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Michael Jackson The Trial S01E04 (2026)
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00:05you wish you would know what lies after life yeah what heaven is like i always said if i
00:14had to die i want to be buried right where there's children i want them next to me i
00:20would feel safer that way i need their spirit to protect me
00:38no wonder they're protecting you from i see them as protection i see them as like angels
01:06michael jackson is back in court for what could be the most crucial phase of his trial on child
01:11abuse charges a key prosecution witness is expected to testify today
01:19we needed to put gavin's mother on the witness stand
01:24jen was intelligent not well educated but intelligent and had a very good memory of events
01:33this is someone who was a guest at michael jackson's ranch during the period of time that he engaged in
01:39the alleged molestations and they were worried about her she was capable of blowing a whistle
01:47in in a way that could be very harmful for them gavin's mother is a key witness and some observers
01:53believe the outcome of this trial could hinge on her testimony
02:00throughout the trial i had to give michael jackson the benefit of the doubt
02:07that's what a defendant has a right to not guilty until proven guilty but i thought when janet arviso got
02:18on the stand she would be convincing enough to make things look bad for michael jackson
02:26i wanted the jury to know that when janet was in neverland she was very distrusting of what was going
02:33on
02:34they were continuously trying to separate her from the children she told the jury that she's relegated
02:42to one of the guest cottages on the property her sons are in the house in his room the front
02:50door
02:51is locked so her kids are no longer with her and she doesn't have access to them
02:58and you couldn't just walk into his bedroom unannounced there's a combination lock in the access to the
03:06bedroom suite and then you walk down a hallway and the hallway had chimes in it that were activated
03:15by a motion detector so he would hear chimes going off if somebody was walking down the hallway
03:23do you think janet knew that her son was being molested i i asked her that many times she certainly
03:29had concerns he reached the point where she knew she just had to get out of there and she had
03:35to get
03:35her kids out of there but she just wasn't allowed to leave to keep her and the kids on neverland
03:45they
03:45were telling her there are killers who want to do harm to her children you need to stay here
03:51very quiet and everybody's final thank you janet tell the jury she was compelled to do this video
03:58by michael jackson's people because they knew that the beshear documentary was a problem for him
04:05so they had the whole family sitting in chairs talking about how wonderful michael jackson was
04:11but it was a tape that they did deliberately to be able to use in the contingency of this happening
04:20where there was an arrest where there was a prosecution my responsibility of a mother
04:25is to make sure that my children are in safe safety
04:35they were controlling her and where she went and what she did and who she talked to you know
04:40they were desperate to keep this under the carpet
04:48the stories by these accusers were extraordinarily convincing
04:59was she kidnapped absolutely not most false fabrication you ever heard in your life
05:10most of the jurors were really taken aback by what janet said on the witness stand but i think
05:19they were not totally convinced that the allegation was true
05:30none of it computed none of it made sense to me
05:35my family's visit to neverland coincided with the arvizo family
05:44we said hello to them and we got to know them and their kids seemed like really friendly gavin
05:49thank god seemed uh healthy which was a really good thing and i spoke to his mother and she explained
05:55to
05:55me the journey they had been on i felt that they were very happy to be at neverland gavin was
06:01completely
06:02normal and there was no weirdness with his family so none of this stuff makes sense
06:14i am subpoenaed by the prosecution to testify about what i saw at neverland
06:25his name is rudy preventio he reportedly has kept diaries and logs about some of the weirdness and things
06:31that he thought wasn't quite right i was fearful and anxious but i didn't see anything wrong with
06:41just telling the truth of what i know especially when a child might have been violated in some way
06:46it's a person's responsibility i told the jury i had overheard a conversation that is being told to the mother
06:57that these killers could be out there to get you and you have to be careful you need protection
07:05it was obvious to me that they were worried that the avizos were going to talk and make the problem
07:11worse for michael
07:17one of the witnesses that i remember quite clearly was rudy provincio i totally believed him thought he
07:26was telling the truth about uh his feelings about the orvizos and that they were being held at the ranch
