Murder of the Notorious B.I.G.

The murder of Christopher Wallace, better known by his stage names "the Notorious B.I.G." and "Biggie Smalls", occurred in the early hours of March 9, 1997. The hip hop artist was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California. Upon examination, only the final shot was fatal. In 2006, Wallace's mother, Voletta Wallace; his widow, Faith Evans and his children, T'yanna Jackson, and Christopher Jordan Wallace (CJ) filed a $400 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department alleging that corrupt LAPD officers were responsible for Wallace's death. Retired LAPD Officer Greg Kading alleged that Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of Death Row Records, orchestrated the murder in revenge for the killing of Tupac Shakur in a similar drive-by homicide by gunshot. In 2003, a close friend of Suge Knight, Wardell "Poochie" Fouse, a.k.a. Darnell Bolton, who was suspected of being the trigger man by the LAPD, was himself murdered in a drive-by shooting by a rival gang member. Prior events: Christopher Wallace traveled to Los Angeles, California in February 1997 to promote his upcoming second studio album, Life After Death, and to film a music video for its lead single, "Hypnotize". On March 5, he gave a radio interview with The Dog House on San Francisco's KYLD, in which he stated that he had hired security because he feared for his safety. Wallace cited not only the ongoing East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud and the murder of Tupac Shakur six months prior, but his role as a high-profile celebrity in general, as his reasons for the decision. Life After Death was scheduled for release on March 25, 1997. On March 7, Wallace presented an award to Toni Braxton at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles and was booed by some of the audience. The following evening, March 8, he attended an after-party hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest Records at the Petersen Automotive Museum in West Los Angeles. Other guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Sean Combs, and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs. Shooting: On March 9, 1997, at 12:30 a.m. (PST), Wallace left with his entourage in two GMC Suburbans to return to his hotel after the Los Angeles Fire Department closed the party early because of overcrowding. Wallace traveled in the front passenger seat alongside his associates Damion "D-Roc" Butler, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Cease, and driver Gregory "G-Money" Young. Combs traveled in the other vehicle with three bodyguards. The two SUVs were trailed by a Chevrolet Blazer carrying Bad Boy Records' director of security. By 12:45 a.m. (PST), the streets were crowded with people leaving the event. Wallace's SUV stopped at a red light on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue just 50 yards (46 m) from the museum. A dark-colored Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up alongside Wallace's SUV. The driver of the Impala, a black male, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol and fired at the Suburban; four bullets hit Wallace. Wallace's entourage rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. (PST). He was 24 years old. His autopsy report was released to the public in December 2012, fifteen years after his death. According to the report, three of the four shots were not fatal. The first bullet hit his left forearm and traveled down to his wrist; the second hit him in the back, missing all vital organs, and exited through his left shoulder; and the third hit his left thigh and exited through his inner thigh. The report said that the third bullet struck "the left side of the scrotum, causing a very shallow, 3⁄8 inch (10 mm) linear laceration." The fourth bullet was fatal, entering through his right hip and striking several vital organs, including his colon, liver, heart, and the upper lobe of his left lung, before stopping in his left shoulder area. Wallace's death was mourned by fellow hip hop artists and fans worldwide. Rapper Nas felt at the time that Wallace's death, along with that of Tupac Shakur, "was nearly the end of rap." Investigation: Immediately following the shooting, reports surfaced linking Wallace's murder with that of Shakur six months earlier, due to similarities in the drive-by shootings and the highly publicized East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud, of which Shakur and Wallace had been central figures. Media reports had previously speculated that Wallace was in some way connected to Shakur's murder, though no evidence ever surfaced to seriously implicate him. Shortly after Wallace's death, Los Angeles Times writers Chuck Philips and Matt Lait reported that the key suspect in his murder was a member of the Southside Crips acting out of a personal financial motive, rather than on the gang's behalf. The investigation stalled, however, and no one was ever formally charged. In a 2002 book by Randall Sullivan, called LAbyrinth, information was compiled about the murders of Wallace and Shakur based on information provided by retired LAPD detective Russell Poole. In the book, Sullivan accused Suge Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and a known Bloods affiliate, of conspiring with corrupt LAPD officer David Mack to kill Wallace and make both deaths appear to be the result of the rap rivalry. The book stated that one of Mack's alleged associates, Amir Muhammad, was the hitman who killed Wallace. The theory was based on evidence provided by an informant and the general resemblance of Muhammad to the facial composite generated during the investigation. In 2002, filmmaker Nick Broomfield released a documentary, Biggie & Tupac, based on information from the book. The New York Times described Broomfield's documentary as a "largely speculative" and "circumstantial" account relying on flimsy evidence, failing to "present counter-evidence" or "question sources." Moreover, the motive suggested for the murder of Wallace in the documentary—to decrease suspicion for the Shakur shooting six months earlier—was, as The New York Times put it, "unsupported in the film." An article published in Rolling Stone by Sullivan in December 2005 accused the LAPD of not fully investigating links with Death Row Records based on Poole's evidence. Sullivan claimed that Combs "failed to fully cooperate with the investigation", and according to Poole, encouraged Bad Boy staff to do the same. The accuracy of the article was later challenged in a letter by the Assistant Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times, who accused Sullivan of using "shoddy tactics." Sullivan, in response, quoted the lead attorney of the Wallace estate calling the newspaper "a co-conspirator in the cover-up." In alluding to Sullivan and Poole's theory that formed the basis of the Wallace family's dismissed $500 million lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, The New York Times wrote: "A cottage industry of criminal speculation has sprung up around the case, with documentaries, books and a stream of lurid magazine articles implicating gangs, crooked cops and a cross-country rap rivalry," noting that everything associated with Wallace's death had been "big business." More recently, the film City of Lies was produced based on Poole's investigation and Sullivan's book: LAbyrinth, and casts Johnny Depp as Poole. In examining Sullivan's assertion that the Los Angeles Times was involved in a cover-up conspiracy with the LAPD, it is instructive to note that conflicting theories of the murder were offered in different sections of the Times. The Metro section of the Times wrote that police suspected a connection between Wallace's death and the Rampart police corruption scandal, consistent with Sullivan and Poole's theory. The Metro section also ran a photo of Muhammad, identified by police as a mortgage broker unconnected to the murder who appeared to match details of the shooter, and the paper printed his name and driver's license. But Chuck Philips, a staff writer for the Business section of the Times who had been following the investigation and had not heard of the Rampart–Muhammad theory, searched for Muhammad, whom the Metro reporters could not find for comment. It took Philips only three days to find Muhammad, who had a current ad for his brokerage business running in the Times. Muhammad, who was not an official suspect at the time, came forward to clear his name. The Metro section of the paper was opposed to running a retraction, but the business desk editor, Mark Saylor, said, "Chuck is sort of the world's authority on rap violence" and pushed, along with Philips, for the Times to retract the article. The May 2000 Los Angeles Times correction article was written by Philips, who quoted Muhammad as saying, "I'm a mortgage broker, not a murderer" and asking, "How can something so completely false end up on the front page of a major newspaper The story cleared Muhammad's name. A later 2005 story by Philips showed that the main informant for the Poole-Sullivan theory was a schizophrenic with admitted memory lapses known as "Psycho Mike" who confessed to hearsay. John Cook of Brill's Content noted that Philips' article "demolished" the Poole-Sullivan theory of Wallace's murder. In the 2000 book The Murder of Biggie Smalls, investigative journalist and author Cathy Scott suggested that Wallace and Shakur's murders might have been the result of the East Coast–West Coast feud and motivated by financial gain for the record companies, because the rappers were worth more dead than alive. The criminal investigation into Wallace's murder was re-opened in July 2006 to look for new evidence to help the city defend the civil lawsuits brought by the Wallace family. Retired LAPD detective Greg Kading, who worked for three years on a gang task force that included the Wallace case, alleges that the rapper was shot by Wardell "Poochie" Fouse, a Mob Piru gang member and an associate of Knight, who died on July 24, 2003, after being shot in the back while riding his motorcycle in Compton. Kading believes Knight hired Poochie via his girlfriend, "Theresa Swann," to kill Wallace to avenge the death of Shakur, who, Kading alleges, was killed under the orders of Combs. In December 2012, the LAPD released the autopsy results conducted on Wallace's body to generate new leads. The release was criticized by the long-time lawyer of his estate, Perry Sanders Jr., who objected to an autopsy. The case remains officially unsolved. Lawsuits- Wrongful death claim: In March 1997, Wallace's mother Voletta filed a wrongful death claim against the City of Los Angeles based on the evidence championed by Poole. They claimed the LAPD had sufficient evidence to arrest the assailant, but failed to use it. David Mack and Amir Muhammad (a.k.a. Harry Billups) were originally named as defendants in the civil suit, but were dropped shortly before the trial began after the LAPD and FBI dismissed them as suspects. The case came for trial before a jury on June 21, 2004. On the eve of the trial, a key witness who was expected to testify, Kevin Hackie, revealed that he suffered memory lapses due to psychiatric medications. He had previously testified to knowledge of involvement between Knight, Mack, and Muhammed, but later said that the Wallace attorneys had altered his declarations to include words he never said. Hackie took full blame for filing a false declaration. Several days into the trial, the plaintiffs' attorney disclosed to the Court and opposing counsel that he had received a telephone call from someone claiming to be an LAPD officer and provided detailed information about the existence of evidence concerning the Wallace murder. The court directed the city to conduct a thorough investigation, which uncovered previously undisclosed evidence, much of which was in the desk or cabinet of Det. Steven Katz, the lead detective in the Wallace investigation. The documents centered around interviews by numerous police officers of an incarcerated informant, who had been a cellmate of imprisoned Rampart officer Rafael Perez for some extended period of time. He reported that Perez had told him about his and Mack's involvement with Death Row Records and their activities at the Peterson Automotive Museum the night of Wallace's murder. As a result of the newly discovered evidence, the judge declared a mistrial and awarded the Wallace family its attorneys' fees. On April 16, 2007, relatives of Wallace filed a second wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. The suit also named two LAPD officers in the center of the investigation into the Rampart scandal, Perez and Nino Durden. According to the claim, Perez, an alleged affiliate of Death Row Records, admitted to LAPD officials that he and Mack (who was not named in the lawsuit) "conspired to murder, and participated in the murder of Christopher Wallace". The Wallace family said the LAPD "consciously concealed Rafael Perez's involvement in the murder of ... Wallace". United States District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper granted summary judgment to the city on December 17, 2007, finding that the Wallace family had not complied with a California law that required the family to give notice of its claim to the State within six months of Wallace's death. The Wallace family refiled the suit, dropping the state law claims on May 27, 2008. The suit against the City of Los Angeles was finally dismissed in 2010. It was described by The New York Times as "one of the longest running and most contentious celebrity cases in history." The Wallace suit had asked for $500 million from the city. Defamation: On January 19, 2007, Tyruss "Big Syke" Himes, a friend of Shakur who was implicated in Wallace's murder by the Los Angeles Fox affiliate KTTV and XXL magazine in 2005, had a defamation lawsuit regarding the accusations thrown out of court.

