Jackson Trial Turns Testy As Defence Questions Mother

The Michael Jackson trial reached what is expected to be its pivotal moment yesterday when defence attorneys for the 46-year-old singer began their cross-examination of the mother of the teenage accuser.

Discussing her early belief that Mr Jackson did not drink alcohol, Janet Arvizo told the jury: "I now know different. I now know that Neverland is all about booze, pornography and sex with boys."

The judge admonished her for her outburst.

Early exchanges between the mother and the Jackson defence attorney Thomas Mesereau were testy, with Ms Arvizo frequently turning to the jury to proclaim that his questions were based on false premises. "He is incorrect," she told the jury at one point. "I was there."

Mr Mesereau, for his part, did his best to get the witness to answer his questions. "Just please answer my questions," he urged her, "I just want direct answers to my questions, OK?"

Mr Mesereau then clashed again with Ms Arvizo.

She claimed she was not a good actress when asked to explain why Mr Jackson's aides were not happy with her performance in a rebuttal video they recorded in response to the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson.

"I think you're a very good actress," Mr Mesereau responded. Judge Rodney Melville admonished him.

Ms Arvizo is the central prosecution witness to the conspiracy charges Mr Jackson faces. Along with charges of molesting a child and administering alcohol to a minor to enable a crime, Mr Jackson is charged with conspiring with others to kidnap, extort and falsely imprison the 34-year-old woman and her three children.

Under direct examination from the prosecution, she had proved an erratic and at times unreliable witness, delivering rambling, lengthy answers, offering unprompted comments and frequently breaking down in tears.

Mr Mesereau focused on a series of taped phone conversations between the mother and one of Mr Jackson's aides. In the recording, which was also presented to the jury by the prosecution, the aide repeatedly urges the woman to return to Neverland.

Asked why she did not go to the authorities to seek a restraining order against Mr Jackson, Ms Arvizo said: "I was hoping it would all go away ... I was too scared of him."

But the air of disbelief surrounding much of her testimony concerning an alleged plot by Mr Jackson and his aides to imprison her was dispelled in part by a surveillance video presented by the prosecution on Friday.

In it, the family could be seen going about their daily routine in the weeks after the broadcast of the Bashir documentary.

The prosecution alleges that Jackson aides followed the family and tried to intimidate them. They also, it is alleged, tried to get the family to return to the singer's Neverland ranch.

While her testimony seemed far-fetched, the surveillance videos presented by the prosecution bore out elements of her story: she and her family were being watched, and she was accompanied by a man she understood to be a member of Mr Jackson's staff.