A judge on Tuesday ultimately dismissed a longstanding sexual abuse case against Michael Jackson by former choreographer Wade Robson, after a 4 year trial against Jackson's estate. Presiding over the rulings, Judge Mithcell L. Beckloff found that the two Jackson-owned corporations who were being sued were not at fault for Robson's exposure to Jackson; however, the judge did not rule over the credibility of Robson's allegations. This settlement ends one of the last judicial cases pinned against Jackson and his estate.
According to CBC News, Robson, who met Jackson when he was just 5 years old, had initially testified in favour of Jackson during his tumultuous 2005 court hearing over similar sexual abuse charges, alleging that he had shared a bed with Jackson but was never molested by the pop legend. However, in 2013, Robson changed his tune and sued for sexual abuse, accusing Jackson of having molested the young choreographer over a 7 year span.
Robson's attorney, Vince Finaldi, strongly disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal the decision in the near future. Speaking with the Associated Press after the hearing, Finaldi notes that "the judge is saying is that you if own a corporation or a company, you can hire people, use these people to facilitate your sexual abuse, use them to facilitate victims."
However, in a press statement, Jackson's lawyer Howard Weitzman notes how he believes that "Mr. Robson's allegations, made 20 plus years after they supposedly occurred and years after Mr. Robson testified twice under oath — including in front of a jury — that Michael Jackson had never done anything wrong to him was always about the money rather than a search for the truth."