Austin Jones (musician)

Austin Jefferson Jones is an American former singer and convicted sex offender from Bloomingdale, Illinois, who was active as a YouTuber and musician from the years 2007 to 2017, prior to his arrest for production of child pornography in 2017 and conviction in 2019. After accumulating around 540,000 subscribers and over 20 million video views, Jones became more widely known due to his arrest for sexual misconduct involving minors and his possession and production of child pornography. On February 8, 2019, his YouTube channel was terminated. On May 3, 2019, Jones was sentenced to ten years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography. Career: Jones began releasing music in 2007. In 2014, he released an EP titled We'll Fall Together, which ended up at number 12 on the iTunes pop chart. In 2016, Jones released a full-length album titled Pitch Imperfect. Jones also made a-cappella videos of song covers, such as My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade", Panic! at the Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Goin' Down" and Twenty One Pilots' entire Blurryface album. Legal issues: On May 10, 2015, the music website PupFresh reported that Austin Jones had contacted multiple underage female fans online, each time persuading the girl to twerk on video for him, giving her directions how to perform the act while being recorded. A Change.org petition started by an anonymous 15-year-old girl to revoke his planned participation in the upcoming The Vans Warped Tour surfacing in light of these events did not accumulate enough signatures, but Jones eventually withdrew from the tour and addressed the allegations in a video he uploaded to his channel, "Setting the Record Straight", where he admitted that the allegations were correct and apologized for his actions, while denying nudity being involved in any of the videos he recorded or any of the webcam conversations. On June 12, 2017, Jones was arrested at O'Hare International Airport by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Homeland Security Investigations on two counts of producing child pornography (once in 2016 and once in 2017). In each case he persuaded an underage female fan to make sexually explicit videos of herself, according to his directions. At a June 15 court hearing, Jones was released from federal custody to house arrest in his mother's custody after posting a $100,000 bond, but was ordered to abstain from using the Internet while he awaited trial. He pleaded guilty to a single count of "receipt of child pornography" on February 1, 2019, and was sentenced to ten years in federal prison on May 3, 2019. After a court hearing on May 6, 2019, Jones was given permission to remain under house arrest until he reported to prison on June 28, 2019. On May 14, 2019, a YouTube video was released citing evidence implicating Kevin Lyman (founder of Vans Warped Tour), Leslie West (owner of The Rave in Wisconsin) and Bryan Stars in covering up Jones' behavior and actions. As of June 29, 2019, he is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto, a low-security federal prison in Allegheny Township, Cambria County, near Loretto, Pennsylvania. Discography: -Out of Character (2010) -From Under the Covers (2011) -Out of Character 2.0 (2012) -We'll Fall Together (2013) -Pitch Imperfect (2016)

Trial of Michael Jackson

People v. Jackson (full title: 1133603: The People of the State of California v. Michael Joseph Jackson) was a 2005 criminal trial held in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California, in which American singer Michael Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, a cancer patient in remission who was thirteen years old at the time of the alleged abuse. Jackson was indicted on four counts of molesting a minor, four counts of intoxicating a minor to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation, one count of conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive, and conspiring to commit extortion and child abduction. The trial spanned approximately four months, beginning with jury selection that began on January 31, 2005. The jury returned a not guilty verdict on June 13, 2005. Jackson had previously been accused of child sexual abuse in 1993. He denied the allegations and settled with the accuser's family out of court, which ended the lawsuit. Prosecutors dropped the criminal investigation after the accuser refused to cooperate and out of a lack of convincing evidence. In the 2005 case, Jackson was accused of abusing Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos, California. The investigation was triggered by a 2003 documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, that showed Jackson holding hands with Arvizo and defending his practice of giving his bed to children. The trial drew international media attention which included testimony from celebrities including former child film star Macaulay Culkin and actor Chris Tucker, among others. Years after Jackson died, in 2013, one of the defense witnesses, Wade Robson, changed his position from saying he had never been molested, to saying that he had a mental breakdown from abuse by Jackson. Background: In 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler. The abuse allegedly took place at Jackson's Neverland Ranch home in Santa Barbara, California. In January 1994, Jackson settled the lawsuit made against him for $23 million, with $5 million going to the family's lawyers. Prosecutors pursued the criminal case and presented the evidence to two separate grand juries, neither of which indicted. Gavin Arvizo was introduced to Jackson by Jamie Masada in 2000, when Arvizo was diagnosed with cancer. Arvizo's father, David Arvizo, separated from Arvizo's mother, often asked celebrities for money to support his son's cancer treatments. Arvizo was receiving chemotherapy and required the removal of his spleen and left kidney. Jackson and Arvizo became friends, and Jackson invited Arvizo and his family to Neverland Ranch. Arvizo thanked Jackson for "helping him be happy and beat cancer". After a few visits at Neverland, Arvizo claimed Jackson suddenly stopped calling him and felt abandoned. In 2002, Jackson invited Arvizo, now 12 years old, to be a part of an ITV documentary, Living with Michael Jackson. Presenter Martin Bashir interviewed Jackson over eight months for the film. Jackson and Arvizo were seen holding hands, and Bashir asked Jackson about the appropriateness of a grown man having sleepovers and sharing a bed with a young person. Jackson insisted that it was not sexual. The controversial conversation went: Bashir: But is it really appropriate for a 44-year-old man to share a bedroom with a child that is not related to him at all? Jackson: That's a beautiful thing. Bashir: That's not a worrying thing? Jackson: Why should that be worrying? Who's the criminal? Who's Jack the Ripper in the room? There's some guy trying to heal a healing child.... I'm in a sleeping bag on the floor. I gave him the bed because he has a brother named Star. So, him and Star took the bed and I'm on the floor on sleeping bag. Bashir: Did you ever sleep in the bed with them (Gavin and Star)? Jackson: No. But I have slept in a bed with many children. I slept in a bed with all of them when Macaulay Culkin was little: Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macaulay Culkin was on this side, his sisters in there.... We all would just jam in the bed, you know. We would wake up like dawn and go in the hot air balloon, you know, we had the footage. I have all that footage. The film drew controversy and calls for Jackson's children to be removed from his custody. Jackson called the documentary deceptive and a "gross distortion of the truth". Bashir defended his interview and dismissed accusations of distortion: "Here's an individual who is 44 years old, sleeping in the bed of children who have no biological relationship with him. I did not set out to ensnare him with a child." A two-hour special, The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See, recorded by Jackson's production team, was screened by Fox Television in attempt to vindicate him. Jackson decided to release the tape after feeling betrayed by Bashir. Macaulay Culkin went on Larry King Live to defend Jackson and said, "Everything that's going on is unfortunate.... Nothing happened at the Ranch. We played video games... I don't think they understand. Michael Jackson's bedroom is two stories and has three bathrooms. When I slept in his bedroom, you have to understand the whole scenario. The thing is that, with Michael, he isn't very good at explaining himself." Santa Barbara district attorney Tom Sneddon initially said, under Californian law, merely sleeping with a child without "affirmative, offensive conduct" was not a criminal offense, and "sleeping in bed with a kid is not a crime that I know of". Gloria Gruber, president of Prevent Child Abuse California, wanted state authorities to interview the children with whom Jackson shared a bed. "The fact that he sleeps with children who are unrelated to him is definitely a red flag and concern," she said. Arvizo's mother, Janet Arvizo, criticized Bashir's documentary as a "gross distortion of the truth", and instructed Theodore Goddard, the London law firm, to file complaints against the Independent Television Commission, which oversees ITV. She later accused Jackson of holding her captive at Neverland Ranch. Investigation and arrest: From February 14 to February 27, 2003, a few weeks after the broadcast of the documentary, the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services conducted a preliminary investigation of Jackson and Arvizo. In a confidential report based on interviews with the Arvizos, which leaked to the media, child welfare officials stated that they believed that accusations of illicit conduct were "unfounded." In June 2003, Sneddon reopened the investigation and in July and August interviewed Arvizo along with his father, mother and brother Star Arvizo. In November 2003, Arvizo claimed to police that Jackson had molested him several times between February 7 and March 10, 2003, when, according to Janet Arvizo, Jackson held the family captive at Neverland. On November 18, 2003, police searched Neverland Ranch with a search warrant. Jackson and his three children were not home but in Las Vegas where Jackson was shooting a music video for "One More Chance." Jackson was arrested on November 20. He was released an hour later after posting a $3 million bond. Shortly after the arrest, Jackson issued a statement saying the claims were "predicated on a big lie". In an interview with the news program 60 Minutes, Jackson also claimed that the police had mistreated him and complained of a dislocated shoulder. He reaffirmed his innocence and said that he was determined not to settle out of court as he had done in 1993. In August 2004, the California attorney general's office concluded, after an independent investigation, that Jackson was neither "manhandled" nor mistreated when he was taken into custody. On December 18, 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent for the purpose of committing a felony. On January 16, 2004, the day