Sta Maria, April 2. Court Day

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Re: Día de Corte /Sta Maria, Abril 2

Michael Jackson's case goes ahead without him
52 minutes ago

SANTA MARIA, United States (AFP) - Michael Jackson's child molestation case went ahead without him as the besieged entertainer campaigned against AIDS (news - web sites) in the US capital.

Lawyers for the "King of Pop", who is charged with seven counts of abusing a 12-year-old by and two of plying him with alcohol to seduce him arrived at court in the town of Santa Maria near Jackson's Neverland Ranch to hammer out issues including a date for a pre-trial hearing.


As a crowd of journalists and fans waited outside the courtroom, Jackson himself had been in Washington on Thursday night to receive a humanitarian award from the wives of African ambassadors there.


And in the town of Santa Barbara, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of here, a grand jury was believed to be gathering in secret to consider fresh charges against Jackson that would replace the nine counts against him.


Jackson's high-powered legal team that included celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos and Benjamin Brafman arrived at court in Santa Maria for Friday's hearing without speaking to reporters outside.


Fans of the legendary entertainer who had travelled across the country to support him held up pictures of Jackson along with banners, one of which read "Boston believes in Michael Jackson."

A handful of protesters fighting for the rights of abuse victims faced off the fans with banners reading "We support the victim."

At Friday's court session, a date is expected to be set for a pre-trial hearing that will decide if there is enough evidence against Jackson for a full trial.


However, if the grand jury that is meeting returns an indictment against Jackson, the current charges would be replaced and there would be no need for a pre-trial hearing at which witnesses would have to testify publicly.


Instead, the indictment containing the testimony of witnesses, including the Jackson's alleged victim -- a now 14-year-old cancer patient -- and another boy who accused him of abuse in 1993, would replace the highly-publicised pre-trial hearings.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../afp/us_jackson

 

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Re: Día de Corte /Sta Maria, Abril 2

Jackson Attorney Subpoenas Accuser Reports
26 minutes ago

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson (news)'s attorney disclosed in a hearing Friday that he has subpoenaed school and psychiatric reports involving the accuser and his family.

Attorney Mark Geragos told a judge the records were relevant to "the accuser's family and the accuser himself."

The disclosure came as Geragos asked Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville for a court order on the release of the documents.

Geragos said James LaChance, an attorney for one of the parties targeted by a subpoena, was present in the courtroom but believed the records could not be released without a court order from the judge.

Jackson was not required to attend Friday's hearing and was not in the courtroom.

The molestation case against him continued to unfold in extraordinary secrecy as Melville began the pretrial hearing by meeting privately with defense attorneys then told all parties in open court to make sure witness names are not released publicly.

Melville also made a slight modification to a gag order. Attorneys are still forbidden from speaking about most aspects of the case.

But the judge said they could give him proposed written responses to media reports. Melville would then decide if the statements could be released.

Melville said he would issue no further rulings on the gag order.

Earier, the judge met with defense attorneys about a mysterious audiotape — the content of which has not been disclosed. Attorneys were told not to publicly mention the names of the people whose voices are heard on the tape.

Any mention of witness names throughout the case must be done only in sealed motions, the judge said.


Thursday, Jackson was busy promoting AIDS (news - web sites) awareness in the nation's Capitol as his lawyers prepared for Friday's hearing. The judge could set a date for a preliminary hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to try the pop star.

The proceedings were overshadowed by testimony presented to a secret grand jury by Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon. If grand jurors find there is enough evidence to try Jackson, the results of the preliminary hearing would be moot.

The difference between the two proceedings is that one is secret and one is public. Jackson's attorneys, Geragos and Benjamin Brafman, are excluded from grand jury proceedings.

The issue of secrecy is at the heart of most items on the court agenda Friday, as defense lawyers sought a partial exemption from a court imposed gag order and lawyers for the media were seeking access to sealed search warrants and other documents.

Prosecutors also are asking permission to watch a videotaped interview with unnamed witnesses prepared by Geragos' private investigator. He said the prosecution is entitled to know what is on the tape.

