Jacko jurors believe star was guilty

LOS ANGELES: Two jurors who cleared Michael Jackson of child sex abuse said they regretted their decision and believed the star was guilty. Ray Hultman and Eleanor Cook both plan to write tell-all books about the “air ofhatred” in the jury room and their incredible change of tack some two months down the line.

Asked whether she thought the other jurors would be angry, 79-year-old Cook told US television on Tuesday night: “They can be as angry as they want to. They ought to be ashamed. They’re the ones that let a paedophile go.”

Hultman, 62, also criticised his fellow jurors for the way they approached the case.

“I’d say they made the wrong decision,” he said. “The thing that really got me the most was the fact that people just wouldn’t take those blinders off long enough to really look at all the evidence that was there.”

Jackson was unanimously acquitted of 10 felony and four misdemeanour charges relating to the alleged abuse of Arvizo on June 13, 2005. The prosecution cannot appeal against the verdict. — Agencies