Motions on Witnesses Loom in Jackson Case
Mood:  blue
Topic: Main News
By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 16, 5:09 AM ET


Attorneys for Michael Jackson are awaiting key rulings as they proceed with defending the entertainer against child molestation charges.

The defense lawyers hope to call an employee at Jackson's Neverland ranch who they said would testify that he was told by the sister of Jackson's accuser that her mother and the mother's boyfriend were planning "something big" involving Jackson.

Prosecutors say the statements are hearsay and should not be admitted.

The defense also hopes to call Vince Amen, a former Jackson associate who received special immunity from prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation. The government, however, decided not to call Amen when his account conflicted with that of the accuser's family.

Jackson's attorneys asked the judge to clarify whether Amen's immunity would apply even if he testifies on their client's behalf. Under the "use immunity" agreement, Amen's words cannot be used against him if he is charged.

Prosecutors have named Amen as an unindicted coconspirator in an alleged plot to hold the accuser's family captive and get them to praise Jackson in an interview.

It was unclear when the judge would rule on the motions. The defense has not said who will testify Monday.

On Friday, Jackson's former attorney, Mark Geragos, defended Jackson from the witness stand, telling jurors that the singer had once denied to him that anything inappropriate happened with the accuser.

Geragos said he believed before charges were filed against Jackson that the boy's family was plotting to "shake (Jackson) down."

Geragos was scheduled to return to the stand this Friday.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient in February or March 2003 and plying him with wine.

He is also accused of conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to make a video rebutting a documentary in which the boy appeared with him and in which Jackson told an interviewer that he let children sleep in his bed, a practice he described as nonsexual.


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