July 6, 2009 7:01 PM
- Text
Nancy Grace Stands Behind Jackson Coverage
(CBS)
As Michael Jackson tries to repair his image after an arduous trial for child molestation charges which resulted in a not guilty verdict, TV legal analyst Nancy Grace isn't backing down from her belief that he is guilty.
"Frankly, when it comes to Mr. Jackson, I believe I was right," she told Thalia Assuras in an interview for Sunday Morning. "And if you take a look at the jury who is now writing a book about how guilty Mr. Jackson is, they agree with me, although they didn't have the guts to say it in verdict form."
But Jackson's lawyer Tom Mesereau said Grace put Jackson on trial in the court of public opinion by presuming his guilt from her seat behind an anchor desk.
"I think her coverage of the Jackson case was sub-moronic. She didn't know the facts; she didn't know the evidence. She didn't know the witnesses. She didn't know what was happening in the courtroom," Mesereau said. "She tried to spin a verdict through a lot of emotional innuendo that was just buffoonery as far as I am concerned. When she was humiliated by the acquittals of Michael Jackson, she lashed out at jurors. I thought she was a disgrace. I thought she was the bottom of the barrel."
Grace said that Mesereau is a talented attorney and the reason that Jackson walked free. But defense attorneys often forget to remind people that the presumption of innocence can be pierced and overcome by evidence, Grace said.
"Listen, I grew up standing that far from the TV screen dancing to 'Soul Train,' trying to be Michael Jackson," she said. "I won the swing championship for my age category to Michael Jackson's 'Rockin' Robin,' all right?"
Grace said she never wanted to see a music legend destroyed — but that the evidence against Jackson was overwhelming.
"If you don't have a problem with a 40 year-old-man in his underwear in bed with a non-relative, 7- or 8- or 9-year-old, that's your business. I have a problem with it," she said. "I've tried too many molestation cases not to care."
"Frankly, when it comes to Mr. Jackson, I believe I was right," she told Thalia Assuras in an interview for Sunday Morning. "And if you take a look at the jury who is now writing a book about how guilty Mr. Jackson is, they agree with me, although they didn't have the guts to say it in verdict form."
But Jackson's lawyer Tom Mesereau said Grace put Jackson on trial in the court of public opinion by presuming his guilt from her seat behind an anchor desk.
"I think her coverage of the Jackson case was sub-moronic. She didn't know the facts; she didn't know the evidence. She didn't know the witnesses. She didn't know what was happening in the courtroom," Mesereau said. "She tried to spin a verdict through a lot of emotional innuendo that was just buffoonery as far as I am concerned. When she was humiliated by the acquittals of Michael Jackson, she lashed out at jurors. I thought she was a disgrace. I thought she was the bottom of the barrel."
Grace said that Mesereau is a talented attorney and the reason that Jackson walked free. But defense attorneys often forget to remind people that the presumption of innocence can be pierced and overcome by evidence, Grace said.
"Listen, I grew up standing that far from the TV screen dancing to 'Soul Train,' trying to be Michael Jackson," she said. "I won the swing championship for my age category to Michael Jackson's 'Rockin' Robin,' all right?"
Grace said she never wanted to see a music legend destroyed — but that the evidence against Jackson was overwhelming.
"If you don't have a problem with a 40 year-old-man in his underwear in bed with a non-relative, 7- or 8- or 9-year-old, that's your business. I have a problem with it," she said. "I've tried too many molestation cases not to care."
Latest Now in Sunday Morning
- Glen Campbell on getting off drugs
- Almanac: Indiana's pi bill
- Ben Stein: Facebook and American Airlines in the news
- A different side of Cary Grant
- The Super Bowl by the numbers
- Natural silence: The Kartchner Caverns
- Sunday Passage: Angelo Dundee and Don Cornelius
- A typewriter renaissance
- Wallis Simpson: Another look at "That Woman"
- Ben Stein: Wealth and misery in the news
- How hairstyles make the woman
- Cary Grant: Debonair dad
- Hazing: A dangerous tradition
- Seeking an end to hazing deaths
- The Super Bowl of hair
- Wynton Marsalis
- Top ten rudest U.S. cities
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- Holliday leads 76ers past short-handed Cavs 99-84
- Nuggets upend Pacers 113-109
- Griffin, Paul lead Clippers over Bobcats 111-86
- Whitney Houston died in Beverly Hills hotel room
on Facebook
- Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper
- Occupy protestors kicked out of CPAC
- CPAC: Will Sarah Palin spring a surprise?
- Beyonce and Jay-Z post first photos of Blue Ivy Carter
on CBS News
