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The Last Will and Testament of entertainer Michael Jackson has been revealed. In it, he names his three children (Prince, Joseph, and Paris) and renounces his ex-wife Deborah Jean Rowe Jackson. His mother, Katherine Jackson, is given custody of the children, and the Michael Jackson Trust custody of the estate. If his mother were not alive, Michael wanted Diana Ross to take care of the kids!

Here’s an OCR scan of the will, if there are any mistakes, please refer to the embedded PDF above:

LAST WILL OF MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON

I, MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON, a resident of the State of California, declare this to be my last Will, and do hereby revoke all former wills and codicils made by me.

I

I declare that I am not married. My marriage to DEBORAH JEAN ROWE JACKSON has been dissolved. I have three children now living, PRINCE MICHAEL JACKSON, JR., PARIS MICHAEL KATHERINE JACKSON and PRINCE MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON, DL I have no other children, living or deceased.

II

It is my intention by this Will to dispose of all property which I am entitled to dispose of by will. I specifically refrain from exercising all^powers of appointment that I may possess at the time of my death.

II

I give my entire estate to the Trustee or Trustees then acting under that certain Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust executed on March 22, 2002 by me as Trustee and Trustor which is called the MICHAEL JACKSON FAMILY TRUST, giving effect to any amendments thereto made prior to my death. All such assets shall be held, managed and distributed as a part of said Trust according to its terms and not as a separate testamentary trust.

If for any reason this gift is not operative or is invalid, or if the aforesaid Trust fails or has been revoked, I give my residuary estate4o the Trustee or Trustees named to act in the MICHAEL JACKSON FAMILY TRUST, as Amended and Restated on March 22, 2002, and I direct said Trustee or Trustees to divide, administer, hold and distribute the trust estate pursuant to the provisions of said Trust, as hereinabove referred to as such provisions now exist to the same extent and in the same manner as though that certain Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust, were herein set forth in full, but without giving effect to any subsequent amendments after the date of this Will. The Trustee, Trustees, or any successor Trustee named in such Trust Agreement shall serve without bond.

IV

I direct that all federal estate taxes and state inheritance or succession taxes payable upon or resulting from or by reason of my death (herein “Death Taxes”) attributable to property which is part of the trust estate of the MICHAEL JACKSON FAMILY TRUST, including property which passes to said trust from my probate estate shall be paid by the Trustee of said trust in accordance with its terms. Death Taxes attributable to property passing outside this Will, other than property constituting the trust estate of the trust mentioned in the preceding sentence, shall be charged against the taker of said property.

V

1 appoint JOHN BRANCA, JOHN McCLATN and BARRY SIEGEL as co-Executors of this Will. In the event of any of their deaths, resignations, inability, failure or refusal serve or continue to serve as a co-Executor, the other shall serve and no replacement need be named. The co-Executors serving at any time after my death may name one or more replacements to serve in the event that none of the three named individuals is willing or able to serve at any time.
The term “my executors” as used in this Will shall include any duly acting personal representative or representatives of my estate. No individual acting as such need post a bond.

I hereby give to my Executors, full power and authority at any time or times to sell, lease, mortgage, pledge, exchange or otherwise dispose of the property, whether real or personal comprising my estate, upon such terms as my Executors shall deem best, to continue any business enterprises, to purchase assets from my estate, to continue in force and pay insurance premiums on any insurance policy, including life insurance, owned by my estate, and for any of the foregoing purposes to make, execute and deliver any and all deeds, contracts, mortgages, bills of sale or other instruments necessary or desirable therefor, In addition, I give to my Executors full power to invest and reinvest the estate funds and assets in any kind of property, real, personal or mixed, and every kind of investment, specifically including, but not by way of limitation, corporate obligations of every kind and stocks, preferred or common, and interests in investment trusts and shares in investment companies, and any common trust fund administered by any corporate executor hereunder, which men of prudent discretion and intelligence acquire for their own account

VI

Except as otherwise provided in this Will or in the Trust referred to in Article III hereof, I have intentionally omitted to provide for my heirs. I have intentionally omitted tot provide for my former wife, DEBORAH JEAN ROWE JACKSON.

VII

If at the time of my death I own or have an interest in property located outside of the State of California requiring ancillary administration, I appoint my domiciliary Executors as ancillary Executors for such property. I give to said domiciliary Executors the following additional powers, rights and privileges to be exercised in their sole and absolute discretion, with reference to such property: to cause such ancillary administration to be commenced, carried on and completed; to determine what assets, if any, are to be sold by the ancillary Executors; to pay directly or to advance funds from the California estate to the ancillary Executors for the payment of all claims, taxes, costs and administration expenses, including compensation of the ancillary Executors and attorneys’ fees incurred by reason of the ownership of such property and by such ancillary administration; and upon completion of such ancillary administration, I authorize and direct the ancillary Executors to distribute, transfer and deliver the residue of such property to the domiciliary Executors herein, to be distributed by them under the terms of this Will, it being my intention that my entire estate Page 3
shall be administered as a unit and that my domiciliary Executors shall supervise and control, so far as permissible by local law, any ancillary administration proceedings deemed necessary in the settlement of my estate.

VIII

If any of my children are minors at the time of my death, I nominate my mother, KATHERINE JACKSON as guardian of the persftns and estatesjrf such minor children. If KATHERINE JACKSON fails to survive me, or/is unable or unwilling to act as guardian, I nominate DIANA ROSS as guardian of the persons and estate of such minor children.

