Prosecutors will push to introduce evidence of wrongdoing in Michael Jackson’s past while the pop singer’s lawyers ask for a delay of his child molestation trial in court hearings set to begin today.

Both sides will argue their motions before a judge in the hearings which are to continue through Wednesday before the case is put on hold until next month.

The Santa Barbara district attorney’s office is asking the judge to allow evidence that Jackson has committed other sex crimes over the years that went uncharged, such as a 1993 molestation case that was settled out of court.

Prosecutors said in their filing that the evidence will demonstrate Jackson’s “propensity” for such crimes, his motive and intent, and show how he “created the opportunities to achieve his goal.”

In their motion, Jackson’s attorneys said they need a six-week delay of the Jan. 31 trial to give them time to sort through 14,000 pages of evidence filed by prosecutors in the past two months.

They will also ask that the charges be dismissed on the grounds of “vindictive prosecution and outrageous government conduct,” pointing to the execution of more than 100 search warrants including this month’s unusual raid on Jackson’s estate near Los Olivos. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville previously rejected a similar defense effort to remove District Attorney Tom Sneddon.

Source: Associated Press

Court TV has confirmed that Jackson’s long-time right-hand man, Bob Jones, was served a subpoena in the Los Angeles office of attorney, Richard M. Steingard. This 20-year veteran of MJJ Productions has been told by the prosecution that he should be ready to testify at Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial sometime in April. The subpoena orders Jones to turn over to authorities all relevant files, diaries and photographs in his possession. Jones has also been ordered to hand over the chapters of his in-progress tell-all book which is said to be about half written.

Jones had worked for the Jacksons since their Motown days and was one of Michael’s most trusted confidants until he was summarily fired recently by Michael’s youngest brother, Randy. No severance pay, no vacation pay, no “thank you very much.” The termination could turn out to be a mammoth mistake, as Bob Jones traveled the world with Michael Jackson for decades. He’s the only top-ranking insider who never signed a confidentiality agreement. He knows the pop star’s secrets and now he’s finally able and willing to write an insider’s expose all about it.

To get an idea of how devastating Jones’ book could be for Jackson, consider this excerpt from his recent book proposal, which is making the rounds of New York publishing houses:

“Bob Jones knows where every single body is buried in Jackoland … imagine the possibilities. Any ambiguity about the nature of Michael Jackson’s many relationships with young boys will be laid to rest here …”

Bob Jones recently spoke out saying he didn’t want to be a witness for either side, but if called, “I won’t lie for Michael Jackson.”

Source: Court TV

By Roger Friedman

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe, the mother of his two older children,
has been subpoenaed to testify in his child-molestation case, sources tell
me.

Rowe, mother of Prince Michael and Paris Katherine, was served at her
attorney’s office about two weeks ago by Santa Barbara County District
Attorney Tom Sneddon.

This turn of events ratchets up the animosity between Rowe and Jackson even
more - if that’s possible.

In October, Jackson refused to pay Rowe her annual alimony payment of about
$1 million, claiming that she had breached the confidentiality clause in
their divorce agreement.

His specific complaint was that Rowe had appeared on “Entertainment
Tonight,” although the piece was about her horses and the sale of her home.

The alimony payment is said to have been placed in escrow by Jackson, but no
proof has been offered of that so far.

Jackson’s non-payment to Rowe came at the same time that he cut off other
financial obligations, including a major one to his ex-criminal attorney
Steve Cochran.

Jackson’s former partner Marc Schaffel, who had been receiving installment
payments on money he was owed until he was cut off months ago, is also suing
him.

Randy Jackson, Michael’s brother and adviser, is said to be behind the
abrupt belt-tightening.

In Rowe’s case, however, the cessation of payments follows a long line of
contention between the former spouses. Jackson has refused to speak to Rowe
since he persuaded her to defend him in a television interview in February
2003 - the so-called “rebuttal video.”

Rowe, who had appeared to be publicly ambivalent about her children, has
grown more and more determined to gain custody since then, sources say.

In a few days, her custody case against Jackson will wind up in front of a
Los Angeles family-court judge, although Jackson himself is not expected to
attend.

Yesterday, the family law team, led by Michael Abrams, tried to get an
extension on the case, but was denied.

Jackson, in turn, is said to have served Rowe’s attorney with a lawsuit
that, if he wins, would prevent her from turning over any documents to the
district attorney.

“He hasn’t shown up for one hearing on the custody issue,” my source said.
“He has a team of lawyers fighting Debbie’s one. But he serves them with
huge amounts of papers all the time.”

