Jackson’s bad break

last updated 8 January 2015

Santa Maria, Calif.

A California judge ruled this week that the jury in Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial could hear about accusations made against the singer in the past. Before Jackson was charged with fondling a cancer survivor, then 13, he was suspected of molesting or having designs on five other boys—including actor Macaulay Culkin. Two of the boys reached multimillion-dollar settlements with Jackson in the early 1990s. Prosecutors said the previous cases showed that the singer was a serial predator who had a pattern of “grooming” children to win their trust. Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr., said the old charges were unfounded, and warned that fights over their credibility would turn the trial into a prolonged circus. “You have to consider what the case looks like,” he said. “It looks bad, and it’s going to get worse.”