07:39rudy was a compelling witness and not only that we found a tape
07:46where they recorded the call and they told her there are killers who are out there who want to do
07:51harm
07:52the d.a revealed today that he can actually corroborate some of the points she claimed
07:56so a lot of the stories she tells seems to be true i told michael i said michael if you
08:02had done this
08:03it makes you a freakazoid you it makes you horrible he says i know brian
08:11michael said brian i didn't do those things never never brian show them it's not true tell them tell
08:19the world i told michael i would overturn every stone and i did
08:27michael jackson's defense team got a hold of every record dealing with the entire family
08:33not just gavin but everyone uh so any job application that their mother had ever applied
08:41for they were able to get their hands on it medical records they got their hands on
08:47gavin of course had been horribly sick and undergone surgery they had all of his medical records as well
08:55they had the gynecological records of his sister who at the time was 15 years old there was no piece
09:02of paper that they ever generated that they weren't going to get their hands on there was nothing in
09:07their lifetime that they weren't going to know about the mother was getting welfare from the los
09:17angeles county bureau of welfare when you apply for welfare you must do a full welfare application
09:27and i sat in my office looking at this going oh my oh my oh my oh my talk about
09:35a gold mine
09:38michael jackson's defense team gets its first chance today to cross-examine the mother of the pop
09:42star's main accuser the documents showed repeated continuous falsity concealing the money that michael
09:51spent taking him to day spas getting a bikini waxed buying this and paying that and and and luxury
10:00dinners they concealed it all they lied to welfare and you won't believe
10:07what they did before the jury heard she made previous accusations of sexual assault
10:13claiming security guards at this jc penny store quote followed them into the mall parking lot and
10:18proceeded to beat them and that a tower records security guard quote joined the fracas sexually
10:24assaulted her the family had claimed that they were molested by a security guard at jc
10:32penny the guard just said oh you gotta be kidding well jc pennies parted with a hundred and fifty two
10:39thousand dollars and all of this was concealed from welfare they're just defrauding everybody they can
10:46defraud and when michael jackson brought this family into his fold this was a moment of opportunity that they
10:58took to bring down the greatest biggest superstar in the world this was all a scam
11:18the defense was painting the accusers family as grifters as people who went after celebrities for money
11:30what i've learned covering trials is that the best lawyers are good storytellers and if they tell a story
11:36that the jury can picture and absorb and go uh-huh i get that that is damning
11:50they were trying to show that she was just looking for a payday i knew it wasn't true
11:58but this was what michael jackson would do discredit the mothers of these children
12:04even as michael jackson through the course of the trial was becoming frail and more gaunt and thinner
12:11it looked like the chances of him walking away a free man were increasing with every disastrous
12:18prosecution witness
12:31next month wade robson leaves his hometown of brisbane for los angeles where he'll live with the reclusive
12:38millionaire entertainer
12:41what's the thing you you most want to do then stay with michael forever really all right i understood
12:50the importance of being able to locate other victims and of course um wade robson was at the top of
12:56the
12:56list because we knew that he had been involved with michael jackson for years
13:02we were absolutely convinced that he was a victim even though he had not come forward and disclosed it
13:09wade robson was a successful choreographer and jackson was instrumental in getting his career going
13:18we reached out to him hoping that he would testify and he said no
13:25there was another young boy from australia brett barnes who traveled with him throughout europe and
13:32south america over a year but he wouldn't testify jimmy saved chuck we believed he was a victim
13:41but he wouldn't come forward either so we needed the cooperation of all of them and we had the cooperation
13:47of none of them but i you know i understand i handled the number of child molest cases over the
13:55years
13:56it's a tough thing for kids to come forward and publicly talk about having been victim of sex crime
14:03and they disclose when they disclose and there's nothing we can do to speed up that process
14:12we also understood that it's not easy being an accuser of michael jackson it's not easy dealing
14:20with his fans there are multitudes of them and they can be vicious i was getting death threats on a
