Jackson Lawyers Scold Media for Seeking Records

Michael Jackson’s attorneys slammed the press Monday, arguing that unsealing key documents in the pop star’s child molestation case would only feed a media relentless in their pursuit of “wild rumors and salacious allegations.”

Jackson’s right to a fair trial is more important than the rights of the media to view “every piece of material that might sell magazines or provide higher ratings during sweeps week on television,” asserted a motion filed by attorney Robert M. Sanger before the state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura.

The motion was in response to one filed last week by a coalition of 10 news organizations, including The Times. In that filing, attorney Theodore Boutrous contended that the judge in the Jackson case had wrongly kept secret a wide range of documents that are ordinarily public.

Boutrous asked that the appellate court speed up consideration of his request to order the documents unsealed.

In their response Monday, defense attorneys opposed Boutrous’ proposed timetable and maintained that Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville had properly kept the documents from public view.

The interchange is the most recent expression of a conflict that has been simmering since November, when Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies raided the entertainer’s Neverland Ranch.

Because Jackson’s superstar status triggered global media interest, authorities have gone to great lengths to keep possibly damaging news from reaching potential jurors.

A grand jury was impaneled in a remote, guarded location instead of in the county courthouse. Dozens of search warrants have been sealed, and much of the grand jury’s indictment against Jackson also remains under wraps.

The defense of such measures by Jackson’s attorneys shows “a remarkable insensitivity to fundamental 1st Amendment values,” media lawyer Boutrous said in an interview Monday.

In his court filing, Sanger contended that the media wanted access to closed documents only to dig up dirt.

The media’s concern is “more voyeuristic and entertainment-related than it is an interest of an audience concerned with matters of government or public affairs,” Sanger wrote. “One can imagine other cases which might have a direct impact on the public welfare, national politics or international relations. This is not one.”

But Boutrous contended that the Santa Barbara attorney was downplaying the significance of his own case.

“Mr. Jackson is an international figure who has accused prosecutors of unprecedented abuses of power,” he said. “The public has a great interest in obtaining and understanding information about this case.”

In pretrial hearings and some public documents, Jackson’s attorneys have cast Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon as an arrogant, vengeful prosecutor who twisted evidence and manipulated grand jurors into handing down an indictment. Sneddon has denied the accusations.

The appellate court has not yet set a hearing on the secrecy issue. Boutrous has proposed Aug. 10 -- six days before a key pretrial hearing in Melville’s Santa Maria courtroom.