More On Past At Jackson Trial

Michael Jackson's past was expected to haunt him again this week as prosecutors gear up to continue presenting evidence of alleged past molestations by the singer.

The prosecution will continue to attempt to show a history of inappropriate behavior by the pop star with young boys, reports CBS News Correspondent Steve Futterman. The key witness this week could be the mother of Jackson's 1993 accuser. She is expected to describe the pop star's behavior around her son. Jackson ended up paying the boy and his family more than $20 million to settle out of court.

Testimony from Jackson's former chef on Friday capped a week in which several employees alleged they saw the entertainer act inappropriately with young boys. Phillip LeMarque said he saw the singer reach up actor Macauley Culkin's shorts as LeMarque was delivering French fries to Jackson late one night nearly 15 years ago.

The defense has said the "Home Alone" star has repeatedly denied anything inappropriate happened, and a spokeswoman has said Culkin does not plan to be a part of the case.

"I think with these witnesses, the trial has definitely taken a detour to Sleazeville," said CBS News Consultant J. Randy Taraborrelli.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon is about halfway through the new witnesses, mostly former Neverland employees, whose job is to show Jackson has a pattern of abusing children.

"This is the case that Tom Sneddon wanted to try in 1993," Taraborrelli said.

In his cross-examination, Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau, Jr., has been able to challenge the credibility of each of these witnesses by suggesting various motives, reports Futterman. Some witnesses he has suggested are out to get money, others he has hinted are out to get Jackson.

Mesereau noted that LeMarque had once tried to shop his story to a tabloid before deciding not to sell it and that a former security guard and maid who testified against Jackson had lost a lawsuit to the singer.

Prosecutors are presenting witnesses from Jackson's past to try to show he has a pattern of inappropriate behavior with boys and to help the credibility of his current accuser.

"We are now in a trial within a trial," said Jackson's spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, on CBS News' The Early Show Monday morning. "The actual case has been put on hold."

None of the special testimony can be used to find Jackson guilty of the current charges, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales, but the series of witnesses could make it easier for the jury to overlook weaknesses in the prosecution's overall case.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old former cancer patient, plying the boy with alcohol, and holding his family captive in February and March 2003 to get them to help rebut a damaging documentary.

On Sunday, Jackson's mother issued a statement explaining her reasons for leaving the courtroom during testimony Thursday.

Katherine Jackson, who has been present for every day of her son's child molestation trial, said many media outlets misinterpreted her absence from the courtroom as a reaction to testimony. She said she left to use the bathroom.

"I am only asking for fair and accurate reporting," she said in a statement released by a family spokeswoman. "Accusing me of leaving due to graphic testimony when I simply went to the rest room is not fair, not accurate."

Bain also complained about press coverage of the trial.

"Sometimes I've been sitting in court, as well as Michael, and we come out later and hear the summaries and we wonder whether or not we were sitting in the same courtroom," she said. "That's the problem, because we have not only got to win this in court, but in a court of public opinion as well."