of his arraignment, Jackson climbed on top of his car to dance and wave to fans. On April 21, 2004, a grand jury indicted Jackson on several additional related charges, including conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion. On April 30, Jackson pleaded not guilty. He faced a sentence of up to twenty years in prison if convicted at trial. On December 4, 2004, the police raided Jackson's home for a second time. Trial: The trial began on February 28, 2005 in the courthouse of Santa Maria, Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara County Judge Rodney Melville presided over the trial. Melville, who had a contentious relationship with the news media, banned cameras from the courtroom and put a gag order on both sides. He delayed the three-day jury selection process for a week while Jackson was hospitalized, reportedly with flu. Melville allowed prosecutors to introduce testimony about past allegations against Jackson, including the 1993 case, to establish whether the entertainer had a propensity to commit such crimes. The prosecution hoped to show that Jackson had engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse with boys. They called on witnesses to describe earlier incidents, including Jackson's alleged 1993 abuse of Jordan Chandler. The prosecution argued that Jackson used Neverland, his "fantasy hideaway" with candy and theme park attractions, to lure boys and groom them into sex, and flattered their parents with gifts. The prosecution also said that, after Living With Michael Jackson aired, Jackson and his entourage had attempted to hold the Arvizo family virtually captive at Neverland and force them to participate in a rebuttal film. On March 10, as Gavin Arvizo was about to testify, Jackson was absent from court. Judge Melville issued a warrant for his arrest and said Jackson's $3 million bond would be forfeited if he did not arrive within an hour. Jackson arrived an hour and ten minutes late dressed in pajamas and appeared to weep in court. In an interview shortly afterwards, he claimed he had slipped in the shower and bruised his lung "very badly". He said the ongoing trial had been the lowest period in his life, and denied rumors about his financial problems, saying they had been part of a smear campaign. Witnesses for the prosecution- Martin Bashir: On March 1, Martin Bashir, who had interviewed Jackson for Living with Michael Jackson, took to the witness stand while prosecutors showed the documentary to jurors. Bashir refused to answer questions from defense attorneys. Jason Francia: On April 4, Jason Francia, whose mother worked as a maid at Neverland Ranch, testified that Jackson had abused him on several occasions when he was seven to ten years old. Francia said that "every time I was being tickled there was some sort of exchange of money," done with the understanding that he would not tell his mother. His mother said she had reached an out-of-court settlement with Jackson, reportedly for $2 million only after first selling her stories to the Enquirer, as well as to the now-defunct TV show "Hard Copy.” Under cross-examination, Francia admitted that in his first 1993 interview he told detectives Jackson had not molested him. He said he had denied being improperly touched by Jackson because he did not want to be embarrassed at school. He said he went into counseling until he was eighteen years old. Mesereau sought to establish that the Francias were goaded into their accusations by over-zealous prosecutors and tempted by money offered for media interviews. Neverland Ranch staff: In April 2005, Ralph Chacon, a former security guard at Neverland Ranch, testified that he had seen Jackson performing oral sex on Chandler in the early 1990s. He also described seeing Jackson passionately kiss Chandler and place his hand on the boy's crotch. He said he did not report the incident to police because he thought he would not be believed. A former maid at the ranch, Adrian McManus, testified that she had seen Jackson kissing boys including the child star Macaulay Culkin, and described Jackson touching Culkin's leg and "rear end". She told the court that she had seen Jackson touching Chandler's genitals. Culkin denied being molested by Jackson. The defense sought to portray Chacon and McManus as unreliable. According to The Guardian, each witness had a "horrific story. Yet, rather than calling the police, each appears to have sold that story to a supermarket tabloid." McManus had previously denied witnessing misconduct from Jackson in a 1993 court deposition while under oath. In the 2005 trial, she said she had lied during the deposition because she feared Jackson would report her to her superiors if she told police about the incident. In the 1990s, both Chacon and McManus had been part of a lawsuit filed against Jackson for wrongful dismissal. After Jackson counter-sued, their lawsuit was thrown out as fraudulent and malicious. According to testimony, Chacon and McManus had been found guilty of stealing items from Jackson's house amounting to more than $50,000, and ordered to pay more than $1 million in legal fees. Under cross-examination from Mesereau, the pair admitted that they had been paid thousands of dollars to give a tabloid interview. McManus admitted that she and her husband were found to have defrauded a relative's children of money from their estate and that she had stolen a sketch by Jackson worth $35,000. Mesereau accused the pair of attempting to "get even" with Jackson for the failed suit and characterized them as money-seekers. Housekeeper Kiki Fournier testified that the Arvizo children became unruly at Neverland Ranch without authority figures. She said the Arvizo boys "trashed" their guest rooms, and that at one point Star had pointed a knife at her in Jackson's kitchen. She said that although the boys had guest rooms they would often stay with Jackson. However, she said she never saw Jackson giving the boys alcohol and never saw them drunk. Cynthia Bell, a flight attendant who had served Jackson, testified that she never saw him share his drink with Arvizo. She said she had devised the custom of serving Jackson wine in soda cans because Jackson did not like to drink alcohol in front of his children. Bell said she had not seen Jackson "cuddling" with Arvizo during the flight, but testified that she had seen Jackson put his arm around him while he was listening to music. She said that Arvizo was demanding, complained about the food, and was unruly during the flight. Phillip LeMarque, Jackson's cook, said he entered Jackson's room and saw Jackson with his hand in Culkin's underpants. During cross-examination, the defense pointed out that LeMarque had tried to sell the story to a tabloid before deciding against it. “We were tempted by the money, for sure,” the chef responded. “Everybody would be tempted. But it was against our principles.” LeMarque and his wife, also a Jackson employee, considered selling the story for $500,000 but backed out after realizing the intermediary was "sleazy." Jesús Salas, a former house manager at the Neverland Ranch, testified that he often saw Jackson drunk or affected by prescription drugs, and on one occasion saw three boys aged around 15 to 16 emerging drunk from the wine cellar after having spent time with Jackson. When the prosecution attempted to confirm Jackson had served wine to minors, Salas added that although he brought a bottle of wine to Jackson's bedroom, sodas were also ordered for the children. The judge ruled out testimony from a former security guard who alleged that he saw Jackson in his bedroom with a boy. June Chandler: Jordan Chandler, the alleged victim in the 1993 child abuse allegations, left the country rather than appear as a witness. He had been legally emancipated from his parents. Chandler's mother, June Chandler, testified that Jackson had become angry and upset when she would not allow Jordan to share his bedroom. She said Jackson told her: "We're a family. Why don't you allow Jordie to be with me..? Jordie is having fun. Why can't he sleep in my bed? There's nothing going on. Why don't you trust me?" She relented, and in return received a gold Cartier bracelet from Jackson. When she spoke about her son’s friendship with Jackson, Chandler testified that she never suspected anything inappropriate was going on between Michael and her son. She never testified that Jackson molested her son. She told the court that she had not spoken to her son in eleven years. Debbie Rowe: On April 28, Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe was called on the witness stand by the prosecution who claimed that Rowe was forced into a scripted videotaped statement made in early 2003 in support of Jackson. The prosecution had hoped Rowe's testimony would support Janet Arvizo's claim that they were held captive and forced to make supportive statements about Jackson. In her second day of testimony, Rowe said she had refused to look at the questions before the taping and was eager to support Jackson. The defense initially wanted Rowe dismissed, saying she was not providing the testimony the prosecution wanted. The judge allowed her testimony, and the defense withdrew their motion since she spoke in favor of the defense. Rowe called Jackson's business associates and public relations aides, Marc Schaffel, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer, "opportunistic vultures" who wanted to exploit him. Gavin Arvizo: Gavin Arvizo was fifteen years old when he testified, telling the court that after Living with Michael Jackson aired, Jackson had begun serving him and his younger brother wine, sometimes concealed in soda cans, showing them pornography and making sexual advances. He said that Jackson had masturbated him to ejaculation after they drank alcohol, and then told him that if men do not masturbate, they "might rape a girl." Challenged by Mesereau, who said that Gavin had told sheriffs that his grandmother had said this, Gavin said "I'm not exactly sure what my grandmother told me." Gavin admitted that he had told his school administrator that Jackson had not molested him. Star Arvizo: Gavin's younger brother, Star, told the court that he had twice seen Jackson molest Gavin. He also said that Jackson had displayed his erection and masturbated in front of them, telling them that "everyone did it" and encouraged them to try it. Star testified that Jackson had given the boys alcohol, sometimes in soda cans, and which Jackson called "Jesus juice." Star also said Jackson had showed the brothers internet pornography on his computer. Under cross-examination, Mesereau questioned Star about a 1998 case in which his family sued J. C. Penny. The family alleged that Star, his brother and their mother were beaten in a parking lot by security guards after leaving with clothes they had not paid for. Janet Arvizo also claimed to have been sexually assaulted and falsely imprisoned. The family received a settlement of £75,000. In a 2000 sworn statement for the case, Star had said his "mother and father never fought." Janet and her children claimed that David Arvizo physically abused them for seventeen years. Star admitted he lied in the statement. The admission was a major victory to the defense. Also, it