The Paranormal/Current Events Michael Jackson Poll

[richardm]

(paid?) fans?

No.

 

[Cleon]

I really don't think his antics are helping him. I really think they are hurting him significantly. It may be that the jury is not supposed to watch the news but...reality is what it is. My bet is that every single juror knows today exactly what the news reported yesterday. Do you really believe he was so ill he couldn't show up for court? Do you really believe he didn't have time to comb his hair (a wig, I hear) or change his pajama bottoms (and yet have time to change the top into a fashionable shirt and jacket complete with several items of jewelry)? Do you really believe that a person with a 'back problem' so bad that it prevented his 'timely' appearance in court could quickly twist and wave to his screaming (paid?) fans?

Occam's Razor applies, even for the dumbest of jurors. Unless there's a plant on the jury (very possible), then this can't bode well for MJ.

Oh, I agree. But we're not talking about someone who has a gift of logical deduction or foresight here. I think he knows he's up the proverbial creek, and this is the only way he can think of to try and either force a mistrial, find grounds for an appeal, or try and win sympathy with the jurors.

I am a bit curious about how many times he'll get raped during his first week in prison...

 

[Ed]

Hadn't heard any of that... hmm.. perhaps this is why it is better to check some facts before forming an opinion.

Why? It is another American Trial of the Century! Check thinking at the door and enjoy!

Do you investigate Professional Wrestling?

Seriously, the web of stories that is being constructed looks very, very bad. It's the pattern moreso than the specifics, I think.

 

[Rob Lister]

Here, hang on: he can get up to eight years for interfering with a little boy, but seven years for giving him a little drinkie?

Those puritans really did a job on America!

"A little drinky" does not drunk (room spinning) make, especially if you're intending to sleep with the child. I don't think you're putting it in perspective. I'm of the opinion that seven years is just about right, if not a little low, even if no sexual misconduct ensued.

 

[Rob Lister]

Oh, I agree. But we're not talking about someone who has a gift of logical deduction or foresight here. I think he knows he's up the proverbial creek, and this is the only way he can think of to try and either force a mistrial, find grounds for an appeal, or try and win sympathy with the jurors.

I am a bit curious about how many times he'll get raped during his first week in prison...

Probably depends on whether or not they allow him to keep and wear his fake nose. Somethings are just too gross even for a convict. Heck, MJ doesn't even have man-boobies.

 

[Ed]

I didn't vote, but I think he'll be convicted of being Michael Jackson. Or maybe I should phrase that, "He'll be convicted because he's Michael Jackson."

.

Oh, Mr. "all this MJ crap is beneath me" BPSCG! Spare us please. Get off your ass and vote.

You know you love it.

 

[Darat]

Oh, I agree. But we're not talking about someone who has a gift of logical deduction or foresight here. I think he knows he's up the proverbial creek, and this is the only way he can think of to try and either force a mistrial, find grounds for an appeal, or try and win sympathy with the jurors.

...snip...

I disagree in that he is just acting normal for him (and others like him). If you’ve been a major celebrity surrounded by paid yes-men and women all of your life then you are used to acting and doing anything you want whenever you want.

As an aside - in the USA are you meant to be judged by a jury of your peers? If so then I would say MJ is not being judged by his peers. You need people on the jury who understand and know that there is nothing unusual in insisting all your dolls are flown across the world in first class and have their own nanny and suite when you are on tour.

 

[Rob Lister]

I disagree in that he is just acting normal for him (and others like him). If you’ve been a major celebrity surrounded by paid yes-men and women all of your life then you are used to acting and doing anything you want whenever you want.

As an aside - in the USA are you meant to be judged by a jury of your peers? If so then I would say MJ is not being judged by his peers. You need people on the jury who understand and know that there is nothing unusual in insisting all your dolls are flown across the world in first class and have their own nanny and suite when you are on tour.

::Lister hoping you forgot the smilie::

 

[richardm]

"A little drinky" does not drunk (room spinning) make, especially if you're intending to sleep with the child. I don't think you're putting it in perspective. I'm of the opinion that seven years is just about right, if not a little low, even if no sexual misconduct ensued.

Well, according to Ed:

In CT, BTW, it is a felony to give Booze to people under 21 (might be 18 but the drinking age is 21).

No intent is required for conviction there. (I don't know if it's the same where the charges have been laid). And yeah, if you're going to say that 8 years is the maximum sentence for the sleeping-with-and-molesting-a-child part of the charge, it seems to me utterly ridiculous that 7 years should be the right maximum sentence for even a room-spinning amount of drink (how much is that for the average 13 year old, anyway?)

Those durations just seem wrong to me. 7 years seems too much, and 8 years seems too little. It draws an equivalence between the acts that frankly I don't see.

 

[Rob Lister]

Well, according to Ed:



No intent is required for conviction there. (I don't know if it's the same where the charges have been laid). And yeah, if you're going to say that 8 years is the maximum sentence for the sleeping-with-and-molesting-a-child part of the charge, it seems to me utterly ridiculous that 7 years should be the right maximum sentence for even a room-spinning amount of drink (how much is that for the average 13 year old, anyway?)

Those durations just seem wrong to me. 7 years seems too much, and 8 years seems too little. It draws an equivalence between the acts that frankly I don't see.

I didn't understand your original post well enough (my bad). I agree that eight years seems too little (way too little). Where did you get those numbers? I could easily believe them (we are talking about California here) but were it up to me he would be...well, he'd need another prosthetic device to go along with his nose, to say the least.

 

[BPSCG]

Oh, Mr. "all this MJ crap is beneath me" BPSCG! Spare us please. Get off your ass and vote.

