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musicNEWS: Michael Jackson Claims Evidence That Discredits Accuser


04-4-04 Keavin
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Michael Jackson�s attorney claims to have material that he says will exonerate the singer. The attorney, Benjamin Brafman, appeared before a judge on Friday, during a pre-trial hearing, to attempt to have 100 pieces of evidence shown to the grand jury that is hearing the Jackson case. Brafman claims that the material will prove that Jackson is innocent of the child molestation related charges that he now faces. 

"There is literally a wealth of clearly exculpatory material," Brafman said,

Some of the material appears to have come into play to discredit the family of the underage boy that accused Jackson of inappropriate sexual behavior. The 100 items include material from a lawsuit that the accuser�s family filed in 2000. School, medical and psychiatric reports are among the evidence. 

The accuser�s family filed a lawsuit in 2000 against J.C. Penney Co. for a 1998 incident. That suit claimed that security guards for the department store beat the accuser and his brother after catching the accuser reportedly shoplifting. The accuser�s mother further claimed to have been sexually assaulted during the incident. The suit was settled in 2001 when J.C. Penney Co. paid the accuser�s mother $137,500 to end the lawsuit. 

The judge ordered that the records on the list be released to the prosecutors and Jackson�s defense team. 

Jackson is facing charges of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14 and administering an intoxicating agent to the child. He pled not guilty to the charges and a California grand jury is now hearing the case to determine if it will go to trial. 

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