was stated that the Arvizos had not visited Neverland since March 2003. However, when shown a pornographic magazine dated August of 2003, 5 months after the family stopped visiting Neverland, Star claimed that was one of the magazines Jackson had shown them. Star would later attempt to recant this testimony too. Janet Arvizo: The defense sought to portray Janet Arvizo as untrustworthy, with a history of perjury and fraud. She admitted to having lied under oath in an earlier lawsuit. The prosecution planned to have an expert on domestic violence testify that she may have lied because she had been beaten by her ex-husband, but the judge did not allow it, saying it would be irrelevant. The defense also presented evidence of Janet having committed welfare fraud, for which she was later convicted. In regards to the J.C. Penny case, which eventually settled for $152,000, the defense brought in a welfare worker who stated that Janet had failed to disclose her receipt of the settlement that her family had received days before filling out a welfare application. A paralegal testified that Janet had lied to win that lawsuit, claiming that bruises caused by her then-husband had been caused by J.C. Penney security guards. Editor of the Mid Valley News, Connie Keenan said she was "duped" by Janet into writing a story about Arvizo's sickness because Janet wanted to make additional money when the original story didn't make enough. Other witnesses for the defense showed Janet had spent $7,000 shopping and dining out at the same time she alleged Jackson kept her and her family captive. Janet's sister-in-law offered to help Arvizo's treatment by holding blood donation campaigns. She said Janet swore at her and rejected the offer. Jurors described Janet's testimony as weak and could not be believed. They also found it strange that she snapped her fingers and addressed them directly. The New York Times described her testimony as "rambling, incoherent and at times combative." One juror questioned Janet's values as a mother, believing she had taught her children to lie to gain money and favors from celebrities. Witnesses for the defense: According to Michael Jackson's defense attorney Susan Yu, over five hundred witnesses were prepared in the case. Macaulay Culkin: Former child star Macaulay Culkin testified that he had shared a bed with Jackson on a dozen or more times between the ages of nine and fourteen, but had never been molested and had never seen Jackson act improperly, contrary to many of the prosecution's witness testimonies. He said that his parents had known he was in Jackson's bedroom and "never saw it as an issue". He described shock at hearing the allegations that Jackson had molested him, and dismissed them as "absolutely ridiculous". Culkin said they had bonded over their shared experience of child stardom. Wade Robson: Wade Robson testified as Jackson's first defense witness that he had slept in Jackson's bedroom several times but had never been molested. Robson recalled his first visit at Neverland Ranch in 1989 and had slept in Jackson's bedroom on all but three or four of his twenty or so visits. He said they played video games, watched movies, talked and sometimes had pillow fights. Brett Barnes: Barnes first met Jackson at the age of five when Jackson went to Australia during one of his tours. He shared a bedroom with Jackson at least ten times but denied any impropriety. Barnes was aware of the prosecutor's witness testimonies claiming they had seen Jackson touch him inappropriately. In response, Barnes said, "I'm very mad about it. It's not true and they put my name through the dirt. I'm really not happy about it." Barnes continues to deny any molestation. George Lopez: Comedian George Lopez testified that he had given the Arvizo family money when Gavin was fighting cancer but came to believe that Gavin's father was more interested in money than helping his son. Lopez cut ties with the family after the father became more demanding. Lopez also said that the father had accused him of stealing $300 from Gavin's wallet. When the father asked what he was supposed to tell his son, Lopez testified that he responded: "Tell him his father’s an extortionist." Jay Leno: The host of NBC's The Tonight Show Jay Leno was called in to testify for the defense in regards to his relationship with the Arvizos. Leno made approximately twenty phone calls to sick children each week and began receiving voicemail messages from Gavin, then a ten-year-old cancer patient, in 2000. Gavin referred to Leno as his hero. Leno said, "It seemed a little unusual." The comedian was contacted by the Santa Barbara police and questioned about Gavin. Leno admitted his misgivings, saying, "It sounded suspicious when a young person got overly effusive. It just didn't click with me." During a phone call from Gavin once, Leno said he heard a voice in the background but was unsure who it was. The defense argued that it was Janet Arvizo telling her son what to say. Leno said the boy never asked him for money; the defense argued that Jackson was merely one of many celebrities that the Arvizos sought to profit from. Chris Tucker: Comedian Chris Tucker claimed he had felt sorry for the Arvizos and bought them gifts and given them money. He felt the Arvizos expected too much, calling him their "brother" and taking advantage of him. He testified that he had warned Jackson about the family, whom he called "cunning". 1994 settlement: The judge allowed investigation evidence from Jackson's previous allegations to be used in the trial, but the 1994 settlement initiated by the Chandlers was deemed "irrelevant and inflammatory." The prosecution attempted to subpoena evidence from the settlement as an indication of guilt. Mesereau argued that Jackson was not liable for any of the claims compromised by the arrangement, because Jackson's insurance company, Transamerica Insurance Group, was responsible for it. The insurance company negotiated the settlement over protests from Jackson and his legal counsel. The settlement included no admission of wrongdoing or guilt, otherwise, it would violate the California Insurance Code. The insurance company had "the right to settle claims covered by insurance where it decides settlement is expedient and the insured may not interfere with nor prevent such settlements," a practice established by several precedents in California. Evidence of insurance settlements would deprive Jackson of due process of law, proper cross-examination and violate Evidence Code 352 as he would not be able to verify the agreements made in the settlement. The settlement cannot be used as evidence of guilt in future civil and criminal cases. The settlement cannot prevent criminal investigation or criminal proceeding, neither can non-disclosure agreements. Bribery to not testify in a trial is felony, and accepting such bribes is also a felony. Verdict: The jury deliberated for about thirty-two hours over seven days. On the initial vote, nine jurors voted to acquit Jackson, while three voted guilty. On June 13, 2005, they returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges. Even with Wade Robson reversing his stance on Jackson’s conduct as part of the defense since his 2009 death, if given the chance to revote today, the 4 jurors that appeared on The Jury Speaks would still vote to acquit Jackson. Jurors found the prosecuting case weak and the timeline of accusations problematic because they had claimed the molesting happened after the broadcast of the documentary when the world's attention was on Jackson and Gavin. One juror believed the mother was a scam artist. In a news conference held after the trial a juror said, "We expected better evidence, something that was a little more convincing. It just wasn't there" FBI files released after Jackson's death also noted that there are no outstanding leads or evidence items. Sneddon suggested that Jackson's celebrity status and the media may have influenced the verdict, but jurors said they often forgot Jackson was in the courtroom. The jury foreman, a retired high school counselor, said, "We looked at all the evidence and we looked at Michael Jackson, and one of the first things we decided was we had to look at him just as another person and not a celebrity." Media coverage: The trial attracted international media attention, and several commentators described it as a media circus. When news of the raid on Jackson's home broke, many channels switched to 24-hour rolling coverage; CBS, NBC, ABC and VH1 produced television specials. The media covered Jackson's poor health, dress and behavior, such as when he hopped on top of a car and waved to fans. The networks E! and Sky TV collaborated to produce re-enactments of highlights from the trial, which were broadcast daily. The re-enactment used look-alike actors, with impersonator Edward Moss portraying Jackson. In 2010, the British journalist Charles Thomson wrote an article for The Huffington Post in which he described the trial as "one of the most shameful episodes in journalistic history". He described the media coverage as "out of control the sheer amount of propaganda, bias, distortion, and misinformation is almost beyond comprehension." In the same journal, Luka Neskovic wrote that the trial "displayed media at their worst. Sensationalism, exclusivity, negativity, eccentrics, chaos, and hysteria were some of the features." For example, according to Neskovic, when pornography was found in Jackson's home, many media outlets misreported it as child pornography. Neskovic observed that the media was more interested in reporting the prosecution than the defense, and that, for example, the Hollywood Reporter chose not to report two weeks of the defense case. Aftermath: Following the trial, Mesereau said he had told Jackson to stop having boys sleep in his bed: "He's not going to do that anymore." Jackson moved to the Persian Gulf island country of Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah. According to Jackson's brother Jermaine, unbeknownst to Jackson, the family had intended to send him to Bahrain had he been convicted. Jackson then lived in Ireland. He never returned to Neverland Ranch, saying it had been despoiled by police searches. In June 2009, he died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Further allegations: In 2013, choreographer Wade Robson, who had testified in the trial that Jackson had not molested him, filed a $1.5 billion lawsuit against Jackson's estate, claiming Jackson had molested him over seven years when he was a child. In May 2015, Judge Mitchell Beckloff dismissed the lawsuit, saying Robson's claim was "untimely and should be dismissed." In 2014, another man who had spent time with Jackson as a child, James Safechuck, filed suit with the same lawyer as Robson. Safechuck previously gave sworn testimony during Jackson's 1993 allegations that he had never been molested. He claimed that he realized he had been abused when he heard Robson's allegations. He alleged that he had been sexually abused by Jackson over a hundred times in a four-year period, and had been "brainwashed" into believing the incidents were "acts of love." In 2017, his lawsuit was dismissed by a probate court as time barred.

