Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

What's the old saying? Mom knows best.

Tell your daughter that she's got her confirmation. Mom is right.

If he were to just walk away from everything, but not falsely report his death, it's not a crime. Sure, you have obligations (bills, child support, etc), but you're free to pick up and leave whenever and to wherever you want.

But in the case of being in on a big scheme to fake your death for financial gain? All sorts of levels of fraud come into play.

Filing a false police report, falsely reporting an emergency, insurance fraud, perjury by filing false documents with the court system, theft by trick and device - just to name a few off the top of my head.

Besides - does your daughter honestly believe that the hundreds of people that would have to be involved in this massive conspiracy are all going along with a faked death? That would mean that the doctor that called 911, the police, coroner, DA, DEA, FBI, all the family, his attorneys and countless other people are all willing to lie, risk jail time and civil lawsuits amounting to millions of dollars for Michael Jackson's estate to sell a few memorial T-shirts and increase the value of his estate? Not one of the people involved in a massive cover-up would get greedy and blow the whistle, selling their story for a million bucks to the National Enquirer?

Sorry - mom wins on this. What's at stake?

Conspiracy theories have always been with us and some people will continue to believe them no matter what evidence is presented to the contrary.

When I was your daughter's age, some people were convinced Paul McCartney of the Beatles had died and been replaced by an impostor. There are people who think there was a coverup of the JFK assassination, that the moon landings were faked on a TV soundstage, that the Bush administration was behind the 911 attacks, and that President Obama was really born in Kenya, making him ineligible to be president.

Your daughter is likely to tire of her obsession. I doubt she will become a hard core member of the tin foil hat crowd.

Mr. Dane and Mr. Marshall have given their usual accurate and insightful analysis of the applicable law. However, they do not represent Michael Jackson, and I do. I am therefore quite confident that.... excuse me

(MICHAEL! I'm busy! Can't it wait?)

confident that Michael Jackson would never do anything so unethical as to...

(All Right! I'll ask them!)

So Michael wants to... ummm that is I was wondering if many teenagers think they will buy more albums now that he is dead? Just wondering. I mean like if a trove of undiscovered and previously unknown, and yet surprisingly contemporary musical works were to surface?

Where was I? Oh. Yes. So clearly Michael would never have perpetrated a massive fraud like the one being suggested. (Shhhhh! I am talking to the people, and No you WOULDN'T) It would be, well, dishonest!

Oh, sorry for the interruptions. I'm at wits end because I can't find that Kenyan birth certificate for Obama that I'm supposed to shred. (NO, MICHAEL, you CAN'T babysit my kids.)

I have to go. I have errr, legal matters to attend to.