Michael Jackson jury ends third day without verdict

SANTA MARIA, California- The jury in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial has completed a third full day without reaching a verdict as aides to the pop star urged supporters to be patient.

The jury of eight women and four men, who were handed the case by Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville last week, has spent about 20 hours behind closed doors weighing the 10 criminal charges against Jackson.

The twelve jurors, who appeared weary as they left the central California courthouse on Wednesday afternoon, were driven off in a pair of white vans under police escort as they have been all week.

Meanwhile, two Jackson aides appeared outside court to reassure increasingly edgy fans.

Jackson, last seen in public when he was treated at a local hospital for back pain on Sunday, was resting at his Neverland estate with family, including sisters Janet and LaToya.

The plea for calm followed some tense exchanges between fans and reporters outside court and a near mob scene on Monday when Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, unexpectedly turned up and walked through the crowd of supporters.

"Everybody should kind of calm down," said Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain. "I'm just appealing for everybody to have a level head. We are in the middle of a trial. This is not a circus. This is not a game. This is not a concert. A man's life is in the balance here."

Jackson, 46, who was treated on Sunday for a painful relapse of a back problem, is "fully functioning," Bain said. "We've heard reports that he's near death. That's absolutely not true," she said.

The jurors -- who work for six hours a day with three short breaks and no lunch recess -- are seen only when they arrive and depart. They have asked only one question of the trial judge but that query was not disclosed.

WEARY FANS WAITING

In the absence of news from the jury, a weary anticipation has settled over the impromptu encampment of several hundred Jackson fans from around the world.

"His life depends on 12 guys and they're taking too long," said Marcos Cabota, who had travelled from Spain to be in California for the culmination of the four-month trial.

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has counselled Jackson through the trial, urged fans to remain calm -- even if the jury were to return with a guilty verdict.

"If the negative were to be the conclusion, any act of violence would do a disservice to the process," said Jesse Jackson speaking outside court. "It would not be condoned by Michael Jackson."

Jackson is charged with molesting a boy, then 13, at Neverland in February or March of 2003, plying the young cancer patient with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.

The moonwalking entertainer, who has pleaded innocent, faces nearly 20 years in prison if convicted on all 10 counts.

Prosecutors argued that Jackson was a serial pedophile who lured young boys to Neverland with his fame and Peter Pan persona.

Defence lawyers claim he was the victim of a family of con artists, led by a greedy mother who goaded her son into making up the molestation accusations in anticipation of a lucrative civil lawsuit.

- REUTERS