Almost Half of Americans Disagree With Jackson Verdict

A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken after the verdict found that 48 percent of Americans disagreed with the verdict, 34 percent agreed, and 18 percent had no opinion.

Juror: Victim, family not credible
48% in poll disagree with verdicts; prosecutor says �celebrity factor' helped singer

SANTA MARIA, Calif. � Michael Jackson was acquitted Monday on charges he sexually molested a 13-year-old boy, ending a four-month trial full of lurid glimpses of the star's bizarre private life at his Neverland Valley Ranch.

The onetime King of Pop wept softly and wiped his eyes as the jury's verdicts were read inside a quiet courtroom.

Jackson said nothing after the verdicts of not guilty on all 10 charges were read. He walked from the courthouse, waved and climbed inside a waiting vehicle for the ride home.

�Justice was done. He was always innocent, and we proved it,� defense attorney Tom Mesereau said.

Fans outside the courthouse jumped up and down, hugged and threw confetti. A woman released one white dove as each acquittal was announced. Jackson's family was ecstatic.

�Michael kept his strength, and he hung in there,� his brother Tito Jackson told CNN.

A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken after the verdict showed that 48% disagreed with the verdict and 34% agreed; 18% had no opinion.

The jury deliberated for 30 hours over seven days on charges that Jackson molested the boy in his home, a huge estate with carnival rides, circus animals and toys.

The prosecution described Neverland as an all-night party, with Jackson fondling and bedding boys whose parents let them visit. But Jackson's defense insisted he was a vulnerable victim of a shakedown by a mother who pushed her son to lie in a plot to extort money.

�If the evidence was there, we would have worked with it, but there was a lot of things lacking,� jury foreman Paul Rodriguez told CNN's Larry King Live.

�We just couldn't buy the story of the mother for one, and the corresponding stories of the children, they were too much like the mother's,� he said. �It's almost like they rehearsed it.�

Prosecutor Tom Sneddon, the Santa Barbara County district attorney, sat with his head in his hands as the jury's verdict was read.

�Obviously, we're disappointed � but we believe in the system of justice,� Sneddon said. He cited �the celebrity factor� as helping Jackson. �We thought we had a good case this time.�

Other charges had accused Jackson of providing the boy with wine that Jackson called �Jesus juice,� and conspiring to hold the accuser and his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging video documentary about the star.

The documentary by British journalist Martin Bashir showed Jackson holding hands with the boy and acknowledging that he shared his bed with children. Jackson described the practice as not sexual. �I am Peter Pan,� Jackson said.