The verdict means Jackson will be free to try to rebuild his blighted musical career. But his legal victory came at a terrible price to his image.
Prosecutors branded Jackson a deviant who used his playland as the ultimate pervert's lair, plying boys with booze and porn. Prosecution witnesses described other bizarre behavior by Jackson. They said he licked his accuser's head, simulated a sex act with a mannequin and kept dolls in bondage outfits on his desk.
Defense lawyers described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star.
The defense said the family exploited the boy's illness to shake down celebrities, then concocted the charges after realizing Jackson was cutting them off from a jet-set lifestyle that included limousine rides and stays at luxurious resorts.
Jackson was cleared of 10 charges in all, including four counts that he molested the boy in early 2003. Jackson was also charged with providing the boy with wine -- "Jesus juice," the pop star called it -- and conspiring with members of his inner circle to hold the accuser and his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging documentary. Jurors also had to consider four lesser charges related to the alcohol counts, forcing them to render 14 verdicts in all.
"The man's innocent. He always was," chief defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. said to reporters as he left court.
He was still smiling broadly as he sat in one of the black SUVs as it arrived at Neverland.
The case was set in motion by the 2003 broadcast of the British TV documentary Living with Michael Jackson that Jackson had hoped would actually improve his image. In the program, Jackson held hands with the boy who would later accuse him.
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