Media lawyers planned to ask for unsealing of search warrants in the case and other documents including a series of documents in which the prosecution accuses an unnamed person of being in contempt of court for violating the gag order.



A panel of the state's 2nd District Court of Appeals issued a stay late Thursday on three segments of a court order that had barred journalists from talking to prospective or final grand jurors, and from photographing them. The appeals court asked for more briefings on the issue.

Thursday, Jackson visited Washington, D.C., where he met with members of Congress and was lauded for his work fighting AIDS.

Jackson was charged last year with seven counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to the child. Jackson has pleaded innocent and Geragos has called the charges a "big lie."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...hael_jackson_11

 

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Re: Día de Corte /Sta Maria, Abril 2

Jackson's attorney can see reports on accuser

By LINDA DEUTSCH
AP Special Correspondent


SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP)--A judge agreed Friday to allow Michael Jackson's attorneys to see school and psychiatric reports involving the accuser and his family that were gathered for an unrelated lawsuit.

Attorney Mark Geragos told a judge he had subpoenaed the records concerning ``the accuser's family and the accuser himself.''

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville agreed to the request, ordering that the records be released to both prosecutors and the defense.

The records were part of a 2000 lawsuit filed by the accuser's family against two retail chains alleging they were beaten by security guards while leaving a shopping center.

A J.C. Penney security guard had alleged that Jackson's accuser had left the store with items that were not paid for. The boy was not charged and the lawsuit was later settled without going to trial.

Geragos said an attorney for one of the defendants in the lawsuit believed the records could not be provided without a court order from Melville.

Jackson was not required to attend Friday's hearing and was not in the courtroom.

The molestation case against him continued to unfold in extraordinary secrecy as Melville began the pretrial hearing by meeting privately with defense attorneys then told all parties in open court to make sure witness names are not released publicly.

Melville also made a slight modification to a gag order.

Attorneys are still forbidden from speaking about most aspects of the case. But the judge said they could give him proposed written responses to media reports. Melville would then decide if the statements could be released.

Melville said he would issue no further rulings on the gag order.

Earlier, the judge met with defense attorneys about a mysterious audiotape--the content of which has not been disclosed. Attorneys were told not to publicly mention the names of the people whose voices are heard on the tape.

Any mention of witness names throughout the case must be done only in sealed motions, the judge said.

Jackson was charged last year with seven counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to the child. Jackson has pleaded innocent and Geragos has called the charges a ``big lie.''

Friday's hearing wasn't the only proceeding going on concerning the case. Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon has been presenting evidence to a secret grand jury.

Jackson visited Washington, D.C., this week, where he met with members of Congress and was lauded for his work fighting AIDS.


AP-NY-04-02-04 1342EST

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/featr/co...687127940777075


http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/040204_nw_jackson.html

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/81-...004-275885.html

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/apmetho...d=D81MQT8O0.xml

http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D81MR8880

http://breaking.examiner.ie/2004/04/02/story141132.html

 

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Re: Día de Corte /Sta Maria, Abril 2

Entertainment - Reuters
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Jackson Attorneys Say Might Challenge Indictment
13 minutes ago Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Dan Whitcomb

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - Lawyers for pop star Michael Jackson (news) on Friday said they might seek to throw out a grand jury indictment of the singer on child molestation charges if one is handed down as soon as next week.

Reuters Photo

AP Photo
Slideshow: Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson Honored For AIDS Work
(Reuters Video)



In a hearing in the widely watched case, Jackson's attorney Benjamin Brasman told Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville that Jackson's legal team has not been allowed to introduce evidence of Jackson's innocence to a grand jury.


"This is the court we would come to with a 995 motion, if there is an indictment," Brasman told the court in Santa Maria, California during a public hearing. A 995 motion is the means by which a defendant can challenge an indictment due to claims of misconduct by prosecutors or on other legal grounds.


Jackson, the self-proclaimed "King of Pop," was not in the courtroom. He spent part of this past week meeting with members of the U.S. Congress in Washington to discuss the fight against AIDS (news - web sites) in Africa.


