When Michael Jackson faced the most serious trial of his life in 2005, he needed the right person in his corner. Plenty of famous lawyers would have taken the case for the spotlight alone. Michael went looking for something else. He wanted a lawyer who understood people, who had the same kind of heart he did.
He found Thomas Mesereau.
On paper, Mesereau was a brilliant trial attorney. But what set him apart was how he spent his time away from the high-profile cases. He runs a free legal clinic in South Los Angeles for people who cannot afford help, and every year he travels to the Deep South to defend a poor death row inmate for nothing, fighting for the kind of people the system had all but given up on. This was a man who had devoted his career to the underdog, and that spoke directly to Michael.
Brought in to lead the defense in 2004, Mesereau was calm, meticulous and relentless. Piece by piece, he took apart the case against Michael. On June 13, 2005, the verdict came back. Not guilty, on all fourteen counts. Every single charge.
Hear Mesereau talk about the man and the case himself:
Michael Jackson’s Attorney Tom Mesereau – Larry King Live
What makes the story special is what happened after the courtroom emptied. For a lot of lawyers, a verdict is the finish line. For Mesereau, it was not. He stayed on to help Michael through the exhausting months that followed, standing beside an emotionally drained client who had just survived the fight of his life.
And his loyalty did not fade with time. Years after Michael died, when a new wave of accusations surfaced, Mesereau stepped forward again, speaking out publicly to defend a man who could no longer defend himself. He has said many times that he never had a single doubt about Michael’s innocence, and that Michael was one of the kindest people he ever met.
That is the quiet thread running through all of it. Michael Jackson chose a defender who believed in the dignity of people the world had written off, and in return, that defender believed in him completely, in the courtroom and long after.
Press play and listen to the lawyer who knew Michael when it mattered most.