Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Commentary: Oxman gets the ax - is 'dream team' unraveling?

You know you've got trouble when your lawyers square off in the parking lot after court.

Child-molestation defendant Michael Jackson had just pulled away in his SUV when lead lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. and lesser lawyer Brian Oxman stood facing each other Monday afternoon at the north end of the courthouse parking lot.

Looking like he was ready to rumble, heavyweight mauler Mesereau looked agitated. Cocking his head at Oxman in an aggressive gesture of contempt, Mesereau waved his arms. Taking a step away from Oxman, he suddenly took a quick step toward his opponent.

Mesereau pointed a wild finger.

Then he pointed another.

A deputy watched the lawyers and looked like he was trying to figure out if he should intercede.

Oxman, pitiably out-classed, stood with his hands at his sides and a sad sack look pasted across his face.

Witnesses said that the two antagonists had earlier taken the one-sided argument from a more private spot between vehicles to an open spot made to order for the world's news cameras.

"Maybe they're talking about lunch," somebody said.

"Mesereau looks like he's reading Oxman the riot act," I said.

But I couldn't see their faces and said so. Somebody handed me a pair of binoculars and the confrontation looked all the clearer. Up close facial grimaces made the scene all the uglier.

This was mouthpiece madness in motion.

The two foes eventually stopped jawing, shook hands and walked away.

Unbeknown to me, Mesereau had dumped Oxman from the team. Court records filed Monday and released just hours after the public dust-up showed that he had done the deed - effective April 21 - in a "notice of disassociation."

Grapevine gossip started early Monday.

One media member who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that he asked Oxman Monday morning if he had been fired.

Oxman denied being let go.

But he said that "consternation" had infected the defense team.

Then he headed to court to sit by his buddy the defendant and offer the moral support that he's known to provide.

More suited to picking lint off Jackson's suit coat, Oxman hasn't offered much legal substance in court. In fairness, though, Jackson picks lint off Oxman's coat as well and the two sometimes share hard candy in court like a couple of high school buddies hanging out after school.

Although I didn't see it, media sources said that a bailiff asked Oxman to move from his chair at the defense table to a front row seat one row ahead of Jackson's mother and father. Oxman remained on the outside looking in until after the last afternoon break, when he picked up his belongings, smiled his mopey smile and said "bye-bye" to Jackson's parents.

Witnesses outside said they saw him hanging around his car and walking back and forth in the parking lot until court ended about 2 p.m.

When Jackson left the courthouse with his entourage, a reporter asked what was up with Oxman and if a "rift" had opened in the defense team. Jackson put a blank look on his face and kept walking, leaving his pal behind as Jackson fans screamed "innocent."

Jackson has to be guilty of desertion, though.

A court source said Monday that Oxman regularly accompanies Jackson and his family upstairs during breaks. Oxman did not ride the elevator with the family on Monday, the source said.

Mesereau rarely accompanies Jackson and his family on breaks but on Monday did just that, the source said.

Oxman also isn't always as cuddly as he usually appears in court.

A terrific Court TV audiotape captured him in a rage several weeks ago as he stood in a Santa Maria motel parking lot screaming for about 20 minutes into a cell phone about how he was being disrespected and abused by defense team members.

Oxman's rant showed the deep divide that existed even then in the camp that's charged with keeping their client out of prison.

Oxman was an important member of that team if only because his relationship with Jackson and his family goes back years.

They know Oxman.

More importantly, they know he can be trusted.

At least that's the way it seemed.

Now he's gone.

Lonesome Brian Oxman joins the ranks of countless former Jackson confidants whose services are no longer needed, including Gina "Vtecmom" Johnson of Sammamish, Washington..