Michael Jackson not guilty on all charges

SANTA MARIA, California - Pop star Michael Jackson was this morning found not guilty on all charges relating to alleged sexual offences against a minor.

Count 1: Not guilty of conspiracy, involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
Count 2: Not guilty of a lewd act on a minor child.
Count 3: Not guilty of a lewd act on a minor child.
Count 4: Not guilty of a lewd act on a minor child.
Count 5: Not guilty of a lewd act on a minor child.
Count 6: Not guilty of attempting to commit a lewd act on a minor child.
Count 7: Not guilty of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony and not guilty of providing alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 21.
Count 8: Not guilty of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony and not guilty of providing alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 21.
Count 9: Not guilty of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony and not guilty of providing alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 21.
Count 10: Not guilty of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony and not guilty of providing alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 21.

The eight women and four men on the jury sent a signal to Judge Rodney Melville this morning indicating that they had reached verdicts on all 10 criminal counts against the 46-year-old entertainer.

Jackson arrived at the courthouse in Santa Maria from his Neverland Valley Ranch, shortly before 9am (NZ time).

Jackson was charged in a 10-count Santa Barbara County grand jury indictment with molesting a then-13-year-old boy at Neverland in February or March of 2003, plying the boy with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.

Prosecutors argued that Jackson was a serial pedophile who preyed on young boys over a decade at Neverland.

Jackson's lawyers countered that it was the pop star who was the naive victim of a family of con artists, led by a greedy mother who persuaded her son to make up the accusations against Jackson in anticipation of a potentially lucrative civil lawsuit against him.