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DA will take stand at Jackson hearing, not tape
testimony
By DAWN HOBBS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Michael Jackson's defense lawyers want Santa Barbara County District
Attorney Tom Sneddon to take the stand in August to question him
in open court, rather than videotape his testimony earlier.
Last week in court, Mr. Jackson's lawyers -- led by Thomas Mesereau
-- announced they had subpoenaed Mr. Sneddon to testify in his own
child molestation case against their client, along with a district
attorney's investigator and several sheriff's detectives.
However, Mr. Sneddon will be on vacation during the next scheduled
hearing on July 27. So rather than videotape his testimony earlier,
the defense will question the prosecutor during the Aug. 16 hearing,
court documents released Thursday indicate.
At issue is whether Mr. Sneddon knew that private investigator
Bradley Miller was working for Mr. Jackson's lawyer at the time,
Mark Geragos, when he obtained an affidavit to raid Mr. Miller's
Beverly Hills office in November.
In the meantime, media attorney Theodore Boutrous has requested
that justices from the state Court of Appeal expedite review of
his challenge to Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville's practice
of routinely sealing documents in the Jackson case, keeping even
basic facts about the alleged crimes secret.
"The trial court has principally justified these extraordinary
procedures, and the resulting secrecy, based on Mr. Jackson's fame
and celebrity status and the intense public and media interest in
this case," Mr. Boutrous stated in his motion filed with the
justices Thursday. "But these general concerns do not come
close to defeating the public's presumptive rights of access to
judicial records and hearings."
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