I guess it?s the kind of story we feel we deserve. The public loves to put our heroes up on  a hill, then gratify our egos  by dragging them down. It?s been this way all of Jackson?s life. First his father crushed any childhood out of him; then the public refused to even let him walk down the street. He never really had a chance to be a part of society.
  
Somewhere along the line he freed himself. He got away from his father. He regressed away from an overbearing public and into the childhood he never had, sealing himself off from society in an amusement park fantasy world plucked from a child?s imagination. It?s a tragedy that he should be rewarded for his talent with such smothering scrutiny. Then again, he regularly slept in the same bed with kids. So who knows, maybe he?s just fooling us.   Maybe the guy who sagged into court in his pajamas, is just setting us up for a plea of incapacity. Maybe he is just performing.  It seems fair to ask.

My prediction: he walks. His accuser?s testimony has been riddled with inconsistencies and the jury will be looking for any excuse to let him walk. Still, his life will never be the same. This, not his art, will be the enduring legacy in people?s minds.