303 Days for Michael Jackson’s Pursuer : Self-Styled ‘Billie Jean’ Sentenced

A woman who says she is the “Billie Jean” title character of one of singer Michael Jackson’s most famous songs was sentenced to 303 days in jail Friday for violating a probation order to stay away from Jackson’s Encino home.

Jackson denies the woman’s claims.

Lavon A. Muhammad, 40, also says that she is engaged to Jackson, and that Jackson fathered her 6-year-old twins, but her lawyer and the deputy city attorney who prosecuted her say she suffers from delusions.

Muhammad was twice convicted of trespassing in 1986 for entering Jackson’s secluded estate in Encino. The singer at that time also obtained a restraining order barring her from coming back.

But, on Feb. 12 of this year, she was arrested in Jackson’s back yard with a bottle of champagne at 3 a.m., Deputy City Atty. David S. Kestenbaum said.

She faced several misdemeanor charges, including trespassing and violating a court order. But those charges were dropped Friday after Van Nuys Municipal Judge Michael J. Farrell found that her arrest showed she had violated the terms of probation for the 1986 convictions, which required her to remain at least a mile from the home.

“It’s really not the best use of the court to go to trial on another case when she’s getting that much substantial jail time and with the restraining order in effect until 1990,” Kestenbaum said. “The Jacksons are still protected.”

Muhammad’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Michael M. Koire, said that Muhammad didn’t intend to commit a crime because she believes that she is Jackson’s fiancee, and sending her to jail would be “a misuse of the criminal justice system.”

Koire predicted that the jail sentence will not deter Muhammad from returning to Jackson’s property after she is released. “She feels like Michael wants her on the property, that she’s supposed to be there,” Koire said.

The woman uses the name “Billie Jean Jackson,” but authorities say this is not her name.

Kestenbaum offered to send Muhammad to Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk for a mental evaluation in exchange for a lighter sentence, but Muhammad refused.

“She doesn’t want to be with people who murder people, who burn people, who knife people,” Koire said.

Besides, she would not get time off for good behavior during the 150-day psychiatric evaluation. Credit for good behavior and the time she has already been in custody is expected to reduce the time she will serve on the 303-day sentence to less than 125 days, Koire said.