US: The judge in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial said yesterday he would allow prosecutors to introduce evidence relating to five previous incidents of alleged abuse by the pop star, in a major defeat for his defence.
Under the ruling, jurors will be allowed to hear testimony about a 1993 case in which the singer paid some $23 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a boy who accused him of sexual abuse.
The singer's 1993 accuser, Jordy Chandler, will not testify, and prosecutor Tom Sneddon made no direct reference to the case.
Defence lawyers had strenuously objected to that testimony, arguing that prosecutors were "desperate" and that their case against Jackson had already fallen apart in court.
Jackson (46) is accused in a 10-count indictment of plying a then-13-year-old boy with alcohol and molesting him while the youngster and his family were staying at the entertainer's Neverland ranch in early 2003.
Jackson was never charged in connection with the past accusations. However, prosecutors want to convince jurors that the singer has a pattern of behaviour toward young boys - evidence legal experts say could be devastating to his defence.
After about 90 minutes of sometimes impassioned arguments on both sides, Santa Barbara Superior Court judge Rodney Melville sided with prosecutors.
The issue was "of great importance in this case to both sides", he said.
"I'm going to permit testimony with regard to sexual offences," Judge Melville said.
The judge said he also would permit prosecutors to try to show that the 46-year-old entertainer had a history of "grooming" his alleged victims for abuse by lavishing time and attention on them in order to win their trust.
With jurors out of the courtroom, defence lawyers sought to block such testimony, arguing that prosecutors were trying to bring in a parade of witnesses with grudges against the singer.
Jackson's lawyer Tom Mesereau said a grand jury never returned an indictment against Jackson in the 1993 case and only one of the alleged prior victims has agreed to testify.
"You have what is in effect a very problematic case, and I submit the prosecution knows that," Mr Mesereau said.
The allegations in this case involve touching, including kissing, hugging and inserting his hand into children's pants, Mr Sneddon said.
"All of these children are basically within the ages of 10 and 13."
Mr Sneddon added that one would claim Jackson licked a child's head, much as he allegedly did with current accuser Gavin Arvizo.
Jackson's accuser in the current case, along with the boy's brother and sister, had all "lied repeatedly", Mr Mesereau said, adding that the inconsistencies in their testimony would worsen once the accuser's mother took the stand.
Mr Sneddon shot back that Jackson's accuser had never wavered under cross-examination.
Mr Mesereau, he said, had been "as abusive, as mean-spirited and obnoxious as you can be to a child witness, and I think it was a remarkable job this kid did. He was never once tripped up about the central fact of the case - that he was molested".
Jackson, who faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted on all of the counts against him, has pleaded innocent and repeated in a radio interview on Sunday that the charges against him were "totally fabricated".
His lawyers have argued that the mother of Jackson's now 15-year-old accuser invented the abuse claims after latching on to the entertainer in an attempt to get money from him.
Jackson's lawyers have also painted Mr Sneddon as an overzealous prosecutor, intent on taking down the singer at all costs, especially after his attempt to bring charges a decade earlier failed. - (Reuters)