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Updated April 27, 2005, 3:24 p.m. ET

Man who recorded rebuttal video says accuser's family did not seem scripted
Michael Jackson headed to court for his child-molestation trial Wednesday.

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — The man who recorded a video featuring the family of Michael Jackson's young accuser testified Wednesday at the pop star's child molestation trial that he did not see them reading or rehearsing from a script.

The testimony of Hamid Moslehi did not support an account by the boy's mother, who alleges she was forced to closely follow a script praising Jackson as part of a scheme in which her family was held captive to get their help in rebutting a damaging television documentary about Jackson.

Moslehi testified that the boy, his brother and sister were at his house for two or three hours before the taping began and he saw them playing but not rehearsing. He said the mother was there for about an hour before the taping and that he did not see her reading or rehearsing either.

Moslehi, Jackson's former videographer, also said he did not see anyone coaching the mother as she applied her makeup for the taping in his bathroom.


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The woman has testified that Jackson associate Dieter Wiesner coached her on what to say.

Moslehi left the stand Wednesday and was followed by a woman who is a phone records custodian, but he was ordered to remain at the court pending an expected defense motion. Attorney Robert Sanger did not explain what was at issue.

Prosecutors were expected to soon call Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe, who is in a family court battle with him over visitation of their two children. She is expected to say that a video in which she praised Jackson was scripted.

On Monday, the judge overruled defense objections to allowing Rowe to testify but said he would "look to ways to restrict that testimony."

Wiesner and associate Ronald Konitzer, who are named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case, were also the subject of Moslehi's testimony on Tuesday.

He said the two men became Jackson's managers in late 2002, a few months before they allegedly took part in a conspiracy to hold the family captive.

Prosecutors asked Moslehi about Wiesner and Konitzer to try to link them more closely to the singer. The mother of the accuser has testified that the German businessmen intimidated her family.

On cross-examination, Jackson defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. tried to show that Jackson was a victim of Wiesner and Konitzer, not a close associate.

Mesereau asked Moslehi if he knew that Wiesner and Konitzer had stolen close to $1 million from Jackson. The question drew a prosecution objection, and the judge did not allow a direct answer. When Mesereau repeated it without the dollar figure, the witness answered no.

Questioned further about the two men on Wednesday, Moslehi testified that Konitzer once said he and Wiesner were going to clean up mismanagement of Jackson's affairs. "They were going to take over and make things smoother," he said.

Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol, and conspiring to hold his family captive to get them to rebut the TV documentary "Living With Michael Jackson."

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