It's three weeks down and many more to go for jurors in the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial.

Already they've heard opening statements and testimony from more than a dozen witnesses, and they likely will hear much more before reaching the deliberation room. Opening statements in the case began Feb. 28 after a month of jury selection, and the trial may carry on into summer.

So how do attorneys keep jurors' interest and win their sympathy in a months-long trial?

Brevity can be a virtue for attorneys, said longtime local criminal lawyer Steve Balash, who is not working on the Jackson case.

"I think it's a good idea to be brief and to the point," Balash said. "If that witness keeps saying the same thing over and over again, you're just beating the (information) into a juror's head."

However, Balash said that this concern must be balanced against providing a complete record of the case, and by engaging in thorough cross-examination.

Though prosecutors have been fairly brief in questioning witnesses, Jackson's defense has gone through with a fine-toothed comb, trying to glean any inconsistencies in testimony.

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Andrew Baird, a San Luis Obispo County deputy district attorney, said the only way to win a jury's favor during a long trial is to prepare them ahead of time.

"If I anticipate a witness being perhaps fairly lengthy, I try to prepare the jury in voir dire and opening statements," Baird said. "I tell them there's some stuff that's going to take a while."

Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville warned jurors during voir dire that the trial could last five months, though some court watchers believe it may wrap up in four.

Reactions so far by the 12 jurors and eight alternates have been tough to categorize. Several appeared disengaged and bored by the testimony, even when Jackson's accuser took the stand. Others took copious notes.

The jury enters the courtroom each day smiling, and about half the panel dressed in green for Thursday's St. Patrick's Day. Most appear to have warmed to Melville, who occasionally jokes with them using his characteristic dry sense of humor. The presence of a world famous defendant does not seem to phase them anymore, and they rarely look in Jackson's direction.

However, trial consultant Richard Gabriel said guessing a juror's reaction on body language can be misleading.

"The juror who is nodding and winking at you during the trial is the one that can hit you the hardest in the deliberation room," Gabriel said. "Some jurors will as a rule say, 'I know everybody's watching me, I'm going to personally look disinterested.' There's some jurors who scowl because that's how they express concentration. Some are smiling at a witness, but thinking that the person is (lying)."

Prosecutors this week are expected to wrap up witnesses who will testify about Jackson's alleged molestation of a 13-year-old boy. The accuser has said in court that he was masturbated twice by the singer in March 2003, while the boy's brother testified he saw Jackson masturbate his brother twice while the boy slept.

Though a judge will not rule on admissibility of prior allegations against Jackson until March 28, prosecutors hope to focus on these during the next phase of its case. They intend to introduce prior child-abuse allegations from two other children to whom Jackson paid multi-million dollar settlements.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon has said the prosecution will present more evidence on an alleged conspiracy planned by Jackson and five others against the accuser and his family.

Once prosecutors conclude their case, the defense will then have its opportunity to put on evidence. During jury selection, Defense Attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. read a witness list that included more than 300 names.

Jackson, 46, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of molesting the boy and four counts of administering alcohol to help him with the alleged lewd acts. He also has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion, and a count of attempted child molestation.

* Staff writer Quintin Cushner can be reached at 739-2217 or by e-mail at qcushner@pulitzer.net.

March 20, 2005