Jackson lawyer dominated courtroom

Before each searing cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses in Michael Jackson's trial, the imposing lawyer with the shock of white hair told them, "My name is Tom Mesereau and I speak for Mr Jackson."

The mantra, meaning "I'm on his side, not yours," was stated firmly to Jackson's teenage accuser and his mother, to accusers from cases now decades old and to celebrities such as Jay Leno.

Often witnesses found themselves on the defensive. The accuser's mother would turn to the jury, point a finger at Mesereau and declare, "He's wrong!"

One witness, a former Jackson security guard, finally whimpered, "I want to go home."

Jamie Masada, a comedy club owner, tried comic gibes to spar with Mesereau.

"Me, and you, we can have a comedy team," he told the lawyer at one point. And when there were questions about another comic's talents, Masada snapped, "I find you more funny than she is."

Mesereau's acerbic reply: "Maybe I'm in the wrong profession."

The irony was not lost in a courtroom where Mesereau had emerged as the dominant legal personality - and where he won acquittal on all counts for Jackson on Sunday.

"He is probably the best cross-examiner I've ever seen in a courtroom," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, who sat in on the trial.