Back in the days when circuit courts actually involved traveling judges and lawyers who followed a circuit from courthouse to courthouse, trials were a community event. People would come to the local courthouse from all around to watch the spectacle of impassioned arguments involving their neighbors. These days, trials only receive attention when a major celebrity is involved, such as Michael Jackson.

With history as a guide, Jackson is likely to get off the hook after facing a criminal trial for child molestation, yet again. More often than not, justice favors the wealthy, who can afford big-time trial lawyers with more resources and experience than the average public defender. Plus, everybody loves the "King of Pop," weird or not.

For all the media coverage of the trial, the verdict will probably not be shocking, whatever it turns out to be. Jackson's personal life has been such a long-standing topic of public attention that the element of surprise is gone - it's just one more episode in a long and strange saga.

There's evidence in Jackson's favor that casts a reasonable doubt over incriminating testimony from the boy (the alleged victim) and his mother. For example, the mother claimed that she and her son were being held captive at Jackson's Neverland Ranch, while documents from that period show she received money for meals, shopping trips and other stipends from Jackson. The case is not as simple as one involving a person caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some evidence even makes it appear as if the mother and son conned Jackson during their relationship with him.

Nevertheless, there's a plethora of evidence against Jackson, such as the incriminating videotaped interview of the alleged victim. The verdict could go either way.

More importantly, this case raises the question: What would we do if the accused was our neighbor? To most of us, Jackson is just a face plastered on record sleeves and tabloid covers. But he's a real person, accused of a real crime.

In this age of mass media, it's easy to forget that accused people such as Jackson are real people, not just the child-molesting demons that they are sometimes made out to be. Although the crime he is accused of is particularly heinous, it's possible that he's not guilty. Of course, it can't be denied that Jackson is one strange dude and that, if found guilty, he deserves more punishment than he will receive.