Be Careful Who You Love by Diane Dimond

Author:Diane Dimond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2005-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Each plaintiff was called into chambers separately and asked if he or she knew anything about the note. No one did. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Judge Canter ultimately ordered a DNA swab taken from every participant in the case so it could be matched to the envelope lick on the extortion note.

A DNA match came back. The envelope had been licked by Jerome Johnson’s wife, who was in the banking industry.

When Jerome Johnson was finally called to the stand in the Neverland Five trial, he promptly took the Fifth and refused to testify. Whatever hopes the Neverland Five had were snuffed out that day.

In the end, the Neverland Five were ordered to pay Michael Jackson more than $1.5 million to satisfy the countersuit he had filed against them. Ralph Chacon and Adrian McManus were found individually liable for stealing souvenirs from Neverland and reselling some for thousands of dollars. A jury of their peers had heard their complaint and didn’t believe them. Each of the Neverland Five, except for Adrian McManus, who stubbornly refused, was forced to file for bankruptcy. Their lives were forever changed by their association with Michael Jackson—and for some of them, this would not be their last time in court to testify against Jackson.

As Marjorie Hillibrant, one of the twelve jurors who sat during the six-month-long trial later told me, “They didn’t have a chance. The defense lawyers were so clever in making the five look like the worst employees ever.

“I took my oath seriously to go by the evidence,” Hillibrant said. “But [Michael] Ring kept getting slapped down by the judge. His opening argument was very compelling, but the judge wouldn’t let him speak. We’d hear something interesting, then Judge Canter would say, ‘Disregard.’ It was so frustrating!”

Hillibrant also said she had taken three notebooks full of notes during the trial and when they finally went into deliberation she felt there was a lot to talk about. However, she said, several of the other jurors just wanted to vote. They didn’t want to go over notes; they dug in their heels against the five, concluding they were “just in it for the money.”

“You know what really troubled me? The sexual harassment evidence was so obvious. They were so guilty, but we didn’t even find them guilty of that. And those guards—those OSS men—just sat there laughing at the defense table!”

Hillibrant also revealed that even years after the trial, she was still haunted by the verdict. “I felt like a piece of my life was cut out. To me that case was nothing but about the money and the celebrity. That’s why Jackson won.”

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