Dead
03-23-2005, 06:57 PM
Judge: No PC porn in Jackson trial
Recovered data on star's hard drive can't be used
Updated: 5:40 p.m. ET March 23, 2005
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The judge in Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial on Wednesday denied a bid by prosecutors to show jurors evidence -- including teen porn -- seized from the entertainer’s computers at his Neverland Valley Ranch.
Prosecutors said the four hard drives from the 14 computers police seized from a November 2003 raid on Jackson’s estate showed the pop star was a practiced Web surfer who looked at teen-themed porn sites as well as sites related to Walt Disney, toys and photographs of adoptable children.
Jackson’s accuser, now 15, has told jurors in the trial that the 46-year-old pop star showed him and his brother pornographic Web sites during their first visit to Neverland.
Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss called the computer evidence “powerful corroboration” of that testimony by Jackson’s accuser.
“This is important evidence that this defendant views teen erotic materials in his bedroom,” Auchincloss said.
But in a setback for prosecutors, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said he would not let the material be introduced at trial.
Defense lawyers had argued that much of the material was not from February and March of 2003, the period during which Jackson is accused of sexually molesting the then-13-year-old boy and plying him with alcohol.
They also said the pornographic material in question was heterosexual, featuring girls or women, and that much of it had been automatically cached by the computers, meaning it was not clear that Jackson had retrieved it or seen it.
“The court will grant the defense motion not to allow,” the material, Melville said. “It does appear to be cached material. There’s no way of knowing if anyone looked at it or not.”
Jackson, who has compared himself to Peter Pan, could face more than 20 years in prison if he is convicted on all 10 counts he faces, including conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.
Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that evidence linked Jackson to the computers, including recovered aliases for instant messaging services -- BigMike and King777Tut -- that they suggested the pop star had used online.
The skirmishing over whether to admit the Neverland computers as evidence occurred while jurors were not present.
Jackson, who has complained of a painful back injury, walked slowly and gingerly into court as he has all week, taking the arm of one of his aides and flashing a V-sign to about a dozen waiting fans.
Prosecutors summoned as their witness a police detective who had recorded material seized from the raid on Neverland, including a briefcase of pornographic magazines and pictures taken from a bathroom.
On cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyers, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Det. Craig Bonner acknowledged that no DNA evidence linked the magazines to Jackson’s accuser or the boy’s younger brother.
Bonner also said when asked that possession of the magazines, which in-cluded pictures of nude women and women engaged in sex acts, was not illegal.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7278791/
Recovered data on star's hard drive can't be used
Updated: 5:40 p.m. ET March 23, 2005
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The judge in Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial on Wednesday denied a bid by prosecutors to show jurors evidence -- including teen porn -- seized from the entertainer’s computers at his Neverland Valley Ranch.
Prosecutors said the four hard drives from the 14 computers police seized from a November 2003 raid on Jackson’s estate showed the pop star was a practiced Web surfer who looked at teen-themed porn sites as well as sites related to Walt Disney, toys and photographs of adoptable children.
Jackson’s accuser, now 15, has told jurors in the trial that the 46-year-old pop star showed him and his brother pornographic Web sites during their first visit to Neverland.
Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss called the computer evidence “powerful corroboration” of that testimony by Jackson’s accuser.
“This is important evidence that this defendant views teen erotic materials in his bedroom,” Auchincloss said.
But in a setback for prosecutors, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said he would not let the material be introduced at trial.
Defense lawyers had argued that much of the material was not from February and March of 2003, the period during which Jackson is accused of sexually molesting the then-13-year-old boy and plying him with alcohol.
They also said the pornographic material in question was heterosexual, featuring girls or women, and that much of it had been automatically cached by the computers, meaning it was not clear that Jackson had retrieved it or seen it.
“The court will grant the defense motion not to allow,” the material, Melville said. “It does appear to be cached material. There’s no way of knowing if anyone looked at it or not.”
Jackson, who has compared himself to Peter Pan, could face more than 20 years in prison if he is convicted on all 10 counts he faces, including conspiring to commit child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.
Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that evidence linked Jackson to the computers, including recovered aliases for instant messaging services -- BigMike and King777Tut -- that they suggested the pop star had used online.
The skirmishing over whether to admit the Neverland computers as evidence occurred while jurors were not present.
Jackson, who has complained of a painful back injury, walked slowly and gingerly into court as he has all week, taking the arm of one of his aides and flashing a V-sign to about a dozen waiting fans.
Prosecutors summoned as their witness a police detective who had recorded material seized from the raid on Neverland, including a briefcase of pornographic magazines and pictures taken from a bathroom.
On cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyers, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Det. Craig Bonner acknowledged that no DNA evidence linked the magazines to Jackson’s accuser or the boy’s younger brother.
Bonner also said when asked that possession of the magazines, which in-cluded pictures of nude women and women engaged in sex acts, was not illegal.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7278791/