To substantiate the case by Chandler against Jackson back in 1993, police officers interviewed at least 40 to 60 children; and according to some sources up to 100 children who had either spent time with Jackson personally or had been at his Neverland Ranch. To the frustration of the police, every single child interviewed told authorities that Jackson had never molested them or did anything inappropriate to them, nor did Jackson act inappropriately in their presence. Desperate by the lack of corroborating victims, the police engaged in questionable tactics while interviewing the children, even to the point that the parents turned to Jackson’s attorney Bert Fields to complain about the harassment. Fields wrote this letter to Los Angeles chief of police Willie Williams in 1993: <blockquote><em>Dear Chief Williams</em><em>,</em> <em>I represent Michael Jackson. All my adult life I have been a staunch </em><em>supporter of the LAPD. For years, I represented Jack Webb. Working </em><em>with Jack, on Dragnet and Adam-12, I met many officers for who my </em><em>respect and admiration continues to this day. Your comparative </em><em>handful of officers, who risk their lives every day to protect the rest </em><em>of us deserve our unqualified appreciation. Sometimes, however, even </em><em>a dedicated police officer, when engaged in a significant investigation, </em><em>loses sight of the importance of fairness and respecting the rights of </em><em>the accused. </em> <em>In the current investigation of Michael Jackson, that has occurred, </em><em>officers investigating the matter have entered the homes of minors </em><em>and have subjected them to high-pressure interrogation, </em><em>sometimes in the absence of their parents. </em> <em>I am advised that your officers have told frightened youngsters </em><em>outrageous lies, such as “we have nude photos of you” in order to </em><em>push them into making accusations against Mr. Jackson. There are, </em><em>of course, no such photos of these youngsters and they have </em><em>no truthful accusations to make. But your officers appear ready </em><em>to employ any device to generate potential evidence against </em><em>Mr. Jackson.</em><em> </em> <em>In addition, your officers have told parents that their children have </em><em>been molested, even though the children in question have unequivocally </em><em>denied this. They have also referred to Mr. Jackson as a “paedophile”, </em><em>even though he has not been charged, much less convicted. And harassing </em><em>minors and their parents is not all. </em> <em>The search conducted at Mr. Jackson’s residence resulted in the removal </em><em>of many items of his personal property, including his address book, which </em><em>includes the names and addresses of potential witnesses. We have </em><em>asked for either the return of such records or that they be copied at our </em><em>expense. This has been refused, in order to hamper the defense in </em><em>conducting its own investigations of the case.</em> <em>These tactics are not merely inappropriate, they are disgraceful…. </em><em>Even the New York police, not known for their gentility, refrained from </em><em>conducting this kind of overzealous campaign against Woody Allen, </em><em>who was accused of a similar offense. Why is the LAPD not according </em><em>Michael Jackson the same degree of balance and fairness? </em> <em>I urge you to put an end to these abuses. Investigate these </em><em>accusations as thoroughly as possible, but do it in a manner </em><em>consistent with honest, common decency, and the high standards </em><em>that</em> <em>once made me proud of the LAPD. </em> <em>Sincerely,</em> <em>Bertram Fields</em></blockquote> A tape recording of the 1993 interrogation of Corey Feldman, leaked by the TV show Celebrity Justice during Jackson’s 2005 criminal case, serves as an example of how these interrogations were conducted. Feldman, who had been friends with Jackson since he was a teenager, is interviewed by Sergeant Deborah Linden and despite Feldman repeatedly telling her that Jackson had never done anything inappropriate to him, she continues to suggest that something must have happened. For over an hour she pressures him to say something incriminating about Jackson. In actuality, Feldman tells Linden that he had indeed been molested as a child, but not by Jackson. Though not disclosed by Celebrity Justice, Feldman in fact named his molester, information that the investigator completely ignores. The investigator seems only interested in acquiring incriminating statements about Jackson. At the time of the interview Feldman was 22 years old, however many other children went through similar interrogations, sometimes without parental supervision. While the prosecution struggled to find credible corroborating “victims” for their case, many kids and their parents came forward in support of Jackson. In addition to telling the investigators that Jackson had never done anything inappropriate to them, many of these children and parents even publicly defended Jackson. After Jackson’s arrest in November of 2003, during a press conference broadcasted live globally, District Attorney Thomas Sneddon appealed