Judge Turns Down Request for Delay of Jackson Trial

SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A judge on Monday turned down a defense request to delay Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial, saying that a postponement would be “a huge step backward.”

Jury selection in the pop music star’s trial will start Jan. 31, as scheduled, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville ruled.

The judge said that Jackson’s trial might be further delayed if the six-week continuance sought by his lawyers were granted.

“Maybe we’d have 90 more search warrants and 90 more motions,” Melville said. “Someone has to take responsibility for focusing on the defendant and on the trial.”

Attorneys on both sides said Monday they expected jury selection to take about a month. After that, the trial will last from three to five months, they said.

Jackson is accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy and then leading a conspiracy to cover it up.

Court officials said 3,000 to 4,000 notices would be mailed to prospective jurors next week. The jury pool probably will be drawn from northern Santa Barbara County because the alleged offenses are believed to have occurred on Jackson’s Neverland ranch near Los Olivos, about 40 miles north of Santa Barbara.

“We’re ready for trial,” Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon told the judge Monday, contending that Jackson’s lawyers were trying to exploit even the flimsiest pretext for delay.

“There’s no appetite on the part of the defense to get this case to trial,” Sneddon said.

Jackson’s lawyers countered that prosecutors had been too slow to share crucial evidence with them -- a charge prosecutors denied.

Robert Sanger, a Jackson attorney based in Santa Barbara, pointed to a list of prospective prosecution witnesses that contained numerous typographical errors and misspellings. He said it took the defense team hours to discern the witnesses’ correct names.

Prosecutors scoffed, saying that many of the names in question were law enforcement officers well-known to the defense team.

Sanger also said prosecutors failed to disclose until recently that they were planning to present expert testimony about the emotional state of battered women.

According to court documents, prosecutors will contend that the mother of Jackson’s alleged victim was abused in a marriage when she was 16.

The woman, a key witness for the prosecution, has been characterized by Jackson’s attorneys as an opportunist who sought financial gain by making up accusations against the superstar. That theme was repeated Monday by Jackson’s lead attorney, Thomas Mesereau, who had unsuccessfully tried to have the case tossed out.

Mesereau contended that only a prosecutor driven by “a nasty, personal vendetta” would base a case on the word of a woman who can’t be trusted. Evidence will show that she has a track record of concocted accusations, including abuse and false imprisonment, as she is alleging now, Mesereau said.

Mesereau also said that Sneddon has persecuted Jackson, throwing an inordinate amount of public money into a case that has so far involved more than 100 search warrants and five law enforcement visits to Jackson’s ranch in the last 11 years.

However, prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss characterized the defense argument as “frantic bleating” and “the ultimate act of desperation.”

Ninety-two of the search warrants in the Jackson case were “little more than letters” to telephone companies, banks and credit card agencies, he said.

The judge also ruled against a defense effort to suppress evidence gathered from a search of Jackson’s ranch earlier this month. Investigators secured a saliva sample from Jackson for DNA and took measurements of various rooms for court exhibits.

At the request of Jackson’s attorneys, Melville put off a crucial hearing until Jan. 12. At that point, prosecutors will argue that allegations of past sex offenses by Jackson be admitted in his trial.