard about Jackson's child-molestation charges
on the news.
Under the direction of Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville, prospective
jurors will be probed for telltale attitudes on a spectrum of issues,
including racial prejudice, divorce and plastic surgery.
Many of them will be excused simply because they can't afford to
stay off the job for the five months the trial may take. Others will
ask to be exempted because of sexual abuse they or people close to
them suffered as children.
According to legal experts, the panelists will almost certainly be
asked whether celebrities in trouble get the justice they deserve
or the justice they can buy. They'll be asked whether they can fairly
weigh the claims for and against a wealthy neighbor who is perhaps
the most famous celebrity ever to be charged as a criminal —a
puzzle wrapped in an enigma inside a snow-white suit and a surgical
mask.
"
There's an interesting aspect of this case that goes to the fact
that Michael Jackson is a very eccentric person," said Jo-Elian
Dimitrius, a trial consultant who assisted the O.J. Simpson defense
team. "Do people believe that eccentricity suggests a criminal
mind, or just that Jackson is a very creative, artistic guy and his
eccentricity shouldn't be held against him?"
Judging from the results of two previous civil trials involving Jackson,
juries from the conservative Santa Maria area may not be swayed one
way or another by Jackson's behavior.
In 1997, local jurors ruled in his favor after five former employees
at his Neverland ranch contended they were unlawfully forced out
after cooperating with authorities investigating alleged child molestation
by Jackson in 1993. That case fell apart after Jackson gave a multimillion-dollar
settlement to his accuser's family.
But in 2002, a Santa Maria jury hit him with a $5.3-million judgment
in a contract dispute with concert promoter Marcel Avram. During
a break in the four-month trial, Jackson was videotaped dangling
his baby son over a balcony in Germany, an incident that prompted
the judge to question jurors, one by one, about whether they could
still render a fair verdict.
While erratic behavior has been one of Jackson's trademarks, jurors
today may be less forgiving, said Los Angeles trial consultant Marshall
Hennington.
Before Christmas, Jackson played host to about 200 youngsters from
inner-city Los Angeles for a day of fun at Neverland. The star has
often opened his ranch to children's groups, but the timing of the
most recent event may turn off potential jurors, Hennington said.
"
It's risky behavior," he said. "To some people it would
show Michael Jackson just being Michael Jackson, bringing peace,
joy and love to innocent children. But it also seems like a desperate
attempt to influence the potential jury panel."
If he were advising the defense, Hennington said, he would have attorneys
seek a change of venue on the grounds that fewer than 2% of the people
in northern Santa Barbara County are African American.
Last January, a Harris poll showed a marked racial divide on the
Jackson case. Among whites, 59% believed Jackson was probably guilty.
The outcome was almost the same among Latinos. But among African
Americans, it was reversed, with 52% thinking that Jackson was probably
not guilty.
Even so, Hennington, who is African American, was skeptical that
the black community would necessarily rally to Jackson's defense.
"
You can only play the race card so far," he said, contending
that Jackson's attorneys will have a tough time persuading jurors
that every one of the 170 witnesses who may be called by prosecutors "has
an ulterior motive for testifying against Michael Jackson."
Sources close to the case said that Jackson's attorneys will not
seek a change of venue.
The racial makeup of the jury may not be as important to either side
as the extent to which prospective jurors believe the previous, unproved
allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson, some experts said.
A hearing next month will determine whether the accusations from
1993 will be allowed in this case. But Tom Lyon, a USC law professor
who has specialized in child-molestation cases, said the judge will "almost
certainly' admit such evidence under the terms of a state law dating
to the mid-1990s.
"
The prior allegations are sure to have an effect on the jury," Lyon
said. "They may be convinced that one or two children may be
coached, but it's a lot harder for the defense to argue that the
prior allegations are similarly false."
Generally, prosecutors favor women and defense attorneys favor men
as jurors in cases involving the sexual abuse of children, Lyon said.
Both sides will watch for men who have suffered in messy divorces,
as they could be particularly sympathetic to defense arguments about
false accusations, he said.
As in some cases involving sexual abuse, many prospective jurors
will ask to be removed, Lyon predicted. He said research indicates
that 20% of women and 10% of men had sexual contact with an adult
when they were children.
Jurors might also be quizzed on their attitudes toward plastic surgery
because of Jackson's well-known facial transformations.
"
The defense would want to go into it," Dimitrius said. "It's
a little bit of the racial component sneaking in the back door; I've
heard any number of people comment that Jackson looks more white
than black."
Dimitrius said both sides also will watch for "stealth jurors," panelists
who see jury duty as a chance to advance themselves, whether by writing
a tell-all book, rescuing their endangered idol, or striking a blow
for abused children.
"
With the art and science of what we do coming out more and more,
people realize what they have to say and do to get on a jury," Dimitrius
said.
The Jackson case is to be heard in Santa Maria because his ranch,
the site of the alleged offenses, is in the northern part of Santa
Barbara County.
Some local attorneys see a north-county jury as tending toward the
prosecution.
"
The north county is a much more conservative community," said
Santa Barbara attorney Steve Balash. "You've got a lot of retired
military from Vandenberg Air Force Base, you've got people who work
in the prison system, you've got blue-collar folks, and you've got
ranchers."
"
Santa Maria is a cowboy town," said Balash, who often wears
cowboy boots when trying cases there.
Just who that will benefit is an open question.
"
It's not clear to me that a more conservative jury will necessarily
be more pro-prosecution when the allegations are sexual abuse," said
Lyon, the USC law professor. "For many people, this kind of
charge is hard to believe. They simply can't imagine it."
But skepticism can cut both ways. Louis "Skip" Miller,
the attorney opposing Jackson in his 2002 contract dispute, described
the jurors who heard his case as "intelligent, attentive, honest,
hardworking, salt-of-the-earth people."
Before the trial, though, he had a consultant research the jury pool
to determine whether Jackson's celebrity status would doom any case
against him.
It didn't.
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