One of three jurors who initially wanted to convict Michael Jackson said she believes the entertainer is a child molester but joined in the unanimous verdict exonerating him because she believed there was reasonable doubt in this case.
Two Jackson jurors, Eleanor Cook and Ray Hultman, said Monday as they began publicizing book deals that they believe Jackson molested his 15-year-old accuser and now regret finding him not guilty in the June verdict.
They said on the new MSNBC show "Rita Cosby: Live and Direct," that they went along with the other panelists because the jury foreman threatened to have them removed.
Appearing on the show Tuesday, Juror Katarina Carls said she initially agreed with Cook and Hultman that Jackson was guilty, but decided she could not convict because of jury instructions that he must be acquitted if there was reasonable doubt. She said it was possible that Jackson's accuser was lying.
"I kept asking myself, is there any slight possibility that this boy might lie at all? And my answer was yes," she said.
Cook and Hultman's reversals have no effect on the verdict, which cannot be appealed.
Jackson's lawyer, Tom Mesereau, has ridiculed their accounts, saying they may be seeking fame and fortune.
Another juror appearing on the show Tuesday, Mike Stevens, disputed Cook's claim that she was intimidated into going along. He said Cook told another juror at one point that she couldn't be swayed.
"She said, 'Honey, I'm 79 years old. I can do whatever I want to do,'" Stevens said. "And so how can she say that she felt threatened when she came up with a comment like that?"
Stevens said foreman Paul Rodriguez did not threaten to remove Cook for holding out, but rather for giving personal opinions.
"What I heard why that was said was because she kept making remarks ... involving her own opinion and the way her heart felt," Stevens said. "You're supposed to follow what the law says and what the evidence shows, not what your heart feels. Am I right?"
Rodriguez did not return calls for comment.