Cousin Tells of Boys’ Actions at Neverland

Michael Jackson’s teenage accuser ran wild with his brother at the pop star’s Neverland ranch, stealing money from ranch employees and once masturbating while watching a sexually explicit television program, Jackson’s 12-year-old cousin testified Wednesday.

Defense lawyers contend that the testimony from Rijo Jackson in Santa Barbara County Superior Court was significant because it showed that the pop star did not lure the brothers into salacious conduct, as prosecutors contend, but rather that they acted on their own.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting the older of the brothers, a former cancer patient, in 2003, when the boy was 13 years old. The accuser’s younger brother said he witnessed two of the alleged incidents.

Jackson is also accused of providing the older boy with alcohol, attempted molestation and conspiracy to hold the boy’s family captive. If convicted of all charges, he could face more than 20 years in prison.

Rijo Jackson said he found the brothers masturbating in a ranch guest room in 2003 while naked women appeared on television. He said he later told Michael Jackson about what he had witnessed, but the pop star didn’t believe him.

The testimony came as the defense began winding down in a trial that has stretched three months. Defense attorney Robert Sanger said in court that the defense had eliminated a number of witnesses that the team had intended to call.

Rijo Jackson, the grandson of one of Jackson’s uncles, said he met the accuser and his brother during a visit to the ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley. He said he saw the boys stealing cash from a chef and from the pop star’s former ranch manager.

Under cross-examination, Rijo Jackson said he didn’t report the theft of the cash to anyone because he had forgotten about it. He also said that Michael Jackson did not appear concerned when he told the pop star that he suspected the brothers were drinking wine at the ranch.

Another defense witness Wednesday was Christian Robinson, who helped produce Jackson’s rebuttal video to a damaging British documentary. Robinson said that the brothers, their mother and sister said glowing things about Jackson and that there was no script for them to follow.

That testimony ran counter to earlier statements from the boys’ mother, who said she was given a script and was forced to rehearse 10 times a day.

Robinson said the mother seemed eager to participate in the video: “She was adamant about wanting to do the interview.”

After court recessed, Jackson’s spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, said the case was going more quickly than defense lawyers had anticipated. She said no decision had been made about whether Jackson would testify in his defense.

Bain said the pop star was pleased with the way the trial has progressed.

“I haven’t seen any nervousness,” she said. “He feels his defense team has done an excellent job, and he feels he’ll be vindicated.”

Among the witnesses expected to testify within the next week are CNN talk show host Larry King; Jay Leno, host of “The Tonight Show”; and comedian Chris Tucker.