Labels on Jacko porn evidence switched

LABELS on fingerprint evidence seized from Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch were switched and some of it was handled without gloves, it emerged yesterday.

Forensic experts described to jurors at Santa Maria court, California, how the vast array of pornographic material taken from the pop star's room was investigated and analysed.

One expert, Timothy Sutcliffe, acknowledged that labels on two fingerprints were switched.

He claims to have found 16 separate prints on the magazines seized from a briefcase in Jackson's bedroom in November 2003.

As the defence team sought to undermine the legitimacy of the evidence, court exhibit supervisor, Alicia Romero, admitted she and another employee had initially handled the material without wearing gloves. She said she monitored everyone who viewed the evidence, who all wore gloves.

The court has heard that at least one of the prints, on a magazine called Finally Legal, belonged to the accuser's younger brother. A sheriff's technician had previously testified that she found a fingerprint from the brother of Jackson's accuser in one of the adult magazines seized from Jackson's home.

Prosecutors are presenting testimony on fingerprint evidence to support the boys' accounts that the pop star showed them sexually explicit magazines at his Neverland ranch.

Prosecutors did not immediately identify the prints found on the magazine covers and pages, which were displayed on a large screen. Defence attorneys objected to the graphic images being shown. Jurors have already seen dozens of magazines seized from Jackson's compound.

"These are graphic images with fingerprints we will show are particularly relevant to this case," said Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss in arguing to show the material.

Anthony Urquiza, a psychologist specialising in child sexual abuse, has testified that pornography can be used as "grooming materials" by a paedophile trying to coax a child towards molestation.

Jackson, 46, denies abusing the 13-year-old boy, plying him with alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive.

The singer, who sat unmoving and staring straight ahead through the testimony, stopped outside court as he left and said, "Still very much in pain my back and my side."

The trial continues.

Meanwhile, it emerged Donald Trump might not want Michael Jackson to perform in Las Vegas after all. US Weekly magazine said this week that Trump and Phil Ruffin, his partner in the Trump International Hotel & Tower, had talked with Jackson's representatives about the King of Pop doing a long-term residency at Ruffin's New Frontier Hotel and Casino.

"It's an interesting idea, but I don't think he'd show up half the time," Trump told syndicated entertainment show The Insider.

"I can't imagine what the insurance policy would be like," he added.