Dec. 22, 2004 — According to Michael Jackson's former criminal attorney Mark Geragos, the charges against the pop star were driven by two things: "Money and revenge." Well, Court TV's Investigative Unit can now report that Mark Geragos could wind up being called by the prosecution to testify at Michael Jackson's child molestation trial.

Geragos' name is among 166 others on the state's witness list, according to sources who have seen that list. If he's called to the witness box, Geragos would certainly be quizzed about his early participation in what the prosecution calls "a conspiracy" to keep the family of the accuser away from both the police and the media.

As previously reported here, others on the District Attorney's list include: Debbie Rowe, Jackson's ex-wife and the mother of his two oldest children, and longtime business associate Bob Jones. Jones has told this reporter he "would not lie for Michael Jackson" and that he knows "the truth about Michael's relationships with all those boys." Jones's book proposal declares he "knows where all the bodies are buried in Jacko-land."

* * *

Michael Jackson's life has been in turmoil the last 13 months — ever since Santa Barbara authorities came knocking at the gates of his Neverland Valley Ranch on Nov. 18, 2003.

Jackson wasn't home when they came calling.

Court TV can now report that Jackson had been holed up at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas with a group of young boys, many of whom spoke German into their cell phones in the breezeway outside Jackson's villa. Occupants of the other ultra-posh villas frequently complained to the Mirage's management about the noise and disruptive behavior. Michael Jackson was in Las Vegas to finish a video, but the work was never finished. For weeks, he stayed inside his suite with his young admirers. Room service was ordered to be left outside the door; no butlers or maids were allowed to enter. By November 18, the day the ranch was raided and Michael Jackson checked out, the room had sustained $30,000 worth of damage. Broken liquor bottles and rotting food trays littered the room, and there were cigarette burns on expensive furniture and on the rugs,. Michael Jackson and his entourage were told they would not be welcomed back to the Mirage Hotel.

Two days later, the world watched as Michael Jackson returned and was led in handcuffs into the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department for formal booking. Cameras then caught him back in Las Vegas that same evening, driving up and down the strip looking for a place to stay the night. Since then, Jackson has been spotted in Aspen, Colo., outside Orlando, Fla., and residing in a massive mansion in Beverly Hills. Jackson has reportedly said he doesn't feel his Neverland Ranch is "home" anymore now that police have once again entered and pawed through his private rooms. But his financial situation forced him to return to the ranch. Court TV can now report that since coming home, Michael Jackson has refused to stay in his bedroom suite, ground zero for the November 2003 search.

"The rooms look like a bomb hit," a person well-known to Michael Jackson told Court TV. "It's obvious to anyone who looks inside that no one could live in there."

Asked if the mess was the result of the police's initial search of Neverland, the source said, "No way. [They] disrupted things a bit but were pretty careful. Now it looks like someone has gone through the rooms and deliberately trashed them."

What is it with Michael Jackson and bedroom suites? Did the master of the ranch destroy his own room? Did his current situation so anger him that he took it out on the very place the police call the scene of the crime? There is no confirmation of that, but a source from the ranch told Court TV Michael Jackson doesn't really live in the main house anymore. He spends most of his time in one of the guest cottages, the one closest to a pond with swans in it.

"That way he can just cross a brick path and go into the main house's kitchen and dining room. But he doesn't want to go into his bedroom at all."

Anyone facing the kind of legal battle Michael Jackson sees looming on his horizon would necessarily feel anxious and frustrated … but is there some deeper psychology at play? We may never know. But Debbie Rowe Jackson might.

Court TV's I-Unit can confirm that as part of the Jackson's current fight over their children, Debbie Rowe's side has asked for a "730 evaluation" of her famous ex-husband. According to a highly placed source, using layman's terms, she's requesting a psych evaluation. Perhaps that's one reason Michael Jackson's attorney is seeking to seal the record on these proceedings. What if the Santa Barbara DA got a hold of that evaluation?

Full coverage of the Michael Jackson case