Jackson Planning Victory Tour
Sources close to Michael Jackson tell CBS News the singer is so convinced right now that he'll be acquitted, he's planning a triumphant world tour with his brothers.
How did the case get to this point?
CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales says much may have to do with the performance on the stand of Jackson's accuser's mother.
You'd think, Gonzales observes, the person walking into the courtroom with a hood over her face might be the defendant. But he walks in to the cheers of fans, though they've dwindled to just a handful.
No – the one walking in with the hood concealing her appearance is the accuser's mother, one of the key witnesses for the prosecution.
And she has given the legal pundits plenty to talk about:
"(Her testimony has been) scattered, strange, and at times a little bizarre," said CBS News consultant Trent Copeland said on Wednesday.
"I think today we went from Neverland to fantasyland," observer Jim Moret commented, also on Wednesday.
"Her mind is a Petri dish for mental health experts," remarked defense attorney Michael Cardoza.
Before she even took the stand, the mother refused to testify about allegations she's a welfare cheat. The judge was forced to tell jurors she's been accused of theft and perjury.
Then the real theatrics began.
On her first day on the stand, she cried, begged for the jury's forgiveness, and gave a rambling account of her family being held against its will.
Over the next few days, she calmed down some, but still had outbursts -- telling the jury Jackson's people convinced her "the killers" were after her family and that she thinks "every time there's a knock at the door, it's either a subpoena or a killer."
Sources tell CBS News Jackson called her the best defense witness yet. But will the jury buy it?
Cardoza points out, "Even paranoid schizophrenics are right sometimes."
It's been a rocky road for prosecutors since day one of this trial, beginning with District Attorney Tom Sneddon's confusing opening statements. Then there was the shaky testimony of the accuser and his siblings. Other prosecution witnesses actually helped the defense refute charges of conspiracy and giving alcohol to minors. And the physical evidence is just one set of fingerprints from Jackson and the accuser found in one pornographic magazine.
The judge handed prosecutors one key victory, allowing them to bring in witnesses who told unproven stories that had been whispered about for years -- that Jackson had allegedly abused other little boys in the past.
Among them: one young man who said Jackson abused him, and the mother of a boy who was paid more than $20 million dollars by Jackson in 1994.
Anne Bremner is a lawyer who frequently comes to watch the proceedings.
Asked if she thinks the strategy of bringing in old witnesses worked for the prosecution, Bremner responded, "Absolutely. Pattern evidence: Once a pedophile, always a pedophile. Very, very powerful evidence. And it worked."
But defense attorney Tom Mesereau showed that some of the other witnesses -- former Jackson employees -- had a financial incentive to lie, had sued Jackson unsuccessfully, or had a possible motive for revenge.
The key question is: What might the jury think as the prosecution prepares to wrap up?
Has the prosecution proven its case, Gonzalez asked Bremner.
"On the molestation," she answered, "I think a jury would be justified in finding him guilty right now."
Legal analyst Moret sees it a little differently: "You still have to prove the underlying act -- the molestation. Have they proven it? No. But we haven't seen the whole case yet."
The accuser's mother isn't the only one who has exhibited strange behavior as this trial has proceeded, Gonzalez notes. We've seen the defendant show up one day in his pajamas. There are at least two more months of this, and maybe as much as four.
Still, sources tell CBS News the singer's victory tour plans are in the works.
But prosecutors and prison officials are already planning for him to spend years in Corcoran State Prison, in a special cellblock with the likes of Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson.