SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Michael Jackson's unabated spending left him millions of dollars in debt, an expert witness testified Tuesday in the pop star's child molestation trial.

"The evidence shows that [in 2003] he's spending about $20 to $30 million dollars more than he's making ... that's annually," said certified public accountant John Duross O'Bryan, who was hired by prosecutors to conduct a forensics accounting investigation into Jackson's financial records.

Jackson's dire financial condition, according to prosecutors, was one more motivating factor in his decision to falsely imprison a 13-year-old boy and his family at Neverland in February and March 2003.

According to O'Bryan, Jackson was $224 million in debt in 2003.

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O'Bryan painted a portrait of Jackson's "looming" and "ongoing cash crisis" for jurors by referring to two financial statements and memos from the singer's financial managers from 1999 to 2003.

For instance, in a February 2003 memo, Jackson was informed that the accountants had $10.5 million of unpaid vendor invoices and just $38,000 cash in the bank.

While Jackson showed earnings of $11.5 million on a 1999 income statement, according to the witness, he had $20 million in expenditures, including $7.5 million in personal expenses, $5 million in legal and professional fees, $5 million in security and other expenses at his 2,700-acre Santa Ynez Valley estate, and another $2.5 million in "other expenses," mostly insurance.

An October 1999 memo from Jackson's accounting firm read in part, "We were short approximately $780,000 to meet our outstanding liabilities."

"So, those were bills that he had that he didn't have the money to pay?" asked prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss.

"Correct," O'Bryan said.

From 1999 and onward, according to O'Bryan, the problem grew because Jackson didn't heed the warnings of his advisors.

Referring to a June 2002 balance sheet, O'Bryan said Jackson had approximately $130 million in assets and $415 million in liabilities, leaving him with a negative net worth of $285 million.

"Does this mean that Mr. Jackson, by virtue of that balance sheet, is bankrupt?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, it doesn't," O'Bryan said, explaining that Jackson's assets may have a higher fair-market value.

Jackson's three main assets, according to the witness, are his Neverland property, a catalog of his own songs and performances that he earns royalties from, and a catalog of Beatles music and other artists' works that he co-owns with Sony, for which he also collects royalties.

But according to O'Bryan, his music catalogs were in jeopardy in 2003, because they were being used as collateral for two loans Jackson took out from Bank of America, and continued to draw upon year after year, until they shot up to $278 million by the time the "Living with Michael Jackson" documentary sent his personal life into a tailspin. The loans are due Dec. 15 of this year.

Jackson's alleged conspiracy plot began after the airing of the tell-all documentary, which suggested a salacious relationship between Jackson and the 13-year-old boy.

Prosecutors say that, shortly after the documentary aired, Jackson and his unindicted co-conspirators held the family captive at Neverland, where Jackson sexually molested the boy.

Dire straits

Jackson's defense attorney, Thomas Mesereau, objected to the expert witness's testimony, arguing that the memos and financial statements he used did not show the full picture of Jackson's worth and earning potential.

O'Bryan conceded that Jackson purchased the Beatles catalog in 1986 for about $47 million, then sold half his interest in it to Sony in 1995 for $90 million, and that in 2003 it was appraised at $1 billion.

Yet despite Mesereau's dogged questioning, O'Bryan would not concede that Jackson would get half of $1 billion if he sold his share of the catalog.

In fact, he seemed to give jurors a more dire picture of Jackson's financial straits during cross-examination, when he explained that Jackson would still have to repay Sony for its investments and his cash advances related to the catalog, as well as taxes from a sale.

At the end of the day, according to the accountant, Jackson would be $40 million in the hole if he sold his interest in the Sony catalog.

Sticking to the 'plan'

Days after Jackson's ex-wife appeared to throw the prosecution for a loop, Sgt. Steve Robel was recalled to the witness stand to offer his insights on what went wrong with the unexpected testimony of Debbie Rowe.

Robel said that in a police interview in March 2004, the mother of two of Jackson's children did not use the terms "caring," "generous" or "good father" to describe Jackson, as she had on the stand last week.

"She referred to Michael as a sociopath and his children as being possessions," Robel testified.

He also told jurors that Rowe revealed to him during their interviews that she and Jackson agreed to stick to a "plan" after their 1999 divorce. The defense objected to the relevance of Jackson and Rowe's post-divorce agreement and jurors never learned the details of the "plan."

But Robel shed some light on how that plan may have affected Rowe's testimony, when he described a conversation they had about her effusive remarks about Jackson in a rebuttal video in February 2003.

"She said that she stuck with her plan to talk positive about Mr. Jackson," Robel testified, "as she has done throughout in news conferences that she's had."

Mesereau turned to the first page of the witness's police interview with Rowe in 2004, and suggested that her comments to him, namely "F--- his defense, I want the kids," indicated she was speaking out of anger over an ongoing custody dispute.

"She told you in the interview, 'I have Michael's Achilles tendon. I have the kids. I don't have them, but I'm gonna have them,'" Mesereau said, while reading from the interview.

Robel said he was unaware of any custody dispute at the time Rowe called Jackson a sociopath.

Prosecutors did not complete their case Tuesday as expected.

Rudy Provencio, a former Jackson business associate, was called to the stand shortly before court recessed. Provencio, believed to be the final prosecution witness, is expected to offer testimony about financial dealings that may strengthen the ties between Jackson and his alleged co-conspirators.

In addition to conspiracy charges, Michael Jackson is accused of sexually molesting his teenage accuser and giving the boy wine in order to engage in the felonious sexual acts.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.