JACKSON CLEARED

A JURY acquitted Michael Jackson last night of molesting 13-year-old cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland ranch, vindicating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta.

Jurors also acquitted him of conspiring to imprison his accuser and the boy's family at the estate a total legal victory but one that may do little to improve his bizarre image.

The jury also acquitted Jackson of getting Gavin Arvizo drunk before molesting him and conspiring to imprison the boy and his family at Neverland.

Jackson looked straight ahead as the verdicts were read and showed no visible reaction as he was repeatedly found not guilty.

Outside the courthouse, the crowd erupted in cheers as the verdict was read. A woman in the crowd released one white dove each time an acquittal was read.

After the verdicts were announced, the judge read a statement from the jury: "We the jury feel the weight of the world's eyes upon us." They asked to be allowed to return to "our private lives as anonymously as we came".

The verdict reached after about 30 hours of deliberations over seven days ended a four-month trial that offered a global audience a lurid look into the weird world of Jackson and presented jurors with vastly different portraits of him: a creepy pervert who preyed on little boys, or the victim of a frame-up.

During the trial, prosecutors who had been pursuing Jackson for years branded him a deviant who used his ranch as the ultimate pervert's lair, plying boys with booze and porn before molesting them.

Defence lawyers described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star. The boy had asked to meet the star when he thought he was dying of cancer.

The defence said the family exploited the boy's illness to get money from celebrities, then concocted the charges after realising Jackson was cutting them off from a jet-set lifestyle that included limo rides and stays at luxurious resorts.

Jackson was cleared of all 10 charges, including four counts that he molested the boy in early 2003. Jackson was also charged with providing the boy with wine "Jesus juice," the pop star called it and conspiring with members of his inner circle to hold the accuser and his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging documentary. In the 'Living with Michael Jackson' documentary made by British journalist Martin Bashir, Jackson held hands with the boy and acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as 'sweet' and not at all sexual.

Jackson agreed to take part in the documentary because he hoped it would help his image after years of eccentric behaviour.

But the airing of the programme in February 2003 triggered intense media scrutiny of Jackson's relationship with the boy, as well as calls for investigations. Authorities interviewed the boy and Jackson was charged.

The boy, now 15, testified that Jackson twice masturbated him while they were under the covers in the singer's bedroom. The boy's brother testified he twice witnessed Jackson fondle the boy as he slept.