for victims of Jackson to come forward. A website for alleged victims to get in contact was even set up by the prosecution. Furthermore, both in 1993 and in 2003 and 2004, officers were sent all around the world to interview children who had been in contact with Jackson one way or another. During these processes they didn’t find a single accusation of any wrongdoing, with one exception, Jason Francia, for perceived improper tickling. It is suspect that this information was obtained by using highly questionable interrogation tactics during the 1993 and 1994 interviews. The police pressured 13-year-old Jason Francia, questioned on November 4, 1993 and then again on March 24, 1994. Jason is the son of Blanca Francia, a maid who worked for Jackson between 1986 and 1991, and who was among those ex-employees of Jackson who earned money off the allegations by selling stories to tabloids after the Chandler allegations broke in 1993. It was the police who initiated the contact, Blanca and Jason Francia never turned to authorities. Jason France initially told police that Jackson had never done anything inappropriate to him. He said: <blockquote><em>“I’ll just say this out flat. I don’t remember him trying anything with me except for the tickling”. </em></blockquote> When the police pressured him to “remember” wrongdoings by Jackson, he maintained: <blockquote><em>“If I don’t remember, I don’t remember”. </em></blockquote> At Jackson’s 2005 trial, Jason claimed that he initially denied improper behaviour because of embarrassment. However, audio tapes and the police transcripts of his 1993 and 1994 interviews reveal how investigators pressured and lead him to create questionable allegations against Jackson. In a motion in opposition to the DA’s <em>Motion For Admission Of Alleged Prior Offenses</em>, Jackson’s defence classified these interviews as “textbook examples of improperly suggestive interrogations”. A paper written by Kenneth E. Blackstone, a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners International and an expert on sexual offense investigation explains how interviewing methods can make a child’s testimony tainted and unreliable, leading to false allegations. On page 11 and 12 of his paper, <em>“The Fallibility of Forensic Interviewing”</em>, Blackstone lists nine factors which raise suspicion of improper interrogations techniques that can lead to false allegations. These factors are: <ol> <li>Absence of spontaneous recall;</li> <li>Interviewer bias against defendant – a preconceived idea of what the child should be disclosing;</li> <li>Repeated leading questions;</li> <li>Multiple interviews;</li> <li>Incessant questioning;</li> <li>Vilification of defendant;</li> <li>Ongoing contact with peers and references to their statements;</li> <li>Use of threats, bribes and cajoling; and</li> <li>Failure to videotape or otherwise document the initial interview sessions.</li> </ol> The first eight of those nine factors can be observed in the interrogations of Jason Francia. For example, on November 4, 1993, in a police interview, Francia told investigators he did not remember Jackson ever putting his hands anywhere that made him feel uncomfortable. Detective Vincent Neglia was not satisfied with that answer and made it very clear what answer he would be satisfied with, by suggesting to the boy that his memories were wrong and blatantly suggesting what he should “remember”. At other times during the interviews investigators lied to the boy and said that other boys, such as Macaulay Culkin, had been molested by Jackson and the only way they could rescue them was if Jason said incriminating things about Jackson. They also claimed Corey Feldman had drug problems because Jackson molested him. Both Culkin and Feldman stated very firmly to authorities and the public alike that Jackson never molested them and never touched them in an inappropriate way. The investigators referred to Jackson as a “<em>molester</em>” in their interviews with Francia, even though they did not have any evidence against him. They also used derogatory profanity against Jackson, for example, saying: “he makes great music, he’s a great guy, bullshit”. At one point, after the investigators told Francia what they thought Jackson did to him, the boy said: <blockquote><em>“Well, I’ll have to work on that”. </em></blockquote> In one of the interviews Francia said: <blockquote><em>“They [meaning the interrogators] made me come out with a lot more stuff I didn’t want to say. They kept pushing. I wanted to get up and hit them in the head”. </em></blockquote> In the second interview, on March 24, 1994 Francia indicated he was aware of the fact that another boy (Jordan Chandler) had sued Jackson for money. After initially denying any wrongdoing by Jackson, Jason Francia gave in to the pressure. In 2005, while under cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyer Thomas Mesereau, he admitted that he said things in those interviews because he <em>“was trying to figure out how to get out of there”. </em> It was also revealed that after the police’s first interrogation of Jason Francia in 1993 he was sent for therapy with a counsellor by the name of Mike Craft. District Attorney