Throughout Trial, A More Subdued Jackson

A California jury's acquittal of Michael Jackson on child molestation charges today closed a celebrity trial that captivated the nation, deluging Americans with coverage that highlighted the idiosyncracies of a world-renowned superstar.

Throughout the trial, Jackson sat stock-still and silent at the defense table, his skeletally thin frame supported by a therapeutic back cushion. This was a Michael Jackson the world had never known -- the kinetic dancer rendered motionless; the powerful singer, voiceless.

But even if the stage was drab and unassuming, the star's entrances were dramatic and precisely choreographed for maximum security and image. Each morning, matching black SUVs pulled up in a cordoned-off plaza in front of the courthouse, carrying Jackson, his family and his entourage. As a loyal gaggle of fans waved signs and screamed his name, Jackson would step out into the deep shade of the jumbo black umbrella his bodyguards held over him whenever he was outdoors, no matter the weather.

His mother, Katherine, often accompanied by his father, Joe, would enter the courtroom first, nodding politely to the young female fans in the spectator rows who sometimes chorused "Good morning" in unison. Mrs. Jackson's demure suits and neck scarves often complimented her defendant son's flashy brocade vests and signature armbands -- her lavenders deflecting his ultraviolets, her seafoam subduing his chartreuse. Younger brother Randy Jackson appeared at times, too, draping a protective arm around his mother. Michael never turned around to look at his family, and when they all rose to leave together during the brief recesses or at the end of the day, they did so without publicly displaying any emotion or affection -- no hugs or quick kisses or reassuring pats.

At the defense table, Jackson himself was mannequin-like, unreadable, with an unmoving sheath of black hair shielding his eyes from spectators and reporters in the courtroom, leaving only a glimpse of chin and nose, both the same flat eggshell white as the Venetian blinds beyond him. He rarely wrote anything on the legal pad provided him, and he saved any whispered comments to his defense team until the break.

To his left was the jury box, the four men and eight women chosen to judge him listening attentively even when testimony dragged. Ranging in age from 20 to 79, they included a car-racing enthusiast in a wheelchair, a retired school counselor, a horse-trainer and a computer programmer.

In their laps, each juror kept a stack of Steno pads, gradually filling them with notes as the trial wore on. Returning from breaks, the jurors were often smiling or chatting amiably with one another, so comfortable in their role that a couple of women in the front row would even kick off their shoes and prop their feet up on the rail.

In all, they heard 137 witnesses, from maids to movie stars, and saw 688 pieces of evidence, from phone logs to porn magazines. There was wild speculation of attempted abduction via hot-air balloon, dull recitation of a CPA's audit, and wrenching testimony from a young adult fighting tears as he recounted being fondled by Jackson years ago during "tickling games" when he visited Neverland while his mother worked there as a maid. At the heart of the case was a Los Angeles boy, now 15, who met Jackson while undergoing treatment for cancer at the age of 13. The teen and his family first drew celebrity attention when the boy and his two siblings participated in a comedy camp for underprivileged children sponsored by a club called The Laugh Factory. When the boy began battling cancer in 2000, stars including George Lopez and Chris Tucker donated money, gifts and hours of one-on-one time to the family. The boy's wish to meet Michael Jackson was relayed to the pop star, and after several hospital phone calls, the entertainer invited the family to visit Neverland.

During the next two years, they were frequent guests at the luxurious ranch and private theme park in the Santa Ynez Valley. When Jackson was there, the boy and his brother were invited to spend the night in his two-level suite, and the boy who would later become his accuser shared Jackson's bed with the rhinestone-studded bedspread in the loft area. It was here, the boy testified, that Jackson twice fondled him. The boy's brother -- the only other witness to the alleged molestation -- testified that while he feigned sleep across the room, he saw Jackson fondle his brother as the cancer survivor slept.

The allegations did not surface, however, until after the Feb. 6, 2003, airing of a British-made documentary, "Living With Michael Jackson," which included footage of Jackson stating that he enjoyed sharing his bed with children in a non-sexual way. The cancer survivor appeared with Jackson in the documentary, sitting next to the star, holding his hand and nuzzling his shoulder.

The documentary triggered an investigation by county child welfare services in Los Angeles. Social workers tracked the family down, and the mother invited them to interview the children at Neverland, where the family was staying. Social services insisted on meeting them elsewhere, and during interviews at the home of the mother's fiancé, the mother and children denied any wrongdoing by Jackson. The social workers testified that they saw no telltale signs of abuse and considered the matter closed. When they happened to run into the family again a month later at a fast-food restaurant in L.A., mother and children again seemed fine, the social workers said.

