“He is back to establish his innocence,” explained attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr., the latest addition to Jackson’s legal team. Cochran’s enlistment isn’t the only reshuffling in the Jackson camp: a source close to the defense says Howard Weitzman has taken over for Bertram Fields as lead attorney in the case. The Jackson family, says the source, was furious when Fields told a judge last month–incorrectly–that a grand-jury indictment of Michael was imminent, a move that compounded resentment generated when Fields supposedly failed to return hastily enough from a vacation when the crisis broke. The power shift is said to be awkward for Weitzman since it was Fields who first brought him into the case. The source added that longtime Jacko booster Liz Taylor has been playing a more involved behind-the-scenes role in the defense effort than previously suspected–starting with cutting the profile of noisome private eye Anthony Pellicano.
So far Jackson faces only the civil suit filed by a 13-year-old boy, but a judge’s ruling on Friday that evidence gathered in the civil case may be shared with prosecutors could help speed a decision on whether to indict the singer on criminal charges. The boy’s lawyer, Larry Feldman, continued to depose potential witnesses last week, including a former Jackson maid who fed the press some rather lurid allegations. Blanca Francia, who had worked at the singer’s Neverland ranch for five years, told reporters that she quit after seeing Jackson bathing naked with young boys and spotting her own son on the singer’s lap. She told the tab TV show “Hard Copy” that Michael was constantly surrounded by young male companions. “I saw little things like rubbing a boy against his body…he had boys sitting in his lap and rubbing them,” she claimed, adding that he called the boys “rubba.” Also, “Thriller” video dancer and self-described former Jacko pal Eddie Reynoza told reporters the singer put the moves on him 12 years ago.
The Jackson clan–minus estranged sister LaToya, who was reportedly rousted last week by British customs officials who mistook her for Michael in drag–battled back. On Black Entertainment Television, mother Katherine said Francia had been fired and was seeking revenge. MJ himself is scheduled to be heard from in a Jan. 18 deposition, but his attorneys argued in court that the judge’s Friday ruling might force him to take the Fifth. That’s bad news as long as his accusers continue to take the First.