Thomas Sneddon was present at least one time in Craft’s office while Jason was there, though Jason could not explain what communication went on between the two men and why Sneddon was there at all. According to an article in USA Today on February 7, 1994, the therapist Jason Francia was sent to was arranged and paid for by the county Sheriff’s office after the boy’s mother expressed concern that Sheriff Deputies had called and met with her son without requesting her presence. Although the prosecution was obviously desperate to find another alleged victim besides Jordan Chandler, charges were not filed against Jackson based on Jason Francia’s claims. However, Jason’s mother, Blanca Francia, taking a page out of the Chandlers’ playbook, hired civil lawyers and at the end of 1994 threatened Jackson with a civil lawsuit. In actuality, Blanca Francia talked about wanting to sue Jackson for money at least as early as March of 1994, while the criminal investigation was still ongoing. With the Chandler case behind him and a plan to release a new album in 1995, Jackson settled with the Francia’s out of court. As testified to during Jackson’s 2005 trial, two settlements were signed with the Francia’s – one with Blanca and another one with Jason Francia. Reportedly Jackson paid them $2.4 million. It must be noted that only a criminal trial can send a perpetrator to jail; a civil trial can only result in a monetary award. So, like the Chandler settlement, this was not a case of Jackson buying his way out of a criminal indictment. Two Grand Juries had already decided in the spring of 1994 not to indict Jackson. However, a civil trial could have resulted in a long, drawn out court process with lots of negative publicity for Jackson which, regardless of the lack of credibility of the allegations and the outcome, would have affected Jackson’s ability to promote a new album that he planned to release in 1995. The language in both the settlements with Blanca and with Jason Francia emphasized that there was no admission of any wrongdoing on Jackson’s part. The fact that both Jason and Blanca Francia were called to testify at Jackson’s 2005 trial is a clear indication that such settlements of civil lawsuits do not and cannot prohibit anyone testifying at a criminal court. Francia’s allegations were heard in Court during the 2005 proceedings and they were not found credible. To put the $2.4 million he paid out to the Francia’s into a perspective: Jackson’s record label, Sony Music spent $30 million on the promotion of Jackson’s double album released in 1995, entitled HIStory. The first video of the album, Scream, cost $7 million and a teaser that was shot for the album in Budapest cost $4 million. Even if Jackson had won the civil trial against the Francia’s, it probably would have cost him more than $2.4 million in lawyer fees and lost earnings as it would have put his projects on hold for several years or at least would have heavily compromised them. During Jackson’s 2005 trial, Jason alleged the first act of impropriety occurred in 1987, at Jackson’s Century City condo, in Los Angeles, when Jason was about seven years old. According to his story, while his mother was cleaning the condo, he and Jackson watched cartoons on the television and Jackson supposedly started to tickle him which resulted in a “tickle contest”. Jason claimed that while tickling him Jackson’s hand moved down to his crotch and he touched his genital area above his clothes. A second act of impropriety was described, similar to the first one, occurring in the same place, again while watching cartoons, one and a half years later, this time when Jason was about eight or eight and a half years old. Jason again claimed, while watching cartoons, Jackson moved behind him and began “spooning” him. Jason claimed he started to tickle him and while doing so Jackson again touched his genitalia above his clothes. He claimed the contact with his genital area lasted at least about four or five minutes. A third act of impropriety was claimed to have happened at Neverland in the arcade when Jason was about ten and a half years old. He claimed while playing a video game, Jackson again started to tickle him and somehow they ended up on the couch in a “spooning” position. Jason claimed that this time Jackson put his hand in his shorts and touched his testicles. He alleged this lasted about three to four minutes. At this point Jason felt the need to voluntarily emphasize: <em>“It took a lot of counselling to get over, just to let you know.”