Curly, Larry, Moe--and Michael

Curly, Larry, Moe--and Michael

by Joal Ryan
Mar 18, 2005, 1:45 PM PT

The Three Stooges were there. Liza Minnelli and Walt Disney, too.

In Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial, the singer's master bedroom suite at Neverland Ranch is ground zero. It's where the prosecution alleges Jackson masturbated a 13-year-old boy. It's where law enforcement say they found scores of adult magazines, nude photos of women and a Barely Legal DVD.

The defense begs to differ. It denies the molestation accusation, and it takes exception to the prosecution portrayal of Jackson's bedroom as its own red-light district.

In cross-examinations this week of sheriff's deputies who picked over the boudoir during the November 2003 Neverland raid, Jackson's lawyers worked hard to point out that there's more to their client's collectibles than, as one investigator tactfully put it, "commercially produced adult-material magazines." (None of the confiscated stash is alleged to be illegal by prosecutors.)

"Do you recall that there were a number of...things that related to the Three Stooges?" defense attorney Robert M. Sanger asked Detective Karen Shepherd of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

Replied Shepherd: "I don't remember seeing anything related to the Three Stooges."

Overall, Jackson's stash of non-R-rated material made little impression on Shepherd or her colleagues.

"Did you see any cards from Liza Minnelli?" Sanger asked Detective Paul Zelis.

Replied Zelis: "No."

"Did you see, for instance, a letter from Steven Spielberg that was just sitting on a table?," Sanger asked Sergeant Steve Robel.

Replied Robel: "I did not see that, no."

Undeterred, Sanger and team kept right on asking and, in the process, detailing for jurors the more innocuous contents of Jackson's bedroom.

According to the defense, here are other items visitors would have found in the entertainer's inner sanctuary:

"Original items signed by Walt Disney;"

Shirley Temple and assorted movie memorabilia;

Books on black history;

The Bruce Weber photography book, The Chop Suey Club;

A letter from President Bush (it wasn't clear which President Bush--George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush);

A letter from former President Reagan;

A mannequin cast in the likeness of a young female cousin of Jackson's (the prosecution alleges Jackson humped it; the defense hints his young accuser or his brother defaced it).

Last week, Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville denied a request by Jackson's camp to take jurors on a tour of the singer's estate, in general, and his bedroom, in particular.

Melville said he was certain the court had "more than adequate evidence of what Neverland is like."

Sounds like somebody's not a Stooges fan.