Jackson Can Get Fair Trial, Experts Say

International superstar or not, can Michael Jackson get a fair trial in the conservative Santa Barbara County farm town of Santa Maria, where local lawyers say there are almost never any blacks on local juries?

Yes, say many legal experts. While race is always important, several said they believed Jackson’s celebrity status and his reputation for bizarre behavior would be even more important.

“I think the celebrity factor outweighs the racial stuff,” said Connie Rice, a prominent civil rights lawyer in Los Angeles. “When a case is very close, race will work against an underclass poor black, but work in favor of a celebrity.”

Jackson was arrested on unspecified multiple counts of child molestation Nov. 20. Officials say the actual charges will be filed in the northern Santa Barbara County city Thursday or Friday. And all future legal proceedings will take place there too, including a trial if there is one.

Most juries in Santa Barbara County are predominantly white, whether trials are held in Santa Barbara or Santa Maria. The number of African Americans in the entire county is placed at 8,385, or 2.1% of the overall population.

Almost immediately after Jackson’s arrest, his brother Jermaine Jackson was quick to raise the issue of racism.

“This is a modern-day lynching,” he said, calling his brother’s arrest a racially motivated vendetta.

But John H. McCoy Jr., 66, a retired probation officer who lives in Santa Maria, believes otherwise. He heads a group called Blacks Recognizing a Goal that provides scholarships to local black high school students.

“I think he can get a fair trial here,” McCoy said. “He’s very popular with a lot of people here. They line up to see him whenever he shows up somewhere.”

Popularity, however, didn’t help Jackson during his last visit to the Santa Maria courthouse. That was a year ago when a jury awarded a concert promoter $5.3 million after deciding Jackson had cheated him on a contract to perform a couple of concerts.

Santa Barbara County’s jury selection process is an issue even among the county’s judges. One judge recently declared it unconstitutional because it does not include enough Latinos. The rest of the judges have appealed that ruling to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Santa Barbara and Santa Maria lawyers say it is not uncommon for juries in any area of the county to have few blacks in most jury pools, often no blacks at all.

But Jo-Ellan Demetrius, a Pasadena jury consultant, says it would be a mistake to stereotype a rural jury because of racial composition.

“I think you do have a number of factors that put this in another category altogether,” she said. “In celebrity cases, people tend to give celebrities the break. But Michael is a slightly different sort of celebrity.

“Both sides will be looking for people with open minds,” she added. “There’s also an acceptance factor you might typically ascribe to a ranch-country jury. Look, the guy’s definitely not normal. But there may be a side of the population that says everybody has the right to be different. I think that’s going to be a huge part of this case.”

Tom Allen, senior deputy public defender in Santa Maria, said he didn’t believe race would be the crucial factor in a Jackson trial. He said a fair trial was possible unless “they turn it into a circus.” Most of the people he has talked to, Allen said, have not formed an opinion on guilt or innocence, saying they are waiting to hear the evidence both sides present.

William Gamble, a Santa Maria attorney since 1978, said he has tried 50 to 100 cases in the local courts and couldn’t remember ever seeing black jurors. Asked about the issue of race versus celebrity, he responded: “I don’t think either one. It will be the facts.”

But not all discount racial issues.

“Race is always a factor,” said Robert F. Landheer, a former public defender who is now a criminal law specialist. “Would Jackson be better off in a city with a larger black population? I would say yes, because blacks have historically suffered at the hand of white juries.

“Can he get a fair trial? Yes, that is possible. But there will be very few blacks in the jury pool. He can get a fair trial, but he also has the right to a jury representative of his race, and he won’t get that here.”

One lawyer who requested anonymity said he believed Jackson’s frequently bizarre behavior would be more important than race or celebrity.

“The farmers and the ranchers and the soccer moms up there think Michael’s from another planet,” he said. “I think it will be a big hurdle for the defense.”

But don’t sell those farmers and soccer moms short, warned Karen Jo Koonan, another top trial consultant who works with the National Jury Project in Oakland.

“Those farmers and soccer moms might also take a dim view of the boy’s family for allowing him to be in that situation,” Koonan said.

One possibility, many lawyers agreed, will be an early defense motion for a change of venue, most likely to a more urban area with a larger black population, such as Los Angeles or possibly a Northern California urban city. Many said another likely strategy would be to attack Santa Barbara County Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon as a man bent on vendetta after failing to bring Jackson to trial on similar charges a decade ago.

“To me the prosecutor is an issue,” said attorney Rice. “He appears intemperate. He’s too eager and he appears overzealous. If it was my case, I’d go after the prosecutor and a change of venue.”

While venue changes are frequently raised, such motions also are frequently denied by both trial and appellate courts. Noting that the Jackson case is being followed around the world, jury consultant Koonan said: “A change of venue isn’t going to help them at all.”