Domestic Violence Expert Can’t Testify on Jackson Witness’ Behavior, Judge Decides

Prosecutors in the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial will not be allowed to bring in an expert on domestic violence to explain the bizarre testimony of the mother of the pop star’s accuser, a judge ruled Thursday.

The effort to call the expert witness was an acknowledgment of problems with the mother’s testimony, which a prosecutor conceded showed signs of paranoia. Among other things, the woman, whom The Times is not naming to protect her son’s identity, testified that she feared Jackson’s aides would kill her parents and send a hot-air balloon to the singer’s Neverland ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley to whisk her children away.

The mother “behaves the way she does because of her history of domestic violence,” Santa Barbara County prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss said. “Is she paranoid? Yes, as most victims of domestic violence are.”

During testimony last week, the boy’s mother said she had been beaten almost daily for 17 years by her ex-husband. Prosecutors said the expert could help explain why the woman denied in sworn testimony in a civil lawsuit that her husband had beaten her. Jackson’s lawyers have seized on her statements in that suit as evidence that she is a perjurer who cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville said there was no history of such evidence being allowed to resuscitate a witness’ testimony -- other than in cases directly involving the abuser -- and he thought it would unfairly affect Jackson’s defense.

The 46-year-old pop star is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy at Neverland in 2003. He is also charged with giving minors alcohol to aid in the commission of a felony and of conspiring to keep the accuser and his family from leaving the ranch. If convicted on all charges, he could face more than 20 years in prison.

It was a day of mixed rulings by Melville. The judge also said he would not allow prosecutors to introduce evidence of another act of sexual misconduct by Jackson but would allow the testimony of a Jackson aide who is facing robbery charges in Nevada. The incident the judge would not allow prosecutors to address involved a former Jackson security guard who said he found the pop star in a compromising position with a boy in 1993, according to a motion filed by prosecutors.

The guard said Jackson had asked him to bring a jar of petroleum jelly to his bedroom. He said Jackson appeared to be aroused and sweaty when he opened his bedroom door and had a boy in his room at the time.

The judge said he would allow prosecutors to call as a witness another former security guard who testified to a grand jury last year that he had seen Jackson sharing alcohol with his teenage accuser in 2003. The guard, Chris Carter, is expected to invoke the 5th Amendment to avoid testifying about robberies he is accused of committing in Las Vegas.

In other rulings, the judge refused to allow the testimony of a travel agent who could confirm some of Jackson’s travel arrangements related to the case.