Jackson’s Neverland Searched

Investigators raided Michael Jackson’s palatial Neverland Ranch on Friday, less than two months before the scheduled start of the pop star’s trial on charges of child molestation and conspiracy.

Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies and investigators from the county district attorney’s office began the search of Jackson’s 2,300-acre spread about 9 a.m., according to Sgt. Chris Pappas, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department. It continued into Friday evening.

Citing a gag order in the case, Pappas declined to say what items the search warrant would allow officers to seize. Attorneys in the case also are bound by the order, which bars them from making public statements not previously approved by Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville.

Friday’s visit was the third major search of the entertainer’s home.

The first occurred 12 years ago in connection with a widely publicized allegation of child-molestation. The second took place in November 2003 when about 60 law enforcement personnel spent a day and most of the night scouring the mansion and other buildings for material relevant to the current case.

That search resulted in months of vigorous, though futile, legal challenges from Jackson’s lawyers. Some legal experts say the latest search could trigger another time-consuming courtroom battle.

“I think it has a good possibility of delaying the trial,” said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Loyola Law School.

She predicted that the defense would ask for a continuance of the trial, which is set to start Jan. 31.

While not unprecedented, an exhaustive search so close to the beginning of a major trial is “fairly unusual,” said USC law professor Jean Rosenbluth.

“It’s certainly curious,” said Rosenbluth, who also was a federal prosecutor. “I’ve got to believe that in the course of their investigation, they’ve developed leads they didn’t have before.”

It was unknown what areas of Neverland were searched Friday. Surrounded by oak-studded forests, the rolling property includes a private zoo and Jackson’s own amusement park, complete with a Ferris wheel and roller coaster.

Although prosecutors sometimes continue investigating until the eve of trial, the volume of late-breaking search warrants in the Jackson case has been a source of contention for months. Attorneys on both sides have claimed that their opponents are glacially slow to share the results of their investigations, a required procedure known as “discovery.”

At a pretrial hearing in September, the judge and Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon had a tense exchange over the issue.

“My fear is that you’re going to dump a huge quantity of material on the defense at the last minute,” Melville told the lead prosecutor. “These charges were filed a long time ago, and I’d think you’d be ready for trial by now.”

Sneddon was unapologetic.

“I’m just going to do what I have to do to protect my clients,” he said. “I can’t tell you I’m going to stop asking for warrants where it’s appropriate.”