DOCUMENT: Celebrity

Inside The Michael Jackson Grand Jury

The Transcript

View Document

John Doe, Part 1

John Doe, Part 2

James Doe, Part 1

James Doe, Part 2

Jane Doe, Part 1

Jane Doe, Part 2

Judy Doe

Larry Feldman

Dr. Stanley Katz

Jesus Salas

Brian Barron

Opening Statement

Cynthia Bell

Lauren Wallace

Christopher Carter

Ann Gabriel

Hamid Moslehi

FEBRUARY 17--It has been ten months since a Santa Barbara grand jury voted to indict Michael Jackson on charges that he molested a 13-year-old boy and conspired with several associates to falsely imprison the child and his family at the singer's Neverland Ranch. Due to extraordinary (some say unwarranted) secrecy imposed on the case by Judge Rodney Melville, the grand jury transcript--not to mention many court filings, search warrants, and other usually public documents--remain under seal, cloaking many case details. In fact, the 13-page indictment itself has only been released in a redacted form, with six entire pages removed.

Last month, The Smoking Gun provided the first detailed, behind-the-scenes account of the case, which was based on a review of scores of confidential law enforcement reports, sealed court records, and grand jury transcript. Today we go a step further with the publication of hundreds of pages of secret grand jury transcript. In addition, we've published three new stories about the Jackson probe, all based on our review of the transcript and other confidential investigative records. Click here for those reports.

The complete grand jury transcript runs 1903 pages and includes the testimony of 41 witnesses, including the alleged victim and six members of his family, several Jackson employees and associates, flight attendants, child welfare officials, four lawyers, one clinical psychologist, and a comedy club owner. Below you'll find the complete testimony given last spring by the alleged victim, his younger brother, sister, and mother. Since TSG does not identify alleged sexual abuse victims (or family members), we've covered their names with the aliases they have been assigned in court filings. The teenage accuser, now 15, is "John Doe." His mother is "Jane Doe." His 13-year-old brother is "James Doe." And his 18-year-old sister is "Judy Doe."

In addition to the family's testimony, since a prosecutor read the entire Jackson indictment to the grand jury, we've included those transcript pages that provide a verbatim account of what's on the six pages that have been cloaked for nearly a year. We're scanning as fast as we can and plan on posting most witness testimony, so check back in the next day for continuing additions.

JOHN DOE: In two appearances, the 15-year-old accuser tells grand jurors that his relationship with Jackson began when he was hospitalized with cancer. It ended, the boy testified, shortly after the performer allegedly molested him inside a Neverland Ranch bedroom.

March 30, 2004 testimony (112 pages)

April 15, 2004 testimony (42 pages)

JAMES DOE: In highly detailed testimony, the 13-year-old brother of the alleged victim recounts watching, on two occasions, as Jackson molested his sibling. The child also tells the panel that the singer gave him wine, displayed pornography to minors, and once paraded nude in front of him.

March 29, 2004 testimony (119 pages)

April 15, 2004 testimony (51 pages)

JANE DOE: Derided by Team Jackson as a grifter on the make, the accuser's mother claims she was terrorized by the singer's associates. During two appearances, the 36-year-old occasionally seems erratic--and even the prosecutor questioning her has a hard time keeping her in check.

April 6, 2004 testimony (102 pages)

April 7, 2004 testimony (173 pages)

JUDY DOE: Like most girls in boycentric Neverland, the 18-year-old was the third sibling out on visits to Jackson's ranch. She didn't even rate a nickname like her brothers, whom the performer dubbed Blowhole and Doo Doo Head.

March 30, 2004 testimony (66 pages)

INDICTMENT: While details of the alleged criminal conspiracy hatched by Jackson have been judicially scrubbed from court files, they were read verbatim into the record on April 20, 2004 by prosecutor Ronald Zonen.

Read the indictment (9 pages)

LARRY FELDMAN: The Los Angeles lawyer, who represented the boy who made molestation allegations against Jackson in 1993, told grand jurors that John Doe's mother was not angling for a payday: "If I wanted to settle this lawsuit for money...or the kid wanted to do that, all I had to do was pick up a phone and tell them what I had."

March 29, 2004 testimony (21 pages)

DR. STANLEY KATZ: Acting on a referral from Feldman, the clinical psychologist interviewed the accuser and his brother. During these sessions, the children spoke about their relationship with Jackson, admissions that caused Feldman to report his suspicions of abuse and molestation to child welfare and law enforcement officials.

