With the Michael Jackson trial due to resume later today, time for some more Jacko news. First up, and reports that record producer Quincy Jones - the production talent behind 'Thriller' and 'Off The Wall' of course - used to plead with Jackson to stop the sleepovers with children. According to US TV show **Celebrity
Justice**, years ago Jones asked Jackson to "think carefully"
about letting children stay overnight at his Neverland ranch, aware of how the public might perceive such activity and the potential legal problems such sleepovers might cause. However
Jackson ignored all of Jones' warnings. Jones is among the list of witnesses that might be called in Jackson's defense during the trial because he and his daughters were at the Neverland ranch on some of the key dates in the case's events.
Secondly, there's been speculation in the US media as to what effect it will have on Jacko's chances in court if a majority of the jurors are parents themselves. That speculation follows a report from
Associated Press that revealed four in five of the 242 potential jurors still being considered are parents. However the legal community is split on what impact that might have - saying parents may be more negative to Jacko in a "that could have happened to my kids" kind of way, but could also be more cynical of the accuser's evidence in a "kids often lie" kinda way. Which I guess means the conclusion is whether or not the jury is predominantly made up of parents has no impact whatsoever on the case - but all that speculation has filled many a column inch, and provided an extra 150 words for this here CMU Daily, which is great.