By Howard Breuer SANTA MARIA (Reuters) - Michael Jackson was charged on Thursday with nine counts of molesting a boy under the age of 14, including seven "lewd acts" but the pop star's lawyer called the case a "shakedown" motivated by greed and revenge and vowed a legal battle.

Jackson is also accused of giving the boy, who is not identified in court papers, an "intoxicating agent" in order to make it easier to molest him. If found guilty, Jackson could face more than 20 years in prison and be forced to register as a sex offender under California law.

The self-declared "King of Pop," who was arrested on suspicion of child molestation last month and released on $3 million bail, was not present when the charges were unsealed at a courthouse in Santa Maria, central California, near his Neverland Valley Ranch.

Jackson's attorney, Mark Geragos, called the charges a "shakedown" driven by "greed and revenge" and vowed that his client would ultimately be proven innocent in court.

"I can tell you categorically, based upon this complaint that has been filed, that Michael Jackson is absolutely, unequivocally innocent of these charges," Geragos said at a press conference outside his Los Angeles office.

"Michael Jackson is going to fight these charges with every fiber of his soul," Geragos said. "He is strong and he is defiant as he should be."

Jackson was due in court on Jan. 16 for a formal reading of the charges.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon, who has been portrayed in the press as Jackson's nemesis, announced the charges at a press conference in which he denied media speculation that he delayed filing the charges in order to buttress a weak case.

JACKSON HEADED FOR ENGLAND

"I want to categorically say that is false," Sneddon said. "That was never, never, never the intent of our office."

Sneddon also dismissed a memo by a Los Angeles County child welfare agency clearing Jackson of similar charges, saying that it was based on a single interview and not expected to impact the Santa Barbara case

"To call that an investigation is a misnomer," Sneddon said. "It was an interview, plain and simple, and we are not concerned about it." The 45-year-old entertainer was expected to be at Neverland on Saturday night for a party with friends and family members who wanted to lend him support, Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said. Jackson then planned to travel to England, Backerman said. Jackson's lawyers arranged with prosecutors for the return of his passport that was confiscated at the time of his arrest. Jackson, who survived a similar brush with the law 10 years ago by making a multimillion dollar out-of-court settlement with the family of a teenage boy, has protested his innocence. He set up a Web site in November calling the current allegations a "big lie," but he has remained out of the public eye. His lawyers have accused the alleged victim and his family of trying to make money out of Jackson. The latest allegations go back to a British TV documentary broadcast in both Britain and the United States in February. Jackson showed a British reporter around his Neverland ranch, described himself as "Peter Pan" -- the boy who never grew up -- and talked of having sleepovers with young boys. Jackson insisted, however, that there was nothing sexual in those encounters, which he viewed as an innocent form of his professed affection for children. Jackson's early career as a child star with the Jackson 5, and his rise to the moon-walking, slightly eccentric, superstar of his 1980s "Thriller" heyday has been eclipsed in recent years by two short-lived marriages, the birth of three children by different mothers, disastrous experiments with facial surgery and persistent questions over his attachment to pre-pubescent children.

Reuters



Posted here because the fact that Jackson sings for a living isn't relevant to the news.