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OTR Interviews

Former Jackson Lawyer: Molestation Trial 'Was Beginning of the End' for Him

By Fox News
Published | Updated

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," June 25, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Joe Tacopina join us live. He was a lawyer for Michael Jackson. Joe, stunning tonight. I keep saying the same thing to every single person I talk to, but we are all sort of surprise. I think most of us thought that Michael Jackson was going to have a big comeback. This is not exactly what we expected.

JOE TACOPINA, FORMER JACKSON ATTORNEY: No, Greta, you are right. Just a few days ago he was walking with his children in New York City. And, quite frankly, he looked as healthy as I had seen him look in a while. Michael obviously had a different look and is not the pillar of health, but certainly this was unexpected.

I thought at first it was one of those crazy rumors that you hear that catch like wildfire, but, unfortunately, it wasn't.

VAN SUSTEREN: Joe, a lot of people who have a lot of money have a whole team of lawyers, and some of the lawyers never get to meet the client because they are doing different parts of the case. Did you actually meet Michael Jackson?

TACOPINA: Yes. I spent some significant time out in California with him during the trial.

VAN SUSTEREN: So what's he like, tell us --

(CROSSTALK)

TACOPINA: Yes. And I have to tell you, my interaction with him, Greta, I do not think was like Dick Gregory's or anything like that. My interaction with him was during this, you know, the worst period of his life, during this trial. And he was withdrawn, and at times seemed totally out of it during the trial.

But he was going through something that none of us -- I think the fact that he was being accused and put through the trial devastated him and broke his spirit, and I believe that was the beginning of the end.

VAN SUSTEREN: Some clients are rather passive. Some sort of take control of the case. Was he a client who was passive and just let that lawyers do the jobs, or was he intimately involved with how each day went?

TACOPINA: No, he was passive. His family was intimately involved, but he was passing.

Tom Mesereau did a masterful job in that case, and he really orchestrated it, and Michael put his faith in the hands of lawyers and trust in the hands of the lawyers. So he was passive. No, he really did not have that much interaction. And again, as I said, he was very withdrawn and, I think, just amazed by allegations. And, obviously, the jurists agreed with him.

VAN SUSTEREN: Joe, thank you. And just to remind the viewers who are looking at left side of the screen, that is the Apollo Theater, where Michael Jackson played in 1969. And that is in New York City in Harlem.

And you can see the crowds there gathering on the news that Michael Jackson, age 50, has died. And our breaking news coverage continues.

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