14:28regular basis saying i know where you live i know where your children are i know your wife's name
14:33i'm going to kill all of them um i mean it was a horrible there's an absurdity and almost like
14:43a
14:43cult-like following people who love michael jackson they defended him to the teeth you know they referred
14:50to him more like a god he trained his fans to be his soldiers there's no question his behavior his
15:02idea that that he he was such a victim and and he needed this protection his fans bought it hook
15:11line and sinker and boy oh boy did they ever come to his defense
15:17what do you feel now that the public is fickle the loyal ones that no matter what they're there man
15:26they're thick and thin they're right there with you and you feel unconditional love from them
15:31yeah they have been loyal they'll fight you about me
15:43it's been a white knuckle ride but now 43 days after it started the prosecution
15:48has rested its case and it's time now for michael jackson to tell his side of the story
15:56the prosecution had said that wade robson was molested by michael jackson
16:05i had called wade he was in australia
16:10wade you've got to come and testify brian i have told everybody it's not true i wasn't molested i'm not
16:18coming no i'm not i'm not setting foot anywhere near this i must have called him at least six times
16:26finally he says you're a persistent man i says yes i am wade
16:33the first witness for the defense was wade robeson it's interesting because wade robeson has said
16:40that he declined and then was subpoenaed by the defense
16:45but when he did take the stand he was a very strong witness wade robson told jurors he first met
16:52jackson at age five and shared a bed with him more than 20 times until he was 14. he got
16:59up in that
16:59courtroom and he said michael jackson never molested me michael jackson never put his hands any place
17:07that they weren't supposed to be michael jackson never harmed me michael jackson did not commit
17:13child molestation with me uncanny testimony fabulous
17:21that was a problem for us because we were we were really hammering on the fact that he was a
17:26victim
17:26and he's up there saying i'm not um i'm telling you it didn't happen the second defense witness brett
17:33barnes said the same thing adding i can tell you that if he had i wouldn't be here
17:40did they do a good job oh my you betcha
17:51the defense has now presented its witness list and there are some big hollywood heavy hitters on there
17:59when this started a lot of people felt that this was an open and shut case
18:05but it became a soap opera as they say but really a soap opera on steroids
18:14the prosecution was claiming that michael's employee saw michael put his hands up macaulay
18:21calkin's pants and play with his privates
18:26okay well what does mac say what does macaulay calkins say one of the most anticipated witnesses
18:33in the michael jackson case took the stand today macaulay calkin denied it and to this day denies
18:40that he was molested by michael jackson i you know i remembered cross-examining macaulay calkin and
18:46and and he's an actor you know and so everything has a certain flair to it his appearance his fame
18:53his celebrity he was just an extraordinarily effective witness we live in a celebrity driven
19:01society and people are really attracted to celebrities they're mesmerized by them so that
19:09certainly happened at the trial and i'm sure the jury was impacted too during the trial gavin's mind was
19:21completely scrambled and it was heartbreaking they were just stuck in this apartment for months and
19:29months there was a school uh out the window and they just look at the kids going they they just
19:39wanted
19:39to be in school this was this was really tough on everybody gavin was by himself in that trial
19:50he was literally by himself and it made it was very burdensome for him it was very challenging
19:57um but he was courageous and he never told us i'm not going to do it i can't do it
20:03this is just
20:04ruining my life um but he understood the importance of it at 15 he understood his obligation to do it
20:15the trial had raised a lot of doubts in my mind anyway so i wanted to talk to gavin
20:24i wanted to you know get a chance to to talk to him myself you know obviously all was off
20:29the record
20:30and um i didn't report it because you know i wanted to respect his privacy he says you know um
20:38the world
20:39has me all wrong he says you know i enjoyed my time with him you know i just the things
20:45he did was wrong
20:47he hurt me and i just thought wow you know this kid is telling me that this grown man this
20:55international
20:57icon hurt him i couldn't help but to believe him i had i found no reason not to believe him
21:07michael are you happy the case is almost over silence will be maintained it's now certain that michael
21:13jackson won't be taking the witness stand in his own defense
21:20just as it seemed that this case was drawing quietly to an end there is word of a possible dramatic
21:25finale months before the trial actually started the police had interviewed gavin and i wanted the jury to
