The American pop singer Michael Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, at his Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos, California.

[11] Gavin's mother, Janet Arvizo, said it misrepresented her son's relationship with Jackson; she instructed Theodore Goddard, the London law firm, to file complaints against the Independent Television Commission, which oversees ITV.

[16] Macaulay Culkin appeared on Larry King Live to defend Jackson, saying nothing inappropriate had occurred at Neverland Ranch.

In a confidential report based on interviews with the Arvizos, which leaked to the media, child welfare officials stated that they believed that accusations of illicit conduct were unfounded.

This timeline was revised in the grand jury indictment, which stated that the alleged acts of molestation occurred between February 21 and March 12, 2003.

[24] In August 2004, the California attorney general's office concluded, after an independent investigation, that Jackson was neither "manhandled" nor mistreated when he was taken into custody.

[27][28] On April 21, a grand jury indicted Jackson on several additional related charges, including conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion.

[31] Melville, who had a contentious relationship with the news media, banned cameras from the courtroom and put a gag order on both sides.

They called on witnesses to describe earlier incidents, including Jackson's alleged 1993 abuse of Jordan Chandler.

[36] The prosecution argued that Jackson used Neverland, his "fantasy hideaway" with candy and theme park attractions, to lure boys and groom them into sex, and flattered their parents with gifts.

He said the ongoing trial had been the lowest period in his life, and denied rumors about his financial problems, saying they were part of a smear campaign.

[32] On April 4, Jason Francia, whose mother worked as a maid at Neverland Ranch, testified that Jackson had abused him on several occasions when he was seven to ten years old.

[43] Mesereau sought to establish that the Francias were goaded into their accusations by overzealous prosecutors and tempted by money offered for media interviews.

[44] In April 2005, Ralph Chacon, a former security guard at Neverland Ranch, testified that he had seen Jackson performing oral sex on Chandler in the early 1990s.

[45] According to testimony, Chacon and McManus had been found guilty of stealing items from Jackson's house amounting to more than $50,000 and ordered to pay more than $1 million in legal fees.

McManus also acknowledged that she and her husband were found to have previously defrauded a relative's children and had stolen a sketch by Jackson worth $35,000.

[37] LeMarque and his wife, also a Jackson employee, had considered selling the story to a tabloid,[49] but had backed out as the intermediary was "sleazy".

The prosecution claimed that Rowe was forced into a scripted videotaped statement made in early 2003 in support of Jackson.

Instead, Rowe was supportive of Jackson and said his business associates Marc Schaffel, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer were "opportunistic vultures" who wanted to exploit him.

The family alleged that Star, his brother and their mother were beaten in a parking lot by security guards after leaving with clothes they had not paid for.

The prosecution planned to have an expert on domestic violence testify that she may have lied because she had been beaten by her ex-husband, but the judge did not allow it, saying it would be irrelevant.

Other witnesses for the defense showed Janet had spent $7,000 shopping and dining out at the same time she alleged Jackson kept her and her family captive.

Leno made approximately 20 phone calls to sick children each week, and began receiving voicemail messages from Gavin, then a ten-year-old cancer patient, in 2000.

[76] The judge allowed investigation evidence from Jackson's previous allegations to be used in the trial,[77] but the 1994 settlement initiated by the Chandlers was deemed "irrelevant and inflammatory".

[81] Jurors found the prosecution's case weak and the timeline of accusations problematic because they had claimed the molestation allegedly occurred after the broadcast of the documentary, when the world's attention was on Jackson and Gavin.

[87][88][89] When news of the raid on Jackson's home broke, many channels switched to 24-hour rolling coverage; CBS, NBC, ABC and VH1 produced television specials.

"[53] The Huffington Post contributor Luka Neskovic wrote that the trial "displayed media at their worst", with "sensationalism, exclusivity, negativity, eccentrics, chaos, and hysteria".

A judge observed in 2021 that "the fact that he earned not a penny from his image and likeness in 2006, 2007, or 2008 shows the effect those allegations had, and continued to have, until his death".

[98] In June 2009, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.

[101] In a 2017 episode of the true crime series The Jury Speaks, the four featured jurors of the trial said they would still vote to acquit Jackson, citing a lack of evidence.