Another issue was the last minute changes to the alcohol charges. Until the very last minute before the jurors went to deliberation, the alcohol charges were linked to the molestation, mj was charged with giving alcohol to a minor to facilitate the sexual abuse which was a felony in California. By the end of the trial, when it was very clear that the prosecution did not prove their case, they asked the judge to instruct the jurors that they could still vote guilty on the alcohol charges even if they believed MJ did not molest Gavin, and the judge gladly did so against the defence protests.
Why was that problematic? On top of the contradicting testimony about the molestation, the jurors heard testimony that the boys used to drink before they even knew MJ. They also heard testimony from Neverland employees that the boys were first caught drinking in their mother's company when MJ was away in Florida. So, the whole story about them not knowing what alcohol was before mj allegedly introduced it to them was proved a lie. The media pundits at the time claimed that MJ could still be found liable on the ground that he is the owner of the premises where minors had access to alcohol. That could have been true if it was a civil trial not a criminal one, but the media and the prosecutors were counting on a very liberal interpretation of the law. The aim of the applicable law is to hold a violator liable if such violator had an intent to provide alcohol to a minor which the prosecutors could not prove. The prosecutors became so desperate to get MJ on anything, and the judge did grant them their wish. The jurors were left with the original ten counts plus the newly added alcohol-charges. They had to examine the alcohol charges from a totally different perspective which also took time. They dismissed everything because unlike the prosecutors and the judge, the jurors mission was not to get mj on anything, they were to examine the evidence and use common sense in weighing the evidence. Once they came to believe that there was no evidence to support the molestation claims nor the original alcohol charges, they wisely did not held MJ liable for the kid drinking alcohol in his mother's company.