The Jackson case: Remembering OJ

By Tom Bishop
BBC News Online

Interest in Mr Jackson's case looks set to eclipse OJ Simpson's 1995 trial

Michael Jackson is to make his first appearance before a California court on Friday to face seven child abuse charges.

The singer will also enter pleas to two counts of giving alcohol to a minor with the intent of committing a crime.

While Friday's arraignment in Santa Maria is only the beginning of the case's journey through court, the US public has already become obsessed with it.

This case is not the only celebrity trial coming up guaranteed blanket media coverage, with domestic guru Martha Stewart and basketball star Kobe Bryant also due to stand trial for insider trading and sexual assault respectively.

Intensity

Of these, the Jackson case has drawn the most interest since the accusations were made against the 45-year-old star in November.

A police raid on Mr Jackson's Neverland ranch, the singer's arrest and subsequent charge were filmed and broadcast around the world.

The level of excitement is reminiscent of the OJ Simpson case nine years ago, which drew unprecedented levels of public interest.

Millions followed the televised court proceedings as the actor and former American football star was tried for murder.

Mr Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death in Brentwood, Los Angeles, in June 1994.

OJ Simpson's trial drew more than 90% of the US TV audience

The case became compulsive TV viewing for 95 million Americans who watched Simpson evade arrest as his car sped along a California highway for 60 miles.

Stopped and charged with double murder, Simpson insisted he was "absolutely 100% not guilty".

His trial began the following January, with proceedings broadcast from the Los Angeles Superior Court throughout.

More than 90% of the US television audience claimed to have watched the trial, and 142 million people heard the not guilty verdict delivered on 3 October 1995.

Simpson was released after 473 days in custody, but he was later found liable for the deaths of Brown and Goldman in a civil trial.

Celebrity Justice

Since Simpson's trial, America has not merely fed its obsession with celebrity and crime - it has gorged upon it.

Actress Winona Ryder, singer Bobby Brown and actor Robert Downey Junior are among hundreds of celebrities whose court appearances have been meticulously documented.

Harvey Levin, executive producer of weekly US television news show Celebrity Justice, declared that Michael Jackson's case could become "bigger than OJ Simpson because he [Jackson] is an international star".

But like the Simpson trial, interest in Mr Jackson's case does not revolve solely around the fact that he is a wealthy celebrity facing the most serious of charges.

Polls at the time of OJ Simpson's trial suggested most black Americans regarded him as a victim of racism, in contrast to more than 50% of whites who considered him guilty.

This is nothing but a modern-day lynching Jermaine Jackson

Race relations could also form a strong undercurrent to Jackson's court case.

Simpson was arrested by a Los Angeles police force that had faced fierce rioting two years earlier, following the acquittal of four white officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King.

The verdict had caused a political outcry and provoked fury in the predominantly black neighbourhoods of south-central Los Angeles.

Alleged police racism remained a divisive issue when the OJ Simpson case came to trial, amid claims that it was the US criminal justice system - not Simpson - that was on trial.

Outside court, Simpson's lawyer Johnnie Cochran dismissed accusations that his client had "played the race card".

'Racism'

Mr Jackson's family and supporters have had no qualms about claiming racism in his case, however.

As the singer was booked in November, his mother Catherine Jackson said there were two interpretations of the law in the United States, "one for whites and one for blacks".

Watching his brother being led into California's Santa Barbara County Sheriff's department in handcuffs, Jermaine Jackson told CNN: "This is nothing but a modern-day lynching."

Singer Rick James went further, declaring: "As soon as you get famous and black, they [US prosecutors] go after you."

If Mr Jackson stands trial, US civil rights groups have expressed concern about the racial make-up of the jury in his home county Santa Barbara, where only 2% of residents are black.

However, a poll on community site BlackAmericaWeb found that nearly as many black as white Americans thought Mr Jackson could be guilty of the charges against him.

Since the accusations emerged, Mr Jackson and his family have repeatedly protested his innocence on television news bulletins and on the internet.

The nature of the allegations and the man at their centre could ensure the media is saturated with coverage of proceedings.

OJ Simpson's trial proved the US public had an appetite for it then - and now it is even more rampant.