Michael Jackson "Reveals Defense" On "60 Minutes"
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now, in tonight's "Rap Sheet," Michael Jackson's exclusive interview after his arrest on child molestation charges, did his comments help or hurt his case. Well, joining us with some legal insight from New York, criminal defense attorney Pamela Hayes. And from Houston, Texas, former prosecutor, Nelda Blair. Good evening to both of you.</s>UNIDENTIIFED FEMALE: Good evening.</s>LIN: I know you both watched the interview there. And some shocking allegations about what happened to Michael Jackson while he was in custody. he showed a graphic photo of his arm bruised up and he claims that his shoulders are still dislocated and he lives in constant pain. We want to share one of the quotes from the interview. He says, "they manhandled me very roughly. My shoulder is dislocated, literally. It's hurting me very badly. I'm in pain all the time." Nelda, in a situation like this. Is this normal while in custody. Is this something that could happen while hand cuffed?</s>NELDA BLAIR, FMR. PROSECUTOR: It could happen. It depends on how much resistance, possibly, there was. How many people, perhaps, were handling him. Certainly, it could happen. It's not intended to happen, of course. And I can assure you that prosecutors and sheriff's department never did anything like that on purpose, because obviously, this is such a high level, high profile case, they want to handle it very, very carefully. But let me say this, that is part of this defense. It's part of the sympathy factor. Now we know everything that Geragos is going to play and I think we heard it all in that interview tonight.</s>LIN: Pamela, is it going to work?</s>PAMELA HAYES, CIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It probably will help. The police don't have any right to manhandle anyone. They are expected to be professional about the whole thing. And the whole syndrome of tightening handcuffs too tight, which leads to bruising and could possibly lead to a dislocated shoulder is fairly typical of things that people in the criminal justice system see.</s>LIN: All right. Is there recourse, then?</s>HAYES: The recourse is really has nothing to do with the case. You could sue them later, if you want to do that, but I would have to think that his first priority is dealing with the evidence which the prosecution say they have against him.</s>LIN: Is that your opinion, the same goes for his claims that they locked him in a feces covered bathroom for 45 minutes?</s>HAYES: I clearly believe that. Another inmate could have done that for all we know. But the fact that he was in a feces covered bathroom and he stayed there for 45 minutes, that's something that could have very possibly happened.</s>LIN: Nelda, what do you make of that?</s>BLAIR: It really doesn't have anything to do with this case, as was just said. What has to do with his defense is whether or not he committed this child molestation. Again, there might be a little sympathy factor there, but it's really not going to help or hurt his case one way or the other.</s>LIN: You know, he talked very graphically about the search of Netherland, Nelda. And in another quote here from the interview, he claimed that, "they went into areas they weren't supposed to go to, like my office, they didn't have search warrants for those places, and they totally took advantage. They took knives, and cut open my matresses with knives." Is that typical, number one, perhaps even with a search warrant, they might be looking -- would they have authorization to cut open matresses...</s>BLAIR: If they had probably cause to believe that there was some type of evidence hidden in a matress...</s>LIN: Like what? What would that be in the cotton ticking?</s>BLAIR: Well, we don't know that. And that's the beauty of this whole situation. We know what the defenses play is going to be. But Sneddon has been very careful to keep his cards next to his chest. We don't know what his evidence is. We don't what he was looking, what he found. And we don't know what he's giong to use against Jackson. So, we don't know what he might have been looking for. But I can assure you, that if there were that type of search done, then there was some type probable cause to find something that they were looking for. And, let me say, if they did go into places where they didn't have warrants, then they won't be able to use evidence from those places in court, so why would they do that?</s>LIN: Pamela, does it concern you that Michael Jackson said there were some 80 officers inside his bedroom. All 80 of them searching in the bedroom. Does that seem excessive to you? And that the staff was locked out of the house during the search so that the searchers had free reign, free access?</s>HAYES: Well, of course the staff would be locked out of the house. You can't have the staff in the place where you're searching. The concern was, that with so many people in the room, they may have contaminated the scene. If that number of people in one square footage, I mean, it's somewhat concerning that they could of messed something up. But, you know, this search should have been taped. We should have the videotape of how this went down. If they were in his office and they weren't supposed to be there, that is not going to bode well for the prosecution in this case. Because, one of the things you have to always remember, is the evidence that counts, but also, people are looking for law enforcement to do a professional job. And you don't want the case to go against you by evidence showing that you're out there being mean, you're exceeding your authority that the warrant gives you. So all those things play within the court. We'll have to wait and see exactly what happened, but it's no doubt in my mind that they tossed the room, that's part of their job.</s>LIN: All right. Nelda, Pamela, Nelda starting with you, a quick impression of Michael Jackson and how he did tonight?</s>BLAIR: Well, he gave away his case and so did Geragos. It's your typical in your face defense that Geragos likes to do. He said, yes, I have children sleep in my room. I don't see anything wrong with that. I'm going to continue to do it. That's not criminal. And what it does, it takes away part of what the prosecution has to prove. That parts already out on the table. What the prosecution is going to do is to bring in their case now, probably not until we get to court. And it's going to show much more than children are sleeping in Michael Jackson's bedroom.</s>LIN: Pamela, you've got the last 15 seconds.</s>HAYES: Well, I think that it's going to be very important to see whether or not this child actually slept in the room with Michael Jackson. And whether Michael Jackson had an opportunity to molest this particular child. The fact that someone sleeps in the same room or sleeps in the same bed means nothing. The question is, whether he performed the allegations that was contained in the criminal complaint. And if they can't prove that, they're going to have real serious problems.</s>LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Pamela Hayes, criminal defense attorney and Nelda Blair, former prosecution for joining us tonight on Michael Jackson's revelations, exclusively on "60 Minutes." TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com