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Updated June 16, 2005, 5:45 p.m. ET

Judge orders state to return evidence to Michael Jackson, unseals documents
Michael Jackson was cleared of all charges against him in his child molestation trial.

SANTA MARIA, Calif.Michael Jackson soon may be reunited with his pornography collection.

The judge who ruled over Jackon's child molestation trial ordered Thursday that the singer's passport, which was confiscated following his November 2003 arrest, be returned to him.

However, the judge is allowing prosecutors time to consider their legal position before ordering them to return other evidence, including pornographic materials, seized from Neverland as part of the investigation into whether Jackson molested a young cancer survivor.

"Mr. Jackson wants his stuff," defense attorney Robert Sanger said after the hearing at the Santa Maria courthouse. "He was exonerated. He should be allowed go on with his life."


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The pop star was acquitted Monday of all 10 charges brought against him.

Sanger did not specify which items Jackson wanted back, but presumably all items seized at Neverland ultimately will be returned.

Prosecutors trotted out dozens of pornographic materials — from the mainstream magazine Club to the eccentric Over 50 and Pimp Up, Ho's Down — during the singer's 15-week trial.

Although forensic investigators found fingerprints belonging to Jackson and his 13-year-old accuser on a copy of "Barely Legal," prosecutors failed to convince jurors that the singer used it to arouse the desires of the boy he was accused of preying on.

Also taken during a November 2003 raid on Jackson's 2,800-acre ranch were several laptop computers — which investigators scoured to find pornographic images from Internet websites — illicit DVDs, personal notes, and even a Christmas invitation.

What about the infamous photos of the blemished penis?

Prosecutors took photos of Jackson'sdistinctively marked genitalia and buttocks in 1993 to corroborate drawings made by Jordie Chandler, who first accused Jackson of molestation.

Although the pictures are certainly of a personal nature, they are not Jackson's property.

"I'm sure he could get copies of them," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson. "But these weren't things he provided to prosecutors that they seized, and ordinarily, they wouldn't be considered personal property."

Chandler and his family received more than $20 million in a settlement with Jackson in exchange for their silence.

Prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to introduce the photos and drawings during trial.

"I'm sure he'd prefer that those not be in the hands of anyone, particularly someone like Martin Bashir," Levenson said.

British journalist Bashir's 2003 TV documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson ," featured the singer holding hands and embracing his accuser.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon has said he will not facilitate the return of the penis photos, because they have evidentiary value if any future allegations of sexual abuse are lodged against the singer.

Former Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Thomas, who was involved in the 1993 investigation, told Courttv.com that the photos are locked away in a safety deposit box, requiring three signatures and a court order to retrieve them.

Jackson and Sneddon were not present at the hearing Thursday.

Jackson was found not guilty this week of 10 counts, including conspiracy, committing a lewd act upon a child, and administering an intoxicating agent to his accuser. The eight-woman, four man panel deliberated for seven days.

Judge Melville is also considering whether to release to the media videos that were shown during the trial, and he allowed time for attorneys on both sides to object to unsealing specific documents.

"I have no intention to keep anything sealed except something that might involve privacy matters of a juror," Melville said.

Material that had been sealed in the case included search warrants, motions that were partly blacked out, questions asked by the jury during deliberations and transcripts of hearings in the judge's chambers.

The court released the jury's deliberation questions on Thursday.

The judge also agreed to requests to return Jackson family memorabilia which had been seized from a New Jersey man who bought the items at an auction of a commercial storage locker's contents.

Edgar Pease III, the lawyer for Henry Vaccaro, said his client is now a defendant in a federal lawsuit by Jackson and his sister Janet, who claim the materials were stolen.

None of the items were used as evidence in the Jackson case. Pease showed reporters photographs of the items, which included sexually explicit materials such as adult magazines and videos and dolls similar to evidence presented by the prosecution.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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