'This Is No Joe Schmoe'

Michael Jackson showed up for the start of jury selection in his molestation trial Monday looking like, well, Michael Jackson, dressed to the hilt.

And there's more there than meets the eye, explains author J. Randy Taraborrelli, a Jackson biographer who's covered the Jackson family for 30 years.

He explains to The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen that, "My sources in the defense camp tell me you're not going to see a lot of Michael Jackson dressing down for these proceedings. They want the potential jurors, and ultimately the jurors, to know that this isn't just some Joe Schmoe. This is Michael Jackson. I believe that, for the most part, he will always look exactly like Michael Jackson, and that means the white outfits. He had on spats (Monday). It was quite a spectacle, the outfit he was wearing: kind of Captain Crunch meets the Navy."

Jackson was cheered wildly when he arrived, which wasn't lost on Taraborrelli: "He seemed to be quite relaxed. He had a little bit of a swagger in his step as he stepped out of the SUV. Of course, he's always got the guy holding the umbrella right above him. It takes him five seconds to walk from the car to the front door of the courthouse, and in those five seconds, the crowd erupts into cheers and it's kind of like being at a concert, actually. It's really kind of exciting.

"I actually went and spoke to the fans (at the courthouse Monday) and I've learned that they've come from all over the world. There was expected to be a turnout of a few thousand, when actually, there were probably only a couple hundred people out there. But they're devoted, I can tell you that much, and they've handed out literature that they've printed up. I've read it and I actually learned a few things about the case from the fans' literature. They know exactly what this case is about. They've done a lot of research and they're very devoted to Michael Jackson."

What was it like inside the courtroom? The star effect, Taraborrelli observed, faded in a hurry: "I've been out here for the last six months, and I've been in the courtroom just with the attorneys and the other media people. And to actually watch jurors in there now, real people -- Michael Jackson's peers are here now.

"For a moment, they were craning their necks to get a good look at him, to actually bask in the presence of Michael Jackson in the courtroom. I'll tell you, though, that didn't last very long. Eventually, they wanted to get down to business. The ones who wanted out of this case wanted to state their case and get excused. One lady was eight months pregnant and all she had to do was stand up and say, 'Judge, I'm eight months pregnant,' and the judge said, 'You're excused.' "

Taraborrelli says Jackson was making eye contact with the jury pool from time to time, and huddling with his attorneys quite a bit.