US: A judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial yesterday ruled that prosecutors can call the singer's former wife, Debbie Rowe, to testify against him amid a shake-up of Jackson's defence team.
Lead defence attorney Tom Mesereau filed a notice with the court saying family attorney Brian Oxman would no longer be part of the case, but he offered no reason.
Outside the courtroom, Mr Oxman told reporters only that there had been "consternation on our team". He was later seen hugging and shaking hands with Mr Mesereau in the courthouse parking lot.
Ms Rowe, the mother of two of Jackson's children, is expected to take the witness stand this week to testify that she was part of an effort to salvage the singer's image following the broadcast of a devastating British television documentary.
Prosecutor Ron Zonen said she would tell jurors that Jackson's aides pressured her into giving a "highly scripted" videotaped interview supporting him in exchange for visits with her two children.
Prosecutors say Jackson's camp panicked after the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson aired in February 2003.
It showed him nuzzling the young teen who would later accuse him of child molestation and defending his practice of sharing a bed with boys.
The 46-year-old pop icon is accused of conspiring to imprison the boy's family at his Neverland Valley Ranch and bullying them into making a videotaped interview - a so-called rebuttal tape - that has become central to the trial.
In the rebuttal tape, the boy, his mother and siblings praise Jackson warmly as an ideal father figure and vehemently deny any suggestion he acted improperly.
Mr Zonen said the performances by the family of Jackson's accuser and by Rowe in the interviews were similarly "over the top".
Jackson is charged with molesting the boy, then 13, at Neverland and faces more than two decades in prison if convicted.
Jackson defence lawyer Robert Sanger urged Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville to bar Ms Rowe from testifying, saying there was nothing improper about scripted questions during an interview.
Mr Sanger said the defence would need to cross-examine Ms Rowe at length, prolonging a trial that is already in its third month.
Judge Melville, during a hearing outside the presence of the jury, said he would allow Ms Rowe to take the witness stand but would work to limit the scope of her testimony.
When jurors returned they heard from a former Neverland security guard, Kassim Abdool, who was called by prosecutors to corroborate some of the most lurid and inflammatory testimony of the trial by fellow guard Ralph Chacon.
Mr Chacon told the jury that he watched through a window one night as Jackson performed oral sex on a boy who later collected a $23 million civil settlement from the entertainer.
Mr Chacon alleges the incident followed a jacuzzi dip by Jackson and the boy.