SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Singer Michael Jackson has been indicted, sources tell NBC News.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4800463/


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[This message was edited Wed Apr 21 19:01:13 2004 by Universaluv]

ruh-roh

Along with this:

Report: Jackson Cohorts May Face Charges

LOS ANGELES - Conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges were being considered against several associates of Michael Jackson (news) for allegedly threatening the family of the boy who accused Jackson of child molestation, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

An unidentified source close to the case told the Times the charges were under consideration.

Attorney Joseph Tacopina said there had been speculation that two of his clients, Vincent Amen and Frank Tyson, would either be indicted by the grand jury or charged separately with alleged intimidation of witnesses.

He denied the allegations and told the newspaper the two former Jackson employees would not appear before the grand jury.

"They've been invited and we declined," Tacopina said. "We're sitting tight." Besides Amen and Tyson, the newspaper did not identify any other associates who might be under investigation.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in the case against Jackson were close to wrapping up their presentation to the grand jury, which could begin deliberating Wednesday on whether to indict the entertainer on criminal charges, the Santa Barbara News-Press reported.

Tyson, who was Jackson's personal assistant, has been accused of threatening to kill the younger brother of Jackson's alleged victim if he revealed to authorities that Jackson had given the boy alcohol, Tacopina said.

Amen, who worked for Jackson's production company, was accused of holding the family at Jackson's Neverland estate against its will, he said.

The attorney said the accusations came from the boy's mother and were "patently false."

"I know the evidence and I know the accuser," he said, "I'll have no problem taking up the issue of her credibility if and when I'm asked to do so."

Susan Tellem of the public relations firm Tellem Worldwide, which is handling media calls for Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon, said the district attorney would not comment because of a gag order in the case.

Loyola University Law Professor Laurie Levenson said such charges could be a tactic to bolster the district attorney's case against Jackson. The accuser and his family told child welfare investigators last year that no abuse occurred.

"The district attorney has to overcome the problem that he has a witness who was denying molestation to other authorities," Levenson said. "One way to explain this is that this witness was under pressure."

Saved me the trouble of posting it
Get ready for a trial that just might out-do OJ's
Bad year For MJ Great YEAR FOR PRINCE!
hehe i swear you can never have it both ways lol
[This message was edited Wed Apr 21 19:53:53 2004 by Luv4oneanotha]

Dang.

It's about to go down for MJ. I just hope the truth comes out but I'm with Luv4doneanotha on Prince.

Ok then. Now we can go to a trial were EVERYTHING WILL COME OUT

Forgive my ignorance of the legal system but what exactly does this mean? Is it basically saying there's enough evidence to try him? It's times like this when I wish I had cousins or exboyfriends in jail

CalhounSq said:

Pretty much.

Cloudbuster said:

Thanks

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

CalhounSq said:

girl...you are stupid.....lol!!!

Thank god!

BlueNote

WildStyle said:

what do you mean "we"?

bananacologne said:

CalhounSq said:

C'mon, baby! "Or a law degree..."

why do I hear that song by Kim Fields right now in my head..."Dear Michael".....

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

make that DOUBLE ruh-roh
!!!

why did i think that he was going to get out of this? whether he did it or not, i'm actually kinda shocked!

Not long for our Mikey to be put into one of those orange jumb suits. Jail time for the little freak. Now Prince will rule!!!

2freaky4church1 said:

Freak

BlueNote

Ok, this is really, really bad, but I thought it was funny:




[This message was edited Thu Apr 22 10:46:49 2004 by VoicesCarry]

2freaky4church1 said:

bout 200 yrs too late for that to ever happen - get a life

2freaky4church1 said:

How devilish! without even knowing if he is innocent or not


You can try to stop me, but it wont do a thing
No matter what you do, Im still gonna be here
Through all your lies and silly games
Im a still remain the same Im
UNBREAKABLE

LightOfArt said:

He won't be "unbreakable" unless they put him in an all-female prison!

VoicesCarry said:

what a great sense of humour


[This message was edited Thu Apr 22 11:34:03 2004 by LightOfArt]

LightOfArt said:

I'm shattered. Seriously.