But according to the prosecution, Jackson did not begin molesting the boy until the day after the social workers first interviewed the family. And for a month after the British documentary aired in the United States, the prosecution claimed, Jackson and his associates intimidated the family and held them captive at Neverland. The purpose, the mother testified, was to make them all appear in a rebuttal video and offer scripted praise of Jackson in an attempt to repair his image. The final version of Jackson's rebuttal video, which he sold to Fox for several million dollars, did not contain footage of the accuser or his family.

Both the prosecution and the defense relied heavily on the testimony of employees and ex-employees of Neverland. There was the former chef who swore he saw Jackson fondling child star Macaulay Culkin while delivering French fries at 3 a.m., and the former security guard who said he caught the accuser and his brother with an open bottle of wine in Jackson's wine cellar. Neverland's property manager admitted that he gave security instructions to keep the accuser and his siblings on the property one day, but he said it was because the boys were known to go joyriding in Jackson's vehicles and he was afraid they might drive through the gates without guards realizing kids were behind the tinted windows.

Prosecutors portrayed Jackson as a cunning pedophile who won the trust of parents and children alike with generous gifts, personal attention and fun-filled visits to Neverland. Several young men, including Culkin, acknowledged under oath that they shared Jackson's bed as young boys, but they insisted nothing inappropriate happened.

In 1993, Jackson paid millions of dollars in an out-of-court settlement to the family of a boy he allegedly molested. The alleged victim did not testify during this trial, but his estranged mother did appear on the prosecution's behalf, telling jurors that a sobbing Jackson had once begged her to trust him and allow her son to sleep in his room. She complied, and said Jackson lavished expensive gifts on her.

Jackson's defense team sought to underscore the greed and undermine the credibility of his accusers. Evidence that the mother of the current accuser was a welfare cheat was damning enough that the mother herself invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Defense witnesses and evidence also suggested she had swindled J.C. Penney out of a $150,000 settlement after claiming that department store guards roughed her up when she was in fact a battered wife who had sought a restraining order against her then-husband. And during the month-long period when the woman claimed her family was held captive at Neverland, the defense showed, the family had asked and been taken on excursions off the ranch, including trips to a day spa, an orthodontist and a shopping mall. The dentist and the aesthetician who gave the mother a body wax both testified that nothing seemed amiss and that the woman did not ask for help or to use the phone to summon help. Although Jackson did not take the stand in his own defense, his attorneys were able to show jurors both his rebuttal video and the edited outtakes the public never saw from the British documentary.

Legal analysts later said both amounted to virtual testimony by Jackson -- an opportunity to hear him talk about his life and relationships without being subjected to cross-examination.

In the outtakes, Jackson described what he called a "special connection" with children. "If it wasn't for the children, I'd throw in the towel," he said. "I wouldn't care. I would feel I didn't have any reason to live."

"I love innocence," he said. "I'm a nut for innocence. I love it."

Jurors also saw a 19-minute video tour of Neverland. There were lush gardens with reflecting ponds and a sparkling lake where swans glided past a small waterfall. Bronze statues captured children at play -- doing cartwheels, dancing in a circle. Life-size replicas of beloved cartoon characters pop up across the property. Inside Jackson's main house, the camera panned across paintings in several rooms -- all featuring Michael Jackson in the company of children. Most elaborate was the painting hanging on the dining room wall, with a younger, more vibrant-looking Jackson on a grassy hill, bathed in light, surrounded by dozens of children of all ethnicities, wearing native costumes, holding bunnies, chasing balloons and gazing with adoration at Jackson. The video swept through the million-volume library, lingering for a moment on shelves with parenting books and religious tomes. There were volumes on DaVinci, the complete scripts of The Three Stooges, and historical texts on Hitler's SS.

In the movie theater, candy, ice cream and popcorn waited at a free concession stand. (Treats were so limitless at Neverland that testimony included one staffer's account of the accuser calling security to order popcorn, soda pop and red-hots).

And just beyond the golden gates marking the entrance to Jackson's fantasy world is a plaque inscribed with a poem he wrote long ago, called "When Babies Smile." The jurors had to read quickly to see the words before the camera moved:

"Those are the moments when fate is unsealed

"Nothing is impossible and we are healed . . . "