Silent witness Jacko as defence closes
![](https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2012/01/03/09/jacksonR030305_100x110.jpg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=1000)
![The Weekender](/https/www.standard.co.uk/img/newsletters/newsletter_weekender_embed_desktop.png)
Michael Jackson's lawyers rested the defence case yesterday without putting the singer on the stand to answer charges of molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient.
The team sharply curtailed its case in the past two weeks.
The star- studded witness list once had 300 names on it - including Elizabeth Taylor and Stevie Wonder - but in the end they called 50 witnesses over 15 days.
The defence said they would try to cross-examine Jackson's accuser again if the prosecution is allowed to show a video of the police interview inwhichGavinArvizo, now15, outlines his allegations.
The jury could be sent out as early as next week to decide whether the star should be convicted of child molestation and other charges.
Earlier yesterday, the actor and comedian Chris Tucker told the trial in Santa Maria, California, that he warned 46-year-old Jackson to be wary of the Arvizo family after growing 'suspicious' of them.
Tucker, star of the Rush Hour films, said he became 'nervous' of the family after their demands for him to support them grew.
He said he took Jackson aside and told him: 'Michael, something ain't right.' He said Gavin and his brother Star were 'cunning' and as for Gavin's mother, Janet, ' something mentally was not right'.
The actor said he became wary of the family after inviting them to a film set in Las Vegas in 2001. He put them up at a hotel and expected them to stay a few days - but they stayed for two weeks.
He said his brother began warning him about the family, and the director of the movie told him to remove Gavin from the set because he was disruptive.
Read More
Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, asked him: 'Did you think you were being taken advantage of?' Tucker replied: 'That is what it looked like. I wanted the kid to have some fun, but everyone was saying the same thing.'
After the Las Vegas trip, Tucker said Gavin and his family kept calling him, and he took them to see American football in Oakland.
He said Gavin told him the family did not have a car and asked him if he could help. He agreed to lend them a truck, but became uneasy about it.
The comic said: 'I got real uncomfortable when I was getting ready to do it.
'Janet began frantically crying like there was something wrong with her and something in my spirit did not feel right about it and I thought it was going too far.
'I gave her the keys, but I did not feel comfortable doing it. Janet was frantically always saying I was their brother and that she loved me. I was getting a little nervous - I wanted to help the kid, not get attached to the whole family. I wanted to make his life easier.
'I had to watch myself. When people know what you have got they sometimes take advantage of you. I tried to pull back a little.'
Tucker said he was in contact with the family again in February 2003 after Martin Bashir's documentary was aired.
He said Gavin told him they were being hounded by the media and they wanted to go and see Michael Jackson in Miami. He chartered a jet to fly himself and the family to Florida, where he has a home.
He said the family was 'excited' to be seeing Jackson again. After arriving, they went to the hotel where Jackson was staying and he tried to warn him to be careful.
He said: 'I told him to watch out for Janet as I felt suspicious about her. I kept trying to talk to Michael and Janet kept interrupting us, so I tried to pull Michael into a room and I said, "You need to watch out and be careful". I said, "Michael, something ain't right".'
Jackson denies child molestation and conspiracy to commit extortion, false imprisonment and child abduction.