Its obvious that you all don't know what an Indictment through Grand Jury Means,
A Grand Jury Is more Like a Cop out for Prosecuters
its usd to Speed up Proceedings to Trial
insteadof having a preliminary hearing where a judge decides on an indictment
Sneddon The D.A. Did Grand Jury Cause its the easiest Way to Go to Trial With Lacking Evidence
a Grand Jury Hears Only the Prosecutions Side of the Story,Sneddon Could tell the Defences Side, But Thats HIGHly Unlikely! the Defence Tried to Appeal the motion at first but then decided to stand down, Cause they thought even if the Indicment went through they have a better shot at defending at a trial. FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE, this isnt just a trial this is to heal alot of damage down to Jacksons Name, this case is both Civil And Criminal Case, If Jackson Loses he Will Have to Shell Out 15 million for damages and maybe go to jail depending on the outcome, but people get ready FOr a LOOOOONG trial, because we got alot of wittnesses
including Chris Tucker and his girlfriend...the only Charge MJ might have a problem with is the intoxicating Drug which is Wine this in fact might be the only charge liable, Sneddon was smart Using it as if he drugged the kid to commit the molestation, Problem is Jackson Gave the Kid Wine PRior to it
On an airplane where his family was etc, Sneddon as a short Timeline and the Defence has an overwhelming amount of evidence and wittnesses
so get ready guys this will be a LONG TRIAL

Statement by Michael Jackson's Attorneys in Response to the Announcement of an Indictment

If the Grand Jury issues an indictment, on Friday, April 30, 2004, Mr. Michael Jackson will appear in court in Santa Maria, California at which time he will enter a plea of NOT guilty to the charges. Mr. Jackson and his attorneys remind the public that an indictment is merely a formal “accusation.” We also remind the public that Michael Jackson, like any other person accused of a crime, is “presumed to be innocent.”

Mr. Jackson and his attorneys are confident that after a trial on these charges, Mr. Jackson will be fully exonerated and that the allegations contained in the indictment will be shown to be patently false.

In this case, Mr. Jackson is not just “presumed” to be innocent but is in fact innocent. Michael is looking forward to his day in court and wishes to thank the millions of fans throughout the world who continue to support him during this difficult period.

Geregos and Braffa Are the best lawyers around, all they Need is Cochran and you'd have a dream team
MJ didn't wan't Cochran Cause Cochran Convinced MJ to settle in the first case

In Responce of Tyson And Amen the jackson "Cohorts"

Did Tom Sneddon Contact Family First?

22/04/2004

This morning, it seems, Michael Jackson has been indicted by a Santa Barbara grand jury on charges of child abuse. However: The two young men who worked for Jackson and took care of the family now accusing him of child molestation will have a lot to say should they ever testify in the case.

The two young men are Frank Tyson and Vincent Amen. A mutual acquaintance tells me that their main fashion accessory is a briefcase full of documents on this subject. It contains receipts, correspondence, and loads of other evidence that piece together their experience with the woman, her boyfriend, and the children.

I saw some of this evidence a few months ago, and I can tell you that District Attorney Tom Sneddon is walking into a buzz saw if he thinks this pair can help his case.

In fact, I am told, Tyson and Amen will recount how, when they returned the family to their own apartment in East Los Angeles on February 16, 2003, a business card belonging to Sneddon had already been slipped under the door of their apartment.

The mother — fresh from the uproar 10 days earlier of her two sons being featured in the Martin Bashir special "Living with Michael Jackson" — picked up the card and called Sneddon, they will say. And that could suggest that Sneddon, long before there was any accusation against Jackson of child molestation, was already looking for a case that might develop into something more.

Sneddon's office refused to take messages for him yesterday. They referred all questions to their public relations firm.

What is patently absurd: charges that the two young men intimidated the family of Michael's young accuser.

