Chapter 170 170. Thousands of people point fingers at each other, declare war on Sony

Although it was almost noon at the Santa Barbara City Court, people were still arriving one after another.

Perhaps sensing the sincerity, the hot weather suddenly turned cloudy, and the wind picked up, bringing a hint of coolness.

"Hot dogs and cold drinks!"

"I'd like an ice cream bar, sir. Or baked apple pie would be nice too."

"Your clothes are a little damp, why don't you try this?"

Many Santa Barbara residents pushed out their food trucks to do business, and many vendors sold clothes, hats, signs, etc. with words such as "Jackson is not guilty" written on them.

Sales were very good, and the trial made some people a small fortune.

Everyone was staring at the court, waiting for the door to open. Fortunately, no conflict has broken out so far, and Michael Jordan's fans have remained very well-behaved.

The police were still on high alert and just hoped that the trial would end quickly.

At this time, inside the court, Attorney Meserio took out a tape.

"Mr. Judge, I am skeptical of the mental evaluation report provided by Dr. Mathis."

"Depression or mental trauma are not easy to diagnose. Even the most authoritative doctors can make mistakes."

Mathis sneered and said, "Lawyer Meserio, I remind you to be careful with your words. I am a qualified doctor and my clinic has a legal certificate issued by the state."

"You are an experienced lawyer. You should know that to question someone you need to provide evidence, not just empty words."

Meserio smiled slightly, "Of course, I am not from the Arvizo family. If there is no physical evidence, I will definitely not slander others."

He walked to the front desk holding the tape and said, "Mr. Judge, this tape is our evidence. Please allow it to be played publicly."

The judge took the tape and looked at the prosecutor not far away. Of course, it was not Tom Schneider, who had been suspended for investigation.

He is a new prosecutor transferred from another city and has no intersection with Tom Schneider either in life or work.

The judge handed the tape to his assistant, and Gadot leaned close to Eric's ear and whispered, "Did you do it?"

Eric's heart was moved when he felt the itch in his ear.

The situation was very good, and he was in a very good mood. He subconsciously put his hand into Gadot's skirt and said, "Of course I did it."

Gadot blushed.

"Don't do this, what if someone sees us?"

"Everyone's attention is on the videotape, who will pay attention to us?"

"Well"

But others would not notice that Ao Mei, who was sitting next to him, was always observing Eric.

The little girl noticed something was wrong at the first moment, and after taking a few quick glances, she immediately discovered the clue.

Looking at Gadot's face again, her ears were red. How could she not understand what the two people next to her were doing.

Ao Mei suddenly felt a surge of heat rushing up to her head, as if she had discovered an incredible secret, and her heart started pounding.

She swallowed, feeling just as nervous as when she discovered Eric and his two sisters having an affair on the second floor that day.

"Asshole, what a bad guy, don't you know the occasion at all?" Ao Mei thought to herself in shame and anger.

"Wait, is Eric doing this on purpose for me? Is he seducing me?"

I glanced at Eric secretly and saw a smile on his face.

Feeling the little girl's movements, Eric also looked down at her: "Elizabeth, listen carefully, the excitement is coming."

Ao Mei nodded woodenly, thinking it was already too exciting.

As the tape was inserted into the device, the bailiff pressed play.

"Janet, as long as you listen to me, I promise to help you get a large sum of compensation."

"You know, ten years ago I helped Evan Chandler get $23 million, that was in 1993, and this time our goal is $50 million."

"I know these big stars too well. They value their reputation and definitely don't want to make things worse. If I can push Jackson once, I can do it twice."

"Well, I'll leave it to you, Attorney Larry. I must get this money no matter what means I use."

"Don't worry, I will train you and your son and tell you what to say. Also, we need to take Gavin to see Dr. Mathis."

"He is a psychiatrist and will issue us a mental evaluation report, which is an important basis for prosecution and compensation."

"Well, do we need to give him another share of the money?"

"Of course. Otherwise, why would Mathis help you issue a report? Gavin is very healthy, and what we need is a report that proves that he has a problem."

