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Michael Jackson Jurors Reach a Verdict

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19:20 / 13.06.05

Jurors have apparently reached a verdict- they will be read at 20:30 GMT (approx 14 mins by my clock)

CNN Link here

did he, didn't he?

i can hardly wait...

paranoidwriter waves hello

19:29 / 13.06.05

did he, didn't he?

Or were they just boys who said that heeeeeee is the one, but the...

Seriously, this is all so f**ked. I REALLY hope he didn't do it, or I'll never be able to listen to 'Off the Wall' again... Or 'Thriller'.... It's all so f**ked...

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:00 / 13.06.05

Just think about that poor bastard going to prison. How long could he last?

20:08 / 13.06.05

Is that the point?

20:09 / 13.06.05

Man, I'm sorry to be a humorless sop, but there's something about the spectacle and strange levity of the coverage and chatter about a child molestation trial that gives me a real sour taste in my mouth.

semioticrobotic

20:13 / 13.06.05

The judge seems to be taking quite a while to read the verdict...

20:16 / 13.06.05

Seems like he's being found Not Guilty of it all, though.

semioticrobotic

20:16 / 13.06.05

Yup, that's what it looks like.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:17 / 13.06.05

There's very little humor in the situation, despite what late-night talk show hosts say. So being humorless right now shouldn't worry anyone.

paranoidwriter waves hello

20:17 / 13.06.05

"Hey -------, isn't that your -------? She's releasing doves on my TV screen. No, seriously..."

20:18 / 13.06.05

"So what are you going to do now, Michael?"

"I'm going to Disney World!"

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:18 / 13.06.05

"Not guilty" to all ten or eleven charges, then? It's official?

20:19 / 13.06.05

Not guilty of anything. Well, the jury heard all the evidence and presumably were better placed than was I to make the judgment. Now he just has the fact that he's physically and financially fucked to worry about.

paranoidwriter waves hello

20:19 / 13.06.05

Sorry, if I'm offending anyone (I mean that). It's just that humour is the one of only a couple of ways I can handle darkness....

semioticrobotic

20:20 / 13.06.05

Not guilty of anything. Well, the jury heard all the evidence and presumably were better placed than was I to make the judgment.

Apparently the jury sensed reasonable doubt. I assumed Jacko would get off lightly, but I never imagined this.

paranoidwriter waves hello

20:22 / 13.06.05

Finacially: he appears to be doing a lot of advertising for Kleanex; according to the BBC on-the-spot reporter.

Plus, there's always the "I didn't do it...honestly...please forgive me" comeback album.

"He'll be fine..."

20:23 / 13.06.05

So he's free to continue sharing his bed with children?

semioticrobotic

20:25 / 13.06.05

Apparently the jury sensed reasonable doubt. I assumed Jacko would get off lightly, but I never imagined this.

I think my previous statement sounds like I believe he deserved harsher. I actually, honestly, don't know what to think about all this.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:28 / 13.06.05

yeah, no kidding. The guy is obviously in another world.

paranoidwriter waves hello

20:28 / 13.06.05

As for talk-show hosts? This stuff writes itself; they should be flogged for being so lazy.

e.g Debbie Rowe custody battle? "... she's just a girl who said that ..."

20:29 / 13.06.05

Is anyone really surprised by the verdict? I mean, really?

20:32 / 13.06.05

Is anyone really surprised by the verdict? I mean, really?

Yes. It was difficult to see how it might've gone.

20:36 / 13.06.05

Given the years of reading all the damning stuff in the press and then seeing the man condemn himself out of his own mouth in the Bashir interview, I am pretty surprised by it, Liger. I have to shift a lot of my assumptions about him.

20:36 / 13.06.05

Not at all, really.

From what little I heard about the trial, there was a real lack of hard (i.e. non-circumstantial) evidence.

But, despite all that "other-worldliness" surrounding his persona, he must surely realise by now that certain behaviour (sharing your bed with kids) is entirely inappropriate, and will inevitably lead to allegations.

One would hope.

20:43 / 13.06.05

Is anyone really surprised by the verdict? I mean, really?

