D.A. to Testify in Jackson Case

The lead prosecutor in the Michael Jackson child-molestation case will take the stand as a witness in an upcoming pretrial hearing, a judge ruled Friday.

The decision by Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville was one of several actions Friday that demonstrated his tight control of the courtroom and established him as a man who does not suffer delays gladly.

In a pretrial hearing that took less than two hours, Melville blasted Jackson’s lawyers for being “inconsiderate,” told Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon that he would have to cancel an important family function to appear as a witness, and hinted that he would hold Jackson in contempt if the pop star issued more public statements on the case.

The issue at hand involved objections by the defense to a search by police at the Beverly Hills office of Bradley Miller, a private investigator who defense attorneys said had been retained by Mark Geragos, Jackson’s former lawyer.

In court papers filed Thursday, Jackson’s attorneys alleged that officers had violated their client’s right to counsel by sledgehammering their way into Miller’s office, where they seized computers and videotapes Nov. 19.

They argued that the raid was a breach of attorney-client privilege because Miller was on the defense team, even if he wasn’t a lawyer.

A little more than a week earlier, Sneddon had driven down from Santa Barbara to conduct a surveillance of the investigator’s office and to show unidentified people a photo lineup containing Miller’s picture, according to court documents.

In their response to the defense motion, prosecutors said they didn’t know that Miller was working for Jackson’s attorney at the time. Even so, they contended, that relationship would not necessarily make their search illegal.

To make their points about Miller’s link to Geragos, defense attorneys plan to take testimony later this month from Sneddon and five police officers from Santa Barbara and Beverly Hills.

If they had not been granted the delay they requested, defense lawyers were prepared to call the witnesses Friday. That irked the judge, as he had not been told testimony was to be heard.

“I think you failed me by keeping your desire to hold an evidentiary hearing to yourself,” he told defense attorney Robert M. Sanger of Santa Barbara.

Melville was also angered by the defense’s request that the hearing on the raid of Miller’s office be postponed. The judge grudgingly approved the delay until July 27, but made it clear he was angry.

He pointed out that the Jackson case requires extra bailiffs and court staff to deal with the crush of journalists and fans from around the United States.

“You’re just not being considerate of the demands on the court system,” he told Sanger. “You’re not being very courteous.”

Prosecutors also came under fire.

Sneddon, who said, “I have nothing to hide,” was willing to testify immediately about the search of Miller’s office. However, he was reluctant to appear on July 27, when, he reminded Melville, he had pressing “family and financial” matters that would make his attendance difficult.

That exasperated the judge, who had rearranged his own schedule for the July 27 hearing.

“If I can cancel my vacation, I guess you can cancel yours,” he told Sneddon.

After a recess, Melville relented, urging defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. to videotape Sneddon’s testimony or take other measures that would allow the district attorney to keep his plans.

Melville also laid into Sneddon when the district attorney tried to counter criticism that prosecutors had been late in submitting their response to a defense motion.

“I’m sorry I’m upsetting you,” Melville said. “Maybe you’re not aware of how far behind schedule you were.”

On another issue, the judge agreed with prosecutors objecting to a statement issued by Jackson last month on his website.

The statement was a response to media reports about the alleged details of the settlement paid by Jackson in a 1993 suit over accusations of child molestation.

In it, Jackson criticized the leak as an attempt to “try the case in the press, rather than to a jury who will hear all of the evidence that will show I did not, and would not, ever, harm a child.”

Melville said Jackson “in a sense” had violated a gag order keeping him and attorneys in the case from talking publicly about it without the judge’s approval. He said he had not raised it as an issue with Mesereau because the Los Angeles attorney had recently taken over as Jackson’s lead counsel. But at Friday’s hearing, Melville signaled that slack would no longer be cut.

“Would it be fair for me to say you’re no longer the new kid on the block?” he asked Mesereau.

Mesereau said it would be.