I subscribe my name to this Will this ___ day of ___, 2002.
MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON

On the date written below, MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON, declared to us, the undersigned, that the foregoing instrument consisting of five (5) pages, including the page signed by us as witnesses, was his Will and requested us to act as witnesses to it. ‘He thereupon signed this Will in our presence, all of us being present at the same time. We now, at his request, in his presence and in the presence of each other, subscribe our names as witnesses.

Each of us is now more than eighteen (18) years of age and a competent witness and resides at the address set forth after his name.
Each of us is acquainted with MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON. At this time, he is over the age of eighteen (18) years and, to the best of our knowledge, he is of sound mind and is not acting under duress, menace, fraud, misrepresentation or undue influence.

We declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

In a bizarre real-crime story, two teens used a skull as a bong in Humble, Texas:

Police this week learned of the sickening incident while investigating an unrelated credit card theft allegedly pulled off by the three defendants, each of whom was arrested Wednesday and charged with abusing a corpse, a misdemeanor. Kevin Jones (left) and Matthew Gonzalez, both 17, posed for the mug shots you’ll find above. Court records identify the third grave desecrator as Matthew Rule, 16. The May 7 probable cause affidavit, filed in Harris County District Court, does not indicate why the teens dug up the body of Willie Simms, a child who reportedly died in the 1920s.

Here is a transcription of the probable cause document:

PROBABLE CAUSE

YOUR AFFIANT, JIM ADKINS IS A PEACE OFFICER WITH THE HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT. AFFIANT HAS REASON TO BELIEVE AND DOES BELIEVE MATTHEW RULE, MATTHEW GONZALEZ AND KEVIN JONES HEREAFTER REFERRED TO AS DEFENDANTS, WHO COMMITTED THE MISDEMEANOR OFFENSE OF ABUSE OF A CORPSE AT 600 PM 1960 EAST IN HUMBLE, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS.

AFFIANT BASES HIS BELIEF ON THE FOLLOWING:

ON OR ABOUT THE DATE OF MARCH 15, 2008 IN THE INCORPORATED CITY LIMITS OF HUMBLE, HARRIS COUNTY TEXAS, THE LISTED DEFENDANTS DUG UP A GRAVE SITE AND KNOCKED THE HEAD STONE DOWN OF THE DECEASED TO THE GROUND IN AN ATTEMPT TO DECAPATE [sic] A CORPSE. DEFENDANT, WITHOUT LEGAL AUTHORITY, KNOWINGLY DISTURBED A HUMAN CORPSE, NAMELY THE CORPSE OF WILLIE SIMMS.

For those not familiar with the latest police-shooting scandal to rock New York, Sean Bell, a 23 year old black male, was shot to death a year ago by five plainclothes police officers after leaving his bachelor party at a strip club in Jamaica, Queens. Sean Bell was unarmed as police shot over 50 bullets into the car, where he was killed, and two of his friends–Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield–seriously injured. The scandal now is around three of the five detectives involved in the shooting, who were indicted by a grand jury and found not guilty.

Sean Bell, his fiancee Nicole Paultre, and their daughter

The incident is interesting, for the following facts:

• Bell had been arrested once for a firearms possession
• Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield were arrested at least once for illegal firearm possession
• Sean Bell, according to a toxicology report, was drunk at the time of the shooting
• One of Bell’s friends was heard to say “yo, get my gun” as they left the club
• Sean Bell ran into an unmarked police minivan before the shooting
• Officer Michael Oliver fired thirty one times
• The three police officers, Gescard Isnora, Michael Oliver, and Marc Cooper, waived the right to Jury trial

After the shooting, Michael Bloomberg said “it sounds to me like excessive force was used.” Ice Cube noted that “this is just another example that the justice system in America views a black life as worthless,” while rapper Chamillionaire said:

I’m sure a lot of people are as disappointed with this verdict as I am. It scares me to know what type of power is given to people who are supposed to be protecting us from harm. It seems like they are all just protecting themselves. The verdict sends a terrible message to people across the nation who already don’t have faith in the law or our justice system. It will be hard for people to see this as anything other than a case of police protection.

The Rev. Al Sharpton called the verdict an “abortion of justice.” And while the police of New York city are getting more violent as time goes on–in the name of anti-terrorism, of course–a combination of perceived threat and noncooperation by the deceased are all that is to blame here. Unfortunately, in the 21st century, if you don’t follow a police officer’s precise orders, he has every right to shoot and kill you. That’s something that has to change.

Heath Ledger was found dead on January 22, 2008 at 3:31 PM by a masseuse in Mary-Kate Olsen’s New York City apartment. The masseuse had an appointment for Apartment 5A with Mr. Ledger, but no one answered a knock on his bedroom door. They opened the the bedroom and found Heath Ledger unconscious and unresponsive. The police said foul play was not suspected, but pills were found near the body. Heath Ledger was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived and was announced dead at the scene.

Heath Ledger’s body is being flown back to Perth, Australia to be buried. Lindsay Lohan is quoted as saying, “I loved him.”

Luciano Pavarotti (10/12/1935 – 9/6/2007) was this century’s most famous tenor. One of the Three Tenors, the opera singer perished from pancreatic cancer. According to Wikipedia, Pavarotti relapsed in 2007:

On Thursday, August 9, 2007, he was hospitalized for observation in his hometown of Modena, in Northern Italy, hospital officials there said. Hospital spokesman Alberto Greco declined to give the reason the 71-year-old tenor was hospitalized, but local daily Il Resto del Carlino reported that it was pneumonia. On August 21, it was announced that he was being treated in the cancer ward, given tests related to his pancreatic cancer, and would not be released for another few days

The 100 million or more albums sold during his lifetime will continue playing around the world as his musical legacy, which will be difficult to replace.