Video brings dramatic climax to Jackson trial
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Your support makes all the difference.The jury in Michael Jackson's sex abuse trial could begin hearing final arguments within days after testimony came to an abrupt and dramatic end on Friday.
The jury in Michael Jackson's sex abuse trial could begin hearing final arguments within days after testimony came to an abrupt and dramatic end on Friday.
The final witness was the accuser himself, Gavin Arvizo, then aged 13, shown on a videotape telling detectives for the first time that the pop star molested him. When the lights came up afterwards, the prosecution rested its case and the defence team surprisingly did the same.
"You have heard all the evidence you're going to hear in the case," Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville told the eight-woman, four-man jury before excusing them until Wednesday.
Prosecutors played the tape for jurors in an attempt to show that the boy's story has been consistent ever since he went to authorities with the allegations nearly two years ago. Slumped in his chair and dressed in denim shorts and a blue shirt, the cancer survivor haltingly and quietly spoke to investigators.
"He put his hands in my pants. He started masturbating me," the boy said. "I told him I didn't want to do that and he kept on doing it. I told him no."
The tape offered little that the boy hadn't already testified to on the stand, but there was a clear impact. The courtroom was hushed and at the end jurors were solemn, looking downward. Jackson had no comment as he left.
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