1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson

In the summer of 1993, a Los Angeles-based dentist and screenwriter named Evan Chandler publicly accused American singer Michael Jackson of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan Christopher "Jordy" Chandler. Case files state that the relationship between Jackson and Jordan began in February 1993, but other sources cite May 1992. Jordan's stepfather, a car dealer named David Schwartz, introduced the boy to the singer after Jackson rented a vehicle from Schwartz's dealership. Chandler initially encouraged the friendship. In the summer, Chandler confronted his ex-wife June, who had custody of Jordan, with suspicions that their son had been in an inappropriate relationship with Jackson, but June dismissed his worries. On July 15, Dr. Mathis Abrams, a psychiatrist, sent Chandler's attorney Barry Rothman a letter stating there was "reasonable suspicion" of sexual abuse. He wrote that if there was a child abuse claim, he would be required by law to contact the Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services. On August 4, Chandler and Jordan met with Jackson and Anthony Pellicano, Jackson's private investigator, and Evan Chandler read out Abrams' letter. He then opened negotiations to resolve the issue with a financial settlement. Chandler and Rothman had rejected a $350,000 offer from Jackson. On September 14, 1993, the Chandlers filed a lawsuit against Jackson for sexual battery, seduction, willful misconduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and negligence. On August 24, 1993, as the third leg of Jackson's Dangerous World Tour began, news of the allegations broke to the public and received worldwide media attention. Jackson canceled the remainder of the tour due to health problems arising from the scandal. In January 1994, Jackson reached a financial settlement for $23 million with the Chandlers. In September 1994, the criminal investigation was closed after the Chandlers declined to cooperate, leaving the case without its main witness. The allegations affected Jackson's public image and commercial standing, and several endorsement deals were canceled, including Jackson's decade-long Pepsi endorsement. Similar allegations were made by other parties in 2005, leading to a trial in which Jackson was found not guilty. In November 2009, five months after Jackson's death, Evan Chandler was found dead from suicide by gunshot at his luxury apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, after several years of depression and estrangement from his family. Allegations: According to the case files, Jordan Chandler first met Jackson in February 1993 when Jackson’s car broke down and he sought help from the boy’s stepfather David Schwartz, who ran a rental car company. Their friendship became so close that the National Enquirer ran a featured story with the title "Michael's New Adopted Family". The story implied that Jackson had "stolen" the boy from his estranged father, Evan Chandler, a dentist. Jackson invited Jordan, his stepsister and his mother to visit his Neverland Ranch on the weekends. They would also take trips to Las Vegas and Florida. These trips interfered with Jordan's scheduled visits with his father, with Jordan preferring to visit Neverland Ranch. In May 1993, when Jackson and Jordan stayed with Chandler, Chandler urged Jackson to spend more time with his son and suggested that Jackson build an addition to the house so that Jackson could stay there. After the zoning department said this could not be built, Chandler suggested that Jackson build him a new home. That month, Jordan and June flew with Jackson to Monaco for the World Music Awards. According to June's lawyer, Michael Freeman, "Evan began to get jealous of the involvement and felt left out." Upon their return, Chandler was pleased with a five-day visit from Jackson, during which Jackson slept in a room with Jordan and his stepbrother. Chandler said this is when he became suspicious of sexual misconduct by Jackson, although he said that Jackson and Jordan were clothed when he saw them in bed together, and has never claimed to have witnessed sexual misconduct. Jordan and Jackson's contact ended in June 1993. On July 2, 1993, in a private telephone conversation, Chandler – who was unknowingly being recorded by Dave Schwartz – said: There was no reason why (Jackson) had to stop calling me. I picked the nastiest son of a bitch I could find (Chandler's lawyer Barry Rothman), all he wants to do is get this out in the public as fast as he can, as big as he can and humiliate as many people as he can. He's nasty, he's mean, he's smart and he's hungry for publicity. Everything's going to a certain plan that isn't just mine. Once I make that phone call, this guy is going to destroy everybody in sight in any devious, nasty, cruel way that he can do it. I've given him full authority to do that. Jackson is an evil guy, he is worse than that and I have the evidence to prove it. If I go through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever. Michael's career will be over. In the same conversation, when asked how this would affect his son, Chandler replied: That's irrelevant to me. It will be a massacre if I don't get what I want. It's going to be bigger than all us put together. This man (Jackson) is going to be humiliated beyond belief. He will not sell one more record. However, discussing Jordan's upbringing, Chandler told Schwartz: You don’t have any right to all of a sudden decide that you’re going to be a good father or have a conversation about what’s right to do. I’ve never condemned you for it. I know what you’re going through (tape irregularity) that. I understand you have to stay away in order to be a normal human being. I understand that, but no one’s gonna give a shit about that in court. You and I live (tape irregularity) but I’m still living through it every day at my office, and it’s just bad for me too, believe me, and I understand you really well, and I know why (tape irregularity) she’ll make you look bad in one second. Schwartz replied: Yeah. I don’t disagree with that. And Chandler responded: Okay. Well, this time it’s gonna be the other way around because she — you see, I love him so much that I’m willing to destroy my own life to protect him. The recorded conversation was a critical aspect of Jackson's defense against the allegations made against him. Jackson and his supporters argued that he was the victim of a jealous father whose only goal was to extort money from him. The tape was first publicly released by Pellicano, after edits had been made. In October 1994, Mary A. Fischer of GQ magazine reported it was Chandler who initially accused Jackson of molesting his son, before he demanded a screenwriting deal from Jackson instead of going to the police. Following a five month investigation into the alleged extortion, deputy Los Angeles County District Attorney, Montagna, released a public statement stating no charges of extortion were brought against Chandler, citing Jackson's lawyers' failure to file for extortion in a timely manner and Jackson's willingness to negotiate with the boy's father for several weeks, which Montagna then goes on to explain that settlements were encouraged as it is what the law favored. Montagna also said the discussions between Jackson’s representatives and Barry K. Rothman, the attorney for the boy’s father at that time, appeared to be attempts to settle a possible civil case, not efforts to extort money. We’ve declined to file today criminal charges of attempted extortion. The evidence does not show that any crime has been committed. — Michael J. Montagna Use of sedatives: According to Taraborrelli, Chandler admitted that he had used the controversial sedative sodium amytal when he extracted a tooth from Jordan in early August 1993. Sodium amytal is a barbiturate that puts people in a hypnotic state when injected intravenously. Studies done in 1952 demonstrated that it enabled false memories to be implanted. Dr. Phillip Resnick, a Cleveland psychiatrist, said it was "a psychiatric medication" and, "People will say things under sodium amytal that are blatantly untrue". In May 1994, in Napa County, California, Gary Ramona won a lawsuit against his daughter's therapist and the psychiatrist who had given her sodium amytal. The psychiatrist claimed the drug helped Ramona's daughter remember specific details of molestation by Ramona, but a court brief written by Martin Orne, a University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist who pioneered research of hypnosis and sodium amytal, stated that the drug is "not useful in ascertaining 'truth' . . . The patient becomes sensitive and receptive to suggestions due to the context and to the comments of the interviewers." This was the first successful legal challenge to the "repressed memory phenomenon". Dr. Kenneth Gottlieb, a San Francisco psychiatrist, said: "It's absolutely a psychiatric drug. I would never want to use a drug that tampers with a person's unconscious unless there was no other drug available. And I would not use it without resuscitating equipment, in case of an allergic reaction, and only with an M.D. anesthesiologist present." According to Dr. John Yagiela, coordinator of the anesthesia and pain control department of the UCLA School of Dentistry, "It's unusual for it to be used for pulling a tooth" and "better, safer alternatives are available." On May 3, 1994, KCBS-TV reported that Chandler claimed the drug was used for tooth extraction and that Jordan was under the influence of the drug when the controversy broke. Mark Torbiner, the dental anesthesiologist who administered the drug, told GQ that if sodium amytal was used, "it was for dental purposes." According to Diane Dimond of the tabloid TV program Hard Copy, Torbiner's records show that Robinul and Vistaril were administered instead of sodium amytal. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was investigating Torbiner's administration of drugs during house calls, where he mostly gave patients morphine and Demerol. His credentials with the Board of Dental Examiners indicated that he was restricted by law to administering drugs solely for dental-related procedures, but he had not adhered to those restrictions. For instance, he had given general anesthetic to Barry Rothman during hair-transplant procedures. Torbiner had introduced Chandler and Rothman in 1991, when Rothman needed dental work. Negotiations: In early August, the parties of Jackson and Chandler engaged in unsuccessful out-of-court negotiations. Chandler and his legal team asked for $20 million, or threatened to take the dispute to a criminal court. Jackson refused, saying, "No way in hell." A few weeks later, Jackson's legal team gave a counter-offer of $1 million, declined by Chandler who then requested $15 million. Jackson refused and lowered his offer to $350,000, which Chandler also refused. With both sides unable to reach an agreement, Chandler decided to take the matter to court. On September 2, 1993, Pellicano stated he made the offers in an attempt to catch Chandler's negotiating and recorded one of the telephone calls to Rothman to demonstrate this. However, on the call, the subject of blackmail was only fleetingly referenced by Pellicano. According to the Los Angeles Times, "illicit tape recordings are generally not admissible as evidence in criminal cases, but California law makes an exception in cases where extortion is threatened." Howard Weitzman turned over the tapes to the district attorney's office. Allegations made public and investigation: On July 15, 1993, Dr. Mathis Abrams sent Evan Chandler's attorney Barry Rothman a letter stating there was "reasonable suspicion" of sexual abuse. On August 17, over a three-hour session, Jordan told Abrams he had been abused by Jackson that went on for several months, which included kissing, masturbation and oral sex. Jordan repeated these allegations to police and gave a description of what he alleged was Jackson's penis. On August 18, the Los Angeles Police Department's Sexually Exploited Child Unit began a criminal investigation into Jackson. June Chandler initially told police that she did not believe Jackson molested her son, however her position wavered a few days later. On August 21, a search warrant was issued, allowing police to search Neverland Ranch. Police questioned thirty children who were friends of Jackson, they all stated that he was not a child molester. Gary Hearne, Jackson's chauffeur, testified in his deposition to driving Jackson to Jordan Chandler's house at night, and collecting Jackson in the morning for a period of about thirty days. On the day the allegations were made public, August 24, Jackson began the third leg of his Dangerous World Tour, in Bangkok. That same day, Anthony Pellicano held a press conference accusing Chandler of trying to extort $20 million from the singer. He did not mention that Jackson had made several counter-offers. The Jackson family also held a press conference, saying it was their "unequivocal belief" that Michael was a victim of extortion. On August 26, Jackson's promoters publicly released an audiotape of him apologizing to his fans for cancelling his second show in two days. The police also began an investigation into Evan Chandler, finding that he was $68,400 behind in his child support payments despite being well-paid as a dentist. In September 1993, police officers traveled to the Philippines to interview two of Jackson's ex-housekeepers. However, the ex-employees lacked credibility due to a back salary argument they had with Jackson. On November 8, police also searched the Jackson family home, Hayvenhurst. Several parents of Jackson's children friends complained of aggressive investigative techniques by police. They claimed the police frightened their children with lies such as "we have nude photos of you", and told parents their children had been molested even though their children had denied it. According to the county's DCFS reports on August 26, Jordan Chandler had difficulty remembering the times and dates of his alleged molestation. "However, the minor was consistent in his story," one document stated. Another investigation source said, "There's no medical evidence, no taped evidence. The search warrant at Jackson's home didn't result in anything that would support a criminal filing." The child abuse case file read that Jordan first told his father about the alleged abuse, in spite of Jackson's alleged threats. Jordan claimed that he and his father then met with Jackson and his lawyers, "and confronted him with allegations in an effort to make a settlement and avoid a court hearing." Evan Chandler had unsuccessfully sought a $20-million movie production and financing deal with Jackson and wanted a settlement to avoid going to court. On August 31, attorney Gloria Allred held a press conference stating she had been retained on behalf of the Chandlers, and implied a civil suit against Jackson would be made. On September 10, Allred said that she was off the case, declining further comment as to why. On September 13, the Chandlers hired Larry