SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Michael Jackson's (search) accuser told a teacher that nothing bad happened to him at the pop star's Neverland Ranch, the 15-year-old acknowledged under cross-examination Monday.
Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. (search) read to the boy from what appeared to be a transcript of an interview of the teacher, Jeffrey Alpert.
Mesereau quoted the John Burroughs Middle School teacher as saying, "Look at me, look at me ... I can't help you unless you tell me the truth -- did any of this happen?"
The boy acknowledged from the witness stand that his answer was "no."
At another point the teen said, "I told Mr. Alpert he never did anything to me."
Mesereau walked the boy through his disciplinary history at the Los Angeles school, and the boy acknowledged he had argued with teachers and been disruptive.
Jackson arrived on time Monday, his first court appearance since a failure to appear last week triggered a threat of arrest by the judge and a race to the courthouse in his pajama bottoms from a hospital where he was said to be receiving treatment for a back injury.
The question about the teacher triggered a discussion among attorneys about what exactly the boy told District Attorney Tom Sneddon (search) about the conversation with Alpert.
ABC News' "Good Morning America" reported Monday that prosecutors and defense attorneys met during the weekend to interview the former teacher, and that the teacher's attorney, Thomas Forsyth, said he expects his client to be called as a witness.
Citing unidentified sources, the network reported that the conversation between the boy and teacher happened in spring 2003. That would have been after the airing of the TV documentary "Living With Michael Jackson" and the time period in which the molestation allegedly occurred, but before Jackson was indicted.
Jackson was shown shown holding hands with the boy in the documentary, which set off a storm of criticism.
A telephone message left with the school Monday was not immediately returned.
Mesereau had begun cross-examination of the accuser later Thursday. It resumed Monday after a three-day break. Mesereau quizzed the accuser about similarities between a statement he testified Jackson made about masturbation and an earlier statement the boy attributed to his grandmother.
He recalled that the boy testified Thursday that Jackson told him that if men don't masturbate they might rape women. The attorney noted that the boy told sheriff's investigators in an interview that his grandmother had told him the same thing.
The boy said that the context was different.
"She was telling me it was OK to do it and Michael was saying you have to do it," the boy said.
Prosecutors allege that Jackson, 46, molested the boy at Neverland in 2003, gave him alcohol and conspired to hold his family captive to get them to rebut the documentary in which Jackson said he shared his bed with children.
On Friday, jurors were not in court as the judge ruled that comedian Jay Leno, an expected witness, can continue to crack jokes at Jackson's expense as long as he doesn't discuss the facts of his testimony. Prosecutors also argued that Jackson was near bankruptcy and sought records to support assertions that Jackson had an underlying financial motive. The judge indicated he had little interest in allowing extensive testimony on finances.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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