Jackson, according to my sources, seems unaware that Rowe, who could
potentially be a damaging witness for the prosecution in the
child-molestation case, is hell-bent on seeing the custody case through to
the end.

Rowe is also determined to find out who leaked documents about her and the
children to Britain’s News of the World tabloid last spring.

The detailed information, which was also considered confidential, did not
come from her, but Rowe and her attorneys may soon give voice to their
suspicions about the possible culprits, sources tell me.

Source: FOX News

Michael Jackson is throwing open the gates of his Neverland Valley Ranch to dozens of children for a holiday party Friday.

Representatives for the pop star said Jackson had invited groups of children to enjoy a day at the fairy-tale ranch in what has become an annual tradition over the holiday season.

It was not clear whether Jackson, 46, would be attending the party himself.

Neverland, a sprawling estate in the foothills of Santa Barbara, California.

Jackson has frequently opened his home to children. Video footage shot for a television documentary broadcast in 2003 showed children playing on a miniature train ride and other theme park style rides in the grounds, which also house a small zoo.

Source: Reuters

Michael Jackson’s lawyers have filed a series of motions including a request to continue his Jan. 31 trial date and to dismiss charges on grounds of “vindictive prosecution and outrageous government conduct.”

But the lawyers, following a procedure set up by Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville, asked that the motions be kept secret. The judge has ordered that everything in the case initially be filed under seal for his decision on whether any of it should be released.

Not even the proposed new date of trial was released. Melville has repeatedly pushed lawyers to meet the Jan. 31 start date for jury selection.

The motions, containing a cryptic description of their subject matter, were filed Dec. 10 and became available Monday. They were scheduled for argument in hearings to begin Dec. 20.

In addition to continuance and dismissal motions, the defense asked to suppress all evidence seized under four new search warrants. But that request was sealed as well. Most search warrants in the case have either been sealed or heavily edited.

The new motions are likely to stem from an unexpected search of Jackson’s Neverland ranch on Dec. 3 and 4 during which authorities took a DNA sample from the pop star pursuant to a search warrant and took measurements of rooms in the house.

Legal experts had predicted that the late searches, on the eve of a deadline for turning over all discovery materials, would set the stage for defense lawyers to seek a delay in starting trial.

“How do you go to trial in a case when they are still serving search warrants?” said Loyola University Law Professor Laurie Levenson.

Lawyers in the case, who are abiding by the judge’s strict gag order, refused to comment on the new filings.

Source: Associated Press

A former Jackson family assistant has been speaking to Access’ Hollywood. Amelia Patterson who was at the Jackson family home in Encino, California when the police raided back in 1993 — the first time Michael faced child molestation allegations, but was never charged.

“They came with their guns drawn, because we had armed security,” Amelia told Daphne.

Patterson even witnessed first-hand the authorities’ search of Michael’s bedroom.

“There was this safe that no one could open. They had a locksmith come — all these different people trying to open up this safe. It took them the whole day to try to get it open,” she revealed. “But the funny thing about it, was when they get it open, the only thing they found was the directions on how to open up the safe.”

Source: Access Hollywood

…By Roger Friedman

With rumors swirling about prosecutorial evidence, DNA tests and financial
ruin, Michael Jackson may finally be getting the picture of the state he’s
in.

His CD box set, “The Ultimate Collection,” has sold only 14,000 copies so
far. You’d think this would jolt him into some kind of reality - and maybe
it has.

I’m told that about three weeks ago, Jackson’s ex-manager, Frank DiLeo, was
summoned to Sony Music’s inner sanctum to give advice about the box set and
all future Jackson-Sony enterprises.

The meetings occurred around the time of the regular Sony-ATV Music
Publishing board meeting. The attendees included DiLeo, Sony Music chief
Donnie Ienner and Michael’s sometime lawyer John Branca, who sits on the
Sony-ATV board.

Branca probably looks like a genius now to Jackson’s other lawyers, who are
still owed fees by the singer. Branca collects a controversial, but
automatic, 5 percent fee annually on Jackson’s Beatles-catalog revenues,
thanks to a deal he cut several years ago.

DiLeo was the true mastermind behind Jackson’s King of Pop era in the
early-to-mid-’80s, engineering the process that made “Thriller,” “Bad” and
“Dangerous” top sellers.

But by the time of Jackson’s first child-molestation scandal in 1993, DiLeo
was out in the cold. More recently, other Jackson associates from the period
who had held on - Bob Jones, from public relations and Bill Bray, who did
security - were pushed out as well.