Readers of this column know that long ago we discussed these two young men: Frank Cascio, who goes by the name Frank Tyson, and his pal, Amen. They are both 23-years-old, and they come from New Jersey. Tyson has known Jackson since he was a child. He and his next oldest sibling, a brother, and Tyson's parents are old friends of Jackson and consider him family. The feeling is mutual.

I met Tyson with Jackson in November 2000 at the home of public relations expert Howard Rubenstein. I ran into him again in the summer of 2002 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. He is as capable of intimidating or threatening someone as my beloved 10-year-old calico cat. Both Tyson and Cascio are well brought up, intelligent young men. They are not thugs. They are well-spoken, handsome, and humble, with excellent manners. It's not even remotely possible that they threatened to kill anyone or hold them against their will.

On the day the Martin Bashir special aired on ABC — February 6, 2003 — Tyson was in Miami with Jackson. That was when he met the boy who would later accuse Jackson of child molestation, plus the boy's mother and siblings. He returned to New York, but Tyson's brother and sister were among the passengers who flew back to Neverland with Jackson, as well Michael's own children, their nannies, and the accusing family.

A few days later, Tyson was called by Jackson's videographer Marc Schaffel to come to Neverland and help work on the rebuttal video that Jackson's group sold to Fox TV. Tyson brought his childhood pal, Amen, with him and they began to help Schaffel.

Concurrently, I am told, the family — which was now happily ensconced at Neverland — was being "handled" in the aftermath of the Bashir special by Jackson's then manager, Deiter Wiesner. But Wiesner was heavy-handed with them. Finally — in frustration — he turned the project of entertaining and mollifying the family over to Schaffel. But Schaffel was busy with putting together the Fox special. He delegated the job to Tyson and Amen. Quite the opposite from holding them hostage, the pair was at the beck and call of the boy's mother.

If Sneddon thinks he's going to indict Tyson and Amen, here's a little flash for him: according to my sources, these guys kept the most detailed records of all their dealings with this woman and her children. As eyewitnesses to what went on with the family in question, the pair is ready and able to defend not only themselves but Jackson and Schaffel as well.

In fact, Tyson and Amen give an account of a timeline in this case from February 7 to mid-March, 2003, that could make them star defense witnesses — and a big headache for Sneddon and his prosecutors.

They will testify, if it goes that far, to the mother's constant complaints and requests, and to her anger when Jackson did nothing, as they remember her saying it, "to make my kids stars." They will describe her as a conniving opportunist and leech. According to my sources, they will also recount how the mother did not want to leave Neverland once she had allowed the pair to move her in from her impoverished flat in East Los Angeles. In fact, she told them each on numerous occasions that she thought Jackson should buy her a house in Solvang, a stone's throw from Neverland.

This conversation took place on March 11, 2003, the day Amen drove the mother to family court so she could fight her ex-husband for more child support. Amen told friends that when the judge ruled in the mother's favor that day he thought she'd be happy. She wasn't.

"She said she'd been promised all kinds of things. She wanted to work for MJJ
Productions," my source reports. "She told Frank and Vinnie that she wanted to do Michael's PR because of all the bad things people said about him. She thought Michael was going to make her kids into stars."

Rather than hold anyone hostage, as the mother has now reportedly told Santa Barbara police, Tyson and Amen shuttled the mother's children around while she went off with her boyfriend. After the family court ruling, the mother asked Tyson and Amen to bring the children to her parents' home in El Monte, Calif.

"She called up, acting very sweet, and said her father was sick and wanted to see the kids," a source told me. That would be the last time Tyson and Amen saw the children, around March 15, 2003.

Sneddon has reportedly offered Tyson and Amen immunity if they testify against Jackson, but my sources are adamant that the pair has rejected this idea. Believe me, they are not stupid. If they thought they had done something wrong, both Tyson and Amen would have taken the DA's deal. But they know what happened, and they feel, according to my sources, that they can prove it. Easily.

Source: Roger Friedman

Luv4oneanotha said:

Chris Tucker and his girlfriend? I'm sold!

/when's Rush Hour 3 coming out?

VoicesCarry said:

Its already been shot
MJ is part of it they're shelving it cause of the current mess
maybe during or after the trial