SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson was involved from the beginning with planning how to combat bad publicity from a British documentary, an associate who kept notes testified today, but the defense used the same witness to raise doubts about the pop star's involvement.
The prosecution rested after its last witness, Rudy Provencio, a record producer and an associate of one of the unindicted co-conspirators, completed his testimony. Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville still has to rule on whether to admit some documents, but before dismissing the jury about 15 minutes earlier, he said to the prosecution: "You're really resting."
Provencio was on the stand for more than five hours. He also testified that he heard Jackson aides use the word "killers." The aides also used the word "escape" to describe the departure from Jackson's home of the family of the boy who said he was molested by the singer.
The prosecution has been trying to get both words into the record to support the testimony of the mother of the accuser and the defense had successfully fought to keep the words out of some testimony.
During his testimony, Provencio often consulted notes he said he made as he described the early days of confusion and contacts he overheard. Jackson played a key role in the early planning, Provencio testified.
But under cross-examination by defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., Provencio said that he had told police that he didn't know Jackson's role.
Quoting a Jan. 31, 2004 interview with authorities, Mesereau asked if Provencio had said that aide Marc Schaffel directed everything. "It is unknown if Michael Jackson even knew what was going on," with the accuser's family, Mesereau read from the police report.
Provencio agreed that he had made those comments.
Mesereau also attacked Provencio about when he began to use the key words.
"The first time you ever produced anything to the sheriff referring to 'escape' or 'killers' was a few weeks ago?" Mesereau asked about the notebook.
"That was when I found it. I didn't think I still had it," Provencio said, defending himself.
Mesereau later asked a series of questions implying Provencio had helped the prosecution by recently finding his notebook and by adding Jackson's name to the transcript of the police interview.
Provencio denied that the notebook was doctored or that the prosecution leaned on him to change the police report.
"No. God, no," he said.
"Has anybody ever asked you to change any testimony?" asked Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Zonen on redirect.
"No," Provencio said emphatically.
Was he asked to change any factual matters, Zonen asked.
Again, he said no.
The prosecution had hoped to use Provencio to flesh out its charge that Jackson conspired with aides to control the accuser's family. Provencio was the prosecution 85th and final witness.
Provencio said he took notes of telephone conversations among Jackson and aides Dieter Weisner and Schaffel, who often used a speaker phone. Provencio was the manager and Schaffel the president of Jackson's Neverland Valley Entertainment company.
On Jan. 24, 2003, the Jackson camp received a transcript of a British documentary, "Living With Michael Jackson," which was broadcast in England on Feb. 3, Provencio said. Jackson was seen holding hands with his accuser. Jackson also described how he innocently slept with boys.
The European media also obtained a transcript and began calling for comment at least 10 days before the broadcast, Provencio said. He compared the frequency of calls to an octopus using its eight arms to pick up a phone every two seconds.
Most of the questions dealt with the identity of the boy on the documentary. "Who was the boy Michael was sleeping with that was the number one question," Provencio said.
On Feb. 1, Provencio testified, he was listening and taking notes about a phone conversation among Jackson, Schaffel and Weisner. As Provencio testified, he would look at his flip-top steno notebook to refresh his memory.
In that conversation, the aides were worried about the impact of the documentary and wanted strategies to fight the looming bad publicity. The aides suggested that Jackson call his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, to get her to do a positive interview. Jackson eventually called the mother of two of his children and she agreed to be recorded.
The number of ideas grew, eventually including a Florida news conference, which was never held, and a rebuttal video featuring the accuser and his family. The family represented a special danger, Provencio said the aides said. "They could ruin your career ... they could blackmail you," he said the aides told Jackson.
Jackson agreed to the rebuttal video after the aides argued that it could also put money in Jackson's pocket and was needed to save his career, Provencio testified.
In a second conversation around Feb. 2 or 3, Jackson brought up the accuser's family, saying they "could be involved in the video and needed to be."
The prosecution contends that this was the beginning of the conspiracy to control the accuser and his family so that they would do the rebuttal video. Shooting on the video began Feb. 19, 2003 and continued into the morning hours of Feb. 20.
During cross-examination, Mesereau pressed Provencio on when the notes were written.
"Sir, you went back and wrote the notes because you wanted to be included in this case, correct?" Mesereau asked.
"No," Provencio answered, saying at one point that the notes were written at the time and could "ruin my career."
Then why did you take the notes? Mesereau asked.
"Because something fishy was going on," Provencio replied.
"You paid attention, you followed your suspicions wherever they took you and you waited until the following year to go to the police?" Mesereau asked later.
Provencio laughed. "Everybody had different stories, so I wrote what I thought was the truth," he said.
Quoting from a transcript of the notebook, Mesereau asked what was meant about one comment, "All fingers point to Marc."
"Marc was a ringleader," Provencio said.
The witness agreed that he had told police that he didn't know if Jackson was involved.
The exchange was important because Mesereau in his questioning has tried to separate Jackson from his aide.
Before Provencio testified, Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville ruled on motions outlining what the producer would be allowed to say. Melville allowed the two comments using the words "killers" and "escaped."
In her testimony, the mother of the accuser said Jackson aides threatened her relatives with killers if she didn't cooperate in the rebuttal video. She also testified that she escaped from Jackson's Neverland ranch in mid-February, but the defense maintained she always had the freedom to leave.
Provencio described hearing Schaffel make a flippant remark using the word "killers."
"I said what killers?" Provencio testified. Schaffel didn't answer so Provencio said he called another Jackson aide, Vincent Amen, who said there were no killers.
At another point, Provencio said he called Schaffel, who said he couldn't talk because the accuser's family had escaped. Again, Provencio called Amen.
"He [Amen] essentially was panicked," Provencio said. "He said he couldn't talk right now because the family has escaped."
Provencio also described the taping of the interview with Rowe, which he attended. He said Schaffel behaved like any producer would, prompting and coaching Rowe. He said Schaffel mentioned Rowe getting a chance to visit her children, whom she hadn't seen in 2½ years.
There was a list of 100 questions that also included some answers, Provencio said of the interview. In her testimony, Rowe said she refused to look at the questions so that her comments would appear fresh.
Provencio said that in one scene during the eight to nine hours of taping, Schaffel asked Rowe to cry better and she did in a later take.
On Tuesday, Provencio began his testimony by describing conversations between June, 2001 and February, 2003, involving himself, Jackson and former gay porn producer and record promoter Schaffel. The three planned and produced a single called "What More Can I Give," intended to benefit charities.
Schaffel had worked for Jackson before, but was fired when news leaked of his ties to the adult entertainment world, Provencio said. Schaffel went back to Jackson, whom the producer would call Arnold. Their special language included slang such as using french fries to mean money, Provencio said.
Jackson was always saying he needed french fries, Provencio said. The star also had two voices, one high-pitched that the public heard and the other deeper, which he used when angry.
Provencio described Jackson as a hands-on owner.
"When Michael walked in the door, he's meticulous and wants to know everything that is going on. He's a great businessman," Provencio testified.
His statement was stricken after an objection from the defense, which has maintained that Jackson is anything but a good businessman, caring more for the creative side of the music business. In his questioning, defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. has implied that Jackson was divorced from day-to-day activities, so he could not have been involved in any alleged conspiracy run by the star's aides.
Jackson, 46, is charged with child molestation, attempted child molestation, giving alcohol to a minor to aid in the commission of a felony and conspiring to falsely imprison, kidnap and extort his accuser's family. His accuser, now 15, was 13 at the time of the alleged incidents in February and March, 2003.
