Given that defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau took such delight in questioning the prosecution's witnesses into tricky corners, it seems only fair that prosecution lawyer Gordon Auchincloss should have the same fun. Which might be why Auchincloss laid into Neverland ranch manager Joseph Marcus quite so much when he took to the witness stand as part of the defence's case in the ongoing Michael Jackson trial yesterday. Or perhaps he's just trying to win the case.
Exchanging nervous glances with his boss, Marcus struggled to answer questions about Jacko's porn collection. He admitted Jackson owned a stack of erotic stuff, including a collection of statuettes of women trussed up in black bondage outfits. "It's a type of art," Marcus kept saying as Auchincloss questioned him about the porn. The prosecution in this case have had something of a fascination with Jacko's erotica collection, because, of course, anyone who collects porn is obviously a paedophile.
On more relevant matters, Auchincloss questioned Marcus about the teenagers Jackson befriended. Marcus acknowledged that the singer had "special bonds" with some children, though he stressed such bonds existed with both boys and girls. Auchincloss wasn't convinced on that point, and when he pushed Marcus further on which teenage girls Jackson formed such bonds with Marcus could only name two - both sisters of boys Jackson was close to.
Auchincloss also got Marcus to admit that he had lied in an interview with an investigator when he said he had no knowledge of Jackson sleeping with children. Yesterday he said he did, in fact, know that some of Jacko's teenage friends did sleep in the singer's bed. That admission more than anything else was important for the prosecution. A lot of this case has been about damaging the other side's witnesses' credibility, something Mesereau did repeatedly with people brought forward by the prosecution. Some reckon a previous admission of lying to an investigator might lead the jury to ignore much of what Marcus said in defence of his employer. In particular, the prosecution will want to rubbish the explanation Marcus gave for issuing a directive to not let Gavin Arvizo off the Neverland site, something the prosecution said was proof the Arvizo family were held hostage at Jacko's ranch. Marcus said that directive was simply an instruction to ensure Gavin and his brother Starr didn't drive onto the open road in one of the ranch's gold carts.
The case continues.