EXCLUSIVE This morning I spoke with Thomas Mesereau, Michael Jackson’s brilliant criminal defense lawyer in his 2005 child molestation and conspiracy trial. Michael was found not guilty on all counts.
The first witness Mesereau put on the stand in Jackson’s defense was Wade Robson, who now claims Jackson molested him when he was a child. In 2005, Robson, Mesereau says, was “adamant” that Jackson had never done anything wrong to him. Robson’s mother and sister also took the stand and said the same thing.
The Robsons flew in from Australia for the trial. They stayed at Neverland. Mesereau interviewed them extensively.
Mesereau told me: “I found Wade articulate and likeable. But he staunchly defended Michael. His mother and sister supported him in their statements. On the stand, Wade was then subjected to a withering prosecutor. I’m shocked that he’s taken a position contrary to what he told me, and what he testified to in court.”
Mesereau hasn’t seen the documentary “Leaving Neverland” but he is very surprised. And this is a man who has examined and cross examined some of the toughest witnesses ever.
One important thing Mesereau agreed with me on. Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon, now deceased, thoroughly investigated Jackson twice, over a 10 year period. He looked ceaselessly for young boys who might have been abused by Jackson. Sneddon was obsessed with tagging Jackson. It was Sneddon who slid his card on the door of the Arvizo family after he saw them on TV, and crafted an unsuccessful prosecution against Jackson using their crazy testimony.
Sneddon knew the names of Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck, the two men who claim in the documentary to have been molested. If Sneddon had thought there was any real story there, he’d have gone after it. He never did.
Meanwhile, Robson has started a not for profit foundation and is soliciting donations. There can be no transparency, as he’s parked his 501 c3 very cleverly under something called the Hawaii Community Foundation. That way, Robson doesn’t have to file a form 990. We’ll never know if the makers of “Leaving Neverland” have donated money to it, for example. This was done on purpose. Leonardo DiCaprio does the same thing with his Foundation. It’s hidden.
Safechuck, meantime, is accused by Jackson fans of creating his story from a very disgusting book published years ago by a man named Victor Guitierrez. Jackson sued Guitierrez and won a $2.7 million judgement against. The writer has never paid up, and now lives in Chile. I threw my copy out a long time; I didn’t want it in my house.
“Leaving Neverland” can’t be taken seriously, and I’m surprised the press in Sundance– who didn’t cover Jackson — was so swayed by it. The movie offers no independent evidence, or third parties, just the claims of Robson and Safechuck. Just because it’s graphic, doesn’t mean it’s true. The rush to judgement here is alarming, and dangerous.
