Page 102 - REDEMPTION_Flipbook_Final 2025

- Geraldine Hughes -

There was the possibility that the civil trial could last any-
where from six months to several years.
Because of all the negative worldwide media coverage,
Michael Jackson's chances of getting a fair trial became ques-
tionable.
For the millions of people who felt Michael Jackson was
guilty because he settled and paid a large sum of money to the
13-year old boy, these are just a few things that were going on
behind the scenes working against Michael Jackson. It was even
reported that the attorneys' reputations were also a consider-
ation for settling the case as opposed to going to trial and find-
ing out who would be the losing attorney.
There was also the threat of Michael Jackson having to face
double jeopardy in having to defend himself in the criminal
case as well as the civil case, even though the law is clearly
designed to prevent a defendant from having to be tried twice
on the same issue at the same time. However, this did not seem
to prevail in Michael Jackson's case. Even the Fifth Amend-
ment, which provides that a person cannot be compelled in
any criminal case to be a witness against himself, provides
protection from being tried twice on the same issue. But even
Michael Jackson's Fifth Amendment protection did not super-
cede a child's right to a speedy trial.
The District Attorney's office was also laying in wait to uti-
lize the information that was going to be uncovered or revealed
in the civil lawsuit for use in their criminal investigation. They
made it very clear that they would request a copy of all depo-
sitions and discovery taken in this case for their use in pros-
ecuting the criminal case against Michael Jackson.
On January 27, 1994 the civil complaint filed by Dr.
Chandler's attorney, Larry Feldman, was dismissed. Michael
Jackson settled the civil case for an undisclosed amount of
money. The court ordered the terms of the settlement to be
confidential and banned the attorneys, parties, and court per-
sonnel from mentioning the contents of said settlement pro-
ceedings. It was speculated, however, that the approximate
amount of the settlement was twenty million dollars. It was

101