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American Morning
Interview with 'Celebrity Justice' Harvey Levin
Aired November 25, 2003 - 07:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to allegations in the controversy swirling around Michael Jackson. According to court documents, the boy accusing Jackson of molestation grew up in a turbulent family environment in which violence was -- quote -- "A daily occurrence" -- this, according to papers filed two years ago by the boy's mother in her divorce from the boy's father.
Harvey Levin of the TV show, "Celebrity Justice," is with us now, up early from Los Angeles.
Good morning to you, Harvey. Thanks for your time.
HARVEY LEVIN, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": My pleasure, Bill.
HEMMER: These court documents, what do you make of them? How could they affect this case?
LEVIN: Well, this is not surprising in cases like this. You see kids from very troubled homes that are being, you know, pulled each way in a judicial tug of war by the mother and father. And it doesn't seem any different here. This boy was the subject, really, of protective orders and of a lot of divorce wrangling. Does it have an impact in this case? I can't tell you. A lot will depend on the conduct of the parents in terms of whether they ask for money up front on this, or the conduct of the boy just in terms of how he will withstand cross-examination.
HEMMER: Try and clarify this for us. An attorney that represents the father of the boy, he says he may testify on behalf of Michael Jackson? Called for the defense? How does that work?
LEVIN: Well, I talked to the father himself last week, and he told me that this is all a shock to him, that Michael Jackson has been nothing but nice to him, and he said these allegations, at least for him, come out of the blue. He said Michael Jackson had even given him a car, a Bronco, to take the boy to and from Neverland, because his car wasn't working very well. The mother disputes it and says it was for medical treatment. But, yes, the father seemed to not believe these allegations when I talked to him a week ago.
HEMMER: Yes, also the other thing we're seeing quite clearly here is when there are children involved and parents are in essence separating, it can get quite ugly. We've heard allegations out there the father says the mother is irresponsible to even let the boy stay at Neverland Ranch. The mother is responding in kind to the father. How do you, I guess, sort out the vengeful comments from the rightful ones and the facts themselves? LEVIN: You know, I can't really look at this. I've looked at the divorce. I can't tell you who the good guy is and the bad guy is.
But I can tell you something interesting, something my show, "Celebrity Justice," has learned. This whole thing came down when the mother became alarmed. And when I look at the timeframe, it's looking like around February or possibly March. She became extremely alarmed that the boy had told her Michael Jackson had given him wine. She was especially upset because this is a very sick child, and she couldn't believe that Jackson would give him wine.
So, she started making rumblings. There was not even an insinuation of sexual misconduct at this point. The boy had said nothing. He's a very reluctant witness in this respect. The boy had said nothing. The DA wasn't involved. The sheriff wasn't involved. Larry Feldman, the civil lawyer, wasn't involved. She made rumblings.
Michael Jackson's response was to hire Mark Geragos and a private investigator by the name of Bradley Miller (ph) in Beverly Hills, and those two have worked together before. Ultimately, what happened was that they started doing an investigation, we are told, about child molestation, but the issue hadn't even come up yet.
So, the DA found out about it, set his sights on Bradley Miller (ph). And last Tuesday when the Neverland Ranch was being searched, we've learned cops descended on Bradley Miller's (ph) office in Beverly Hills. They raided that office, took documents looking at what he had been investigating, and Bradley Miller (ph) has not been seen since.
HEMMER: Harvey, let me stop you there. CNN, as a network, we haven't confirmed any information you just gave out there. What you're reporting and what you're suggesting, though, is that this was all brewing back in March of this past year.
LEVIN: Yes. I mean, I know that the search warrant was executed, and I know that Bradley Miller (ph) had been hired, along with Mark Geragos, and it was done before this criminal investigation.
So, what you could look at it as is one of two things. You can either say Michael Jackson is saying, oh, here we go again, I'm the target. Or, you can say why is Michael Jackson putting the cart before the horse? Nobody had said anything about child molestation, and suddenly they are investigating that.
HEMMER: Harvey, one final thought. Have you talked to the mother about this? Have you talked to the father about this? Have you confirmed this with anyone involved, the principals?
LEVIN: I've confirmed through the principals. And the "Santa Barbara News-Press" and "Celebrity Justice" jointly have confirmed the search warrant.
HEMMER: Harvey Levin, thanks -- early in L.A. this morning.