After the recording was played, the explosive content made the whole audience silent. Even Gadot didn't react, and she couldn't even feel Nezuko's itch.

After a while, giving everyone some time to digest the information, Meserio said, "Mr. Judge, I guarantee that the contents of this recording are 100% true."

"You can ask a professional organization to do an appraisal. There is absolutely no possibility of artificial synthesis."

"Based on the facts, we have reason to believe that this is a conspiracy and a hunt against Michael Jackson."

"It was a conspiracy between the Arvizo family, Larry Feldman and Mathis, which took advantage of the public's dissatisfaction and hatred of rich celebrities in order to extort money from my client."

"This despicable, obscene, shameless, dirty and filthy behavior is not only illegal, but also challenges the bottom line of public order and morality."

After Meserio finished speaking, both the jury and the gallery erupted in heated voices.

Among them were some emotional Mike Dunk fans. A black man in his thirties stood up and pointed at the opposite side and cursed.

As soon as he took the lead, several other fans did the same thing, and in an instant they cursed eighteen generations of women with all kinds of dirty words, which was much more exciting than what Meserio said.

"quiet!"

The judge pointed at the emotional fans and said: "Kick them out!"

The bailiff understood the fans' anger and did not resort to any tactics. He just made a gesture of invitation and the fans tactfully left.

"I love you, Michael!" a female fan shouted.

"Thank you everyone, I love you too." Mike waved.

The commotion stopped, and the judge looked at Janet Arvizo: "Does the plaintiff have any explanation for this recording?"

Janet Arvizo looked at lawyer Larry Feldman with rapid breathing. She knew nothing but swearing.

Psychologist Mathis looked at Feldman nervously. At this moment, he felt extremely regretful and wanted to slap himself in the face.

Why get involved in this matter? You are ruining your career for a sum of money. What's more terrible is that you will face prosecution.

Larry Feldman was as pale as before, his mind flashing back like a movie, trying to find out why he was wiretapped.

Seeing that everyone was silent, the judge asked again: "Does the plaintiff intend to explain this recording?"

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Larry Feldman stammered, "Mr. Judge, I... I don't know the source of this recording, and I don't remember if I said anything similar."

"But even if I said it, it was just a private joke. I was just encouraging Janet to have confidence in this lawsuit."

"Everyone knows that Michael Jackson is a star with incredible wealth and connections. What do my clients have? They are just ordinary citizens."

"They are naturally worried that they won't win the case, so I may say something like this to encourage them, but saying it doesn't mean I've done it."

"Do we have to keep our word for everything? Can jokes be taken seriously?"

In the face of the tape, Larry Feldman's defense seems pale and powerless, and it is already a perverse logic. Everyone can tell whether the content of the tape is a joke or not.

After he finished speaking, most of the jury folded their arms and looked at him coldly.

At this point, the judge even felt that there was no need to continue. He looked at Michael and asked, "Does the defendant have anything else to say?"

Meserio answered loudly: "Yes, we have an important witness."

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Eric moved suddenly, "You little bastard, I can't kill you!" Gadot widened her eyes and tightly grasped his arm, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Then Jody Chandler walked into court, and his appearance had changed a lot compared to ten years ago.

Larry Feldman and Mathis didn't recognize it at first, but after looking at it carefully, their expressions changed drastically and they were even more nervous than when they heard the recording.

Taking the witness stand, Jody Chandler faced the jury and the audience and said: "My name is Jody Chandler. Maybe some people don't know it, and some people have forgotten it, but I am the party involved in the case in 1993."

"In 1993, my father Evan Chandler sued Michael Jackson for sexually assaulting me. With the help of attorney Larry Feldman and Dr. Mathis, we reached a settlement with Jackson's team and eventually received compensation."

"These are the information reported by the media, but the truth is not so. Today I want to expose the hidden darkness."

"At that time, Michael never actually assaulted me. It was my father, Evan Chandler, who wanted to extort money from him, so he instigated me to do this."

