Netflix will release a three-part documentary series revisiting Michael Jackson's 2005 trial in which he was acquitted of child abuse charges.
“Michael Jackson: The Verdict” premieres June 3 and features archival footage and interviews with key players involved in the trial, including jurors, figures from both the defense and prosecution, journalists who were inside the courtroom and other witnesses who witnessed the events firsthand.
“It has been 20 years since Michael Jackson's trial in which he was found innocent. However, to this day, the controversy continues,” the filmmakers said. “No cameras were allowed in court, so the public's opinion of the events at the time was filtered by commentators and presented bit by bit. It was time to take a forensic look at the trial as a whole.
“Anyone interested in the story of Michael Jackson should feel that this documentary gives them a window into what was largely a closed event and the opportunity to feel closer to what happened.”
The trial in Santa Barbara Superior Court lasted 14 weeks and the jury, which included eight women and four men, deliberated for more than 30 hours over seven days.
Jackson was acquitted of 10 felony charges: four counts of child abuse, four counts of abusing a minor with alcohol to abuse him, one count of attempted child abuse and one count of conspiracy to hold the boy and his family captive at the Neverland Ranch. He faced more than 20 years in prison.
Produced by Candle True Stories, the production company behind Netflix's “Untold: The Liver King,” and directed by Nick Green, “Michael Jackson: The Verdict,” arrives at a time of renewed interest in the “King of Pop.”
The biopic “Michael,” approved by Jackson's estate, hit theaters last month and depicts the hitmaker's origin story from childhood to his upward trajectory to superstar status in the 1980s. Notably, the film omitted the series of accusations that followed Jackson from the '90s until his death in 2009.
