Longtime Jackson Confidant Speaks Out
June 1, 2005 -- -- Before jury deliberations begin in the Michael Jackson child molestation case, a longtime friend and confidant of the pop star is speaking publicly for the first time to express his belief that Jackson is innocent.
Frank Tyson told ABC News' "Primetime Live" co-anchor Cynthia McFadden: There's "not a question in my mind who's telling the truth. I know who's telling the truth and I know who's lying."
Tyson, who worked as an assistant to Jackson, attempted to cast doubt on the teen who is accusing the pop star.
"He was from the street, this kid ... And he is not like a shy little boy ... He is tough ... If anyone pushes him the wrong way, or touches him -- he is to be the first one, to push you back," Tyson said.
If the allegations were true, Tyson said, the accuser "would be the first one to knock Michael out and say, 'The hell with this. I am not doing this.' "
Jackson, 46, faces four counts of molesting a 13-year-old boy, four counts of plying him with alcohol, one count of conspiracy and one count of attempted molestation. Tyson, 24, is an alleged unindicted co-conspirator in the case and is represented by attorney Joseph Tacopina, who is also an ABC News legal consultant. Prosecutors claim he was among a number of Jackson associates who controlled and threatened the boy's family after Jackson's accuser appeared in a documentary in which he said he slept in the pop star's bed.
Tyson said he was speaking out now because he wants to express his support for the pop star, who he described as "a father figure, a brother."
"To see him going in and out of court every day, frail, 90 pounds. See him deteriorate day by day -- it's hard for me to see this," Tyson said. "To see how they're trying to destroy him, I'm not just going to sit there in my chair in my home, and watch this affect him."
The prosecution has alleged that Tyson played a role in holding the family at Jackson's Neverland ranch against its will, but Tyson denies that such a plot existed. "There was no such thing as keeping a family hostage, or a conspiracy," he said. "This is something that the prosecution and this mother created."
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