Was He a Child Molester?

The criminal court verdict was "No"...

The year was 1993. August. I announced to the world that law enforcement was investigating Superstar Michael Jackson for sexually abusing a pre-teen boy. Working as a correspondent at the now defunct syndicated television show Hard Copy I’ had a source who delivered to me two shocking documents that led to this exclusive report.

The first consisted of multi-page form from the Los Angeles child welfare department. The second was from the Los Angeles Police Department. Together they outlined the graphic and sordid allegations from a 12-year-old bi-racial boy named Jordie Chandler. Grooming, extravagant gifts and trips, French kissing, mutual masturbation, oral sex. This youngster and his family were accusing one of the world’s most famous entertainers of being a pedophile! My producer, Steve Doran, and I worked diligently to confirm the veracity of the documents and then prepared a report that began with the words … “We might be watching the demise of a Superstar…”

That on-air report changed Jackson’s life. And mine.

Flash forward ten years. In November 2003 a trusted source let me know about another young boy - a cancer survivor - whose allegations mirrored those of the Chandler child. Exciting invitations for overnight stays at Neverland, sleeping in the same bed as the then 44-year-old Jackson, copious amounts of alcohol provided to the boy despite the fact he had lost one of his kidneys and, finally, claims of sexual abuse by the boy’s idol. This time, I was told, there would be no $20 million payment for silence as happened in the Chandler case. This time the boy and his family were determined to file charges against Jackson and testify against him in court.

I’d been covering Jackson off and on for more than a decade at this point. And by 2003 I was working as an on-air anchor and correspondent for Court TV in New York. Did I really want to jump back in to the journalistic quagmire surrounding the secretive Mr. Jackson? Did I want to subject myself, and my family, to the inevitable MJ fan(atics) harassment and death threats again?

The answer was yes.

In early 2005 I transplanted myself to the northern part of Santa Barbara County, California to cover the criminal trial of Michael Jackson. There, in Santa Maria, I attended every day of jury selection. I was there during every day of the trial. I reported on each day’s testimony, along with my colleague Savannah Guthrie, on Court TV. The process lasted almost five months.

Judge Rodney Melville had ruled there would be no cameras in the courtroom, perhaps influenced by Jackson’s dance atop an SUV right after his arraignment. Melville seemed determined to keep the entertainment value at a minimum. But there was plenty of drama and lots of twists and turns to the trial that the public was never aware of. And, in my opinion, many reports missed the mark about what was important. Thus, the public never got the full picture of what happened in that courtroom. Case in point: On the day Jackson failed to show up for court, and the judge was told he was in a hospital ER with back pain, Melville sternly announced the defendant had one hour to get himself to court. When Jackson finally arrived, looking glassy eyed and drugged, he was wearing a rumbled black blazer over blue and white pajama bottoms. He shuffled toward the courtroom wearing slippers with his wig askew. The media quickly dubbed this “Pajama Drama Day” and Jackson’s appearance lead many news items that evening. No matter that this was the young boy’s first full day of testimony against the entertainer. It looked to me like a deliberate performance designed to deflect attention away from the boy’s revelations.

So, last year when I was approached to participate in a deep-dive documentary promising to focus specifically on the Jackson criminal trial I asked myself: Do I want to jump back in to a subject I long ago left behind? Did I want to subject myself to the inescapable taunts and threats from the MJ fan base again?

The answer was yes. Because the public deserves to know what it wasn’t told back in the day.

That Netflix 3-part series starts June 3rd.