SANTA MARIA, Calif., April 14 -- The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser told jurors Thursday a bizarre story of weeks during which she was shuttled around by Jackson's associates, made a virtual prisoner and warned that "killers" were after her.
The woman said that, during the entire period, she never tried to call police because "who could possibly believe this?"
A witness in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial tries to conceal her face as she departs the Santa Barbara County courthouse.
(Robyn Beck - AP)
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_____Photos and Multimedia_____
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Jackson Special Report
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Photo Gallery: Scenes from the trial.
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Photo Gallery: Michael Jackson's curious career.
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Video: Michael Jackson's former maid testified she found the singer showering with a boy who often slept in the pop star's bed.
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Video: Michael Jackson walks slowly and haltingly into the courtroom March 21.
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Video: Michael Jackson, apparently suffering from some sort of back ailment, is escorted into court after the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
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Video: Michael Jackson arrives for the first day of his child molestation trial.
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Video: Journalists and Jackson fans outside the Santa Maria, Calif., courthouse.
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Jackson, 46, is on trial on charges of molesting a 13-year-old and keeping the youngster and his family captive.
The boy's mother testified that Jackson's people claimed the family needed to be protected from killers. She said they kept her in line by threatening her parents and her boyfriend.
Prosecutors allege that the family was held to get them to make a video rebutting a Feb. 6, 2003, TV documentary in which Jackson appeared with the boy who would eventually accuse him of molestation. In the program, Jackson said he let children sleep in his bed, but he characterized the practice as innocent.
The woman, who had testified emotionally on Wednesday, was more controlled in her second day on the stand as she answered questions from prosecutor Ron Zonen about her excursions with two Jackson aides, Frank Tyson and Vince Amen.
The woman said she was given a script to follow for the rebuttal video and was instructed to say repeatedly "that he's a wonderful father. Basically, in summary, that he's a wonderful father . . . to my children."
The prosecutor asked if she really believed the things she said on the video.
"I was confused, I was sad, so basically I was acting," she testified.
She said that all of her activities from Feb. 21 to March 10, 2003, were dictated by Jackson's henchmen, who she said monitored her calls, stood outside her window or her hotel door, and would not let her leave their custody.
She said she did not learn of any molestation allegations until she was informed by law enforcement authorities, who had been contacted by a psychologist to whom her children had been referred by a lawyer.
As Zonen's two-day examination of the woman concluded, she said she never received or requested any money from Jackson, and does not plan to sue him. The defense's cross-examination of the mother was expected to begin Friday.
