Prosecutors show web of calls by Michael Jackson's aides

SANTA MARIA, California - Prosecutors have sought to shore up their conspiracy charges against Michael Jackson by showing jurors elaborate charts of phone calls between the pop star's insiders and the family at the centre of the child molestation case.

But defence attorneys, during cross-examination of the police witnesses who analysed the telephone calls, established none could be traced directly to Jackson or showed criminal behaviour.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case against the 46-year-old pop star as early as Tuesday after testimony by a former Jackson insider who reportedly took detailed notes of the comings and goings at the Neverland ranch and could bolster the conspiracy case against Jackson.

Defence lawyers, who could begin calling witnesses as early as this week, have promised to call some of the most famous people in America to testify in Jackson's defence -- including film legend Elizabeth Taylor, basketball star Kobe Bryant and talk-show host Jay Leno.

They may also summon "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin, one of five people prosecutors claim Jackson molested or treated inappropriately when they were boys. Culkin, now 24, has insisted publicly that "nothing happened" between him and Jackson that could be considered inappropriate.

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 conspiracy to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.

The self-styled King of Pop, who has pleaded innocent, could face more than two decades in prison if he is convicted.

Prosecutors say Jackson and members of his camp panicked in February 2003 after the broadcast of a documentary that showed the singer holding hands with his young accuser and defending his practice of sharing a bed with boys.

They say Jackson's aides intimidated and harassed the boy and his family, held them against their will and bullied them into making a so-called rebuttal tape praising the pop icon.

They are expected to argue the dozens of phone conversations, made at all hours of the day and night, illustrated the panic in Jackson's camp and the extensive nature of the conspiracy.

The daylong presentation on Monday chronicled hundreds of phone calls broken down by date, time and length. Prosecutors summarised them with illustrated charts that resembled complex mathematical formulas, leaving some jurors appearing bored and confused in the final days of the prosecution case.

- REUTERS