Jackson TV Program A 'Disaster'

"An absolute disaster" — that's how a public relations specialist characterized the 2003 broadcast of a documentary in which pop star Michael Jackson said he liked to sleep with young boys.

Jackson's prosecutors also were able to get the witness to mention child molestation allegations that the pop star faced in 1993 but which did not result in charges. Superior Court Judge Michael S. Melville has not yet ruled on whether prosecutors in the current child molestation case will be allowed to present evidence from 1993.

Jackson, 46, is on trial on charges of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland ranch in 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive.

Ann Marie Kite listed both the Martin Bashir-produced documentary "Living With Michael Jackson," which triggered the current case, and the leaking of information from the 1993 allegations to the Web site thesmokinggun.com. Kite said the latter allegations involved inappropriate actions with a young boy.

The document released by the Web site was an affidavit from Jackson's 1993 accuser in which the boy graphically described alleged molestation by the singer.

"In combination with the Bashir documentary, I felt it was beyond a disaster," Kite said.

CBS News Correspondent Steve Futterman reports Kite also testified Wednesday she thought Jackson needed a complete rehabilitation of his image.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. objected to questions about 1993, and the judge cautioned jurors that they were only to consider the testimony as it related to explaining Kite's motivations and not for the "truth of the matter."

Twice in his opening statement Mesereau hinted that jurors would hear from Jackson: "Michael will tell you one time he got a very bad feeling at Neverland," Mesereau said at one point, referring to an incident with the accuser's family at his estate.

He also said, "Mr. Jackson will freely admit that he does read girlie magazines from time to time. He absolutely does not show them to children."

"I would be absolutely stunned if Michael Jackson took the stand," said CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen. "Jackson won't testify because he's a terrible witness and everyone knows it. He's emotionally fragile. He's not used to being questioned under oath and he's different from everyone else."

The jurors' first look at Jackson's accuser and his family came Tuesday while viewing the documentary," which features the singer holding hands with the boy and explaining that there is nothing sexual about his occasionally sharing his bedroom with children.

Showing the documentary was a good move, says Cohen.

"What they do by putting this video out right away is to isolate Michael Jackson, to show the jury that he has notions and ideas about relationships with young boys that 99.9 per cent in the world don't have," he said.

But if Jackson does take the stand, CBS News Legal Analyst Mickey Sherman, a defense attorney, says the district attorney should turn over cross-examination to another prosecutor.

"Tom Sneddon has such a visceral hatred and almost a maniacal obsession against Michael Jackson that I don't think he'll contain himself if he cross examines this guy," Sherman said on CBS News' The Early Show.

In the Neverland incident Mesereau described, the boy's mother allegedly grabbed the singer's hand, told her children to join hands, and insisted that everyone pray. Mesereau mentioned sexually explicit magazines because prosecutors allege Jackson showed them to his accuser and his brother.

Mesereau also denied allegations that Jackson served the boy alcohol and that Jackson was involved in a conspiracy to hold the family captive while forcing them to help in a public relations campaign to undo damage caused by the documentary.

Besides footage of Jackson racing go-carts, climbing a tree and going on a Las Vegas shopping spree, the documentary includes November 2002 footage of Jackson and the boy — who would months later accuse him of molestation — holding hands and celebrating the boy's recovery from cancer.

"He's really a child at heart," the boy tells Bashir.

When Bashir asks about sleeping arrangements during overnight stays in Jackson's bedroom, the boy says Jackson once told him and his brother, "If you love me, you'll sleep in the bed." Jackson adds that he slept on the floor in a sleeping bag.

Showing the program changed the mood in the courtroom, said CBS News Legal Analyst Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor, on The Early Show.

"It paints a very awful and strange picture of Michael Jackson that will set the tone for the rest of the trial. He can never explain away this idea that sleeping with boys is just a dandy thing to do," she said.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson molested the boy in late February or early March, after the Feb. 6 airing of the documentary on ABC-TV.

After the viewing, Mesereau sought to have Bashir's testimony and the documentary stricken from the record when Bashir refused to say how many hours of videotape were recorded during the making of the program.

Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville refused to strike the video or the testimony. Mesereau then asked that Bashir be held in contempt and the judge said he would review the testimony before deciding that issue.

At times, Jackson gestured expressively for Bashir to speak up and appeared to relish the defense attack on him.

"It's clear he wanted to see Martin Bashir on the hot seat, and he got his wish," said CBS News Consultant J. Randy Taraborrelli.