washingtonpost.com  > Nation > Courts > Crime and Justice
Page 2 of 2  < Back  

Club Owner Says He Helped Connect Jackson, Accuser

Masada said repeatedly that the accuser's mother never asked him for money, even when he approached her with an offer from an unnamed man to write a check for any amount the family needed, enough money to buy a house.

"She said, 'No, tell him all I need is friends. I don't need money. And to pray. That's all I need.' "


Jaime Masada said the boy asked him if he could meet Jackson. (Pool Photo Eric Neitzel Via AP)

Masada had spirited exchanges with Jackson's defense attorney Thomas Mesereau.

"Don't put words in my mouth. If you want to know the truth, I'll tell you the truth," Masada said, bristling at Mesereau's suggestions the mother was begging for money.

"We want to hear the truth," Mesereau said.

Masada also testified to seeing the boy's mother use makeup to cover bruises on her neck and face. She also called Masada, distraught over teasing her son was getting at school after the broadcast of a TV documentary that featured the boy leaning on Jackson's shoulder.

And he testified that she called him from Neverland in tears, pleading with him for help in escaping from Jackson's estate.

"She told me: 'I'm being held here with my kids against my will. I need to get out of here.' "

Jackson, 46, is accused of plying the then-13-year-old boy with alcohol and molesting him at Neverland after the documentary aired. He has also been charged with child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment. The entertainer, who has pleaded not guilty, could face more than 20 years in prison.

After Masada completed his testimony, a corporate flight attendant with Xtra Jet International testified. Cynthia Ann Bell giggled as she explained it was standard procedure to serve Jackson wine and alcohol in Diet Coke cans.

"Mr. Jackson was a very private drinker," said Bell, who added that she flew with him between three and six times.

She told prosecutors it was her idea, not Jackson's, to pour out the soda and replace it with alcohol. She also testified she served him alcohol in a soda can on a flight the pop star took with the boy's family from Miami to Santa Barbara, Calif.

Bell said she never saw Jackson share his wine-filled Diet Coke can with children, including his accuser. She also said she never saw Jackson touch any children inappropriately.


< Back  1 2

© 2005 The Washington Post Company