March 29, 2004 testimony (18 pages)

JESUS SALAS: Until his resignation in June 2003, Salas had been a fixture at Neverland since Jackson purchased the ranch in the mid-80s. Salas, the property's house manager, testified that Jane Doe "wasn't allowed to leave" Neverland without the approval of Jackson aides Dieter Wiesner and Frank Cascio. Asked by prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss if he believed Doe family members were held against their will, Salas answered, "Yes."

March 30, 2004 testimony (25 pages)

BRIAN BARRON: The part-time Neverland Ranch security guard told grand jurors that, during the period the Doe family was allegedly falsely imprisoned, he saw a written directive posted in the estate's security office regarding the teen accuser. According to Barron, the directive notified guards that the boy was "not allowed off property." As the panel was informed, Barron's full-time gig is with the Guadalupe Police Department, where he works as a patrol officer and K-9 handler.

April 12, 2004 testimony (23 pages)

MARIA DOE: Testifying in Spanish through an interpreter, John Doe's maternal grandmother told jurors about alleged threats and harassment directed at family members following their departure from Jackson's estate. She also claimed that before her grandchildren went to Neverland she gave them this curious warning: "...little boys should never allow themselves to be touched by anybody."

April 7, 2004 testimony (22 pages)

OPENING STATEMENT: On the grand jury's opening day, prosecutor Ronald Zonen gave panel members a broad outline of the charges against Jackson, as well as brief biographical sketches of Doe family members.

March 29, 2004 statement (31 pages)

MICHAEL DAVY: Corroborating Doe family claims that they were being surveilled after leaving Neverland, Davy, an official with the Los Angeles Unified School District, testified that he saw a man videotaping the accuser in front of the child's school. Davy chased the man, who cops later identified as working for Jackson's private investigator, Bradley Miller.

April 6, 2004 testimony (18 pages)

CYNTHIA BELL: According to the corporate flight attendant, Jackson was among the most nervous fliers she'd seen, and apparently calmed himself with in-flight shotgunning of wine and other alcohol (which he guzzled from an emptied-out Diet Coke can). Along with describing the pop star as "touchy-feely," Bell called John Doe "very rude" and a "weird kid" who was "defensive when I had conversations with Mr. Jackson."

April 1, 2004 testimony (21 pages)

LAUREN WALLACE: When Jackson flew on chartered Gulfstream jets, he had one principal "unwritten special request," according to Wallace, a flight attendant. "The first one is--the white wine in the Diet Coke can," testified Wallace.

April 1, 2004 testimony (14 pages)

CHRISTOPHER CARTER: A bodyguard who shadowed Jackson round-the-clock, Carter recalled how he once discovered John Doe intoxicated at Neverland. After advising the boy he should not drink, Carter testified that the child responded, "Well, I can handle it. Michael said if I can handle it, it's okay. It's part of being a man." Asked about the accuser and his siblings, Carter described the children "running around the ranch like reckless," adding that it "was getting on Mr. Jackson's nerves in a way."

April 2, 2004 testimony (32 pages)

ANN GABRIEL: Hired as part of a post-Bashir damage control effort, Gabriel testified that she was made "sick to my stomach" by the maneuverings of some Jackson associates. "I felt personally like this was something out of a very bad 'B' movie," she told jurors. Gabriel also recalled a conversation with Jackson lawyer David LeGrand during which the attorney gleefully told of plans to smear Jane Doe as a "crack whore."

April 15, 2004 testimony (48 pages)

JAMIE MASADA: The owner of Hollywood's Laugh Factory comedy club, Masada met the accuser's family before John Doe was diagnosed with cancer. After the child fell ill, Masada arranged for him to meet comedians like Adam Sandler and Chris Tucker. More importantly, Masada also facilitated the boy's initial contact with Jackson in mid-2000 (which came while the child, then 10, was hospitalized).

March 30, 2004 testimony (18 pages)

HAMID MOSLEHI: The Los Angeles videographer, who worked frequently for Jackson, testified that he was hired to film the so-called rebuttal statements by the Doe family. Videotaped in Moslehi's home two weeks after the Bashir documentary aired, the Does had nothing but positive things to say about Jackson. However, their salutes did not appear in the rebuttal film produced by the Jackson camp and later aired on the Fox network. Moslehi testified that he refused to provide Jackson associate Marc Schaffel with the Doe interview tape because "my invoices were not being paid for a year and a half with Mr. Jackson." The Doe tape, however, was recovered during a police raid of Moslehi's West Hills home in November 2003.

April 2, 2004 testimony (25 pages)