Changes in Jackson Accuser Described

The 15-year-old cancer survivor who says Michael Jackson molested him in 2003 was uncharacteristically sullen after he returned from a trip to the pop star’s ranch, his stepfather testified Tuesday.

“It appeared to me he’d been brainwashed,” said the boy’s stepfather, whose name The Times is withholding to protect the alleged victim’s identity. “He didn’t want to see me.... He was just mean. He was using curse words. He’d never done it before.”

The stepfather said that the boy’s behavior in March 2003 was a marked change from his past demeanor and that it took several months to improve.

Santa Barbara County prosecutor Ronald Zonen also questioned the stepfather about allegations that Jackson conspired with aides to hold the teenager and his family against their will at his Santa Ynez Valley ranch.

The stepfather said the boy’s mother called him from the ranch in February 2003 and said she was being prevented from seeing her three children and that she could not leave the property without an escort.

Jackson, 46, is on trial on four counts of child molestation, four counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor, one count of attempted child molestation, and one count of conspiracy to hold the accuser and his family captive at his Neverland ranch. If convicted on all counts, the singer faces more than 20 years in prison.

Defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. quizzed the stepfather about his negotiations to sell the family’s story to a British tabloid in 2003. Mesereau has maintained that the accuser’s family fabricated the allegations to win money from the pop star.

The stepfather testified that he asked about compensation when a British tabloid reporter tried to interview the family in February 2003. He said he never took any money -- rejecting a $15,000 offer -- and that the conversation happened before the family learned of the allegation that Jackson molested the boy. The interview never took place.

“I just thought that was the standard in the [tabloid] industry. I meant no malice by it,” the stepfather said.

He said he also negotiated with one of Jackson’s staffers for compensation if the family appeared in a televised rebuttal to a British documentary, “Living with Michael Jackson,” which questioned the pop star’s close relationships with young boys.

Jackson aide Frank Tyson offered a house and a college fund if the family cooperated, the stepfather said. Ultimately, the mother and her children appeared in the video without compensation, he said. On the video, played for jurors earlier in the trial, the family praised Jackson as a father figure and role model. The video was never televised.