"I didn't agree at first because I regarded Michael as an idol and a person worthy of respect."

"But Evan kept leading me on and took me to Larry Feldman, and the two of them brainwashed me together."

"But even so, I still didn't want to do it, so they took me to Mathis."

"I was locked up there for several days. Mathis was a psychiatrist. He hypnotized me and injected me with anesthetic drugs. I was often in a daze and had no idea what I was doing."

"It was under these circumstances that the three of them worked together to brainwash me and made me say those words."

"But later, after an out-of-court settlement, we dropped the lawsuit because we achieved our goal by getting the money."

"The prosecutor at the time, Tom Schneider, who assaulted Michael a few days ago, also approached us and hoped to continue the lawsuit, but my father refused."

"It's been ten years, and I feel extremely guilty, but at the time I was controlled by the drugs and had no choice. Later, the die was cast. Facing overwhelming public pressure, I was terrified and dared not do anything."

"Until this incident happened again, I knew I couldn't indulge in it anymore and had to let the truth come to light."

"Everything is fake, everything is a lie, Larry Feldman and Mathis are criminals who have long since abandoned their professional ethics."

"Only Michael has been carrying the stigma. That's not what he should bear. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

After Jody Chandler finished speaking, there was an uproar again. No one expected that something that happened ten years ago would be dug up and clarified.

The reason why some people think that Michael is a pedophile is ultimately because of the 1993 case.

If this matter were reversed, the black spot on Mike would completely disappear.

Likewise, Jody Chandler's testimony was the equivalent of sending Larry Feldman and Mathis directly to the guillotine.

They are completely hopeless, and a thorough investigation awaits them both.

"quiet!"

The judge looked at Larry Feldman and said, "Do you have anything to explain about Jody Chandler's testimony?"

The latter opened his mouth, but in the end, nothing came out.

Just as the judge was about to adjourn the court, Meserio spoke again: "Mr. Judge, we have another piece of video evidence."

The content of the video is naturally about Martin Basher's candid photos and conversations.

"I just want to destroy him. Even if Michael Jackson never molested a child, I can make him look like that through editing and footage. The public is most easily fooled."

"Martin, was Sony hiring you to do this?"

“Hahaha, guess what, maybe this matter will be declassified only after some people die.”

The picture finally freezes on Martin Basher's weird and playful smile.

Meserio said: "Mr. Judge, through this video, we have reason to suspect that the Arvizo family and Martin Basher colluded to frame Jackson."

"And behind all this, it is very likely that Sony Music is closely related, so we will apply to summon Martin Basher and Sony Music to the scene for questioning."

The significance of this video is no longer about the few people on the opposite side, but to involve Sony Music and make sure the storm of public opinion engulfs it.

The judge looked solemn as he suddenly realized that this child molestation case was not just about sexual harassment but involved huge economic interests and conspiracies.

This is a very big hot potato that the Santa Barbara Municipal Court may not be able to continue.

After looking around and confirming that neither party was interested in continuing, the judge stood up and announced: "In view of the complexity of the case, the Santa Barbara City Court will have a detailed discussion with the jury to determine the next trial date, and both parties will be notified at that time."

After the court was adjourned, Eric pulled out his fingers, making a crisp sound.

Gadot blushed and punched him on the back, earning a kiss in return.

When they came in front of Maikou, they hugged each other.

"Michael, it looks like the trial is going well. As long as the jury isn't morons, we're sure to win."

"Thanks to you, Eric."

Meserio said: "Based on the current situation, Janet Arvizo has no chance of winning, not even one percent."

"Based on my experience, I'm afraid they will choose to withdraw the lawsuit on their own initiative."

Eric sneered and said, "Even if we withdraw the lawsuit, we won't let them off. But they are just small fry. The key is Sony Music."

"Maiko, you've been very popular in the past month. Once the news of the trial gets out, it will definitely cause an explosion of public opinion."

"I'm ready. It's time to have a tough battle with Sony."

(End of this chapter)