Jurors in Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial will be allowed to hear evidence that the accuser’s mother had made allegations of improper touching against store security guards, a judge ruled Friday.
Attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. made the allegations during motions on whether evidence could be admitted about the family’s lawsuit against J.C. Penney.
The family claimed in a lawsuit that they were beaten by guards and held against their will and that the mother was groped, after Jackson’s young accuser left the store with clothes that had not been paid for.
Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville said he will allow testimony about the case, especially as it pertains to the mother’s credibility. But he said the defense would not be allowed to refer to the boy as a shoplifter.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old former cancer patient at his Neverland ranch, plying him with alcohol, and conspiring to hold him and his family captive.
Mesereau said that after the mother received a $150,000 settlement from J.C. Penney and Tower Records, another defendant in the case, she immediately accused her husband of abusing her and filed for divorce.
The woman then accused her ex-husband of inappropriately touching her daughter, Mesereau said.
The attorney also said the woman testified in the J.C. Penney case that her husband had never hit her, but alleged in her divorce that he had beaten his family for years. That was perjury, Mesereau said