I did think he might be found guilty of the lesser charge of supplying alcohol to a minor. It was established pretty thoroughly (as i read it) that he drank wine from soda cans (this is very odd- just try it and you'll see? but what better way to become a special friend than to share a special soda?) and kids regularly got drunk when staying at neverland?

and although he's acquitted i also find it hard to believe he is completely innocent- I certainly feel uncomfortable with any adult inviting adolescent boys for innocent sleep overs.

Who else truely believes that he is completely innocent on all charges?

semioticrobotic

20:43 / 13.06.05

Is anyone really surprised by the verdict? I mean, really?

Not really, I suppose. After the defense dredged up the history of the accuser's mother and tried to paint her as a gold-digger, I assumed reasonable doubt had been planted in the judgement of the jurors -- and thus, a "not guilty" verdict would ensue.

20:44 / 13.06.05

Call me cynical, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Jacko would have been aquitted even if there were hard evidence.

semioticrobotic

20:46 / 13.06.05

Who else truely believes that he is completely innocent on all charges?

Like you, I thought he might be found guilty of the charges related to alcohol. Other than that, I don't really know what I believe.

20:50 / 13.06.05

But, despite all that "other-worldliness" surrounding his persona, he must surely realise by now that certain behaviour (sharing your bed with kids) is entirely inappropriate, and will inevitably lead to allegations.

One would hope.

TV Newscasters are wondering aloud, "I wonder if he'll even get to have any more of those Neverland sleepovers...."

What? WHAT?? Seriously, what are people thinking? Michael Jackson is not some delicate alien descended from space to bring us beautiful music. He's a human being, a man. Can you think of another man on earth who says he has sleepovers with little children and people's response to that is, "Well, but he's so childlike himself!" or "Well, he did hard a hard life," or "But he's so talented!"

I do not care if he's not guilty of the particular sex acts he was accused of, he's already admitted to doing something that I find unequivocally wrong - and so would everyone else if it were ANY OTHER MAN ON THE PLANET.

But no matter. In a few years' time, at most, he'll be back in court for the same thing, and if there is any shred of justice in the world, next time he'll be convicted. (I'm ever the optimist I guess.)

20:51 / 13.06.05

As if. The man will interpret this as being carte blanche to continue in his weird little world of weirdness. He was found innocent, y'know? That means his behaviour is, y'know, really innocent. After all, what could be more innocent than sharing one's bed with the needy? Honestly.

Personally I would like it if Jackson just turned around and said that actually it was all true, he actually has a secret harem of catamites, and then fuck off to some non-extradition treaty hellhole and live out his life as some twisted, latter-day Sebastian Melmoth, occassionally popping up in some cocaine and absinthe-soaked haze to scandalise polite society, but let's face it, he ain't. It'll be saccharine bollocks all the way. Me, I'm battening down the hatches and playing non-stop Rollins Band and RATM as a vaccination against Earth Song Two.

20:52 / 13.06.05

Don't we already have at least one thread on the appropriateness or otherwise of Jacko sharing his bed with pubescents?

20:53 / 13.06.05

I would post about this, but politically speaking I just... can't. I'm sorry. It would like be posting about <whichever pretty blonde girl was recently murdered> or <latest paedophile scandal>.

That may make me look like an arse but really, no, I can't. Well, apart from that anyway.

20:54 / 13.06.05

Er, posting in response to the 'Michael will realise it's inappropriate' post, obviously. Goodness, people are quite into all this on here, aren't we?

paranoidwriter waves hello

20:55 / 13.06.05

Sorry to digress slightly, but I see all this as part of how society is finally trying to address the issue of pedophilia. Like many such pressing issues, the relatively new openness of today's society (i.e. video-phones, global media, etc) means that we are all having to face up to "problems" which may be getting worse, or which may have always been this bad.

I'm thinking of things like the (necessary) exposure of various pedophile rings, the relatively cheaper and cheaper flights available to poorer countries where people can buy their desired brand of sex, and the mass hysteria evoked by TV programmes like the milestone of TV that is Brass Eye; (etc).

My worry is that in such trials we may never get to hear the "truth", and so the doubt over innocence / guilt is never dispelled. This is dangerous (IMHO) and doesn't bode well for any of us.

Is this the stuff of another thread?...

20:56 / 13.06.05

'Worst. Verdict. Ever. Rest assured, I was on the internet in seconds, expressing my opinion around the world.'

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