Judge rules that some Neverland evidence can't be used against Jackson
Mood:  celebratory
Tue Aug 24, 9:12 AM ET


SANTA MARIA, California (AFP) - The judge in pop icon Michael Jackson's child abuse case tentatively ruled that scores of items of evidence seized at his Neverland Ranch cannot be used against him at trial.


Judge Rodney Melville made the preliminary ruling on the fifth and final day of a hearing in which the "King of Pop's" lawyers battled to get key evidence discounted ahead of his trial in order to weaken the prosecution case.


His decision came after prosecutors called two final witnesses in an attempt to rebut claims by defense lawyers and members of staff at Jackson's Neverland Ranch that investigators overstepped the authority of their search warrant when they swooped on the ranch on November 18 last year.


The judge said that of 120 items of evidence Jackson's defense team wanted thrown out, he was inclined to disallow more than 70 of them from trial.


He said that unless prosecutors and defense lawyers convinced him otherwise in written arguments, he would allow the trial jury to see only 34 pieces of the contested evidence.


"I am making this tentative ruling for the purpose of arguments and objections," the judge told the court at the end of the marathon pre-trial hearing. "It is my intent to suppress the remaining material."


He added that he wanted to see written arguments on whether eight other items seized in the Neverland swoop had been taken legally in order for him to decide whether to admit them into evidence.


Lawyers for both sides have until September 3 to submit their arguments ahead of the next hearing in the case, scheduled for September 16. Jackson's much-anticipated trial is scheduled for January 30.


Jackson's team contend that police and prosecution investigators seized evidence in areas of Neverland that they were not entitled to search under the terms of the warrant executed the day before Jackson's November 19 arrest on child molestation charges.



But journalists and legal observers present in court in Santa Maria, near Neverland, were left guessing as to the significance of the evidence tentatively thrown out by the judge on Monday.


Thousands of pieces of evidence were seized in a series on raids against properties linked to Jackson and little is publicly known about the nature of the items, except that several of them are computers and computer discs.


Much of the meat of the case has been obscured by a strict veil of secrecy that has kept documents, including details of the charges against Jackson, under seal.


On Monday, the prosecution called two law enforcement officers to cast doubt on claims by two senior Neverland staffers last week that officers had been aware they were exceeding the scope of the search warrant.


Jalaine Hogue, a criminal investigator with Santa Barbara District attorney's office contradicted Neverland property manager Joe Marcus's claim that he tried to stop the officers from exceeding their authority.


She said she conducted a 1.5 hour recorded interview with Marcus on the day of the raid and said that he never complained or mentioned any concerns about police going beyond scope of the search warrant.


And Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Russell Birchim was called to testify in an effort by prosecutors to indicate that the search of the entire building in which Neverland's security headquarters was housed was justified.


Birchim, who became familiar with the building in 1993 when he helped investigate the first child molestation allegations against Jackson, said he told prosecutors that the office defense lawyers contend was Jackson's office had been largely devoted to security in 1993.


The defense insists that the search warrant did not include permission to search Jackson's office, only his security headquarters.

Birchim said he was present in the building in December 1993 when Jackson's genitals were photographed by authorities as evidence in the case against him that later collapsed.

Jackson, 45, has pleaded innocent to a 10-count indictment that includes charges of child molestation, giving alcohol to a minor, as well as conspiracies to kidnap, illegally imprison and extort his alleged victim, who was 12 at the time. He is free on three million dollars bail.