US: Pop star Michael Jackson has been indicted by a Santa Barbara County grand jury investigating the child molestation allegations made against him. The 19-member panel spent 13 days considering whether there was enough evidence to charge him.
Jackson has called the allegations a "big lie" and has denied molesting a teenage cancer-sufferer at his Neverland ranch in California in February and March last year. His spokeswoman reacted to the grand jury indictment by insisting that he would be "exonerated" in the end.
The indictment means that Jackson's case will proceed directly to the Santa Barbara Superior Court for trial without any pre-trial hearing.
Jackson may be asked to enter a new plea in the new proceedings. He has already entered a "not guilty" plea. The Santa Barbara News-Press cited county sources but had no details of the indictments, nor was there any official confirmation.
Jackson's spokeswoman, Ms Raymone Bain, said in a statement that the singer would plead not guilty during his scheduled April 30th arraignment.
The singer and his attorneys "are confident that after a trial . . . Jackson will be fully exonerated", the statement read.
"Michael is looking forward to his day in court." The grand jury has spent the last three weeks hearing from witnesses, including a 14-year-old boy who claims that Jackson sexually abused him.
Four months ago, county prosecutors charged Jackson with seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and with two counts of administering an intoxicating agent, reportedly wine. Jackson pleaded not guilty in January.
Jackson is currently at liberty on $2 million bail from his previous arraignment.
Meanwhile, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges are being considered against several associates of Michael Jackson for allegedly threatening the family of the boy who has accused him of child molestation, the Los Angeles Times reported.
An unidentified source close to the case told the paper that the charges were under consideration.
Lawyer Joseph Tacopina said there had been speculation that two of his clients, Vincent Amen and Frank Tyson, would either be indicted by the grand jury or charged separately with alleged intimidation of witnesses.
He denied the allegations and said that the two former Jackson employees would not appear before the grand jury.
The attorney said that the accusations came from the boy's mother and were "patently false". - (Reuters, AP)