R. Feldman, former Los Angeles County Bar Association president. Brett Barnes, aged eleven, publicly said he had shared a bed with Jackson, but insisted there was no sexual abuse: "I was on one side of the bed and he was on the other. It was a big bed." Wade Robson, aged ten, told Fox Television that he too shared a bed with Jackson but nothing sexual happened. On October 6, 1993, Jordan Chandler underwent a psychiatric interview with Dr. Richard Gardner in New York. Dr. Gardner had formulated Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in 1985, a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Jordan gave his account of what allegedly happened between him and Jackson in May 1993, during their trip to Monaco for the World Music Awards. A former security guard made various allegations about Jackson, saying he was fired because he "knew too much," and alleged that he was ordered by Jackson to destroy a photo of a naked boy. Instead of reporting this alleged event to the police, he sold the story to Hard Copy for $150,000. On December 13, 1993, Jackson's maid, Blanca Francia, alleged that she "quit in disgust" after seeing Jackson in a shower with a child, but did not inform the police. Lisa D. Campbell reported that Francia had been fired in 1991 and had sold her story to Hard Copy for $20,000. However, when Diane Dimond interviewed Francia on the show, she denied being fired but acknowledged being compensated by Hard Copy. On December 2, 1993, attorney Charles Mathews held a press conference about his clients allegedly being threatened and harassed by Anthony Pellicano's machinations. Mathews was representing Jackson's former security guards in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed on November 22. The lawsuit alleged wrongful termination due to "firsthand personal knowledge of many of Michael Jackson's nighttime visits with young boys." Allegation by La Toya Jackson: On December 8, 1993, Jackson's sister La Toya Jackson, who had been estranged from the family and not seen him for several years, claimed her brother was a pedophile. She further claimed that she had seen checks made out to different boys' families and that Jackson's own childhood physical abuse had turned him into an abuser. She and her then-husband Jack Gordon also said that Jackson had tried to kidnap and kill her. On December 9, La Toya Jackson repeated her suspicions to Katie Couric on Today: "I do know he'd have boys over all the time and they'd stay in his room for days. Then they would come out...there'd be another boy and he'd bring someone else but never two at a time." La Toya claimed to have proof of Jackson's pedophilia and offered to disclose it for $500,000. A bidding war between US and UK tabloids began, but fell through, when as J. Randy Taraborrelli wrote, "she didn't have much to offer, after all." The rest of the family disowned her, and in later years she insisted she had been forced to make the allegations by her husband Jack Gordon. Just prior to making the allegations, Gordon had been arrested for assaulting her and three years later, the couple divorced. By the turn of the millennium Jackson had forgiven his sister. La Toya Jackson, on repeated occasions, recanted all of her allegations against her brother, claiming she had been forced by her late husband to make such statements. In 2009, she recanted her 1993 statements to Barbara Walters, saying that her brother was not a pedophile and never had any improper contact with a child. Lisa Marie Presley: According to Chris Cadman, Jackson met Lisa Marie Presley around May 26, 1974, during a Jackson 5 engagement in Lake Tahoe. Her father, Elvis Presley, was closing a two-week engagement at the Sahara Tahoe while the Jackson 5 were just about to begin one. In November 1992, Jackson was reconnected with Presley through a mutual friend, and they talked almost every day by telephone. As the abuse accusations became public, he became dependent on Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health. She stated, "I believed he didn't do anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it." She described him in one call as high, incoherent and delusional. He proposed to her over the phone in late 1993, saying, "If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?" They divorced less than two years later. Jackson's health: Jackson took painkillers for his scalp surgeries, administered due to the Pepsi commercial accident in 1984, and became dependent on them to deal with the stress of the allegations. Within a few months of the allegations becoming news, he had lost approximately 10 pounds and stopped eating. According to Jackson, he had a tendency to stop eating when "really upset or hurt" and his friend Elizabeth Taylor had to make him eat: "She took the spoon and would put it into my mouth." He said that he eventually became unconscious and had to be fed intravenously. In a court deposition unrelated to the alleged child abuse, Jackson appeared drowsy, lacked concentration and slurred while speaking. He said he could not remember the dates of his album releases or the names of people he had worked with, and took several minutes to name some of his recent albums. On November 12, Jackson canceled the remainder of his tour and flew with Taylor and her husband to London. When Jackson arrived at the airport, he had to be held up. He was rushed to the home of Elton John's manager and afterward to a clinic. When he was searched for drugs on entry, 18 vials of medicine were found in a suitcase. Jackson booked the whole fourth floor of the clinic and was put on a Valium IV to wean him from painkillers. While in the clinic, he took part in group and one-on-one therapy sessions. On November 15, Jackson's lawyer, Bert Fields, spoke publicly of their last meeting in Mexico City and Jackson's painkiller addiction: "Michael's life was in danger if he continued taking these massive quantities of drugs. He was barely able to function adequately on an intellectual level." Fields insisted that a U.S. drug rehabilitation center would not have the privacy Jackson wanted. He also stated that his client was not trying to evade an investigation: "If Michael Jackson wanted an excuse to stay out of the United States, all he had to do is stay on his tour." On November 23, Fields resigned from the case. Strip search: On February 10, 1993, ten months before the search, Jackson had revealed in a televised interview that he had vitiligo, a skin disorder that destroys skin pigmentation and creates blotches. The interview was watched by 90 million viewers, and after it aired expert information on vitiligo was widely shared in the media. According to Pellicano, Jordan Chandler said in July 1993 that Jackson did lift his shirt once to show the blotches on his skin. On December 20, 1993, investigators for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD issued Jackson with a warrant for a strip search, as police wanted to verify Jordan's description of Jackson's private anatomy. The officers photographed Jackson's entire body. The police were looking for discoloration, any signs of vitiligo that Jordan had spoken about, or any other skin disorder. Refusal to comply would have been used in court as an indication of guilt. Those present for the prosecution were District Attorney Tom Sneddon, a detective, a photographer, and a doctor. Those present on behalf of Jackson were his two attorneys, a physician, a detective, a bodyguard, and a photographer. The attorneys and Sneddon agreed to leave the room when the examination took place. At Jackson's insistence, the prosecution detective also left. In an emotional state, Jackson stood on a platform in the middle of the room and disrobed. The search lasted for approximately 25 minutes. He was never touched. On January 28, 1994, Reuters and USA Today reported that an unidentified source informed them, "The pictures simply didn't match the boy's description." According to LAPD detective and pedophilia expert Bill Dworin, who spoke to NBC News in February 2003, Jordan's description comported with the photos of Jackson's genitalia. Dworin did not believe that Jordan Chandler's accusations were coached. The DA and the sheriff's photographer stated that the description was accurate, but the jurors felt that the photos did not match the description. In March 1994, Jackson's mother Katherine was called to testify in front of the LA County Grand Jury. Investigators asked whether her son had altered the appearance of his genitalia. Jordan claimed that Jackson was circumcised. However, Jackson's autopsy report showed that he had not been circumcised and his foreskin appeared intact, with no signs of surgical restoration. On January 4, 1994, Larry Feldman filed a court motion in an effort to obtain the police photographs of Jackson. The motion stated a "multiple choice" request: either provide copies of the photographs, submit Jackson to a second search, or the court can bar the photographs from the civil trial as evidence. Feldman said that the district attorney's office previously refused the request of these photographs. Jackson’s lawyers asked a Santa Barbara County judge to order prosecutors to return the nude photographs, fearing they would become public, but were denied. Jackson's response: On December 22, 1993, Jackson responded to events for the first time via satellite from Neverland Ranch: As you may already know, after my tour ended I remained out of the country undergoing treatment for a dependency on pain medication. There have been many disgusting statements made recently concerning allegations of improper conduct on my part. These statements about me are totally false. I will say I am particularly upset by the handling of the mass—matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions. I ask all of you to wait and hear the truth before you label or condemn me. Don't treat me like a criminal, because I am innocent. I have been forced to submit to a dehumanizing and humiliating examination. It was the most humiliating ordeal of my life, one that no person should ever have to suffer. But if this is what I have to endure to prove my innocence, my complete innocence, so be it. On January 5, 1994, a few weeks before the settlement, Jackson gave a five-minute speech at the 26th NAACP Image Awards asserting his innocence and received a standing ovation. During the ceremony, one presenter had included Jackson in a list of names, calling him "Michael (Innocent Until Proven Guilty) Jackson." A poll at the time, conducted by A Current Affair, found that nearly 75 percent of Americans believed Jackson was telling the truth. Media reaction: Most of the information available on the allegations was released (officially or unofficially) by the prosecution and unchallenged by Jackson. He was largely portrayed as guilty by the media, which used sensational headlines implying guilt when the content itself did not support the headline. Stories were purchased of his alleged criminal activity, police investigation material was leaked, and unflattering photographs of Jackson were printed. Two weeks after the allegations were reported, the headline "Michael Jackson: A Curtain Closes" reflected the attitude of most tabloid media. The New York Post ran the headline "Peter Pan or pervert". In a piece for Hard Copy, Dimond—a journalist who spent the next fifteen years trying to prove Jackson was a pedophile—ran a story stating it had acquired "new documents in the criminal investigation of Michael Jackson, and they are chilling; they contain the name of child movie actor Macaulay Culkin". In fact, the document stated that Culkin denied being abused by Jackson. Two tabloid media outlets bought confidential leaked documents from the LAPD for $20,000. A number of Jackson's former employees—most of whom had worked at Neverland—sold stories which alleged prior sexual misconduct on Jackson's part, instead of reporting their claims to police. One couple asked for $100,000, claiming that Jackson had sexually caressed Culkin. For a fee of $500,000, they would also allege that Jackson put his hands down Culkin's pants. Culkin strongly denied the allegation and did so again in court during Jackson's 2005 trial. When Jackson left the US to go into drug rehabilitation, the Daily Mirror (UK) held a "Spot the Jacko" contest, offering readers a trip to Disney World if they could correctly predict where he would appear next. A Daily Express headline read "Drug treatment star faces life on the run", while a News of the World headline said Jackson was a fugitive. These tabloids also falsely alleged that Jackson had traveled to Europe to have cosmetic surgery that would make him unrecognizable. Geraldo Rivera set up a mock trial, with a jury made up of audience members, even though Jackson had not been charged with a crime. Lawsuit: On September 14, 1993, Jordan Chandler and his parents filed a lawsuit against Jackson. The lawsuit claimed that Jackson had committed sexual battery, seduction, willful misconduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and negligence. In November, Jackson's lawyers asked the case be put on hold for as long as six years or until the criminal case was concluded. Concerns about a civil trial during an ongoing criminal investigation, and prosecutors' access to plaintiffs' civil trial information, stemmed from Jackson's Fifth Amendment rights. Since two grand juries deemed there was insufficient evidence for criminal charges by the end of the investigation, the prosecution could have been able to form the elements of a case around the defense strategy in the trial, creating a situation akin to double jeopardy. Superior Court Judge David M. Rothman ordered Jackson's deposition scheduled before the end of January 1994 but said he might reconsider if Jackson was indicted on criminal charges. Jackson agreed to be deposed on January 18. His attorneys said he was eager to testify, but also said they might oppose the deposition if criminal charges were filed or were still under consideration on his deposition date. They said if charges were filed, they would want the criminal trial to go first. However, when authorities notified Jackson's lawyers that they expected their investigation to continue at least through February, Jackson's team failed to win a delay of the civil case. Rothman denied the motion to delay the civil proceedings until the criminal investigation had been completed, and set March 21, 1994, as the trial start date. On December 17, 1993, Rothman allowed the prosecutors to receive information from Jackson's lawyers and approved discovery information for media disclosure. Both Feldman's and Jackson's camps expressed concerns about Jackson's right to a fair trial being compromised by publicly discussing discovery results. Johnnie Cochran and Howard Weitzman, attorneys representing Jackson, argued that investigators were trying to use the suit to advance their criminal investigation, a technique that should not be allowed. On January 24, 1994, prosecutors announced that they would not bring charges against Chandler for attempted extortion, as Jackson's camp had been slow to report an extortion claim