Elizabeth Taylor

Santa Maria (California), May 26 (Reuters): What if you had a celebrity trial and none of the stars came out?

The witness list at Michael Jackson’s child sex abuse trial announced three months ago read like a Who’s Who of the rich and famous, including Elizabeth Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Barry Gibb, Eddie Murphy and Kobe Bryant.

But as the defence case gained traction, few of the luminaries turned up. And despite tantalizing hints that Jackson would testify, the defence rested on Wednesday without the Thriller star saying a word.

Criminal defendants are not required to testify in US courts and legal experts often consider it risky, especially in the case of Jackson who is known for his erratic behavior.

Putting Jackson on the stand would have been “a real roll of the dice,” said former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer, who is following the case as a media analyst. “The biggest risk is that if the jury thought he was lying about something, that could be enough for the prosecution to turn around and win it,” he said.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Valley Ranch in 2003, plying him with alcohol in order to abuse him, and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. The singer, who has pleaded not guilty, faces more than two decades in prison if convicted on all charges.

The only household names called by the defence were Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, talk-show host Jay Leno, comedian George Lopez and actor Chris Tucker.

Legal experts said the star power strategy was both a risk and a public relations coup. “It sent the message to the jury that Michael Jackson has a lot of important friends in high places,” said Laurie Levenson, a former prosecutor and law professor at Loyola Law School.

Most of the stars would likely have been called as character witnesses. Elizabeth Taylor, for instance, is a close friend of Jackson, who lent his Neverland ranch for her 1991 wedding to eighth husband Larry Fortensky.