Lists of possible witnesses were read to the pool of potential jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation case Monday — including basketball star Kobe Bryant, actress Elizabeth Taylor and family members of Jackson’s accuser as potential defense witnesses.
Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau read more than 100 names, including “60 Minutes” correspondent Ed Bradley, singer Stevie Wonder, CNN interviewer Larry King as well as Jackson’s own children — Paris and Prince Michael.
Prosecutors said they would call a boy who accused Jackson of molesting him in 1993, as well as members of his family and the Los Angeles policeman who investigated those allegations against Jackson. The boy’s allegations were settled out of court.
Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old former cancer patient, giving the boy alcohol and attempting to hold him and his family captive. They appeared together in a controversial 2003 documentary by British journalist Martin Bashir, whose name is also on the witness list.
In the documentary, Jackson and the boy held hands, and Jackson admitted sleeping with children in his bedroom at his Neverland Ranch — although he denied there was anything sexual about it.
Bashir is now a correspondent for ABC.
Bryant is on the list because he met Jackson’s accuser at the hospital where the boy was being treated for cancer, attorneys said, while Bradley interviewed the boy.
