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Paper Topic:

`The Weeknesses of the U.S. criminal justice system are all too evident in the outcome and consequences of the Michael Jackson trial 2005`. Discuss.

Black American , although , there was one African-American juror in the eight alternate jurors (four men , four women , selected for the case14

The trial , as it unfolds , was full of scandalous testimonies , dramatic moments and lots of celebrity defence . While , on the one hand prosecutors alleged that in the aftermath of the Bashir documentary in 2003 , Jackson and five others , who where not indicted , have contrived to control and intimidate the child 's family in other to get them to cooperate with damage control efforts , including forcefully keeping them at Neverland against

their will15 on these grounds , Jackson was charged with four counts of lewd conduct with a child younger than 14 one count of attempted lewd conduct four counts of administering alcohol to facilitate child molestation and one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction , false imprisonment or extortion16

On the other hand , Jackson 's lawyers consistently portrayed him as a naive victim of the child 's family , who were allegedly schemers and good at extorting money from rich and famous people . There were 91 prosecution and 50 defence witnesses throughout the trial period17 . In May 2005 the witnesses for the defence testified . Closing arguments of both sides were presented in the beginning of June and on the 13th of June , 2005 , the jury , after a 37hour deliberation that spanned seven days , announced Jackson 'not guilty ' and acquitted him of all the charges18

However , and most importantly for this discussion is the consequences of the trial . The aftermath of the trial witnessed several allegations of jury misconduct and several criticisms tossed back at Janet Arvizo , the mother of the accuser19 . Among the several jury misconduct allegations the fifth jury admitted to illegally bringing in a medical text to show "Jackson fit the book 's definition of a paedophile , while also...

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