I suppose it is important to remember that Michael Jackson’s defence team’s whole case kinda relies on the successful portrayal of Janet Arvizo, the mother of Jacko’s current teenage child abuse accuser, of being a money grabbing charlatan who used her son’s cancer to make some hard cash, and who is now forcing her children to make wild accusations against Jackson in a bid to make some more. Mrs Arvizo did her bit to help them in that bid during her fourth day of testimony yesterday, though as Jacko’s lawyer Thomas Mesereau went over the same questions again and again there was a sense he was playing with her, hoping she would lose it in front of the court.
Among the admissions that Mesereau got out of Arvizo was that while her family opened up a bank account into which people were encouraged to make donations towards her son Gavin’s cancer treatment, in fact that treatment was paid for by his father’s health insurance. Asked about a local newspaper article that said the poverty stricken family were looking to raise $12,000 to fund Gavin’s treatment, an article which came complete with an address for readers to send in their donations, Mrs Arvizo said the newspaper was guilty of a misprint and the figure printed should have read $1200. Asked if comedian Chris Tucker had given the family a car after hearing about their struggle, she admitted that he had, but added that he only did it because he’d bought his girlfriend a new car and had no where to keep the old one. Asked about Jackson’s support of the family during Gavin’s cancer treatment Arvizo denied he had really helped. Asked about a ‘blood drive’ staged at Jackson’s Neverland ranch to aid Gavin’s treatment, Mrs Arvizo said “I was responsible for that”, seemingly ignoring the fact that if it was hosted at his home, Jackson must have been involved in some way. As Mesereau continued to wind up Arvizo further, especially on her claims that she was held hostage at Neverland, the witness frequently ignored his questions and started talking directly to the jury - something that didn’t impress Judge Rodney Melville too much.
So, all in all, after positioning herself during the first half of her testimony as the concerned mother that had been through hell at the hands of Jackson’s people, Mrs Arvizo is looking less like the perfect witness as she reaches the end of her stint in the witness stand. Though, as we say, that’s what Mesereau wanted. And, of course, even if Arvizo has been using her son’s illness to guilt cash out of the rich and famous, it doesn’t necessarily mean her son is lying about Jackson. That, I suppose, is for the jury to decide as the case continues.