Jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation case watched the TV documentary that sparked the case, seeing the pop star and the boy who would become his accuser appearing as happy friends at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
"He's really a child at heart," the boy tells an interviewer in the documentary Living With Michael Jackson.
Jurors in Santa Maria, California viewed the tape yesterday after defence attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. gave an opening statement that sought to counter allegations that Jackson showed the boy sexually explicit materials and later fondled him at Neverland.
Defence attorney Thomas Mesereau
In his remarks, Mr Mesereau suggested the entertainer may testify. "Michael will tell you one time he got a very bad feeling at Neverland," he said, describing an incident when the boy's mother suddenly told her children to kneel and pray with "our daddy, Michael Jackson."
At another point Mr Mesereau said: "Mr Jackson will freely admit that he does read girlie magazines from time to time. He absolutely does not show them to children."
Jurors watched the documentary after prosecutors called its maker, British journalist Martin Bashir, to the stand. Jackson dabbed his eyes with a tissue during a segment in which he says children are his reason for living.
The programme, taped in 2002 and aired in 2003, led to the investigation that ultimately resulted in charges that Jackson molested the then-13-year-old cancer survivor and conspired to hold the boy's family captive.
As the programme was played, some jurors leaned forward in their seats, a few smiled or laughed when Jackson said humorous things, and a few bobbed their heads along with Jackson's music.
Although the documentary is best known for Jackson's comments about allowing children to sleep in his bed, it also exposed jurors to a sympathetic portrayal of Jackson.
At one point Jackson emotionally describes abuse that he claims he and his brothers received from their father, Joe Jackson, during their days in the Jackson 5. "I remember hearing my mother scream, `Joe, you're going to kill him,"' Jackson says at one point.
The documentary also referred to Jackson's relationships with adult women, and briefly showed the 2002 incident in which he dangled one of his children from a hotel balcony in Germany.
At one point, Jackson appears with the boy who is now accusing him, and the boy's brother and sister. The children do a dance routine in Jackson's kitchen. Later the boy holds hands with Jackson and says the pop star is perpetually childlike and understands children. "You're an adult when you want to be one," the boy says.
When the boy says that Jackson once told him and his brother, "If you love me you'll sleep in the bed," Jackson tells the interviewer that the children slept in his bed and he slept on the floor in a sleeping bag.
Holding the boy's hand tightly, Jackson says, "My greatest inspiration comes from kids. It's all inspired by that level of purity. I see God in the face of children."
After the viewing, Mr Mesereau sought to have Mr Bashir's testimony and the documentary stricken when Mr Bashir refused to say how many hours of videotape were recorded during the making of the programme.
Judge Rodney S. Melville refused to strike the video or the testimony. Jackson appeared agitated when Bashir was on the stand, at one point putting out his arms as if to tell him to speak up. Bashir was testifying in a near-whisper.
AP