Jacko legal news
Published January 09, 2004
Six of the US's biggest media groups are calling for the court documents
relating to the Michael Jackson child abuse allegations to be made public. The documents had been scheduled to be released to the media on 31 Dec, but
a last minute deal between Jacko's lawyer and the court means all documents will remain confidential until the court case itself begins next week. Lawyers for the New York Times and broadcasters CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox News are now claiming the court acted illegally in making that deal.
Lawyer Theodore Boutrous Jr, acting for the media firms: "There needs to be
notice and an opportunity to be heard regarding the sealing of court documents. There must be notice so the public can go in and argue that documents should not be sealed."
Elsewhere in Jackson legal dealings, Jacko's people have hit out at attempts
by the prosecution to stop the singer and his representatives talking to the
media about the case. The prosecutors argue such interviews damage the
chances of both sides getting a fair hearing at the trial - in particular
hitting out at claims by Jackson's lawyer Mark Geragos that the motives of
the family making the allegations against his client are financial. But
Geragos - who plans to oppose the moves to silence him and his team - told
reporters yesterday: "When I first read [the motion], I wondered if the
district attorney's office was suffering from short-term memory loss. I was
not the one conducting multiple press conferences with audio and visual
displays."
Finally for now in the legal department, the family of the boy allegedly
molested by Michael Jackson has filed a formal complaint to the Los Angeles
County Department of Children and Family Services over the leaking of a memo
relating to a previous investigation into the relationship between Jackson and the child. In that memo the family go on record as denying Jackson ever
behaved inappropriately - which damages the family's case against the singer
unless they can prove any abuse happened subsequent to the memo being
signed. The memo was leaked shortly after Jackson was charged and was
published on the Smoking Gun website. Agency officials have not commented on the complaints regarding the leaking of the memo, except to say the matter
was being investigated.
Marty's band, Growing Old Disgracefully, can be found at: Disgraceful Music. His Cthulhu tales can be found at Temple of Dagon. 
- Jacko legal news
- Published: January 09, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: News
- Writer: Marty Dodge
- Marty Dodge's BC Writer page
- Marty Dodge's personal site
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