21:36see it because i think if you watch that it's very hard for somebody to watch that and say oh
21:41yeah
21:42they're making the whole thing up he said that he wanted to show me how to masturbate he wanted to
21:48show you how to masturbate okay okay but then i said no
21:55then he said you do it for me okay
22:09go ahead kevin it's fine he put his hand in my pants did he put it on the outside inside
22:16inside and what
22:28i told him i didn't want to do that did he stop i told him what and he kept on
22:33talking
22:36if there was a smoking gun in the whole case that was uh gavin's uh interview with the sheriff's
22:43department i had really been convinced that gavin was telling the truth um others on the jury saw this
22:53as not being the case at all a lot of people in that courtroom were very moved by that video
22:58and so i gotta tell you jim i gotta tell you a lot of people a lot of people were
23:02moved by that video
23:03but a lot of people thought the kid was acting you know i i suppose there's reasonable doubt that
23:10he made it up or he was he was told by janet to uh tell the sheriff's department that he
23:19had been
23:20molested it just didn't come across that way to me he absolutely looked believable
23:37after 14 weeks of often lurid testimony michael jackson's trial is now entering its most crucial
23:44phase in santa maria california tonight it's all in the hands of the
23:49jury now eight women four men on the michael jackson jury will decide whether or not he
23:55is guilty of child molestation i was worried about the jury i i had complete faith in everything gavin
24:04was saying and i i there was never a question in my mind as to the honesty or accuracy of
24:12his statements
24:13never but this was an international superstar one of the most powerful men in the world
24:19and that changes the equation no matter what humanitarian actions or no matter what joy and
24:25entertainment he brought to the world if michael was harming children he was a monster
24:31but he was not a monster he didn't do any of those things there are people here from more than
24:3628
24:37countries reporting on the trial hotel rooms are booked within a 40-mile radius special fences and
24:42security have been brought in and the fan contingent continues to grow as well
24:45the fan presence was there from beginning to end and they were vociferous those are the hardcore
24:53michael jackson fans from around the world
25:00michael had encouraged his family and by extension his fans to wear white saying that he was innocent
25:07but i thought at the very least it's going to be a hung jury but they'll probably get a conviction
25:13he could face nearly 20 years in prison if the jury comes back guilty jackson will be off to corcoran
25:19state prison's protective housing unit home to among others convicted murderer charles manson
25:26michael was feeling frightened you're the biggest star in the world you you have magic that nobody
25:37else has and you are scared to death your life is coming to an end and i said to him
25:44i said michael we're
25:45going to win do you understand we're going to win this is brian i i'm so scared i don't think
25:53so
25:55transmission can you hear me can anyone hear me
25:59edgar they're on the head come with me it's okay
26:03there is breaking news that the jury in santa maria california has sent word that it has reached a
26:09verdict they announced that they had a verdict and it would be presented in the courtroom in two hours
26:19he drove up the freeway from neverland ranch and the convoy of cars and fans behind him was
26:28unbelievable his motorcade as you see from this helicopter shot live left his so-called neverland
26:36ranch uh within the past 30 minutes and his wine in the car you had michael in the middle and
26:43latoya on
26:44the right and she prayed with him dear lord take care of your child michael jackson
26:54he is your servant lord he does your bidding protect him defend him
27:02and michael is stoic he doesn't say a word
27:13outside the courtroom was a zoo i've never seen anything like that before
27:26gavin was not there it felt like too much to take on
27:32if he's found guilty it'll be a journey not back to neverland but straight to prison
27:54we're in a waiting game now
28:00by the way we should point out that the local police department has dispatched a number of
28:04officers trained to watch for potential suicidal behavior on the part of some of these fans
28:15brian we can hear our producing each he's opening each ballot uh one at a time
28:20i'm told the room is very silent
28:29but some of them john copeland i'm sorry we have we have to interrupt you because uh we're beginning
28:33to hear a little bit of audio coming from the courtroom
28:37the microphone's on
28:44superior court of the state of california count one verdict
28:48we the jury in the above entitled case find the defendant not guilty
28:57count two verdict not guilty
29:01not guilty
29:08count three verdict not guilty of a lewd act upon a minor child