If Jackson is acquitted of all charges in his upcoming trial, it’s DiLeo who
has the best shot of bringing him back.

I’m told he’s already working on a Jackson brothers album and tour that
would reunite Michael with the Jackson 5 and the era of pre-scandal
innocence.

Of course, first Jackson has to be acquitted. And that won’t be so easy.

Even now, Jackson’s defense team is still lagging in interviewing witnesses
and developing an iron-clad strategy for court, I am told by sources.

So far, the team has done more work talking to character witnesses who have
no bearing on the case than to those who might have been eyewitnesses to the
events being discussed.

Source: FOX News

Following Friday’s raid at Michael Jackson’s Neverland home, Jackson’s defense team told FOX News that they believe Friday’s search stemmed from new information from the accuser’s mother, and that they might be looking for DNA. Investigators previously found the DNA of three other people on Jackson’s bed, rather than the accuser’s DNA, and the defense is suggesting it may be tied to this.

Defense officials also suggested that the accuser’s mother is now “coming up with new information” after it was revealed this week that she had paranoid schizophrenia, and that this is her payback for that information leaking out to the press.

But prosecution sources told FOX News that in the last week or two, at least one person close to Jackson is now talking to authorities and “providing valuable information.” FOX News has learned that in this same time period, authorities reached out to several people, including possible unindicted co-conspirators in the case, offering them deals if they cooperate.

Additionally, prosecution sources told FOX News that there were some discussions with the Jackson team in recent weeks about Jackson receiving probation, registering as a sex offender, being monitored with his own children and staying away from others in exchange for no jail time.

The sources said Jackson’s team was not receptive to this. One key member of Jackson’s defense team told FOX News: “If a paranoid schizophrenic accused you of this, would you accept any deal?”

Criminal defense attorney Tom Liotti told FOX News the search could suggest the possibility of a new crime.

“This is not something that can be done sort of in the past, this is something where a judge has to say a crime is actively being committed now,” he said.

FOX News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano called the new search “unusual.”

“They usually have all the evidence they need by the time they indict him, and they’re close to trial. Two, if ever there is a time that a criminal defendant behaves perfectly like a choir boy, it’s after indictment and before trial. The government must believe and they must have persuaded a judge of this [an ongoing crime], because they can’t go in there on their own.

“They must have some evidence to believe that some foul play is going on at Michael Jackson’s ranch as we speak and they want to catch it in the act or want to get evidence of it,” Napolitano said.

Attorneys on both sides are barred from commenting on the case.

At least 60 investigators from the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office conducted that raid on the multimillion-dollar property.

Source: Fox News

UK TV station Channel 4 are running a poll to find the 100 Greatest Albums
ever made - Michael Jackson - Off the Wall and Thriller are in the
nominations!

Cast Your Vote By Clicking HERE!

Source: Channel 4

ROLLING STONE have launched the second edition of the ROLLING STONE 500, a
celebration of the greatest rock & roll songs of all time, chosen by a
five-star jury of singers, musicians, producers, industry figures, critics
and, of course, songwriters.

The editors of ROLLING STONE called on rock stars and leading authorities to
list their fifty favorite songs, in order of preference. The 172 voters, who
included Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, were asked to
select songs from the rock & roll era. They nominated 2,103 songs in
virtually every pop-music genre of the past half-century and beyond, from
Hank Williams to OutKast. The results were tabulated according to a weighted
point system.

For this RS 500, the word song refers to both a composition and its
definitive recorded performance, as a single or an album track. Bob Dylan,
the Beatles and the Rolling Stones accounted for a combined total of 117
nominated songs, a measure of their unbroken reign as rock’s most
influential, beloved artists. Nirvana and the Clash crashed the top twenty,
rubbing guitars with Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix.

This RS 500 is also a tribute to the eternal power of popular music, and
great songwriting in particular, to reflect and transform the times in which
we hear it. The highest-ranked Beatles-related song is from 1971: John
Lennon’s utopian dream “Imagine,” America’s alternative national anthem
since 9/11. The entire top twenty is practically a contemporary newscast, a
breaking story of worry, temper, hope and pride: “Let It Be,” “My
Generation,” “Respect,” “A Change Is Gonna Come.” The RS 500 salutes the
songs that move us — and the artists who create them. It is also proof that
whenever you want to know what’s going on, listen to the music.

Michael Jackson has been listed twice in the top 500 greatest rock & roll
songs of all time:

Billie Jean - No. 58
Beat It - No. 337ROLLING STONE