Media Lawyers Lobby for Less Stringent Secrecy on Jackson Grand Jury

As a secret grand jury began hearing its second week of testimony in the Michael Jackson child molestation case, lawyers for news organizations stepped up their efforts Monday to strip some of the unprecedented secrecy from the proceedings.

Attorney Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., representing a coalition of national media organizations, including The Times, urged county officials to take down barricades leading to a sheriff’s training facility on the outskirts of Santa Barbara that has been used by the grand jury during its early proceedings.

Boutrous said that blocking off streets leading into the facility bans the media from attempting to interview witnesses, even though those activities have been expressly permitted by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura.

The public’s rights are being “frustrated and defeated” by the Sheriff Department’s decision to block streets and sidewalks leading to the grand jury site, Boutrous said in a letter to Stephen D. Underwood, chief assistant county counsel.

Responding to Boutrous, Underwood said he would consult with sheriff’s officials, and that there might be some “middle ground” that would be acceptable to all parties.

Boutrous countered that “at the very least” news organizations should be allowed to congregate as close to any grand jury locations “as the public streets and sidewalks will take them.”

The exchanges over media access Monday were the latest in a flurry of 1st Amendment battles in the Jackson case that intensified last week after Clifford R. Anderson, presiding Superior Court judge in Santa Barbara County, issued a strict “decorum order” threatening contempt charges against anybody photographing or trying to talk to witnesses or prospective jurors, even on public streets.

Anderson modified his own order last week after Boutrous sought an emergency ruling from the 2nd District Court of Appeal to strike the judge’s ban as unconstitutional. The appeals court also issued a brief order amending Anderson’s provisions, and is considering additional media requests for less stringent secrecy measures.

Jackson, 45, was arrested in December on nine felony charges in connection with the alleged molestation of a young cancer victim early last year at the pop star’s Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara County’s Santa Ynez Valley. He is free on $3-million bail, and has called the allegations a “big lie.”

Prosecutors convened a grand jury in the case early last month. If 12 of the 19 grand jurors decide that there is enough evidence to warrant criminal prosecution, Jackson will be recharged and bound over for trial. Prosecutors favored a grand jury over a public preliminary hearing at this stage partly to keep their case secret.

Although all parties in the case have been banned by a gag order from discussing even the identity of witnesses, sources close to the grand jury proceeding have said witnesses last week included the alleged victim, now 14, his father and a brother. Attorney Larry Feldman, who is counsel to the boy’s mother, also was called.

Among early witnesses scheduled to testify this week, a source said, are the boy’s mother and Brad Miller, an investigator hired by Jackson defense lawyer Mark Geragos. Sources have estimated that the grand jury proceeding could conclude late this week or next week.