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Many of the Fiennes Forum members are young enough and not in the U.S. that they may not remember well another notorius trial that was probably as close as you'll come to the molestation trial that Jackson was subjected to several years ago. If you read the various discussion threads all over you'll find a few who must come in and layer in their opinion that Jackson was the worst of criminals, that he preyed on small children. I think this is wrong, and it doesn't take much deep research to come to the conclusion that he may have been naive in accepting a very needy and manipulative family (the mother in particular) into his household. This is what I wrote on another discussion list in response to one person who said some fairly nasty stuff, not taking it elsewhere. Obituary threads aren't the places to abuse the deceased, in my opinion. This was my reasoning:

Celebrity trials are such a circus. A Lab tech who testified in the O.J. Simpson trial was seen gushing and shaking O.J.'s hand after he left the witness stand. There were problems with the evidence, and after seeing that exchange, one wonders at the attention the lab paid to processing it correctly. As presented, it looks pretty clear O.J. did it and escaped that justice on a technicality. The following civil trial found him clearly guilty of the crime. Since then he has done nothing to redeem himself in the public eye.

The trial against Michael Jackson appears to have been an extortion scheme gone wrong, orchestrated by a mentally ill mother and her passive puppet child. Once it was picked up by the courts, they were working with hear-say and bad actors as if they were true evidence (The boy was old enough to understand the questions and be clear in his answers, but was never called to testify. Jackson's folks would have had to show that he was coerced, which might have been difficult to prove.) A civil trial never followed the criminal one because they clearly had no good case to pursue. He was making an effort to move past all of that and pick up his career. Too bad it was cut short. One hopes he found pleasure in his family, in raising his children, and that they can avoid the intense scrutiny that will be directed their way.

Michael Jackson's fans will push aside those of you who are doing your best to turn his death into one last indictment against him.

There is a lot of reporting all around the world, and the lion's share of it reports on his musical and marketing genius. There are lots of people in the entertainment world who have gone through rags to riches to rags and back to riches again. (Willie Nelson comes immediately to mind.) Jackson gave all indications of being ready to head back up again with another concert tour. One that was sold out almost as quickly as the ticket windows opened.

My musical taste is broad, with more emphasis in folk and classical, but Michael Jackson was always on the radar. And the humor of people like Weird Al Yankovic played off of Jackson so well. No one was a looser in that kind of association. It's too bad he died so young. And in a bizarre event, it is also too bad he died on the same day as actress Farrah Fawcett (62, of cancer), because I think she had an important message also, one that will be drowned out or at least diminished by the Jackson wave of discussion.

Maggie