29:25the clerk the clerk read it not guilty not guilty not guilty not guilty not guilty
29:32not guilty on all ten counts
29:37i always believed them i would not have came here if michael jackson was guilty of these crimes i
29:42believed in him and i fought for him michael jackson is now free this case is over this is an
29:50all-out
29:50vindication for michael jackson and his supporters
29:59michael got up
30:02everyone congratulated everyone didn't say a word turned around and he walked out
30:14there he is the first uh first look at michael jackson uh after his acquittal
30:20on all ten counts
30:30clearly this jury did not buy that these people were telling the truth
30:36there's no doubt about it the defense said this family this mother wanted to ride the gravy train
30:43jurors realized that you know in the celebrity land of michael jackson
30:47people do get accused of things that they haven't done
30:52uh your reaction to the news stacy well brian um i'm stunned i i really thought that that there was
31:01going to be a couple of um convictions there he's dodged a bullet
31:06i truly felt that michael jackson was a child molester i i felt that then and i haven't changed my
31:13mind now but the problem was proving it and the jury had a hard time believing the arvizos
31:27we got gavin on the phone and gavin poor poor gavin i just remember that voice and why didn't they
31:37believe me
31:38why didn't they believe me
31:52it was over
32:00we would talk about michael going through the fire or the book of daniel and i said michael you are
32:08being
32:08tested by fire michael
32:15as it turns out
32:18this trial hurt him it hurt him badly
32:31he never went back to neverland
32:39it was spoiled it was ruined it was defiled
32:44it was no longer the place of dreams
32:54so i think it was three days after the verdict michael gotten his limousine to lax to bahrain
33:08michael jackson turned up at a bahrain shopping mall hiding his face behind a veil and wearing a
33:13black robe traditionally worn by middle eastern women he became what um even his family described as a
33:21vagabond michael and his kids would go from place to place um anywhere he could find a home
33:29he was law michael was lost last night his crown was looking distinctly tarnished
33:36amid the adulation the clear sound of booing
33:42michael hated being hated
33:45he disliked being disliked
33:47he took it very personally he was very fragile in that regard he was used to being loved
33:53but um at that time he really was
33:59very unhappy at how hated he felt
34:06michael jackson finally came back to las vegas
34:11but he was a broken man there was tremendous financial problems
34:20and also it's believed that his drug problems continued to mount
34:28and there were terrible reports i got that michael was using medications
34:34and the family staged an intervention well no no no i got this under control
34:42i'm not addicted i'm not i go whatever michael i tried i tried to
34:52after the trial gavin was a different person he was very different he was subdued
35:00i would take him out driving we would just kind of process everything that had gone on
35:09it just was tough things were tough they had all changed their names to go back to school
35:18but uh some of the michael jackson fans had discovered their aliases and sort of outed them on myspace
35:30he became extremely depressed it was very very difficult for him to picture a life for himself
35:53michael believed that if he could perform again that he would gain strength from his fans
36:03because his livelihood and his life was the stage
36:13i love you
36:16i really do you have to know that i love you so much
36:21michael suddenly agrees to do 50 concerts see you in july
36:2950 michael couldn't get out of bed in the morning he was taking all this crap and all these drugs
36:35and
36:3650 who ever got him to agree to that the only thing that was going to do was put so
36:41much pressure on him
36:42that he would up the drug intake
36:48we were concerned that the phones were being disconnected mrs jackson had indicated at one point
36:55she hadn't spoken to him in 12 weeks every time she tried calling the line was disconnected well that's
37:03the same thing that was happening to us but i don't think anybody really thought it was anything very sinister
37:09going
37:10what's going on
37:16when people leave my show
37:35when i heard that i was shocked
37:39i'm like that's pure
37:41somebody took a video somebody took a recording and put it on slow motion that didn't even sound right
37:55okay how did he he's uh 50 years old sir he's unconscious he's not breathing yes he's not breathing sir
38:03where's he at right now he's on the bed sir but he's not responding to the cpr or anything
38:11i went i went to the emergency room and inside the emergency room was the family i saw them
38:18i saw mrs jackson i saw mr jackson and i was looking through the window
38:26and they and they were in the background they're pumping somebody's chest
38:32i said oh my oh my
38:39michael jackson is dead at the age of 50.
