{"id":126858,"date":"2026-02-08T15:06:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/126858\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T15:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:06:32","slug":"michael-jackson-was-a-pedophile-who-could-abuse-children-almost-with-impunity-claims-prosecutor-who-tried-king-of-pop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/126858\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson\u00a0‘was a pedophile who could abuse children almost with impunity,’ claims prosecutor who tried King of Pop"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California prosecutor, who tried Michael Jackson for molesting a child cancer survivor, remains adamant the King Of Pop was a pedophile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former senior deputy district attorney for Santa Barbara appears on camera in a new TV show explaining why he felt Jackson should have served twenty years for abusing ex child bed companion Gavin Arvizo in the 2005 trial.<\/p>\n

Adamant Ron Zonen, one of the lead prosecutors for Santa Barbara County,\u00a0is convinced MJ was a molester and that Arvizo had told the truth.<\/p>\n

Michael Jackson prepares to enter the Santa Barbara County Superior Court to hear the verdict read in his child molestation case June 13, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zonen doubled down to Channel 4\u2019s upcoming show<\/a> The Trial on his assertion that the Thriller star \u201cwas a pedophile who could abuse children almost with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In court Jackson was cleared of 14 charges connected to abuse of Arvizo, but Zonen revealed his belief that the musician had abused before 2003 which was not included in their charge list.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0bombshell TV interview also teases that had the singers former child pals Wade Robson and James Safechuck spoken up of claims they were abused, rather than wait until 2019, Jackson\u2019s fate may have been different.<\/p>\n

The veteran lawyer claimed beloved global entertainer and philanthropist Jackson\u2019s appeal and star quality allowed him to pull the wool over the jury\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

Channel 4 fans will get to see these incredibly powerful comments this Wednesday and Thursday (Feb 11 and 12) in hour long episodes of The Trial.<\/p>\n

Zonen feels that the father of three, who died in 2009<\/a>, had the power to manipulate the jury and even his fans into believing he was innocent of crimes.<\/p>\n

The veteran lawyer claimed beloved global entertainer and philanthropist Jackson\u2019s appeal and star quality allowed him to pull the wool over the jury\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

Steadfast Zonen is still shocked that MJ avoided any punishment after he openly boasted to sleeping with children on camera to many media outlets including the ITV doc Living With Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n

The Trial already made huge waves because it featured unheard tapes of Jackson discussing his fanatical love for children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zonen admitted: \u201cFrom the prosecution standpoint, we knew we were dealing with a pedophile<\/a> and he was a pedophile who could abuse children almost with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pop star Michael Jackson gets playful with fans inside the court Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002, in Santa Maria, Calif. AP<\/p>\n

One of the jurors in the trial, appearing on camera, Raymond Hultman backed Zonen:\u00a0\u201cI truly felt that Michael Jackson was a child molester. I felt that then, and I haven\u2019t changed my mind now. I still feel that way, but I had to give Michael Jackson the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n

Safehuck and Robson made global headlines when they spelled out long term sex abuse by MJ in the Leaving Neverland docu-series.<\/p>\n

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Santa Barbara Lead Assistant District Attorney Ron Zonen arrives for Michael Jackson\u2019s child molestation trial March 14, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Had they spoken up in the Santa Maria courthouse case, the outcome would have likely changed.<\/p>\n

Instead both denied abuse in Arvizo\u2019s trial. Zonen has no ill feeling towards Robson and Safechuck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand. I handled the number of child molestation cases over the years. It\u2019s a tough thing for kids to come forward and publicly talk about having been victim of sex crime. And they disclose when they disclose, and there\u2019s nothing we can do to speed up that process by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pop Star Michael Jackson (C) exits the courthouse with his lawyer Mark Garagos, center left (behind), and his entourage at the Santa Barbara County Court House in the city of Santa Maria, California following his arraignment hearing Friday, 16 January 2004. EPA<\/p>\n

Jackson boasted of sharing beds with kids to Bashir on camera. Zonen saw that admission as key proof of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was good compelling evidence for us is the admission that he sleeps with kids,<\/p>\n

\u201cBashir\u2019s reaction to it, I thought was the reaction a reasonable person would have. How do you justify having children in your bed? What other adult man do you know anywhere in the world who does that other than a pedophile? Who would you be willing to let your children sleep with in terms of an adult man? And the answer is nobody.<\/p>\n

\u201cJackson\u2019s public persona was the person who just loved children, and what he was trying to convince people of was that he really was the modern day Peter Pan. But there is no such thing as Peter Pan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he was always doing was looking for a child that he could eventually get into his bed. \u201cAnd of course, it was Gavin who was the target of his attentions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Jackson arrives for closing arguments in his child molestation trial at Santa Barbara County Superior Court June 2, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the show Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman denied Zonen\u2019s accusations and insisted that their paperwork proved the superstar was innocent and part of a \u201cshake down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TV series featured unheard tapes of Jackson expressing his love and care for\u00a0Arvizo.<\/p>\n

Jackson was\u00a0cleared\u00a0on all 14 charges, including four counts of molesting a child, four counts of getting a child drunk so that he could molest him, one count of trying to molest a child, and one count of secretly planning (conspiring) to hold the boy and his family captive at his Neverland Ranch. He was also charged with supplying alcohol to the boy, now 15, and conspiring to kidnap him and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trial\u2019s next episode airs on the UK\u2019s Channel 4 Wednesday February 11 at 9pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California prosecutor, who tried Michael Jackson for molesting a child cancer survivor, remains adamant the King Of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[157,12499,9,11,10,6027,11854,4721],"class_list":{"0":"post-126858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-michael-jackson","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-pedophiles","14":"tag-sex-offenders","15":"tag-trials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}