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THE JACKSON CASE
Fighting it out on their own terms
By SCOTT HADLY
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Michael Jackson's lawyers and the prosecutors are sparring over semantics in the singer's high-profile child molestation case.
Prosecutors have bristled in court over Mr. Jackson's attorneys referring to them as "the government," saying they should be properly called "the People."
Meanwhile, the singer's defense team wants to prohibit the district attorney from calling books, magazines and photos found in searches of the entertainer's Neverland Valley Ranch and other locales "pornography."
"At first when you hear the arguments you want to roll your eyes," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson. "What's in a name? But words have psychological power."
It cuts both ways. Mr. Jackson's lawyers have been consistent in their reference to prosecutors as "the government."
This fits into their argument that it's the entertainer who is the victim here, subject to an overzealous prosecutor. That strategy might play well with the jury pool in the North County. Juries there tend to be more conservative, based on voting patterns, while some recent court decisions support perceptions that many people have a strong suspicion of government meddling.
Prosecutors shot back during a Dec. 20 hearing when Senior Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said prosecutors were tired of being called the government.
"They know better than that. It is appropriate and just and actually correct that the defense should refer to the People by their proper name," Mr. Auchincloss said.
In a responding motion defense attorney Robert Sanger argued that using the term "the People" implies that the prosecutors somehow were with the jurors against Mr. Jackson. Mr. Sanger also argued that the alleged victim should be called the "complaining witness."
Such semantic arguments in court are almost never made, said Ms. Levenson. But in the recent sexual assault case against Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, which did not end up going to trial, the Colorado judge ruled in favor of Mr. Bryant's defense team saying the alleged victim would not be referred to as the "victim" but as the complaining party.
The defense effort to neutralize the words used to describe material that could be connected to Mr. Jackson isn't just another attempt to help their client but an effort to ensure he gets a fair trial, defense attorney Brian Oxman argued in a motion.
"The appeal to the jury's emotions by using the term is illegitimate and an effort to 'fool' jurors into believing the court has sanctioned the view that ordinary books and magazines are contraband," Mr. Oxman said.
It should be noted that in the motion released by the court, Mr.
Jackson's defense team went so far as to black out all the words
they want to prohibit prosecutors from using. But the motion goes
on to cite a Penal Code section that refers to cases involving obscenity,
pornography and child pornography.
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