Jackson jury accused of smuggling books and videos into deliberations

THE jury that cleared Michael Jackson of child sex abuse has been accused of a litany of misconduct including smuggling books and videos into deliberations.

The allegations follow reports that two of the 12 have decided the singer is guilty and plan to write lucrative tell-all books.

Former Jackson family friend and spokesman Stacy Mr Brown said the entire trial had apparently been a waste of time and money.

“That jury would have acquitted him even if they had a videotape (of the alleged crime),” he told the New York Daily News.

Brown said he had been approached by the two jurors, Eleanor Cook and Ray Hultman, for help with their books. They told him one juror had sneaked a video of Court TV broadcasts, widely considered biased towards the prosecution, into the deliberation room. Jurors were banned from watching any media coverage of the trial and it was only a faulty VCR that prevented a sneak peak of the footage, Brown said.

Ms Cook, 79, allegedly revealed she had smuggled a medical book into deliberations to show that “Jackson fit the book’s definition of a paedophile to a T”, but was later “intimidated” into voting for acquittal.

Three female jurors were such fans of the 46-year-old star they allegedly cooed “Not my Michael...” when the panel discussed the sex abuse charges.

Mr Brown said he was told the women formed a bond and their “minds were made up about one-third of the way through the trial”.

Jackson was acquitted of all ten charges relating to the alleged abuse of 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo in June.