Media Seek Jackson Court Records
Attorneys for news media covering the Michael Jackson child molestation case will ask a judge today to unseal court records relating to the search of the entertainer’s Neverland estate in late November and his subsequent arrest on felony sex charges.
The documents initially were sealed for 45 days Nov. 17, the day before the search of Jackson’s Santa Ynez Valley home. That period ended Dec. 31.
But, without any public notice as required by court rules, Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon and defense lawyer Mark Geragos persuaded another judge to extend the sealing period “until, at a minimum, the arraignment in this matter.” Arraignment is set for Jan. 16.
The actual paperwork for the extension, banned by court rules unless a strong effort is made to redact inflammatory evidence instead of keeping everything secret, was signed by Sneddon and Geragos on Christmas Eve, and approved by Superior Court Judge Clifford Anderson on Dec. 26.
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. and Julian W. Poon, attorneys for Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher in Los Angeles, are representing NBC, CBS and CNN.
“The 1st Amendment and California law are clear on this issue,” Boutrous said Tuesday. “If there is a need to seal something that is particularly delicate, you have to explain it fully and you have to avoid just keeping all information away from the public.”
In their papers, Boutrous and Poon argue that constitutionally based rights to unseal documents may be overcome only by an “overriding interest” on findings that closure is essential to protect free trial rights.
The lawyers add that judges seeking to block the flow of information to the public must do so as narrowly as possible, crossing out a sensitive sentence, for example, instead of sealing an entire file.
Throughout the Jackson case, despite the hiring of a public relations firm working on a pro bono basis and the creation of a website by the Santa Barbara Courts, Sneddon has clamped a tight lid on most information, except when occasionally responding to allegations by Jackson.
The 45-year-old entertainer faces seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious behavior with a minor and two felony charges of providing an intoxicant to help seduce the boy. Because of state-mandated caps on such sentences, lawyers estimate he would serve about 21 years if convicted on all charges.
Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m., Jan. 16, in Santa Maria by Judge Rodney S. Melville. The motions to unseal documents could be heard at that time. Such documents are usually unsealed after 10 days.