By Harriet Ryan Court TV
SANTA MARIA, Calif. A forensic examiner testified Friday that he found the fingerprints of Michael Jackson and his teenage accuser in the same ultra-explicit pornographic magazine seized from the pop icon's bedroom. Two of Jackson's prints and three from the young cancer survivor were discovered on an issue of Hustler's Barely Legal Hardcore, retired Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Robert Skinner told jurors. None of the entertainer's prints were on the same page as the boy's, but prosecutors are expected to argue the magazine is strong corroboration to the 15-year-old accuser's testimony that Jackson showed him pornography as a lead-up to molestation. The magazine features photos of naked women who look like young teenagers in sex acts with each other and men, as well as close-ups of both male and female genitalia.
"Welcome, girl watchers!" declares one headline from a page shown to jurors. Skinner identified 19 different fingerprints found on pages of magazines recovered from a locked Samsonite briefcase in the master bedroom of Jackson's Neverland estate. The 46-year-old music legend is accused of fondling the boy on two occasions in the bedroom in 2003. If convicted of molestation and other charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison. His defense is expected to suggest the accuser, then 13, and his 11-year-old brother, guests at the estate, rifled through the briefcase themselves. Skinner told jurors he found the accuser's fingerprints on two other pieces of adult material, a guide to "The 100 Best Adult Videos" and a magazine called Visions of Fantasy: Sam and Jose's Black Starlet. His brother's prints were lifted from an issue of Finally Legal magazine, whose content is similar to that of Hustler's Barely Legal Hardcore. Jackson's prints were found on several other magazines, including Playboy and Penthouse. Despite the erotic medium for the fingerprints, Skinner's testimony was often dry. He talked at length about the technical process of comparing prints, speaking in terms of "whorls" and "points of comparison." Twenty minutes before court normally breaks for the day, an exasperated Judge Rodney Melville cut the witness off, saying, "I can't take it anymore." Jurors laughed heartily and, in a special listening room for the media, there was a round of applause. Before dismissing the jury for the weekend break, Melville lectured the panel about avoiding the media. Although the judge did not give a reason for the special admonition, it seemed clear Melville was concerned about press coverage of Monday's hearing to determine the admissibility of prior incidents between Jackson and young teenage boys. The hearing is seen as critical in the trial. The judge warned the jury especially to avoid talking to relatives about the case. "It's not going to be some stranger who walks up to you on the street and says, 'Do you know what I heard on TV?' It's going to be a family member," he said. Jackson, dressed in a black suit jacket with an elaborate pendant at his neck and a gold armband, smiled slightly as he left court to cheers from fans. Defense lawyer Brian Oxman, who was hospitalized for pneumonia earlier this week, briefly thanked the public for its concern, but said people should direct their good wishes toward Jackson, who has been experiencing back pain, instead. "He has been really having a time staying out of pain and we thank you very much for all your thoughts," Oxman said. After Monday's hearing, Spinner will continue testifying, and actor George Lopez and his wife, Ann, could take the stand. |