You know you love it.

I'm frankly uncomfortable with this whole thing.

On the one hand, if I knew he was a weasley skank deliberately trying to manipulate the trial by playing up his supposed weirdness, then I'd be pleased to hear he was going to prison (BTW, to answer Cleon's question, if he goes to prison, I think he'll get raped exactly once).

OTOH, if he's genuinely as out of touch with reality as he appears to be, I can't get any pleasure, or even shadenfreude, out of any of this.

And, unfortunately, I can't tell which of these scenarios is closer to the truth.

Yeah, I am watching this, in a sort of amazed horror and fascination - the same way I'd react to seeing a passenger train plunge off a bridge. But that doesn't mean I love it.

ETA: And I don't dismiss the possibility that he might even be innocent, in which case this whole business is even more apalling.

 

[richardm]

Where did you get those numbers?

Just a bit of Googling around. Consequently, they could be wrong:

According to the DA, molestation means:

"arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions or sexual desires of" the offender or a child under age 14. Each charge carries a penalty of three to eight years in prison.

The 7 year bit came from this thread. So, again, no concrete figures I'm afraid.

 

[Ed]

I'm frankly uncomfortable with this whole thing.

On the one hand, if I knew he was a weasley skank deliberately trying to manipulate the trial by playing up his supposed weirdness, then I'd be pleased to hear he was going to prison (BTW, to answer Cleon's question, if he goes to prison, I think he'll get raped exactly once).

OTOH, if he's genuinely as out of touch with reality as he appears to be, I can't get any pleasure, or even shadenfreude, out of any of this.

And, unfortunately, I can't tell which of these scenarios is closer to the truth.

Yeah, I am watching this, in a sort of amazed horror and fascination - the same way I'd react to seeing a passenger train plunge off a bridge. But that doesn't mean I love it.

ETA: And I don't dismiss the possibility that he might even be innocent, in which case this whole business is even more apalling.

MJ made a career entertaining people with his talent and weirdness. This is a logical continuation of same. I thought that he was guilty 10 years ago and I think so now.

MJ is not out of touch with reality, he simply has a different reality than any of us. The thing that he is now coming to terms with is that the Judge and the system are not particularly impressed with him. That is really too bad for him but, as they say, tough titties.

Someone (Claus) once asked for a definition of "clear and present danger". Well......

One 12-year-old boy told Bashir he slept in the singer's bed. Commenting on that occasion, Jackson said he had slept on the floor that night, feeling he was "four" not 44, reported the Telegraph. "I see God in the face of children," said Jackson. "And man, I just love being around them all the time."


Jackson admits he still sleeps with young children

Although he claimed only "very few" boys had actually stayed in his bed, Jackson strongly defended the practice, saying: "Why can't you share your bed? The most loving thing to do, is to share your bed with someone."

Despite persistent questioning from Bashir, Jackson defended his desire to sleep close to young boys, describing the practice as "very charming" and "very sweet." In fact, he recommended that the interviewer do likewise, sleeping in the same bed as friends of his own children.

According to Jackson, not only do children like to be touched, but the superstar told Bashir he would kill himself if he could not be close to young boys.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30853

 

[Rob Lister]

Just a bit of Googling around. Consequently, they could be wrong:



The 7 year bit came from this thread. So, again, no concrete figures I'm afraid.

A bit of goggling on my own yields pretty much the same results, although the combined charges (assuming convictions) totals at least twenty. That puts him out in about...who knows...maybe five. That assumes he actually goes to prison which is unlikely (suicide/skips/etc) and assumes if he goes he'd survive. This would be a violent crime so no Camp Cupcake for him.

 

[Dragonrock]

I think he's gonna lose it before the trial ends. I don't know if he would be able to kill himself, but he'll be reduced to a blubbering idiot before a verdict is reached. I also don't know if it will be real or faked, but it will be spectacular.

 

[Batman Jr.]

If the jury operates as they are instructed by the law, then Jackson should get off on everything because the accuser and his family's credibility has been so extremely damaged by their past con-artistry-tinged litigiousness that there's no possible way reasonable doubt can be eliminated at this point. He has a good chance, however, of being convicted for having had too much plastic surgery and crimes of fashion. Going to the hospital every other day isn't going to help his odds either.

 

[Cleon]

If the jury operates as they are instructed by the law, then Jackson should get off on everything because the accuser and his family's credibility has been so extremely damaged by their past con-artistry-tinged litigiousness that there's no possible way reasonable doubt can be eliminated at this point.

This isn't the same accuser as the one that MJ bought off ten years ago.

 

[Rob Lister]

This isn't the same accuser as the one that MJ bought off ten years ago.

I didn't think that guy had testified yet. Technically, he's no longer an 'accuser' but only a witness to previous events.

I'll bet MJ wishes he could get back the 20 mil he paid to shut the kid up.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I predict he will attempt to flee the country in a private plane. They'll find the wreckage in the Pacific months later. LaToya will put out an album dedicated to the Michael Jackson story in order to relaunch her career. It will truly suck.

 

[richardm]

No, he's not the same, but this family have (according to the Defence) had a bit of history of trying to sue celebrities:

There is a pattern by [the mother] and her children to ensnare people for money," [Jackson's lawyer] said, mentioning the names of actors Adam Sandler and Jim Carey and boxer Mike Tyson.

Additionally , the kid's mother

won $150 000 in compensation after claiming security guards at a department store had groped her after the family was detained on suspicion of shoplifting.

All part of the "reasonable doubt" thing.