by Josh Grossberg
Mar 2, 2004, 10:40 AM PT
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For the latest in the Michael Jackson case, let's go to the videotape...and phone records and photographs and computers.
According to search warrants unsealed Monday, all that stuff is among the laundry list of items Santa Barbara police seized from the home of Jackson's videographer in their quest for evidence in the embattled entertainer's child-molestation case.
Media groups have been fighting for months to make the documents available to the public per California law. But Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville initially resisted doing so, fearing it would further fuel the circus atmosphere surrounding the case. Then, last month, perhaps feeling things were already way beyond Ringling Bros., he finally agreed to release the warrants, but in heavily redacted form.
The court papers reveal the trove of materials confiscated Jan. 30 from an unidentified property that law enforcement officials later confirmed to be videographer Marc Shaffel's home in Calabasas, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles.
The raid turned up a DVD of Jackson hosting a party at Neverland Ranch, six computer hard drives, three CDs containing videos of Jackson, dozens of videotapes, four black-and-white photos and a hundred pages of phone records.
While the public has a better idea of the evidence authorities might use against the 45-year-old Moonwalker, it's less certain whether such items show he's a criminal, smooth or otherwise.
That's because the heavily censored documents omit some key information, including where the warrant was served and descriptions of what was taken (some tidbits were filled in later by police officials). The released records also inexplicably have blacked-out telephone numbers for a warrant dated Jan. 22.
That happened to be the same day comedy-club owner Jamie Masada, who introduced Jackson to his alleged victim, claimed at a news conference that he had received harassing phone calls warning him not to discuss the allegations.
Shaffel could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. Jackson's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he could not respond because of Melville's gag order imposed on lawyers for both sides.
Jackson has pleaded innocent to seven felony counts of lewd acts on a boy under the age of 14, plus two felony counts of administering an intoxicating agent to a minor. If convicted on all charges, he could face more than 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Jackson received a vote of confidence on Sunday from Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, which has been linked to Jackson's camp in recent months.
"We don't believe Michael is guilty. And there are a lot of people that know the mother who is accusing him and the little boy that he helped to heal, and they don't believe Michael is guilty," Farrakhan told Nation of Islam members, per a Chicago Tribune report.
"What happened to the presumption of innocence? See, black people are always guilty until they are proved innocent; white people are innocent until they are proved guilty."
Finally, Jackson himself has put up a new message on his Website in the wake of his brief run-in with police last week while shopping at a Colorado Wal-Mart while wearing a ski mask.
Jackson attempted to put to rest rumors that he was in Colorado to battle an addiction to painkillers.
"I am appalled. Let me state for the record, that I have not checked myself into any rehabilitation center in Aspen, Colorado; I am here for a few days with my children," he said. "This is simply another of a litany of false rumors that are being circulated by people who are simply lying to further their own agenda."