by Giles Hewitt
SANTA MARIA, California - Michael Jackson's lawyers on Tuesday grilled his accuser's brother over the teen's damaging eye-witness account of the alleged child molestation at the heart of the pop icon's trial.
Jackson's lead lawyer Thomas Mesereau began cross-examining the 14-year-old a day after he testified that he had twice seen the pop icon molesting the young boy on Jackson's bed.
The boy Tuesday told jurors the superstar warned him and his brother never to talk about what went on at his Neverland Ranch, "not even if they put a gun to your head."
But Mesereau immediately began trying to punch holes in the boy's account.
The boy claimed Monday he had walked into Jackson's split-level bedroom, protected by a sophisticated security system, in February 2003 and caught the star molesting the then 13-year-old recovering cancer patient.
But Mesereau got the chubby teenager to admit that an alarm in the hallway to Jackson's bedroom had gone off on both occasions that he witnessed the alleged groping, potentially warning Jackson that someone was approaching.
"It's true that the bell went off both times you saw your brother and Michael Jackson,?" Mesereau asked the boy, seen as one of the most crucial witnesses in the case against the world's most famous defendant.
The boy, the only person to witness the alleged sex abuse, conceded that the alarm had indeed sounded, announcing his arrival, but insisted it could only be heard from inside the bedroom if the door was open.
Mesereau also prodded the youngster to admit that he had lied under oath about five years ago -- when he was eight or nine years old -- in a deposition in a lawsuit filed by his mother against a department store.
He admitted that his statements that his parents never fought and that his father never beat him were untrue.
"Did someone tell you to lie," asked Mesereau, who has portrayed the boys' mother as a financial predator who coached her children to concoct stories to win cash settlements in lawsuits.
"I don't remember," the boy said.
The teenager also claimed the faded "King of Pop" paraded around naked and aroused in front of the brothers, showed them pornography, plied them with wine and simulated sex with a mannequin.
With Jackson staring at him from the defendant's bench, the boy recounted returning from a trip to get chocolate from the ranch's movie theatre during a sleep-over.
As he entered the room, he saw Jackson lying on his back on the bed beside his brother, who was "curled up" and facing away from the entertainer with his eyes closed.
"I saw Michael's left hand in my brother's underwears and his right hand in his own underwears," the boy said Monday.
"He (Jackson) was masturbating. He was rubbing himself. He had his hand in his pants and he was stroking up and down," he told the jurors who could send Jackson, 46, to jail for up to 20 years.
He said he saw an almost identical scene when he walked into the bedroom about two days later.
Both alleged incidents took place in the days and weeks after broadcast of a documentary in which the pop star was seen holding his future accuser's hand.
Although he mumbled at times during his testimony and often appeared confused by specific dates, the brother delivered his description of the alleged molestation clearly and without hesitation.
He also claimed Jackson had once briefly appeared naked and sporting an erection in front of the brothers as they watched television on the star's immense bed.
In addition, he said Jackson showed him and his brother pornographic websites and magazines and frequently gave them white and red wine -- which he said Jackson dubbed "Jesus juice" -- concealed in soft-drink cans.
When asked Tuesday by prosecutor Thomas Sneddon whether Jackson had ever warned the boys in connection with the star's alleged conduct at Neverland, the boy said the star had urged them to keep mum.
"One time Michael warned me and my brother not to tell anything that happened, not even if they put a gun to your head."
Jackson has denied the 10 charges, including child molestation, plying the boy with alcohol to seduce him and conspiring to kidnap the accuser and his family and hold them prisoner at Neverland until they made a video clearing the star of any suggestion of child abuse.

03/08/2005 18:38 GMT