to the police and had tried to negotiate a settlement for several weeks. Chandler had made his settlement demand in early August 1993, and the Jackson camp had filed extortion charges against the Chandler camp in late August. In the extortion investigation, a search warrant was never sought to search the homes and offices of Chandler and Barry Rothman. No grand jury convened when both men refused police interviews. In contrast, the police had searched Jackson's residences solely based on Jordan's allegations, and taken lengths to interview or intimidate witnesses. Weitzman said they had not gone to the police earlier because "It was our hope that this would all go away. We tried to keep it as much in-house as we could." In February 1994, the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury convened to assess whether criminal charges should be filed. The Los Angeles County Grand Jury began in March 1994. By 1994 prosecution departments in California had spent $2 million and convened two grand juries, but Jordan Chandler's allegations could not be corroborated. Settlement: Jackson's legal team would meet three times a week at Taylor's home to discuss the case. Eventually, it was agreed that Jackson was too sick to endure a lengthy trial and that he should settle out of court. The lawsuit was settled on January 25, 1994, with $15,331,250 to be held in a trust fund for Jordan, $1.5 million for each of his parents, and $5 million for the family's lawyer, for a total of approximately $23 million. According to a motion passed to Judge Melville in 2004, "the settlement was for global claims of negligence and the lawsuit was defended by Mr. Jackson's insurance carrier. The carrier negotiated and paid the settlement, over the protests of Mr. Jackson and his personal legal counsel." On January 29, 1994, the Associated Press reported that Jackson had requested his insurance company (Transamerica Insurance Group) to financially contribute to the settlement. A lawyer for TIG, Jordan Harriman, had made a "one-time-only" offer to Jackson on January 13 to resolve his claim. Jackson refused that offer but further negotiations followed. Russ Wardrip, a TIG claims analyst, had sent a January 13 registered letter to Jackson's lawyer, Howard Weitzman: acts of sexual activity do not constitute accidental bodily injury. Further, acts of sexual activity, especially those against a minor, are inherently intentional, wrongful and harmful. Coverage for such acts is precluded by the California Insurance Code. According to Jackson's attorney Thomas Mesereau, Jackson's insurance company was "the source of the settlement amounts", as noted in a 2005 memorandum in People v. Jackson. The memorandum also noted that "an insurance carrier has the right to settle claims covered by insurance where it decides settlement is expedient and the insured may not interfere with nor prevent such settlements", as established by a number of precedents in California. Defeating the right would involve convincing a court with the power to overrule the precedent that the earlier decision was either wrongly decided or more often, "clearly" wrong (depending on the criteria of the court) or the court must be convinced to distinguish the case. That is, to make the ruling narrower than that in the precedent due to some difference in facts between the current and precedent case while supporting the result reached in the earlier case. In 2004, Jackson's attorney Thomas Mesereau said: "People who intended to earn millions of dollars from Jackson's record and music promotions did not want negative publicity from these lawsuits interfering with their profits. Michael Jackson now regrets making these payments. These settlements were entered into with one primary condition – that condition was that Mr. Jackson never admitted any wrongdoing. He always denied doing anything wrong. Mr. Jackson now realizes the advice he received was wrong." Jackson explained why he had settled: "I wanted to go on with my life. Too many people had already been hurt. I want to make records. I want to sing. I want to perform again. It's my talent. My hard work. My life. My decision." He also wanted to avoid a "media circus". The settlement cannot be used as evidence of guilt in future civil and criminal cases. In 1994, Larry Feldman said "nobody bought anybody's silence" with the civil settlement. Bribery to not testify in a trial is a felony according to California Penal Code 138. Receiving such a bribe is also a felony according to this law. Closure of investigation: District Attorney Gil Garcetti said that the settlement did not affect criminal prosecution and that the investigation was ongoing. Jordan Chandler was interviewed after the settlement by detectives seeking evidence of child molestation, but no criminal charges were filed. On May 2, 1994, the Santa Barbara County grand jury disbanded without indicting Jackson, while a Los Angeles County grand jury continued to investigate the sexual abuse allegations. On April 11, 1994, the grand jury session in Santa Barbara was extended by 90 days, allowing DA Sneddon to gather more evidence. Prosecution sources said they were frustrated in their grand jury probe, failing to find direct evidence of the molestation charges. The final grand jury disbanded in July without returning an indictment against Jackson. The Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation around July 6, 1994. The police never pressed criminal charges. Citing a lack of evidence without Jordan's testimony, the state closed its investigation on September 22, 1994. District attorney Sneddon and Lauren Weis, head of the county DA's Sex Crimes Unit, said that ending the investigation did not reflect any lack of faith in the alleged victims' credibility. The entire investigation involved two grand juries and more than 400 people interviewed over a period of 13 months. According to the grand juries, the evidence presented by the Santa Barbara police and the LAPD was not convincing enough to indict Jackson or subpoena him, even though grand juries can indict the accused purely on hearsay evidence. According to a 1994 report by Variety, a source in contact with the grand juries said that none of the witnesses had produced anything to directly implicate Jackson. According to a 1994 report by Showbiz Today, one of the grand jurors claimed they "did not hear any damaging testimony" during the hearings. FBI files released after Jackson's death also noted that the prosecution had no outstanding leads. Aftermath: A week after the settlement in January 1994, L.A. District Attorney Garcetti announced that he supported amending a law that prohibited sexual assault victims from being compelled to testify in criminal proceedings. The amendment, introduced into the state assembly in February, would have immediately allowed Garcetti to compel Jordan Chandler's testimony. On February 15, 1994, PBS Frontline aired the documentary Tabloid Truth: The Michael Jackson Story about the tabloid sensationalism, more preoccupied with selling papers than reporting an accurate narrative of the scandal. The documentary reported Jackson's housekeepers Mark and Faye Quindoy selling stories about Jackson for money, and bargaining for more money regarding child abuse allegations. They were depicted as untrustworthy. Phillip and Stella LeMarque, another pair of former employees to Jackson, sold a child abuse story to tabloids through pornographic film actor Paul Barresi, who once successfully sold a story to the National Enquirer. At the opportunity of the scandal, Barresi made a taped recording of alleged evidence and told the Globe that he intended to turn it over to the district attorney. The Globe and Baressi agreed on $15,000 for his story. Splash News journalist Kevin Smith said, "A lot of people who claimed to have witnessed Jackson doing this, that or the other—they weren't going to the police first. Their main interest was money, and they would come to journalists who could give them money. So in those circumstances, journalists know more about what happened than the police do." Three years later, Victor M. Gutierrez self-published a book on the relationship between Jordan Chandler and Jackson. Gutierrez claimed that the book is based on a diary Jordan had kept at the time and included details of alleged sexual encounters with Jackson. According to German newspaper Die Tageszeitung, Gutierrez attended meetings of North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a group advocating the decriminalization of pedophilia and pederasty, as a reporter in the 1980's. He said the group thought of Jackson as "one of us" and they insisted that the relationship between Jordan and Jackson was romantic. In 1997, Jackson filed a civil suit against Gutierrez for slander after the writer claimed that he had a tape of Jackson having sex with his nephew Jeremy, son of Jermaine Jackson. The jury ruled in Jackson's favor, awarding him $2.7 million. Gutierrez fled to Chile after the suit. Jackson's attorney Zia Modabber said, "Jurors told us that they not only wanted to compensate Mr. Jackson and punish Victor Gutierrez, but to send a message that they are tired of tabloids lying about celebrities for money." Jackson also filed a $100 million lawsuit against Diane Dimond after she appeared on KABC morning show Ken and Barkley to discuss Gutierrez's alleged tape. After the report was broadcast, Jackson announced he would sue members of the media who "spread vicious lies and rumors about me in their attempts to make money, benefit their careers, sell papers or get viewers to watch their programs." It was dismissed in 1997. Jordan legally emancipated himself from his parents in 1994, at age 14. In 1996, Evan Chandler sued Jackson for around $60 million, claiming Jackson had breached an agreement never to discuss the case. In 1999, a court ruled in Jackson's favor and threw out the lawsuit. In 2006, Jordan accused his father of attacking him with a barbell, choking him and spraying his face with mace. The charges were dropped. On November 5, 2009, fourteen weeks after Jackson's death, Evan Chandler was found dead following an apparent suicide. Investigative journalist Charles Thomson noted a continued media bias against Jackson after Chandler's suicide. Thomson said he was contacted by a British tabloid to supply information about the 1993 allegations, only to have them replace his carefully researched information with the misinformation he advised them to avoid. According to Thomson, when Jackson's FBI file was released the following month, the media reported that it created the impression of guilt, even though the file supported his innocence. He noted that Gene Simmons' allegations in 2010 about Jackson molesting children received over a hundred times more coverage than his interview with Jackson's long-time guitarist, Jennifer Batten, who rebutted Simmons' claims. Effect on Jackson's career: Jackson's commercial appeal and public image declined in the wake of the allegations. The government of Dubai barred him from performing in response to an anonymous pamphlet campaign that attacked him as immoral. Jackson backed out of a deal to create a song and video to tie-in with the film Addams Family Values, returning an estimated $5 million, and a brand of fragrances was canceled because of Jackson's drug problems. On November 14, 1993, PepsiCo ended their ten-year partnership with him, causing some fans to boycott the company. According to conflicting sources, Jackson agreed to compose music for the video game Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but left the project and was uncredited, possibly due to the allegations. Jackson produced a special show for the premium cable network HBO, For One Night Only, to be recorded in front of a special invited audience at New York City's Beacon Theatre for broadcast in December 1995. The shows were canceled after Jackson collapsed at the theater on December 6 during rehearsals. Jackson was admitted overnight to Beth Israel Medical Center North. The shows were never rescheduled. The following year, Jackson began the HIStory World Tour. Despite the show's success, Jackson's only concerts in the USA were two shows at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. Jackson completed the video once planned for Addams Family Values and released it as Ghosts, with a framing story about an eccentric maestro who entertains children and is pursued by a bigoted local official. Jackson's album HIStory, released shortly after the allegations, "creates an atmosphere of paranoia," according to critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Its content focuses on the public struggles Jackson went through prior to its production. In the songs "Scream", "Tabloid Junkie", and "You Are Not Alone", Jackson expresses his anger and hurt at the media. In the ballad "Stranger in Moscow", he laments his "swift and sudden fall from grace". In "D.S.", he attacks a character identified as Tom Sneddon, the District Attorney that requested his strip search. He describes the person as a white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Sneddon said: "I have not, shall we say, done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot." According to The Washington Post, the O.J. Simpson trial overshadowed Jackson's scandal. A source from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said the scandal took "a back seat since the Simpson case came up." Scriptwriter Alison Taylor said, "O.J. Simpson is the best thing that ever happened to Michael Jackson." Further allegations: On December 18, 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child sexual abuse and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to commit a child sexual abuse felony against Gavin Arvizo. Jackson denied the allegations. Sneddon again led the prosecution. The People v. Jackson trial began in Santa Maria, California, on January 31, 2005. The judge allowed testimony about past allegations, including the 1993 case, to establish whether the defendant had a propensity to commit certain crimes. However, Jordan Chandler had left the country to avoid testifying. Mesereau later said: "The prosecutors tried to get Chandler to show up and he wouldn't. If he had, I had witnesses who were going to come in and say he told them it never happened and that he would never talk to his parents again for what they made him say." June Chandler testified that she had not spoken to her son in 11 years. During her testimony, she claimed that she could not remember being counter-sued by Jackson and that she had never heard of her own attorney. She also said she never witnessed any molestation. Jackson was found not guilty of all charges on June 13, 2005. In 2019, Canadian filmmaker Danny Wu produced and released a documentary, Square One, which discusses the 1993 allegations and makes a case for Jackson's innocence. The film is narrated by Wu, along with British investigative journalist Charles Thomson. "Square One" features interviews with Jackson's nephew Taj Jackson, and a number of people who were featured on the witness list for Jackson's 2005 Child Molestation Trial.

