Jackson's juror: guilty or not guilty - that is the case

A juror in the Michael Jackson case who said last month that he believed the pop star was guilty of molesting his 15-year-old accuser has filed a lawsuit to get out of a book publishing contract.

Ray Hultman said as he began publicizing his book deal that he regretted finding Jackson not guilty in the June verdict. He and juror Eleanor Cook said on the American television station MSNBC that they went along with the other panelists because the jury foreman threatened to have them removed, the AP says.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a court in Santa Maria, California, Hultman and his wife, Darlene, claim that they were suckered into signing a book deal with publisher Larry Garrison, owner of SilverCreek Entertainment in Lake Sherwood, California.

Hultman, 62, wants out of his contract and is seeking unspecified damages for mental and emotional stress. Also named in the suit is his agent, Bill Gladstone, and author Stacy Brown the Santa Maria Times reported.

Hultman in his lawsuit claims he was shocked by media reports last month that his book proposal contained material that was plagiarized from a Vanity Fair magazine article. Hultman alleges that Brown plagiarized the documents, which he claims damaged his reputation and the book deal.

"(Hultman) was caused to expend substantial time in writing portions of a book proposal which turned out to be valueless give the aforementioned plagiary," the lawsuit claims.

Brown said Thursday that the lawsuit was "laughable." He said he never agreed to co-author Hultman's book and denied the plagiarism allegations.

Garrison declined to comment for this story, saying he had not reviewed the lawsuit.

Gladstone was traveling out of the country and did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Hultman and his attorney declined to comment.