SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- The district attorney who filed child molestation charges against pop star Michael Jackson was called to the stand during a preliminary hearing focusing on the prosecutor's actions in the weeks before the charges were lodged.
Jackson attended the first day of the hearing Monday, but is not expected to be in court when the hearing resumes Tuesday.
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon defended his actions in a sometimes contentious hearing that lasted for more than three hours.
At times, Judge Rodney Melville told Sneddon to stop being so combative with defense attorney Thomas Mesereau.
"I'm going to ask you not to spar with the defense attorney," Melville said.
Jackson, dressed in a white suit, stared intently at the district attorney through his sunglasses, but he showed no emotion during the testimony. Jackson sat in the courtroom with his mother and father, as well as his siblings, including Jermaine, Janet and LaToya -- all of whom were dressed in white.
At issue is the defense's claim that Sneddon violated attorney-client privilege between Jackson and his former attorney, Mark Geragos, when he conducted a search of the office of a private investigator.
The defense claims the prosecutor knew or should have known that the investigator, Brad Miller, was working for Geragos at the time. As a result, the defense wants any information obtained in the search of Miller's office thrown out.
Sneddon maintained throughout the hearing that he did not know that Miller was directly employed by Geragos.
"It just never dawned on you that Miller could be working for Mark Geragos?" Mesereau said.
"That's true," Sneddon responded.
But the district attorney later admitted he told Jackson's defense team during a conference call last month that he knew Miller worked for Geragos. However, he said he called one of Jackson's lawyers back the next day to say that he had spoken incorrectly.
Sneddon has a long history with Jackson. He investigated the pop star in 1993 for child molestation against a boy, a case that never made it to trial because of a multimillion dollar settlement with the boy and his family.
The Jackson family has since said the prosecutor has an ax to grind with the pop star.
About 50 to 100 fans -- a much smaller crowd than at his previous court visits -- cheered and waved signs of support outside the court when Jackson arrived Monday. A security guard held a black umbrella for Jackson as he entered the courthouse.
Jackson, 45, has pleaded not guilty to child molestation. The singer is charged with seven counts of performing lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent, reportedly wine.
In a development late Sunday, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN that the California attorney general's office has determined that Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies treated pop star Michael Jackson properly when he surrendered himself to them last year. (Full story)
Jackson told CBS' "60 Minutes" in December that he was "manhandled very roughly" when he was taken into custody on the child molestation charges -- a claim the sheriff's department had denied.
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