Pedazo de articulo de Roger ....
MJ Accuser's Mom Had $20K Deal for Story
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
By Roger Friedman
$20G MJ Story | MJ Video Missing | Accuser's Mother's Faked Bruises
MJ Accuser's Mom Had $20G Deal for Story
A contract for $20,000 between two British tabloid reporters and the mother and stepfather of Michael Jackson's accuser has surfaced.
The reporters, Alec Byrne and David Gardner, thought they were being called as defense witnesses in the Jackson child molestation case and were all set to bring in this vital document.
When the accuser's mother, Janet Arvizo, testified, she told the jury she "wasn't the kind of person" to sell her story, but apparently she was indeed.
In fact, Byrne and Gardner got pictures of the Arvizo family that were published abroad because they first went to Arvizo's mother's house in El Monte, Calif., back on Feb. 4, 2003. That was the day after the Martin Bashir documentary "Living with Michael Jackson" aired in Britain.
Maria Ventura, who speaks only Spanish, put the reporters on the phone with Arvizo when they arrived. When she heard they wanted to buy her story, she exclaimed, "You are my angels" and instructed her mother to give the men pictures she had of her children.
Arvizo then gave the reporters a few quotes, which were used in the story that was published that weekend in the U.K. and in Australia.
So, why has this story not surfaced in the Jackson trial? It would impeach the testimony of both Arvizo and her husband, Jay Jackson. That they didn't follow through with the sale is a missing link in the story that comedian Chris Tucker will tell today in court.
Evidently, Arvizo called Tucker when she had the reporters up to $20,000.
In his testimony, Jay Jackson said it was $15,000 and that he turned it down. However, in court today, Tucker is likely to say that at this point, Arvizo wanted to find Michael Jackson. If her story was worth that much to the Brits, she must have figured it would certainly be worth as much to Jackson for her to keep quiet.
The reporters say that when they came to meet Arvizo at the appointed time, she had vanished. Tucker should testify to his end of the story. The defense, which has not been strong on outlining the timeline in the case, may or may not be able to put this together for the weary jury.
Why Byrne and Gardner were not called remains a mystery of this trial. They could have easily impeached the testimony of both Jay Jackson and Arvizo. The article that was published would have been a damning bit of evidence.
Important Videotape Missing
Where is the "secret" videotape that was shot of the packing and moving of the Arvizo family in the Michael Jackson case?
It was not played by the prosecution when it unveiled surveillance videos of the family made by Mark Geragos' private investigator, Brad Miller, several weeks ago.
Where is this tape? Why hasn't it been shown? Does the defense even know about it?
Suddenly this much-talked-about move is about to come back into the Jackson trial as an issue.
On Thursday, I've learned, District Attorney Tom Sneddon, desperate to rehabilitate the much debased conspiracy charge against Jackson, will bring in the mover who put the Arvizos' things into storage.
All of Dino's Moving and Storage records have been subpoenaed as well. This could all backfire for the prosecution because a June 2003 letter from Miller to Arvizo attorney William Dickerman releasing the storage vaults back to the Arvizos is said to be among the papers. Geragos is carbon copied on it.
If the letter appears and makes it into evidence, Sneddon may have a lot of explaining to do. He raided Miller's office months later because he said he thought Miller worked for Michael Jackson. The letter, sources say, would prove Sneddon knew otherwise.
Then there's the family's famous stay at the Country Inn and Suites in Calabasas, Calif. Why haven't the receipts from that little adventure come into play for the defense?
This column was the first to reveal Janet Arvizo's numerous phone calls to family and friends during her "kidnapping." And here's something else we haven't seen presented: Arvizo demanded that Miller buy her a set of red Kipling luggage for the trip to Calabasas. She was very specific about the brand and color.
"She didn't want people to see her things in plastic bags," a source said.
The defense has the receipts, I am told.
Sneddon has asked to analyze more of Geragos' phone records in a last-ditch effort to pump up the conspiracy. But did no one ever ask to see the Neverland phone records between Feb. 20 and March 12, 2003? They would show innumerable calls to numbers well known to the prosecution: Janet Arvizo's friends and family.
As for Dickerman: If all the issues involving him return during the rebuttal, it would be interesting to see him come back and answer some of the questions I posed in yesterday's column.
To wit: He testified that his first meeting with Janet Arvizo was on Feb. 25, 2003. But Arvizo herself said she met him in his office on the 21st in his Century City office, and then again on the 25th at the Laugh Factory.
At neither time did she mention she had been kidnapped or was being held hostage. Dickerman, an officer of the court, never picked up the phone and called the police or the FBI. You would think a Hollywood lawyer who has to meet his client in a comedy club on the sly might have asked one or two questions more than Dickerman said he did on the stand. My guess is he did.
Booking Picture Tells Many Stories
Yesterday's double punch of the paralegal and attorney who represented Janet Arvizo in her J.C. Penney lawsuit, in which she won $152,000, was powerful stuff.
Mary Holzer testified that Arvizo confided in her that the pictures in which she appeared battered and bruised from head to toe and which she and her husband submitted for the civil case were faked.
Arvizo told her she got the bruises not from the J.C. Penney security guards, but from her husband. Holzer said Arvizo noted that her brother-in-law was in the Mexican mafia and could have her and her kids killed if she spilled the beans.
The lawyer who worked on the case testified that he was shocked when the case finally got to court and Arvizo said she had been sexually molested by the J.C. Penney guards. In 25 conversations about the incident, Arvizo had never mentioned it to him. He also concluded that he had been fooled by her.
Holzer's story made the most sense. And you may recall that when the prosecution first showed the pictures of a battered Arvizo a few weeks ago, we wrote that they were not from the J.C. Penney incident. Sources knowledgeable about that event told us that right away.
Luckily, The Drudge Report published Arvizo's mug shot from the Penney's arrest and it showed no signs of bruises. That's because they were added later.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,157620,00.html
