Rowe: Jacko a 'Great Person ... Great Father'

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Michael Jackson's (search) ex-wife Debbie Rowe (search) completed her second and final day of testimony Thursday in the pop star's child molestation trial, calling the singer "a great person and a great father" and saying that some of the pop star's associates are "vultures" trying to exploit him.

Her lawyer was the next person to take the stand.

Rowe's testimony was tearful at times, salty and sarcastic at others. At one point she said, "Damn you" to prosecutors in an apparent misunderstanding over a question. She also acknowledged she has said in the past that she believes Jackson is easily manipulated.

Rowe, the mother of two of Jackson's children, was called to bolster a charge that the singer and his associates conspired to hold the accuser's family captive to make a video praising him. But the strategy may have backfired when Rowe portrayed Jackson as the one victimized by the men, who are named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case.

"Deborah Rowe was a devastating witness for the prosecution," said San Francisco defense lawyer Michael Cardoza, who has been observing the trial. He noted that it was even more damaging because prosecutors are about to wind up their case.

"It's like thinking you see a light at the end of a tunnel and it's a train coming at you," he said.

Rowe said the associates recruited her to make a video praising Jackson, then sold it for millions and kept the money. She said the organizer of the video, Marc Schaffel, bragged to her about how much money he was making off Jackson.

"He was out to hurt Michael and in addition would hurt my children," Rowe said.

She seemed to lament the state of her relationship with Jackson when a defense lawyer asked if she still considered Jackson a friend. "Yeah," she said, adding, "if he'd talk to me."

At one point when she was asked by the defense to describe Jackson, she caught her breath and said: "Generous to a fault, good father, great with kids, puts other people ahead of him. Brilliant businessman."

She later became teary-eyed when she described her feelings about Jackson, who at one point dabbed at his eyes. Rowe only spoke positively of her ex-husband and reserved expressions of ill will for Schaffel and two other unindicted alleged co-conspirators, saying, "I think they're opportunistic vultures."

Rowe was a nurse for a Jackson doctor when they married in 1996, and they had two children together — 8-year-old Prince Michael (search) and 7-year-old Paris.

"She seemed to be the perfect person for him," celebrity lawyer and Jackson family attorney Debra Opri told FOX News on Thursday.

Answering a question about whether Rowe was or is in love with Jackson, Opri speculated about whether it's love — or obsession.

"There seem to be a lot of people in Michael Jackson's world who are obsessed with him, and she was one of them," Opri told FOX. "She would literally do anything that was asked of her."

The couple filed for divorce after three years of marriage, and Rowe is now locked in a family-court dispute over visitation with their children, who are in the singer's custody. Jackson has a third child, Prince Michael II, whose mother has remained anonymous.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the accuser's family captive to get them to rebut the "Living With Michael Jackson" documentary, in which the singer said he lets children sleep in his bed.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon (search) had said Rowe would tell the jury that her remarks were scripted in the separate rebuttal video she made praising Jackson.

But Rowe denied Wednesday that her remarks were scripted or rehearsed. She said she agreed to make the video because she wanted to help the singer and she hoped to see their two children.

Rowe also testified that she had not been truthful about everything in her videotaped interview.

Rowe's second day of testimony came after Jackson's lawyers tried to abort her appearance with a motion to strike everything she said on Wednesday — a move they dropped after Thursday's questioning elicited more positive testimony about Jackson. Their reason for the motion was not made public.

When asked by Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen about how she felt about doing the video, she said, "I was excited to do it. I would get to see the children and could renew a relationship with Mr. Jackson."

At the end of his direct examination, Zonen asked, "What was your motivation for participating in this interview?"

"To see my children," she said.

Zonen also asked a question designed to show she had no recent knowledge of Jackson's parenting skills at the time of the interview.

"How long had it been since you had seen your children?" Zonen asked.

"About 21/2 years," she said.

But under cross-examination by Thomas Mesereau Jr. (search) she said she did not blame Jackson for keeping her away from the youngsters but felt that his advisers and lawyers had interceded.

The prosecution announced it would probably rest its case Tuesday.

As Jackson left court at the end of the day he was asked if it was good to see Rowe again.

"Yes," he said.

Lawyer Gloria Allred (search), who was in the courtroom Wednesday, told "FOX and Friends" Thursday morning that Rowe appeared to be a young woman who was very nervous.

"I think a lot of people felt sympathetic toward her ... people [are] trying to blame Debbie for giving up her [parental] rights. But what about a father who doesn't want the mother of his children to be able to see them?

"She was very tearful, too. She said when she said [Jackson] was a good parent in the video, she wasn't being honest about that. What did she mean by that?" said Allred.

As for Rowe saying that she was not coached for the rebuttal video, Allred said that could be complicated.

"After her, her attorney will testify, who was apparently there while the interview was being conducted. And it's reported that her attorney is going to testify that there was a great deal of coaching within the breaks," Allred said.

Schaffel is suing Jackson on claims that he hasn't been paid more than $3 million in loans and fees. A Santa Monica judge on Thursday rejected Schaffel's request to place a lien on Neverland until after the criminal trial, Schaffel's attorney, Howard King, said in Los Angeles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.