Michael Jackson’s accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, fired back after being attacked in court over their lawyer’s claim the late pop star possessed “sexually provocative” photos of children, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Robson and Safechuck’s lawyer, John Carpenter, opposed the recent request made by late pop star’s companies asking a judge to stop him from trashing Jackson in the press.
Robson and Safechuck are headed to trial with the late pop star’s companies. Both men filed shocking lawsuits in 2013 over alleged abuse by Jackson.
In Robson’s suit, he claimed Jackson started to abuse him when he was 7 and it continued for years. Safechuck claimed he met Jackson when he was 10. He said Jackson started asking him to hang out more and the alleged abuse started during the singer’s 1988 Bad Tour.
Safechuck claimed it went on for years. Jackson’s companies denied all allegations of wrongdoing. His estate denied Jackson abused the men. The lawsuit has dragged on for years. It was dismissed at one point but revived at the higher court. In May, Jackson’s companies, who are the defendant, asked the court to stop the accuser’s lawyer from speaking negatively about Jackson in the media.
“Plaintiffs’ new counsel, John Carpenter, has been on a press tour, making numerous statements about this case to multiple media outlets. Mr. Carpenter’s statements are not simple reports on the progress of the case or a factual recitation of events in court. Rather, he is making incendiary claims and accusations that have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the jury pool in this case in favor of his clients and against Defendants,” the motion read.
A lawyer for MJ’s companies continued, “Mr. Carpenter’s attempts to try his case in the press, and not in Court, are antithetical to the fair administration of justice, in violation of Rule 8.4. The parties are effectively at the beginning of this case; Mr. Carpenter cannot be allowed to disregard his ethical obligations under the Rules of Professional Conduct by continuing his tactic of running to the press at every opportunity between now and trial to make whatever inflammatory and provocative statements he can to advance Plaintiffs’ case and attempt to poison the jury pool against Defendants.”
During an interview, Carpenter attacked the filmmakers behind the upcoming Jackson biopic. He claimed the producers and estate were trying to rewrite history and portray the late pop star in a positive light — and ignore all the allegations against him. Carpenter said Jackson was “worse than you know.”
He said, “Let’s not forget that in America, corporations -legally-considered people. The only reason for them to live is to make money. That’s their sole goal. I’m not surprised this corporation is trying to rewrite the history of what Michael Jackson did to maximize profits. It’s shameful they’re trying to do that but that’s what they are doing.”
“[The estate’s] sole existence to live and exist is to make money,” he added, “And so the movie is just one piece in their efforts to rehabilitate and rewrite the history of Michael Jackson and what he did to James, Wade, and other children.” MJ’s companies demanded the court step in and prohibit Carpenter from continuing to make statements about Jackson.
Now, in a newly filed motion, Robson and Safechuck’s lawyer fired back. Carpenter said that Jackson’s companies filed a“stunt motion” in which they “do not seek any specific relief, but instead hope to attract attention and prejudice the Court and the public against Plaintiffs. In other words, the defense is engaged in the very misconduct they are trying to assign to Plaintiffs’ counsel.”
He added, “Plaintiffs’ counsel must respond as Defendants and their allies have initiated a wide- reaching and expensive publicity campaign to discredit Michael Jackson’s accusers, including Plaintiffs. These efforts include a nationwide music theater production and a high-profile ‘documentary.’ Indeed, Jackson estate’s website boasts of the ways in which it seeks to shape public opinion against Plaintiffs proclaiming that it is taking actions including a “public arbitration… to expose those involved [in an HBO documentary about Plaintiffs and other abuse victims] for the liars that they are.”
The website then ominously warns: ‘[T]he fans can’t – and won’t ever – know what the Estate has done behind the scenes….’”
Carpenter said, “At its heart, though, Defendants’ motion fears the public knowing that police found Jackson to be in possession of child pornography. This is not reasonably in dispute. Plaintiffs’ counsel has lodged with the Court the deposition transcript of Frederico Sicard, a retired LAPD detective. One of the transcript’s exhibits, identified as MES031710, is a photograph of a naked prepubescent boy with his genitals exposed in a sexually furtive pose that was seized by the police from Jackson.”
Robson and Safechuck’s lawyer said he did not violate the California Rules of Professional Conduct despite the accusation. He demanded their motion be denied. A judge has yet to rule.
Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse in a 1993 civil lawsuit. He denied all allegations of wrongdoing. He settled the case and no criminal charges were brought. In 2005, he was found not guilty on all 14 counts related to allegations he sexually abused a 13-year-old at his Neverland Ranch.
Source Agencies
