Fans cheer Jacko ahead of court clash

FANS of Michael Jackson erupted in cheers yesterday as the pop star emerged from a double-decker tour bus and went into a California court for a showdown with the prosecutor who has pursued him for years on child molestation charges.

Jackson, wearing a white suit with a mustard yellow armband, entered the Santa Maria court with several family members, also dressed in white.

About 100 mostly young fans pressed against a chain-link fence and hoisted signs saying “Our Love is With You” and “Michael Jackson is Innocent” outside the hearing to decide whether prosecutors can use evidence seized from the office of a private investigator working for the singer.

Dozens of police and a small group of people demonstrating in support of sexual abuse victims were also at the court.

Like other Jackson supporters, Olivia Baker, aged 20, of San Diego, said the singer has been unfairly targeted by Sneddon.

“No human being deserves that, especially since he’s given his whole heart to the world,” said Baker, wearing a Jackson-trademark black fedora.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon was expected to be the first witness of the day at a hearing that comes amid duelling public relations moves.

Jackson made a surprise visit to Los Angeles’ pre-eminent black church on Sunday, which legal experts said was an effort to boost his reputation ahead of the showdown with the Santa Barbara County prosecutor.

In an added public relations flourish, Jackson decided to attend yesterday’s pre-trial hearing with his parents, Katherine and Joseph Jackson, and siblings Jermaine, Janet, Jackie and LaToya.

Prosecutors received their own boost on Sunday with the release of a leaked report by the state Attorney General that rejected Jackson’s charge that he was “manhandled” when sheriff’s deputies took him into custody last year.

The report to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson casts doubt on Jackson’s claim that his shoulder was dislocated when he was handcuffed.

Jackson, aged 45, is charged with committing a lewd act upon a child, administering an intoxicating agent and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on almost €3 million bail.

The focus of the hearing is Sneddon’s actions in the weeks before the charges were filed. The defence seeks to show that the prosecutor violated lawyer-client privilege between Jackson and his former lawyer, Mark Geragos, when he conducted personal surveillance of a private investigator’s office.

The investigator, Bradley Miller, was not in his Beverly Hills office when Sneddon went there and photographed the building and its roster of occupants.

Santa Barbara County sheriff’s officials already have testified that they used a sledgehammer to break into Mr Miller’s office and seize videotapes and files relating to the Jackson case. They maintain that they did not know Miller was employed by Mr Geragos.

The tape and other materials seized are at issue in the hearing.

A ruling that they must be suppressed because they were wrongfully seized would seriously undermine the prosecution’s case.