</em> Jason further alleged that every time Jackson tickled him, the star put a hundred dollar bill in his pants. Jason claimed he never told his mother about the alleged abuse: <em>“I don’t even think to this day she knows”</em>, he said on the stand in 2005, even though his mother hired civil lawyers and threatened to sue Jackson over the allegations in 1994. During the 2005 trial, Jason’s Francia’s testimony was not considered credible by the jury, and the improper police interrogations which led to his allegations were not the only reason. Other than the alleged impropriety, Jason Francia did not seem to know or remember anything on the stand and was caught in several contradictions and lies. At the very least, this young man seemed to have an extremely bad, unreliable and ever-changing memory. At age of 24, Jason sat on the stand and claimed he did not know if he ever signed a settlement with Jackson. He claimed he had not heard about the payment of $20,000 his mother received from the tabloid TV show Hard Copy until two days before his testimony and that he never discussed it with his mother. At first, he claimed he never told his mother he was improperly touched but then admitted he did, claiming he was “mistaken” earlier. He claimed he never told the lawyers who represented him in 1994, Terry Cannon and Kris Kallman, that he was improperly touched, but later on in the testimony he said he did not know if he ever told them, and even later he said he did tell them. In one of the interrogations Francia claimed that during a tickling episode he blacked out and because of that he did not remember anything besides the tickling. In 2005, when Mesereau asked him if he had a black-out how could he have told the police that his mother was not in the room, he answered: <blockquote><em>“I blocked it out. I didn’t blank it out”. </em></blockquote> It is important to note that Jackson's condo was a small apartment and the alleged improper acts occurred while Blanca Francia was present, cleaning up and able to walk in on them at any time. When the police asked Jason in if anything inappropriate had ever happened to him at Neverland he said <em>“I was around too many people”.</em> When they pressured him about the third account of tickling in the arcade, the incident where he now alleged Jackson put his hand in his pants, initially Jason said he did not know if Jackson touched him inappropriately while tickling him. In actuality, he said he was not sure if Jackson even tickled him at all. Mesereau pointed out that in an interview with the police in October, 2004, Jason claimed that this third tickling incident lasted more than ten seconds but he did not remember exactly how long. At the trial, only a couple of months later, Jason suddenly remembered that it lasted for three to four minutes. When Jason Francia was initially interviewed by the police in the 90’s, he claimed that Jackson promised him money each time he read a book or achieved a good grade, because Francia had difficulties in school and with learning. This story later somehow evolved into Jackson putting money in his pants after each tickling. During the trial, when asked if Attorney Terry Cannon still represented him, Jason said “I don’t think so, no”. Later on said he did not know if Cannon represented him. Mesereau reminded him that Cannon was present at a meeting Jason had with the prosecutors on December 6, 2004. At that meeting Jason did not want the interview to be tape-recorded. When Mesereau asked him why, at first he claimed to not remember that he made that request. When presented with documents that showed he indeed did, he could not testify what his reason was, responding “<em>I don’t know</em>” and “<em>Tape-recording is weird. I don’t know. No, I don’t</em>”. Documents also showed that he requested Cannon to be present at the interview but Jason said he did not remember why Cannon was there and whether he asked him to be there or not. During the trial, when asked whether any criminal charges had ever been filed against Jackson based on his claims, Jason answered: <blockquote>“<em>I don’t know much. I don’t watch the news.”</em></blockquote> Mesereau asked Jason about another meeting which prosecutors held on November 19, 2004 when his mother was interviewed in the DA’s office. Again, Jason first claimed to not know anything about it: <blockquote><em>“I don’t know. Me and my mother don’t talk about that stuff much.”</em></blockquote> However, when Mesereau pointed out to him that he was present at that meeting, Francia all of a sudden remembered: <blockquote>“<em>Now I remember, yes.”</em></blockquote> In actuality, not only was Jason present, but he too was interviewed by the prosecutors and he asked that the interview not be tape-recorded on that occasion as well. Again, Francia did not remember any of this: he did not remember that an interview by the prosecutors that lasted for about an hour, took place at all, although it happened only a couple of months before his testimony at Jackson’s trial. So not surprisingly, Jason Francia did not make a good impression on the jury at Jackson’s trial. Jury Foreman, Paul Rodriguez told Nancy Grace in an interview after the verdict that the jury had a hard time believing that Jackson had molested Jason in the past and said: <blockquote><em>“…it was hard to buy the whole story, when he acted like he knew nothing about it. I mean, he acted so much like the mother of the other accuser, you know, he just didn’t seem that credible. He didn’t seem to convince us, like we wanted to be convinced. And he was leaving too many little loopholes in his statements.” </em></blockquote> It is very telling that Rodriguez put Francia’s testimony on par with that of “the mother of the other accuser”, Janet Arvizo, which was widely regarded, even by pro-prosecution journalists, as a disastrous witness for the prosecution.