Testimony ends with boy’s tape

The interview with Jackson’s accuser was recorded in July 2003, but prosecutors waited until the final day of testimony in the four-month trial to play it for jurors, who saw the clearly uncomfortable 13-year-old boy near tears as he was questioned by two police detectives.

Asked by Sergeant Steve Robel if Jackson had ever touched him in an inappropriate way, the teen sat silently for some 15 seconds before describing a night at Neverland that began with heavy drinking and ended with the singer masturbating him. ‘‘He put his hand in my pants,’’ the boy said in a near whisper. ‘‘He started masturbating me. I told him I didn’t want to do that. He kept saying he wants to teach me … he said that it’s OK, that there’s nothing wrong with it, that it’s natural.’’

The teenager said he slept in a bed with Jackson every night after the family returned from a trip to Florida with the superstar in February 2003 and that every night his younger brother was not in the bedroom, Jackson masturbated him.

Legal experts said the tape was a blow to Jackson, whose attorneys claim the boy was goaded into fabricating the molestation claim by his mother in order to extort money.

Jackson has pleaded not guilty to charges of molesting the boy, then 13, at Neverland, plying the young cancer patient with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

On Tuesday, when court proceedings resume after Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, attorneys will start discussing what instructions should be given to the jurors.