SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) -- Jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial completed a scheduled half-day of deliberations Thursday and left court without reaching a verdict. The panel has spent more than 22 hours deliberating over five days.
The reason for the short day was not released by the court, but the judge noted last week that some jurors had obligations to attend school graduation ceremonies.
On Wednesday, Jackson made another trip to the hospital for more treatment to his back problems. The singer had gone to the emergency room Sunday because of a back problem exacerbated by stress, and Wednesday's visit was a scheduled follow-up, spokeswoman Raymone Bain said.
"Mr. Jackson is now at home with his family," she said.
About the same time Bain released the statement late Wednesday, one of Jackson's black sport utility vehicles and one of his bodyguards pulled up at the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital. More than an hour later, the SUV pulled around the back of the hospital and sped off a few minutes later with its headlights off and curtains drawn.
The departure was similar to one after Jackson's visit to the emergency room Sunday, when his bodyguards put up scaffolding around his SUV to block reporters' views before the vehicle sped off.
Jackson has complained of a back problem since early March, when he made a morning emergency room visit and raced back to court in his pajama bottoms when the judge threatened to have him arrested.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003, plying him with wine and conspiring to hold his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging TV documentary about the entertainer.
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