"JACKSON CASE MAY BE FALTERING"

By John M. Broder
(New York Times)


LOS ANGELES---Two weeks after the arrest of singer Michael Jackson on felony child-molesting charges,the case against him may have hit some snags.

The Santa Barbara County district attorney,Thomas Sneddon,has twice delayed filing formal charges against Jackson,who was showily arrested,booked and set free on $3 million bail Nov.20.Sneddon now says the charges will be made public the week of Dec.15.Veteran prosecutors say such a delay is unusual though not unprecendented,and does not necessarily indicate problems with the case.

But the tip line set up to field anonymous calls from anyone with information about the current case or similiar complaints of misconduct by Jackson has yielded little,according to the Santa Barbara County Sherriff's Department.Of 70 calls to the line over the past two weeks,only a handful have produced information relevent to the case against Jackson,said Sgt. Chris Pappas,the public-information officer.No one has come forward to tell of separate acts of molesting by Jackson,Pappas said.

The delay in releasing details of the charges against Jackson and the lack of new complaints have prompted some in the Jackson camp to say Sneddon is playing a weak hand based on a single child's shaky testimony.One of Jackson's attorneys suggested this week that Sneddon might be forced to drop the prosection before a trial.

Mark Geragos,who is Jackson's lead attorney,said he would not comment on the case "unless and until there is a charging document".Geragos said,based on his fragmentary knowledge of the identity of Jackson's accuser and the accuser's account,"I'm not so sure there's even going to be a charging document".

Sneddon's office said the prosecutor would not speak to the news media until he had made the charges against Jackson public.In a brief interview with CNN last week,Sneddon acknowledged that he had mishandled his announcement of the arrest warrant for Jackson by appearing to make light of the charges.He denied that he was pursuing a vendetta against Jackson.But he repeated his contention that the case against Jackson was strong.

"It just doesn't make any sense that the sheriif and I would do something that is,doomed in the long run to fail",Sneddon said."We have a responsibility.We didn't go looking for this case.It came to us".

The accuser in the case was befriended by Jackson last year and stayed overnight at Jackson's ranch,Neverland,outside Santa Barbara,several times last winter.According to those familiar with his account,the boy has a troubled family history and has given several versions of his relationship with Jackson.
[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 5:06:30 PST 2003 by DavidEye]

Thanks for posting this, David.

still, he needs therapy!

People are so quick to judge...

Sounds like the family does, too.

June7 said:

precisely!