Two weeks after Michael Jackson's arrest on child molestation charges, the case against him appears to be in trouble as reports about his alleged victim's family buoy his defense, aides claimed Thursday.
Prosecutors, who booked Jackson on multiple counts of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under 14 have delayed the filing of formal charges that were due early this week but which are now not expected until next week at the soonest.
And following an almost surreal media frenzy when the "King of Pop" turned himself in to authorities in the California town of Santa Barbara on Nov. 20, the US press now appears more guarded in assuming his guilt.
"Its highly unusual for charges like this to take so long to be set forth," Jackson's publicist Stuart Backerman said. "That leads me to believe that there are some problems with putting forth the charges."
Prosecutors said charges against Jackson -- accused of abusing a 13-year-old boy in 1993 in a case that was settled out of court for a large payment -- had been delayed to allow them to set up a Web site to cope with the huge media and public interest in the celebrity case.
But, Backerman said, a welter of media revelations about the extremely troubled family life of the 12-year-old cancer patient reported to be the victim in the case were also tempering the formerly hysterical news coverage of the case.
"We have said from the beginning that these allegations are a big lie. But the perspective of the media has changed. They were looking to throw fuel on the fire but now cooler heads are prevailing and the facts are beginning to come out and clearly a lot of people are having another look at the case," Backerman said.
The marked shift in the tone of the voracious press occurred after the superstar's lawyer said last week Jackson he was being targeted by financial opportunists and vowed to fight back ferociously against inaccurate news reports and those attempting to use Jackson as a "lottery ticket."
Reports now focus instead on conflicting reports on whether the boy was ill or even dying and on the acrimonious divorce of his parents that is reportedly about to spark a custody battle over the boy.
E-Online entertainment television quoted the alleged victim's father's lawyer as saying that the Jackson case could have "put his client in a better position for custody."
"His position is he never would have allowed his child to spend the night in any adult's house alone," attorney Russell Halpern said.
Other press revelations have included the fact that the alleged victim's family had a litigious past and that they sued a department store four years ago .
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was