Legal reaction to the Jackson verdict
 |  District Attorney Thomas Sneddon said, "We did the right thing for the right reasons." |
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 Jackson family attorney Debra Opri and District Attorney Thomas Sneddon comment.
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SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- The following is reaction to Monday's verdicts in Michael Jackson's child molestation case.
Lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr.:
"Justice was done. ...
"The man's innocent. He always was."
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin:
"A lot of people are going to be surprised, and you don't need a law degree to understand this verdict.
"It is an absolute and complete victory for Michael Jackson, utter humiliation and defeat for Thomas Sneddon, the district attorney who has been pursuing Michael Jackson for more than a decade, who brought a case that was not one that this jury bought at all. This one's over."
Robert Shapiro, defense attorney from O.J. Simpson's murder trial:
"The jury did not come up with a compromise verdict, which a lot of people would suspect if they just wanted to give the prosecution something.
"The jury clearly has told the prosecution: 'This was a case you probably should not have brought.'
"The little's boy's credibility was probably nonexistent to this jury, coupled with the mother who offered testimony that bordered on the bizarre.
"That this is a case that they didn't want to show guilt by association. They did follow the judges' instructions clearly on the prior [accusations] by not using that as a way to show he committed this particular crime.
"My hope is that the public accepts this verdict. This is a jury in a very, very conservative part of California, a jury that by all the markings looked like a pro-prosecution jury. And if this jury had no doubt, none of us should have any doubt whatsoever."
"I didn't think Michael would be singing 'Beat It.' Now he's going to be doing the moonwalk."
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon, the lead prosecutor:
"In 37 years, I've never quibbled with a jury's verdict, and I'm not going to start today. ...
"I'm not going to look back and apologize for anything. ...
"I have no criticisms of the judge whatsoever. ...
"I think we all learned some lessons here. We thought we had a good case this time, and we thought we did a conscientious job, and the sheriff's department did a remarkable job of investigating. ...
"The people in this county elected me to do a job, and I've tried to do that conscientiously. ...
"We did the right thing for the right reasons. ...
"You can never have a case where you don't get some surprises. ...
"When a victim comes in and the victim tells you they've been victimized, and you believe that, and you believe the evidence supports that, you don't look at their pedigree. ...
"We look at what we think is what's right. You do the right things for the right reasons. If it doesn't work out, that's why we have a jury system. But we did the right thing for the right reasons."
