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Judge allows prosecution to subpoena financial records
Judge to hear arguments on allowing older evidence
By DAWN HOBBS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial ruled Friday that the prosecution can subpoena the entertainer's financial records, and said he is ready to make the crucial decision about whether to allow material from an old investigation to be used at trial.
Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville will hear arguments on March 28 about the 1993 molestation allegations for which Mr. Jackson was never charged. Jurors will not be present.
Judge Melville told prosecutors last month that they could not use the evidence from the old investigation because it could potentially prejudice the jury. He indicated that he would not make a decision about that evidence until he had a full understanding of the current case against Mr. Jackson.
The judge's decision could be critical to the prosecution's case. Prosecutors are eager to show that Mr. Jackson has a history of befriending and molesting boys.
The old evidence could strengthen their hand, since defense cross-examination of the current accuser and his siblings pinpointed numerous inconsistencies in their testimony.
The prosecution intends to use Mr. Jackson's financial records to try to show that the entertainer had a financial motive to allegedly hold the accuser and his family captive until they made a video to rebut a British documentary. In the documentary, Mr. Jackson is shown holding hands with the boy who would become his accuser and saying that he shares his bed with children.
Mr. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to charges of child molestation, administering alcohol to a minor to commit a felony, and conspiracy. He is free on $3 million bail. He was not required to attend Friday's hearing but must be in the courtroom during testimony.
So far, the prosecution has put 18 witnesses on the stand during the first three weeks of the trial, including the accuser, his brother and his sister.
The judge ruled on two other motions on Friday:
He granted a defense request to admit evidence about an incident that allegedly occurred between comedian George Lopez and the accuser's family. Lead defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau wants to show the accuser's family has a pattern of making up allegations when they don't get what they want. The defense contends that the boy accused Mr. Lopez of stealing $300 from his wallet when he wouldn't give the boy's family money. Mr. Lopez is scheduled to take the stand in April.
Judge Melville denied a defense request for a mistrial. Defense lawyers alleged prosecutorial misconduct by Senior Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss when he questioned a former Neverland maid this week about "special relationships" the entertainer had with teenage boys over the past decade.
Defense co-counsel Robert Sanger said Mr. Auchincloss purposely elicited testimony about the 1993 case even though Judge Melville had not allowed it into evidence.
The call for a mistrial was prompted by Mr. Auchincloss' questioning of former Neverland Valley Ranch housekeeper Kiki Fournier on Thursday, during which she named nine boys with whom Mr. Jackson had close relationships, including the accuser in the 1993 case.
Mr. Sanger told the judge that the "court's order has been blatantly disregarded" and if the request for a mistrial is denied, "we'll seek other remedies."
However, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon said "there should be no sanctions and the court should ignore this. It was not done deliberately."
Judge Melville concluded that Mr. Auchincloss' tactics did not violate his order, but did instruct the attorneys to not mention the 1993 case again unless it's cleared by him.
The decade-old investigation, which was also run by Mr. Sneddon, crumbled when that accuser refused to cooperate with authorities after his family accepted a multimillion-dollar settlement from Mr. Jackson in a simultaneous civil suit.
Dawn Hobbs is also a news analyst for NBC and MSNBC. Her email is dhobbs@newspress.com
CASE FILE
The accuser testifies under defense cross-examination that he told a school administrator that Michael Jackson did not molest him.
He later told prosecutors he denied the allegations because he was already being called "the boy who was raped by Michael Jackson" by classmates who had seen a documentary showing him holding hands with the entertainer. He testified that he feared even more harassment if he acknowledged the accusations.
Sheriff's deputies testified about the adult material they seized from Mr. Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch on Nov. 18, 2003. The prosecution says it was used to groom the boy for molestation. The defense claims the boy perused the material when Mr. Jackson wasn't even home.
Fritz Coleman, a Los Angeles weatherman and stand-up comic, testified about meeting the boy and his siblings during a summer camp at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard and later appeared at a fund-raiser when the boy was diagnosed with cancer.
Kiki Fournier, a former Neverland maid, testified that she nicknamed the ranch "Pinocchio's Pleasure Island" because children can have whatever they want there, causing them to go out of control.
Under defense questioning, however, she said she was more critical of parents who don't supervise their children than of Mr. Jackson, who is frequently not home when children visit the ranch.
She also named nine boys with whom Mr. Jackson had "special relationships" over the past decade. But under cross-examination, she said Mr. Jackson was also close with the families of those boys.
- DAWN HOBBS
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THOMAS MESEREAU