The singer is charged with molesting a boy under age 14, and a grand jury has been called in the Central California town of Santa Maria, about 140 miles northwest of Los Angeles, to hear evidence about whether he should be indicted.


The grand jury has been meeting behind closed doors, but Friday's hearing, at which Judge Melville listened to procedural issues, was open.


Melville originally scheduled the hearing in Santa Maria, not far from Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch, to set a date for a preliminary hearing in the case, which is tentatively set for trial in December.


But Deputy District Attorney Tom Sneddon's decision to seek a grand jury indictment against the 45-year-old entertainer will most likely make a preliminary hearing, at which a judge determines if there is enough evidence against a defendant to put him on trial, unnecessary.


AVOIDING PUBLIC SPECTACLE?


Sneddon, who has been portrayed in the press as Jackson's nemesis, apparently convened the grand jury in part to avoid a public spectacle in laying out his case, and the secrecy-minded prosecutor has gone to great lengths to evade the press.


While grand juries typically hear testimony at the main courthouse in Santa Barbara, Sneddon has shuttled the 19 panelists and six alternates in unmarked vans with blacked-out windows and a police escort, to a sheriff's training facility several miles away.


Like most criminal defendants facing a possible indictment, Jackson will almost certainly decline an invitation from Sneddon to testify before the grand jury, legal experts say.


Jackson has already been charged with seven counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 and two counts of plying the boy with alcohol in order to seduce him. He has pleaded innocent and called the charges a "big lie."

 

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Re: Día de Corte /Sta Maria, Abril 2

Jackson Attorney Wants to Present Evidence


By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson (news)'s lawyer told a judge Friday that the defense has uncovered a wealth of material pointing to Jackson's innocence that should be presented to a grand jury investigating child molestation allegations against the pop star.

Attorney Benjamin Brafman told Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville that he and co-counsel Mark Geragos were turning over to the prosecution a letter listing 100 items that tend to help show Jackson did not commit the crimes with which he is charged.

"There is a wealth of clearly exculpatory material. ... We are filing today 20 notebooks with the district attorney's office," Brafman said.

Among items the defense will ask to have presented to the grand jury are school and psychiatric reports from a lawsuit involving Jackson's accuser, who is now 14, and his family.

The lawsuit claimed security guards beat the boy, his mother and his brother in a parking lot after the boy left a JCPenney store carrying clothes that hadn't been paid for. The mother also claimed she was sexually assaulted by one of the guards during the 1998 confrontation.

The department store and Tower Records settled the suit for about $150,000 In November 2001.

Jackson's defense subpoenaed the records from attorney James LaChance, who represented Tower Records. LaChance said much of the material had been previously sealed and he felt he could not turn it over to the defense and prosecution without a court order.

Melville issued the order and LaChance handed over two file boxes which he also said contained depositions given in the lawsuit in 2000.

It was unclear what role the medical and psychiatric records could have in the case. The boy underwent chemotherapy in 2001. His estranged father said in a January request for visitation with the boy and his siblings that the boy's mother sought mental health treatment in 1998.

Although Brafman was forbidden from mentioning the actual grand jury because of its secrecy, he told the judge "the world is abuzz with the fact that there is another proceeding going on."

"If you're just reading the papers back East they are quoting chapter and verse of the witnesses who have appeared," he said.

Brafman noted that by the time the material is turned over to prosecutors and presented to the grand jury, many witnesses mentioned in the documents will have already testified.

"The material impacts demonstrably on the testimony of witnesses who already appeared and we would request that the witnesses come back," he said.

The defense is not permitted to present evidence to a grand jury but it may give prosecutors material that is favorable to the defendant, and the prosecution is obligated to present it to the grand jury.

Jackson is charged with seven counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to the child. Jackson has pleaded innocent.

A grand jury indictment would supersede the current criminal case and eliminate the need for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to put Jackson on trial.

The central issue in the hearing was secrecy, both in the grand jury and in the existing criminal case.

The judge talked about keeping witnesses' names secret and about keeping search warrant affidavits secret except for sections he chooses to release.

