Leno takes the stand

Santa Maria, Calif.

Lawyers defending pop star Michael Jackson on child molestation charges wrapped up their case this week with a celebrity witness—Tonight Show host Jay Leno. Defense lawyers had hoped Leno would testify that Jackson’s accuser, who was suffering from cancer, had pestered him for money by playing on his sympathy. That would have supported the defense argument that the boy’s mother was a con artist who had cooked up the allegations against Jackson to extort money from him. Leno testified that the boy did contact him and that he became suspicious when the boy effusively praised his show in terms that seemed “a little scripted.” But Leno said the boy didn’t ask for money.

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