Background and career
Thomas Arthur Mesereau Jr. (born July 1, 1950) is an American attorney known for defending Michael Jackson in his 2005 child molestation trial, as well as Mike Tyson, Bill Cosby and Danny Masterson, a case in which Mesereau was sanctioned for sharing sensitive trial information, including the addresses of Masterson’s accusers, with Church of Scientology civil attorneys.
Mesereau represented former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson in a rape investigation conducted by the San Bernardino County, California District Attorney's Office in 2001. Charges were dropped.
Mesereau was the second lawyer during pre-trial proceedings in actor Robert Blake's case for the murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley. Blake's first attorney Harland Braun resigned over Blake's decision to appear in a televised interview with Diane Sawyer against Braun's advice. For unprofessional conduct during the deposition, Mesereau was fined $18,950. After losing an appeal of the fine, he paid a total of $22,000. After Blake spent ten months in isolation in Los Angeles County Jail, Mesereau obtained bail for him. Mesereau cross-examined prosecution witnesses in a three-week, televised preliminary hearing. The hearing revealed flaws in the prosecution's case. Mesereau resigned from the case, declining to explain why.
In 2004, Mesereau and Susan Yu were hired to replace attorneys Mark Geragos and Ben Brafman as lead trial counsel. Johnnie Cochran, who represented Jackson during earlier molestation accusations, recommended Mesereau to Jackson's family. In an unusual pretrial hearing, Mesereau called Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon to the witness stand and examined him under oath. The trial lasted from January to June 2005 and ended with Jackson acquitted of all 14 charges. Mesereau attended Jackson's funeral service and interment in 2009. In 2019, followed by the release of the documentary Leaving Neverland, Mesereau defended Jackson once again.
In 2009, Mesereau and Yu defended Joe Babajian in a high-profile mortgage fraud criminal trial in federal court in Los Angeles. Babajian had been indicted by a federal grand jury for twenty-one felony counts, including criminal conspiracy, real estate fraud, bank fraud, loan fraud, and wire fraud. Federal prosecutors claimed Babajian participated in a scheme to inflate property values and submit fraudulent loan documents and false property appraisals. Eight individuals pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy prior to trial. Three individuals, including Babajian, went to trial. On August 10, 2009, the jury returned his verdict, acquitting Babajian of thirteen counts and being hung on the remaining eight counts. The other two defendants were convicted.
On April 9, 2012, Mesereau and Yu began jury selection in their defense of Claudia Haro, the ex-wife of Oscar-winning actor Joe Pesci. Haro was charged with conspiracy to murder and multiple counts of attempted murder. She was facing two consecutive life sentences. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office claimed that Haro masterminded numerous attempts to murder her next husband, Garrett Warren, a stuntman who appeared in the movies Mission Impossible III, Avatar and Iron Man 2. The prosecution said Haro hired her brother, convicted drug dealer Manny Haro, and three others to murder Warren. During his divorce with Claudia Haro, Warren opened his front door and was shot four times, losing one eye. The gunman, Jorge Hernandez, received life in prison in a separate trial. Haro's brother, the self-admitted middleman, also received life in prison. He agreed to testify against his sister. After the start of jury selection, Haro pleaded "no contest" to two counts of attempted murder with a sentence of twelve years, four months.