Murder of XXXTentacion

Jahseh Onfroy, an American hip hop artist, better known as XXXTentacion, was fatally shot on June 18, 2018 at the age of 20, in an apparent robbery at a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The shooting occurred at 3:57 p.m. Eastern time when Onfroy was leaving the dealership. He was shot once in the neck and was in critical condition before being pronounced dead at 5:30 p.m EST after being rushed to Broward Health North. Events: On June 18, 2018, Onfroy went to the bank in an attempt to withdraw money before heading to RIVA Motorsports, an upscale seller of motorcycles and boats in Deerfield Beach, Florida. After withdrawing money from the bank, Onfroy was followed by a car allegedly containing Dedrick Williams and two other accomplices. At 3:30 p.m EDT, Onfroy arrived at RIVA Motorsports and entered inside with a friend. Two minutes later, Williams and another man allegedly left a brown SUV and followed Onfroy inside before buying the masks used during the robbery in RIVA Motorsports parts department. A half hour later, Onfroy left the dealership and entered his black BMW i8 and began to drive away from the dealership before a black SUV drove in front of Onfroy's car and two armed men left the vehicle, and demanded property from Onfroy, before a brief struggle after which Onfroy was shot in the neck. Witnesses told police the suspects took a Louis Vuitton bag from his vehicle and then fled. The shooting occurred in east of the city of Parkland where Onfroy was currently living. The Broward County Fire Department rushed him to the nearby Broward Health North. Onfroy was initially reported to be in critical condition following the shooting, but the Broward County Sheriff's Office later confirmed his death. Investigation: Shortly following the announcement of Onfroy's death, Broward County Sheriff's Office offered $3,000 bounty for any information leading to the arrest of any suspects. On June 20, 2018, the Broward County Sheriff's Office arrested 22-year-old Dedrick Devonshay Williams in connection with Onfroy's murder. Williams was driving in his silver 2004 Honda before a traffic stop occurred. Williams was detained in the car chase that followed. Williams was identified by what he was wearing on June 18, yellow sandals and a white tank top. He was also identified by employees who saw him when he entered RIVA Motorsports to buy a neoprene mask. Two more active warrants were issued after Williams' arrest. Legal proceedings: Williams was charged with first degree murder, along with grand theft auto and a probation violation and was denied bail. Aftermath: Following the announcement of Onfroy's murder, a makeshift memorial was quickly created by fans and local residents, consisting of lyrics from the artist and words of remembrance written in chalk stretching up to a hundred yards. The owner of Riva Motorsports, where Onfroy was killed, held a vigil on June 19, 2018. Hundreds gathered during the vigil and Broward County Sheriffs were forced to close the street. Shortly after, a walk commenced between Onfroy's fans in support of gun control. Onfroy's new house in Parkland, Florida was also memorialized by fans. Onfroy's team issued a statement saying a proper memorial service will be arranged soon. Internet personality Adam Grandmaison (better known as Adam22), the creator of the podcast No Jumper where Onfroy had his first professional interview, held a memorial in front of his BMX retail store OnSomeShit on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles to a crowd of 300 people. The crowd eventually grew to over 1,000 and police in riot gear eventually appeared with police en route to disperse the crowd. According to reports, rubber bullets were shot and tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. Funeral: On June 24, 2018, an open-casket memorial was announced to be taking place on June 27, at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. Mobile phones and cameras would not be allowed at the event. Commercial impact: On June 19, the day after Onfroy's death, Billboard reported that Taylor Swift's Spotify single-day streaming record for "Look What You Made Me Do" was broken by Onfroy's track "Sad!", with 10.4 million streams compared to Swift's 10.1 million streams. This was followed by a 16-fold sales increase across all streaming and download platforms, including a 7000-fold sales increase in CDs on Amazon.com. Onfroy's album ? was expected to return to the top five the week of his death following his murder, with 90,000 album-equivalent units sold, up from 19,000 the last week. In the week following Onfroy's murder, Onfroy's highest-charting single, "Sad!", went number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Onfroy the first artist to top the Hot 100 posthumously in a lead role since The Notorious B.I.G., with "Mo Money Mo Problems", in 1997.

Jimmy Wopo

https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/jimmy-wopo-Pittsburgh-rapper-investigated-unsolved-shooting http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/ny-ent-rapper-jimmy-wopo-dead-drive-by-shooting-20180618-story.html https://hollywoodlife.com/2018/06/18/jimmy-wopo-dead-rapper-killed-drive-by-shooting-xxxtentacion/ another dead rapper

Paul C

Paul C. McKasty, better known as Paul C, was an East coast hip hop producer, engineer and mixer in the 1980s. Work: McKasty began his musical career as a bassist of the pop rock band the Mandolindley Road Show. The group recorded a self titled album, released in 1985. He gave himself the middle name "Charles" after Ray Charles which he shortened to the initial "C." After the group disbanded, Paul joined the hip hop group Mikey D & the L.A. Posse. He began working as a producer and engineer for numerous hip-hop acts. Paul C's best-known work is on Ultramagnetic MC's 1988 classic debut album Critical Beatdown and the non-album singles the group released between 1988 and 1989. Paul also worked together with the Greek Psychedelic Folk/WorldBeat act Annabouboula, for which he did engineering and mixing in the late '80s in the 1212 Studio, Queens, mixing and editing a variety of tracks for Annabouboula which were released in Europe on Virgin and BMG and eventually in the U.S. on Shanachie. He has only one credit as a producer on the album, for the track "Give the Drummer Some," but according to group members, Paul C was responsible for the overall sound of the album. Paul preferred to work without contracts, so he often did not receive credit for his production work. Paul C also worked for many other artists including Grandmaster Caz, Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud, Stezo, and Rahzel. He also served as a mentor of Large Professor in the use of the E-mu SP-1200. He overheard a recording session of a new local group named Simply Too Positive and offered to produce its entire demo. Simply Too Positive eventually became Organized Konfusion and its demo created a major buzz around the group. Paul C's status began to grow and he was hired to work for higher-profile artists. He produced tracks for Eric B. & Rakim's Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em. He was planning on producing more songs for the group and also for Queen Latifah, Biz Markie, and Large Professor's group Main Source. Legacy: Despite his short career, Paul C left a lasting legacy on hip-hop music. His protégé Large Professor took over production duties on much of the music Paul C was working on before his death. He went on to become a well-known producer and emcee. Large Pro's publishing company is named Paul Sea Productions in honor of his late mentor. Other hip hop producers such as Domingo, Pete Rock, Cut Chemist and Madlib cite Paul C as an influence. Kool Keith, Pharoahe Monch, and Rahzel credit Paul C with helping them to grow as artists. A picture of Paul C appears in the liner notes of Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em and the album is dedicated to his memory (although his name is not listed in the production credits). The liner notes of Main Source's debut album Breaking Atoms includes the inscription Paul C Lives. On Organized Konfusion's debut single "Fudge Pudge," the duo gives a shout-out that says, "Paul C to the organisms!" Critical Beatdown was re-released in 2004 with the non-album singles that Paul produced as bonus tracks. In 2006, an unreleased album by Mikey D & the L.A. Posse was released under the title Better Late Than Never: In Memory Of Paul C. Critical Beatdown was re-released in 2004 with the non-album singles that Paul produced as bonus tracks. In 2006, an unreleased album by Mikey D & the L.A. Posse was released under the title Better Late Than Never: In Memory Of Paul C. Death: In 1989, Paul C was shot to death in Rosedale, Queens, at the age of 24. His murder was featured on America's Most Wanted leading to the arrest of Derrick "Little Shine" Blair, who was later released due to lack of evidence.