He also met privately with defense lawyers to address secrecy about a mysterious audio tape seized from the office of a defense investigator. Melville said he will listen to the tape again and make a final decision on whether it can be disclosed to the prosecution.

The judge also modified his gag order prohibiting attorneys from speaking about most aspects of the case. Melville said they could give him proposed written responses to media reports and he would then decide if the statements could be released.

Media attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. told the judge he will continue to press for opening all documents including search warrants in their entirety. The judge took no action on further releases.

The judge also set an April 30 session to take up the issue of setting a preliminary hearing date. That could become moot if the grand jury indicts.

Jackson did not attend Friday's hearing. On Thursday he was in Washington, D.C., where he met with members of Congress and was lauded for his work fighting AIDS (news - web sites).

Brafman was asked after the hearing how Jackson was doing.

"I think Michael Jackson, as you saw on TV, is in good spirits and, being Michael Jackson, is leaving the legal work to his lawyers," Brafman said.

Outside the courthouse, a few Jackson fans and critics held opposing signs: "What if it was your kid" and "Michael Jackson, God and we know you are 100 percent innocent."
___

Associated Press Writer Tim Molloy contributed to this report.

 

[tajera]

Re: Día de Corte /Sta Maria, Abril 2

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's attorney disclosed in a hearing Friday that he has subpoenaed school and psychiatric reports involving the accuser and his family.

Attorney Mark Geragos told a judge the records were relevant to "the accuser's family and the accuser himself."

The disclosure came as Geragos asked Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville for a court order on the release of the documents.

Geragos said James LaChance, an attorney for one of the parties targeted by a subpoena, was present in the courtroom but believed the records could not be released without a court order from the judge.

Jackson was not required to attend Friday's hearing and was not in the courtroom.

The molestation case against him continued to unfold in extraordinary secrecy as Melville began the pretrial hearing by meeting privately with defense attorneys then told all parties in open court to make sure witness names are not released publicly.

Melville also made a slight modification to a gag order. Attorneys are still forbidden from speaking about most aspects of the case.

Garagos only said, “You can’t answer any questions that have to do with the grand jury. You can’t answer any questions that have to do with anything that’s implicated by the protective order.”

But the judge said they could give him proposed written responses to media reports. Melville would then decide if the statements could be released.

Melville said he would issue no further rulings on the gag order.

Earier, the judge met with defense attorneys about a mysterious audiotape -- the content of which has not been disclosed. Attorneys were told not to publicly mention the names of the people whose voices are heard on the tape.

Any mention of witness names throughout the case must be done only in sealed motions, the judge said.

Thursday, Jackson was busy promoting AIDS awareness in the nation's Capitol as his lawyers prepared for Friday's hearing. The judge could set a date for a preliminary hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to try the pop star.

The proceedings were overshadowed by testimony presented to a secret grand jury by Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon. If grand jurors find there is enough evidence to try Jackson, the results of the preliminary hearing would be moot.

The difference between the two proceedings is that one is secret and one is public. Jackson's attorneys, Geragos and Benjamin Brafman, are excluded from grand jury proceedings.

The issue of secrecy is at the heart of most items on the court agenda Friday, as defense lawyers sought a partial exemption from a court imposed gag order and lawyers for the media were seeking access to sealed search warrants and other documents.

Prosecutors also are asking permission to watch a videotaped interview with unnamed witnesses prepared by Geragos' private investigator. He said the prosecution is entitled to know what is on the tape.

Media lawyers planned to ask for unsealing of search warrants in the case and other documents including a series of documents in which the prosecution accuses an unnamed person of being in contempt of court for violating the gag order.

A panel of the state's 2nd District Court of Appeals issued a stay late Thursday on three segments of a court order that had barred journalists from talking to prospective or final grand jurors, and from photographing them. The appeals court asked for more briefings on the issue.

Thursday, Jackson visited Washington, D.C., where he met with members of Congress and was lauded for his work fighting AIDS.

Jackson was charged last year with seven counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to the child. Jackson has pleaded innocent and Geragos has called the charges a "big lie."

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press