dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1267&storyid=1795988
Jackson setback
By Glenn Chapman
August 18, 2004
SANTA MARIA, California: Michael Jackson's lawyers failed today in their bid to have all evidence seized in a police raid on his Neverland ranch thrown out ahead of his child molestation trial.
The setback came a day after Jackson made a Hollywood-style court appearance to stare down his arch-nemesis, prosecutor Thomas Sneddon, as his legal team chiselled away at evidence that prosecutors plan to use against him.
His lawyers had asked Judge Rodney Melville to throw out evidence seized at Neverland on November 18 last year, saying the search warrant was executed on the basis of a detective's affidavit that contained malicious inaccuracies and omissions.
Included in the affidavit was a claim that Jackson's aides had deliberately spilled a urine sample taken from the child he is accused of molesting to disguise the fact the boy had been drinking, the defence claimed.
Jackson's lawyers also claimed the document excluded a comment by a psychologist who said Jackson did not fit the profile of a child molester.
The singer is charged with abusing a 12-year-old cancer patient at Neverland last year after plying him with alcohol.
Jackson's lawyers had also claimed that the affidavit exaggerated the harm that could be caused by alcohol to the young cancer patient, who prosecutors said had had one kidney, his gall bladder and his lymph nodes removed.
But the judge ruled that the scores of items seized – including photographs, computer discs, videos and greeting cards – qualified as evidence for the trial, set to start January 30.
"I am not persuaded there was any deliberate misrepresentation in the drafting of the first search warrant," Melville said.
"Some of the information could have been more balanced, but it was not enough to change the outcome. There was probable cause to believe that Michael Jackson committed crimes, based on statements by the minors involved."
But the defence still wants some of the items disqualified, claiming that investigators overstepped the limits of the search warrant.
The judge gave the defence until Thursday to compile a list of any items seized at Neverland that they thought should be excluded from evidence.
Jackson has pleaded innocent to a 10-count indictment that includes charges of child molestation, kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion plots. He is free on $US3 million ($A4.2 million) bail.
He has claimed that the alleged victim's family is falsely accusing him as part of a plan to extort him.
Jackson was not in court in the California town of Santa Maria on today for the second in a five-day series of pre-trial hearings aimed at tossing out evidence seized in three search warrants executed the day before his arrest.
Jackson's lawyers grilled psychologist Stan Katz, who counselled the young accuser.
It was Katz who alerted police to the child abuse allegations around May last year after the boy and his brother were referred to him by the family's lawyer, Larry Feldman.
Yesterday, Jackson and his famous siblings made a show business-like court appearance for a dramatic showdown with Sneddon, who he has accused of waging a vendetta against him.
Jackson, dressed in a dazzling white suit and dark glasses, arrived at court in a customised tour bus along with his parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson, his singing sisters LaToya and Janet and his brothers Jermaine, Randy and Jackie.
The Jackson siblings, all wearing white in a sign of solidarity with their famous brother, sat behind 45-year-old Michael.
Sneddon, 61, is an old foe of Jackson. In 1993, the Santa Barbara district attorney tried but failed to prosecute Jackson on allegations that he sexually molested a 13-year-old boy.
The case fell apart when Jackson reached an out of court settlement with the youngster.
AFP