Third Jackson Juror Talks
A third juror in the Michael Jackson case who initially favored a guilty verdict weighed in after two others expressed second thoughts, saying she believes the entertainer is a child molester but joined in the verdict exonerating him because of reasonable doubt.
Appearing on MSNBC on Tuesday, Juror Katarina Carls said she initially agreed with Eleanor Cook and Ray Hultman that Jackson was guilty, but decided she could not convict because of jury instructions that he must be acquitted if there was reasonable doubt. She said it was possible that Jackson's accuser was lying.
"I kept asking myself, is there any slight possibility that this boy might lie at all? And my answer was yes," she said.
Cook and Hultman said Monday as they began publicizing book deals that they believe Jackson molested his 15-year-old accuser and now regret finding him not guilty in the June verdict.
They said on MSNBC that they went along with the other panelists because the jury foreman threatened to have them removed.
Cook and Hultman's reversals have no effect on the verdict, which cannot be appealed.
Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr., has ridiculed their accounts, saying they may be seeking fame and fortune.
"Twelve people deliberated and out of that process justice is supposed to result. Now, two months later, these jurors are changing their tunes. They clearly like being on TV," Mesereau said. "I'm very suspicious."
Eleanor Cook and Ray Hultman revealed in a televised interview that they believed the singer's young accuser was sexually assaulted.
"No doubt in my mind whatsoever, that boy was molested, and I also think he enjoyed to some degree being Michael Jackson's toy," Cook said on MSNBC's "Rita Cosby: Live and Direct."
Cook and Hultman also alleged that jury foreman Paul Rodriguez threatened to have them kicked off the jury.
"He said if I could not change my mind or go with the group, or be more understanding, that he would have to notify the bailiff, the bailiff would notify the judge, and the judge would have me removed," Cook said in a transcript provided by MSNBC.
The New York Daily News first reported Aug. 4 that Hultman and Cook planned books and believed Jackson was guilty.
Another juror appearing on MSNBC on Tuesday, Mike Stevens, disputed Cook's claim that she was intimidated into going along. He said Cook told another juror at one point that she couldn't be swayed, and that the jury foreman did not threaten to remove Cook for holding out, but for giving personal opinions rather than following the law and the evidence.