Silent witness Jacko as defence closes

Michael Jackson's lawyers rested the defence case yesterday without putting the singer on the stand to answer charges of molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient.

The team sharply curtailed its case in the past two weeks.

The star- studded witness list once had 300 names on it - including Elizabeth Taylor and Stevie Wonder - but in the end they called 50 witnesses over 15 days.

The defence said they would try to cross-examine Jackson's accuser again if the prosecution is allowed to show a video of the police interview inwhichGavinArvizo, now15, outlines his allegations.

The jury could be sent out as early as next week to decide whether the star should be convicted of child molestation and other charges.

Earlier yesterday, the actor and comedian Chris Tucker told the trial in Santa Maria, California, that he warned 46-year-old Jackson to be wary of the Arvizo family after growing 'suspicious' of them.

Tucker, star of the Rush Hour films, said he became 'nervous' of the family after their demands for him to support them grew.

He said he took Jackson aside and told him: 'Michael, something ain't right.' He said Gavin and his brother Star were 'cunning' and as for Gavin's mother, Janet, ' something mentally was not right'.

The actor said he became wary of the family after inviting them to a film set in Las Vegas in 2001. He put them up at a hotel and expected them to stay a few days - but they stayed for two weeks.

He said his brother began warning him about the family, and the director of the movie told him to remove Gavin from the set because he was disruptive.

Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, asked him: 'Did you think you were being taken advantage of?' Tucker replied: 'That is what it looked like. I wanted the kid to have some fun, but everyone was saying the same thing.'

After the Las Vegas trip, Tucker said Gavin and his family kept calling him, and he took them to see American football in Oakland.