King Not Allowed to Testify
By TIM MOLLOY
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial ruled Thursday against allowing CNN host Larry King to testify for the defense, saying his testimony would be irrelevant.
Judge Rodney S. Melville ruled after listening to King's account of a conversation with an attorney, Larry Feldman, who represented the accuser's family.
Without the jury present, King said that Feldman told him the accuser's mother was out for money and referred to her as ``wacko.''
Feldman testified earlier for the prosecution and denied saying such things about his clients.
After listening to King's account, the judge ruled that King's testimony would not impeach Feldman's own testimony and King left the court.
Feldman was contacted by the accuser's family members after they left Jackson's Neverland estate for the last time in 2003. He referred them to Stan Katz, a psychologist who reported suspicions of child molestation to authorities after interviewing the family members.
On the stand and without jurors present, King said he spoke to Feldman at a Beverly Hills restaurant before the trial began. He said he and a producer were trying to get Feldman to appear on ``Larry King Live.''
He said Feldman told him he didn't take the mother's case because he didn't find her credible and thought she was only after money.
``The mother was a 'wacko' was the term he used,'' King said.
``He said he thinks she wants money. ... He said 'wacko' a couple of times and he said 'she's in this for the money,''' King told the judge.
Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked King if he asked Feldman to clarify what he meant by wacko.
``No, I think that's self-explanatory,'' King said.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003 and plying him with wine. He is also charged with conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to rebut a damaging documentary in which Jackson said he let children sleep in his bed but that it was non-sexual.
Feldman testified in early April. The prosecution had called him as part of its explanation to the jury of how the alleged molestation came to the attention of authorities. But the defense used his appearance to pursue its contention that the accuser and his family were out to get money from Jackson.
Feldman acknowled under cross-examination that the boy, now 15, could file a civil lawsuit against Jackson until he turns 20 years old.
05/19/05 12:22
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