Jackson Judge blocks testimony

PROSECUTORS in the Michael Jackson molestation case lost a key battle when a judge refused their request to allow testimony from a domestic violence expert to explain why the mother of Mr Jackson's accuser lied under oath.

The Jackson trial is not about domestic violence and "it would be a mistake to allow it", Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said yesterday of the prosecution's attempt to portray the accuser's mother as a battered woman.

Defence attorney Robert Sanger argued the prosecution was trying to give the woman a 'pass' for committing perjury under oath.