Jackson Jurors Suspect He Molested Children


The jurors who found Michael Jackson not guilty of child molestation on Monday suspected he did abuse children, but didn't have the evidence to convict him. The 12 jurors delivered a unanimous verdict at California's Santa Maria courthouse ending a 14 week trial - but two have admitted they believe Jackson probably did molest young boys at his Neverland ranch. Raymond Hultman says, "I feel that Michael Jackson probably has molested boys. I cannot believe that this man could sleep in the same bedroom for 365 straight days and not do something more than just watch television and eat popcorn. I mean, that doesn't make sense to me. But that doesn't make him guilty of the charges that were presented in this case - that's where we had to make our decision. That's not to say he's an innocent man. He's just not guilty of the crimes he's been charged with." Another juror says, "We had a closet full of evidence that always came back to the same thing - it was not enough." Another adds, "We expected some better evidence, something more convincing, but it just wasn't there. You hope that you will find a smoking gun, something you can grab on to one way or another and we had difficulty in finding that." Jury foreman Paul Rodriguez says, "The allegations of past abuse were considered credible to some extent. There are not too many grown up men we know who would sleep with children but we had to base it on the evidence presented to us. There were a lot of things lacking." The jurors claimed the prosecution case was damaged by the mother of Jackson's accuser, who they claim antagonized the jury with theatrical, over-the-top testimony. They also suspected her motives. Rodriguez adds, "As a parent you spend every moment of your day protective of what happens to your children. What kind of mother in her right mind would allow that to happen, to freely volunteer your child to sleep with anyone, not just Michael Jackson, but anyone?"