Law change will prevent Jackson settlement

CHARGES against Michael Jackson won't be derailed by a settlement, a prosecutor says, and the reason is a law passed in response to the last time the pop singer was accused of molestation, when the accuser refused to testify.

"It is an irony," said Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon.

"The history of the law is that the LA district attorney's office carried the legislation as a direct result of the civil settlement in the first investigation."