Michael Jackson faces 5-month trial and 18-years in Protective Custody.

In what could be the King of Pop’s last public performance, the stage is set and the auditorium filled for the much-awaited courtroom drama between Santa Barbara prosecutors and Michael Jackson. Expected to last 5-months, it will be a show to equal the long-running O.J. Simpson trial of 1995.

Jackson, 46, has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges that include felony conspiracy with 28 overt acts involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.

If convicted of all the charges, he faces up to 18-years in the top-security California State Prison – Corcoran (CSP-C), where, because of his high-profile status, he will be held in the 4A Facility which currently houses inmates that require protective housing within the Protective Housing Unit (PHU).

Charles Manson will be a close neighbour, as will be validated prison gang members, i.e., Nuestra Familia (NF), Nazi Low Riders (NLR), Aryan Brotherhood (AB), Mexican Mafia (EME), Black Guerrilla Family (BGF), Texas Syndicate (TS), and the Northern Structure (NS).

Jackson is accused of molesting a now-15-year-old boy who spent time at his Neverland ranch. The boy, who was 13 at the time of the alleged molestation, is believed to be the cancer survivor who appeared with the singer in the 2003 British documentary “Living With Michael Jackson,” which was put together by investigative TV journalist, Martin Bashir.

For Jackson, the trial is his chance to gain vindication through an acquittal and perhaps put behind him the cloud of suspicion that has followed him since a 12-year-old boy made similar allegations against him in 1993. For Santa Barbara County prosecutors, the trial is a chance to convict and imprison Jackson.

Although O.J.Simpson was found not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown, the case left him almost a social pariah, and as Jackson walks into court, at Santa Barbara, California, in the morning, he will no doubt be considering his own fate.

Source: New Criminologist