Jackson DA: 'We're going to handle it like any other case'
Friday, November 21, 2003
Posted: 10:54 AM EST (1554 GMT)
(Court TV) -- The district attorney spearheading the child molestation case against Michael Jackson is not out for revenge, he said Thursday in an exclusive interview with Court TV's Diane Dimond on "Hollywood at Large."
"We're going to handle it like any other case," said Thomas Sneddon, who led an aborted investigation into similar charges a decade ago and was attacked by Jackson in a thinly veiled song entitled "D.S."
"It's part of our jobs. But for anybody to think this is something we're doing because he wrote some song about me or something that happened 10 years ago, it's just not true."
Sneddon, 61, has earned a reputation for his no-holds-barred approach to prosecution. The veteran district attorney slammed assertions that he had ulterior motives to bring multiple charges of child molestation against the 45-year-old pop icon -- including revenge for Jackson's 1995 song ridiculing a man named "Don Sheldon."
"I got more important things going on in my life than to listen to a song by a guy everybody calls Jacko Wacko," Sneddon said. "I have my life and I do my job, and anybody who thinks I've spent 10 years sitting here waiting to read [lyrics] from Michael Jackson just has not got a clue. Or anybody who thinks that I'm doing this for political reasons is totally poppycock because I'm not running for re-election. I'm retiring in three years. And I've been successful, I have a good career. I'm not worried about getting another notch on my belt."
Jackson turned himself over to Santa Barbara sheriff's officers Thursday afternoon, arriving in a caravan at the main county jail where he was fingerprinted, photographed for a mug shot, and given an arraignment date of January 9. The highly anticipated surrender came on the heels of a daylong police search of three of Jackson's properties, including Neverland, his palacial ranch estate outside Santa Barbara.
Published reports have singled out a 12-year-old boy as the accuser. Unlike the family behind the 1993 abuse allegations, however, this child's family is more concerned with justice than money, according to Sneddon.
"They're aware of the risks involved, and they've still cooperated with us," Sneddon said. "I think it would be really unfair to be talking about these people as if they want to get even with Michael Jackson or something like that."
Sneddon said the alleged victim's family has much in common with other families affected by sexual abuse of a child. "There are difficulties, it's tough, it's emotional ... and I ... just see the people involved are not any different than most of the cases this office gets of child victims."
Compared to the 1993 case, however, the current allegations could be settlement-proof, Sneddon said.
"In the 1993-94 case, a child victim had the right not to testify if they chose not to, and could still have a civil settlement," Sneddon said. "The law has been changed now. If you take a civil settlement you don't have that privilege not to testify anymore."
Though it remains unknown whether the alleged 1993 victim, now in his 20s, would be willing to testify in the current case should it go to trial, Sneddon said the evidence would be admissible to demonstrate prior criminal behavior -- so long as the man backed up his claim in court.
"Otherwise you just could bring in anybody off the street to say 'Oh, this happened, this happened, I heard it third-hand hearsay -- which is totally unfair."
Jackson reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with his alleged victim in the 1993 case, drawing an end to criminal charges brought against him.
:nav Source: http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/21/ctv.jackson.da/
Friday, November 21, 2003
Posted: 10:54 AM EST (1554 GMT)
(Court TV) -- The district attorney spearheading the child molestation case against Michael Jackson is not out for revenge, he said Thursday in an exclusive interview with Court TV's Diane Dimond on "Hollywood at Large."
"We're going to handle it like any other case," said Thomas Sneddon, who led an aborted investigation into similar charges a decade ago and was attacked by Jackson in a thinly veiled song entitled "D.S."
"It's part of our jobs. But for anybody to think this is something we're doing because he wrote some song about me or something that happened 10 years ago, it's just not true."
Sneddon, 61, has earned a reputation for his no-holds-barred approach to prosecution. The veteran district attorney slammed assertions that he had ulterior motives to bring multiple charges of child molestation against the 45-year-old pop icon -- including revenge for Jackson's 1995 song ridiculing a man named "Don Sheldon."
"I got more important things going on in my life than to listen to a song by a guy everybody calls Jacko Wacko," Sneddon said. "I have my life and I do my job, and anybody who thinks I've spent 10 years sitting here waiting to read [lyrics] from Michael Jackson just has not got a clue. Or anybody who thinks that I'm doing this for political reasons is totally poppycock because I'm not running for re-election. I'm retiring in three years. And I've been successful, I have a good career. I'm not worried about getting another notch on my belt."
Jackson turned himself over to Santa Barbara sheriff's officers Thursday afternoon, arriving in a caravan at the main county jail where he was fingerprinted, photographed for a mug shot, and given an arraignment date of January 9. The highly anticipated surrender came on the heels of a daylong police search of three of Jackson's properties, including Neverland, his palacial ranch estate outside Santa Barbara.
Published reports have singled out a 12-year-old boy as the accuser. Unlike the family behind the 1993 abuse allegations, however, this child's family is more concerned with justice than money, according to Sneddon.
"They're aware of the risks involved, and they've still cooperated with us," Sneddon said. "I think it would be really unfair to be talking about these people as if they want to get even with Michael Jackson or something like that."
Sneddon said the alleged victim's family has much in common with other families affected by sexual abuse of a child. "There are difficulties, it's tough, it's emotional ... and I ... just see the people involved are not any different than most of the cases this office gets of child victims."
Compared to the 1993 case, however, the current allegations could be settlement-proof, Sneddon said.
"In the 1993-94 case, a child victim had the right not to testify if they chose not to, and could still have a civil settlement," Sneddon said. "The law has been changed now. If you take a civil settlement you don't have that privilege not to testify anymore."
Though it remains unknown whether the alleged 1993 victim, now in his 20s, would be willing to testify in the current case should it go to trial, Sneddon said the evidence would be admissible to demonstrate prior criminal behavior -- so long as the man backed up his claim in court.
"Otherwise you just could bring in anybody off the street to say 'Oh, this happened, this happened, I heard it third-hand hearsay -- which is totally unfair."
Jackson reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with his alleged victim in the 1993 case, drawing an end to criminal charges brought against him.
:nav Source: http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/21/ctv.jackson.da/