The mother of an MTV dance show host who spent many nights with Michael Jackson as a boy testified today the pop star was "like a member of my family" and backed up her son's account that nothing sexual occurred when they slept together.
Joy Robson, whose son, Wade Robson, 22, flatly denied ever being fondled by Jackson, or showering with him as another witness said, took the stand as defense lawyers presented a second day of testimony countering prosecutors' assertions that Jackson was a serial child molester.
"I've known Michael a long time," she said under questioning from defense attorney Tom Mesereau. "I know him very well. I've spent many hours talking to him. I feel like he's a member of my family. ... I trust him with my children."
She added that she considers the 46-year-old entertainer "a very special person."
"He's not the boy next door. He's Michael Jackson. ... He's very pure in his love for children. To know him is to love him and trust him," Ms Robson said.
While acknowledging that her son spent the night with Jackson on numerous occasions, Ms Robson said she never saw anything otherwise inappropriate or suspicious.
Wade Robson, a former child dance prodigy, is now a well-known choreographer who has worked with such stars as Britney Spears and hosted his own dance competition show on MTV, The Wade Robson Project.
He and a second witness, Brett Barnes, 23, said they shared Jackson's bed during sleepovers at his Neverland Valley Ranch when they were boys. Both testified last night that they remained friends with the pop star.
Both insisted that Jackson never abused them or touched them in a sexual way, contrary to the testimony presented by prosecution witnesses earlier in the trial.
Although the accusations of Jackson's conduct with Robson and Barnes are not part of the current charges against him, legal experts say the testimony about the singer's past history with young boys may have been the most damaging part of the prosecution case.
Jackson is charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy at Neverland, plying him with alcohol and conspiring to imprison him and his family in 2003, and has pleaded innocent. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted of all 10 counts.