US: Michael Jackson's lawyers asked for a mistrial to be declared yesterday after it was suggested British journalist Martin Bashir's documentary was edited to misrepresent the singer.
Jackson admitted sharing his bedroom with young boys in the documentary, Living With Michael Jackson, which was first broadcast on ITV1 and which triggered the investigation.
Judge Rodney Melville denied the request to abandon the trial, which was made on the basis of testimony by Jackson videographer Hamid Moslehi.
Mr Moslehi told Santa Maria court, California, that during the taping of the Bashir programme he used his own camera to record the material as a backup for Jackson.
He said when he saw Bashir's finished product he realised it did not include everything.
"The way it was edited, Mr Jackson sounded different than if they had continued another two or three seconds of that statement," he said.
Judge Melville has twice specifically barred the defence from showing Mr Moslehi's tapes in court.
He interrupted prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss, warning him not to delve into the issue and only to ask general questions, not specifics.
But a few seconds later Mr Moslehi was asked: "Was there anything misrepresented [on the Bashir documentary] regarding Michael Jackson sleeping with children?"
The judge admonished Mr Auchincloss again and the subject was dropped. But before the witness left the stand, and in the absence of the jury, Jackson lawyer Robert Sanger demanded a mistrial.
He accused the prosecution of planting ideas in jurors' minds about sleeping with boys and claimed the defence could not answer the allegations because they were barred from using the tape.
"The bell has been rung and the jury clearly heard it," Mr Sanger said. "There is no other remedy than to declare a mistrial.
Judge Melville denied the request as well as a further bid to show jurors the out-takes in question.
Earlier, Mr Moslehi claimed he did not see Jackson's accuser Gavin Arvizo and his family rehearsing any lines for the so-called rebuttal video, made in anticipation of a backlash from Bashir's documentary.
The Arvizo family heaps praise on Jackson during the 30-minute video but has told the court that every line was scripted.
Mr Moslehi said the family was at his house for two or three hours before the taping began and he saw them playing but not rehearsing. He said Gavin's mother, Janet Arvizo, applied her make-up for the taping in his bathroom but there was no one there coaching her.
Jackson's ex-wife and the mother of his children, Debbie Rowe, is expected to be called to the stand shortly.