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Jackson Witness Claims 5-7 Molestations
By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer
SANTA MARIA, Calif. -
The lead investigator in the Michael Jackson (news) child molestation case testified Wednesday that the singer's accuser told him he was molested five to seven times but could only describe two of the incidents in detail.
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon asked sheriff's Sgt. Steve Robel about the numbers in order to account for differences that have emerged during testimony in Jackson's trial.
Robel testified Tuesday that the boy twice told investigators he was molested five times. The boy himself testified earlier to only two molestations but said he believed there may have been more.
Robel said Wednesday that the boy told him "it happened between five and seven times but he could not articulate exactly" what happened every time.
The investigator said that since the first interviews of the boy in July 2003 he has only been able to provide detailed accounts of two alleged molestations.
The possibility of the alleged victim not being aware or fully aware at certain times has been raised in testimony by the boy's brother, who said he twice witnessed his brother being molested while asleep.
In testimony Tuesday, Robel said he urged the accuser and his family to go forward with his claims against the singer by promising them, "We're going to try our best to make this case work."
Defense attorney Robert Sanger confronted Robel with those and other statements from recorded interviews, suggesting that they indicated investigators were biased against Jackson from the beginning.
He quoted Robel as saying, "One thing I want to emphasize is you guys are doing the right thing here. ... I don't care how much money they have. He's the one who's done wrong. ... We're going to try to bring him to justice."
Sanger asked: "That's not the statement of someone with an open mind who's trying to find the truth, is it?"
Robel said that during his training he was taught to make such a statement to alleged victims.
"That statement is to reassure them," he said, "because they were terrified when they came forward. It took us two weeks to get them to come in."
Sanger asked: "Isn't the technique you are taught to tell them (is) to be honest and not to tell them they're right, everyone else is wrong?"
The witness answered that that was not the technique he was taught.
Robel's testimony came after the singer's accuser wrapped up his testimony by saying he only told a school administrator Jackson had not molested him was because he wanted to avoid teasing from classmates.
Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. revealed Monday in the cross-examination of the boy, now 15, that he had once denied being molested in a talk with Jeffrey Alpert, a dean at John Burroughs Middle School in Los Angeles.
The boy testified Tuesday that he got in fights with other students when he returned from Jackson's Neverland Ranch in March 2003 because they would mock him.
"All the kids would laugh at me and try to push me around and say, 'That's the kid that got raped by Michael Jackson,'" said the boy, who alleges Jackson molested him at least twice at Neverland.
He said fighting got him summoned to the office of a school dean, and that was when, "I told him that it didn't happen."
"Why did you tell him that?" Sneddon asked.
"All the kids were already making fun of me in school and I didn't want them to think it happened," the boy said.
The conversation was prompted by the Feb. 6, 2003, TV documentary that showed Jackson with the boy and in which Jackson acknowledged sharing his bed with children, although he characterized it as innocent and non-sexual.
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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.
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El principal investigador en el caso de abusos contra Michael Jackson testificó el miércoles que el acusador le dijo que fue abusado entre 5 y 7 veces pero que sólo podía describir dos de los incidentes con detalle.
El fiscal del distrito del condado de Santa Barbara Tom Sneddon le preguntó a Steve Robel por el número de abusos con el fin de explicar las diferencias que han surgido durante el juicio.
Robel testificó el martes que el chico dijo a los investigadores en dos ocasiones que había sido abusado 5 veces. El propio chico testificó anteriormente sólo dos ocasiones de abuso pero dijo que creía que podía haber habido algunas más.
Robel dijo el miércoles que el chico le dijo que "sucedió entre cinco y siete ocasiones pero que no podía expresar con facilidad" lo que ocurrió cada vez.
El resto del artículo hace un repaso de las cosas que se dijeron ayer pero que ya sabemos.