39:03what i felt was absolute infernal rage you stupid stupid man michael michael
39:13what have you done you've orphaned your children
39:18i think it took a few hours for the rage to wear off and then terrible grief set in
39:28the world
39:28are you afraid of death yes we all want to see what that other side look like though don't we
39:37do you think there are children playing in heaven oh god i pray that that's what it's like
39:42like adam and eve the way they're yeah yeah like adam and eve it's just a happy garden a perfect
39:49peaceful place just a pure innocence i pray that it's like that
40:02michael's favorite word was innocence because michael was robbed of that childhood innocence
40:08he said to me i never had innocence i my life has been a constant effort to reclaim lost innocence
40:16like a return to eden a return to paradise
40:27there is new global backlash tonight following the bombshell documentary leaving neverland the
40:32accusations made by wade robson who's now 36 and james safe chuck now 41 are quite similar both were
40:39befriended by jackson when they were young boys and both were brought to his neverland ranch where they
40:44claim the abuse began so what are you alleging that he actually did he sexually abused me from seven
40:51years old until 14. i've lived in silence and denial for 22 years and i can't spend another moment in
41:01that
41:05i was appalled i was shocked wade robson told the jury under penalty of perjury it didn't happen
41:14and then he does this film and says oh yeah it happened well the two don't chime it tells me
41:22that it's false
41:26i have never seen the documentary but i think these are cases of people coming out and saying
41:33horrible things long after anything is provable when there's a lot of money at stake
41:40the michael jackson i knew was a really really sweet kind-hearted person
41:48i don't know why i get so protective it doesn't make any sense do you think he's innocent
41:56after everything you've seen do you still think he's possibly innocent
42:04the world will say what what it will say and perhaps only god knows the truth could i believe
42:13that he was a pedophile absolutely categorically not but how do you know how do i know that he
42:22wasn't he wasn't a pedophile oh i i i don't know i can only say based on all the evidence
42:28all the
42:29trials and my personal knowledge of him he was absolutely incapable of harming a child
42:36i remember him putting my hands on his head when he was down there
42:47i'll forget the the um the feeling of his hair
42:55the way they painted the picture of um inappropriate behavior sexual molestation
43:00it moved me i i just thought oh my gosh if you saw that documentary you have to have some
43:08compassion for wade and james i think i was just like kind of wincing and i was asking him not
43:17to do
43:17it but he did it and he said oh you'll like it it was so powerful so powerful i was
43:26the biggest michael
43:27jackson fan of jackson fan is anyone but that documentary showed how this man manipulated
43:35not just those boys not just their family
43:43michael manipulated the entire world
43:53i believe that the outcome could have been different if jimmy safe chuck and wade robson
43:58have been able to talk about what had happened but i don't blame them i i'm not angry i may
44:06be a
44:06little frustrated but i'm really not angry i'm glad that they have come forward now i think it's helpful
44:12it's helpful for gavin i think it's helpful for the rest of the country to understand what actually
44:18happened a lot of folks did not want to believe gavin they wanted to believe their hero their idol
44:29we're talking about the king of pop and we don't want to believe that such a phenomenal talent
44:39is dangerous we just don't want those two things in the same place it's very difficult
44:48i'll be the first one to tell you because i love his music i love what he created but gavin
44:57his story has never shifted and we would know by now if the reason they had done this was money
45:05there's been no exchange of money in regards to any of this for the arviso family so maybe we need
45:12to ask ourselves is that body of work worth the price of james wade gavin
45:26is that a fair price
45:31gavin is doing extraordinarily well i'm just i'm magnificently proud of him
45:37but he's fought for it he's fought hard
45:46yeah it's hard to talk about
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