LEVIN: My pleasure. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 25, 2003 - 07:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to allegations in the controversy swirling around Michael Jackson. According to court documents, the boy accusing Jackson of molestation grew up in a turbulent family environment in which violence was -- quote -- "A daily occurrence" -- this, according to papers filed two years ago by the boy's mother in her divorce from the boy's father.
Harvey Levin of the TV show, "Celebrity Justice," is with us now, up early from Los Angeles.
Good morning to you, Harvey. Thanks for your time.
HARVEY LEVIN, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": My pleasure, Bill.
HEMMER: These court documents, what do you make of them? How could they affect this case?
LEVIN: Well, this is not surprising in cases like this. You see kids from very troubled homes that are being, you know, pulled each way in a judicial tug of war by the mother and father. And it doesn't seem any different here. This boy was the subject, really, of protective orders and of a lot of divorce wrangling. Does it have an impact in this case? I can't tell you. A lot will depend on the conduct of the parents in terms of whether they ask for money up front on this, or the conduct of the boy just in terms of how he will withstand cross-examination.
HEMMER: Try and clarify this for us. An attorney that represents the father of the boy, he says he may testify on behalf of Michael Jackson? Called for the defense? How does that work?
LEVIN: Well, I talked to the father himself last week, and he told me that this is all a shock to him, that Michael Jackson has been nothing but nice to him, and he said these allegations, at least for him, come out of the blue. He said Michael Jackson had even given him a car, a Bronco, to take the boy to and from Neverland, because his car wasn't working very well. The mother disputes it and says it was for medical treatment. But, yes, the father seemed to not believe these allegations when I talked to him a week ago.
HEMMER: Yes, also the other thing we're seeing quite clearly here is when there are children involved and parents are in essence separating, it can get quite ugly. We've heard allegations out there the father says the mother is irresponsible to even let the boy stay at Neverland Ranch. The mother is responding in kind to the father. How do you, I guess, sort out the vengeful comments from the rightful ones and the facts themselves? LEVIN: You know, I can't really look at this. I've looked at the divorce. I can't tell you who the good guy is and the bad guy is.
But I can tell you something interesting, something my show, "Celebrity Justice," has learned. This whole thing came down when the mother became alarmed. And when I look at the timeframe, it's looking like around February or possibly March. She became extremely alarmed that the boy had told her Michael Jackson had given him wine. She was especially upset because this is a very sick child, and she couldn't believe that Jackson would give him wine.
So, she started making rumblings. There was not even an insinuation of sexual misconduct at this point. The boy had said nothing. He's a very reluctant witness in this respect. The boy had said nothing. The DA wasn't involved. The sheriff wasn't involved. Larry Feldman, the civil lawyer, wasn't involved. She made rumblings.
Michael Jackson's response was to hire Mark Geragos and a private investigator by the name of Bradley Miller (ph) in Beverly Hills, and those two have worked together before. Ultimately, what happened was that they started doing an investigation, we are told, about child molestation, but the issue hadn't even come up yet.
So, the DA found out about it, set his sights on Bradley Miller (ph). And last Tuesday when the Neverland Ranch was being searched, we've learned cops descended on Bradley Miller's (ph) office in Beverly Hills. They raided that office, took documents looking at what he had been investigating, and Bradley Miller (ph) has not been seen since.
HEMMER: Harvey, let me stop you there. CNN, as a network, we haven't confirmed any information you just gave out there. What you're reporting and what you're suggesting, though, is that this was all brewing back in March of this past year.
LEVIN: Yes. I mean, I know that the search warrant was executed, and I know that Bradley Miller (ph) had been hired, along with Mark Geragos, and it was done before this criminal investigation.
So, what you could look at it as is one of two things. You can either say Michael Jackson is saying, oh, here we go again, I'm the target. Or, you can say why is Michael Jackson putting the cart before the horse? Nobody had said anything about child molestation, and suddenly they are investigating that.
HEMMER: Harvey, one final thought. Have you talked to the mother about this? Have you talked to the father about this? Have you confirmed this with anyone involved, the principals?
LEVIN: I've confirmed through the principals. And the "Santa Barbara News-Press" and "Celebrity Justice" jointly have confirmed the search warrant.
HEMMER: Harvey Levin, thanks -- early in L.A. this morning.
LEVIN: My pleasure. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
