'Irate' Jackson to fight charges

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Lawyers acting for Michael Jackson have said the pop star will vigorously fight charges of child molestation.
The entertainer was formally accused of seven counts of abuse by the Santa Barbara district attorney on Thursday.

Mr Jackson, who denies any wrongdoing, is accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy and faces up to 24 years in jail if convicted.

He was arrested last month following a highly-publicised police raid on his Neverland Ranch in California.


The star, out on $3m bail, has called the allegations a "big lie" and will appear in court on 16 January.

The District Attorney, Tom Sneddon, said that as well as the child molestation charges, Mr Jackson faced two counts of administering intoxicating liquor to a minor with the intent of committing a crime.

The charges accuse Jackson of molesting a boy, who is identified in court papers only as "John Doe", between 7 February and 10 March this year.

The charges include a "special allegation" of "substantial sexual conduct", of which a conviction would make Mr Jackson ineligible for parole.

But in a one-off agreement, Mr Sneddon said Mr Jackson would be given his passport back for the purposes of visiting Britain from 20 December to 6 January to promote his new album.

Singer 'besmirched'

Michael Jackson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, reacted angrily to the charges, insisting his client was "unequivocally and absolutely innocent".


Geragos said Jackson was "absolutely innocent"


"There is not truth to any of this," Mr Geragos said.

"There is absolutely no way that we will stand for the besmirching of this man with these horrible, horrible allegations."

He said Mr Jackson would fight the charges "with every fibre of his soul".

"He's not running, he's not hiding... he's as irate as I am."

Mr Geragos said the charges were motivated by money and revenge.

Publicity row

A special District Attorney's (DA) information website has been set up to deal with media interest, and a public relations firm has also been hired to help deal with the number of inquiries.

A Jackson family lawyer attacked the hiring of the firm, saying "a district attorney is supposed to try the case in court, not in the press".

"It is an affront to common sense, if not professional ethics, for a DA to have a celebrity crisis management team, which is what this new PR firm styles itself as being," lawyer Brian Oxman said.

Mr Jackson's parents, Joe and Katherine, told a documentary shown on ABC in the US and ITV1 in the UK that their son was innocent and that prosecutors were trying to "humiliate" him.

Hours before the charges were made public, Mr Jackson won a second court order barring the sale of video tapes of him talking with lawyers secretly shot as he flew to California last month to be arrested.

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Michael Jackson has been booked over child abuse allegations by Californian prosecutors, setting in train a lengthy legal process.
The charges of child abuse facing Michael Jackson may, at first sight, look like a case of history repeating itself.

Mr Jackson faced charges of child abuse in California in 1993, levelled by the then 13-year-old Jordan Chandler, but the charges were dropped.

The prosecutor in that case was Thomas Sneddon, the Santa Barbara district attorney. He has served in that role since 1982 - and is leading the case against Mr Jackson again.

Legal changes

But there have been important changes in the law since Mr Jackson last faced these accusations.

In 1993, the criminal case collapsed because the child and his family refused to testify.

The civil case which resulted was stopped because Mr Jackson made an out-of-court settlement that halted proceedings.

But, London-based law professor Colleen Graffy said the case will not suffer the same fate - because of legislation brought in specifically because Mr Jackson's last charges did not result in a criminal trial.

"They are going ahead with a legal capability they simply did not have for the last case," said Ms Graffy, who is academic director at the London campus of Pepperdine University.

If child molestation charges are alleged, then written or video-taped evidence given by a victim under 12 years old must be heard in court, even if the child then withdraws cooperation.

The evidence would be entered in to the court proceedings as hearsay.

Early hearings

Ms Graffy's university colleague, California-based Carol Chase, told BBC News Online the Jackson case "may take a very long time".

An arraignment - where the charges are heard in court and the defendant enters a plea - has been set for January.

After that the case will go to a preliminary hearing, where evidence is heard and the presiding judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.

Ms Chase said she believed the case would go to trial, because the threshold of proving evidence in a preliminary hearing was much lower than the "beyond reasonable doubt" required in an actual trial.

She said it was unlikely the 12-year-old boy who has made the allegations will have to testify at the preliminary hearing.

The trial

The judge will then set a date for a trial, Ms Chase said.




"That can be a short time or it can be a long time. And it can be delayed at the request of the defendant, in order for them to build a case for the defence."

If Mr Jackson requests a delay, it could be a year before the case goes to trial.

"You must bear in mind that the Robert Blake case, which is another long-running celebrity case, has not even gone to trial here yet," Ms Chase said.

Mr Blake, best known for his role in 1970s TV series Baretta, is accused of killing his wife Bonny Bakely. He was arrested in April 2002, 11 months after her death.

If Michael Jackson is found guilty, he will face a prison sentence. The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of three years - and a maximum of eight - for each count.

Ms Chase said it was unlikely Mr Jackson's passport - which has been surrendered to police - would be given back to him until a trial is over.

It could be that the next time fans see the reclusive star, it will be on their TV screens - via live coverage from a California courthouse.