Changing Tide At Jackson Trial

Prosecutors in the Michael Jackson case have waited more than a decade for what a judge has now granted them: the chance to tell jurors about past sexual abuse allegations that never led to criminal charges.

First, however, jurors were hearing Tuesday from Santa Barbara County fingerprint expert Robert Spinner, reports CBS News Correspondent Steve Futterman. Dr. Stan Katz, the psychologist who first heard the allegations of molestation from the current alleged victim. The defense has implied that Katz is simply a "hired gun" working alongside a civil attorney who once sued Jackson for millions.

In a blow to Jackson's defense, Judge Rodney S. Melville ruled Monday that prosecutors can introduce evidence that the pop star molested or had designs on five boys, including actor Macaulay Culkin and two youngsters who reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the singer.

Prosecutors say the evidence will show Jackson's behavior with his current accuser follows a pattern of abuse that included molesting one boy in 1990 and another in 1993. Both received settlements in 1994.

"It changes the whole dynamic of the case in favor of prosecutors and makes it much more likely that Jackson will be convicted," said CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen.

"He has to take the stand. There's no other way to win this case right now," legal analyst Anne Bremner told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. "Things were going well for him before."

Jackson appeared upbeat as he returned to court Tuesday, waving to screaming fans and raising a fist.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson's past inappropriate activities with boys included kissing, hugging and inserting his hands into their pants. He also said there was a pattern of "grooming," or preparing the boys for molestation, but did not elaborate.

Sneddon's contention is "'once a pedophile on file, always a pedophile,'" said Bremner. "It's human nature for the jury to think that and find him guilty in this case."

Jackson, 46, is on trial on charges he molested a former cancer patient — then 13 — at his Neverland ranch in 2003. In most criminal cases, evidence of past behavior is not admissible against a defendant. But the California Legislature changed the state's rules of evidence in 1995 so that it can be admitted in some cases of child molestation and domestic violence.

The incidents allegedly happened 12 to 15 years ago, and the prosecutor acknowledged that only one of the five boys has agreed to testify at Jackson's trial. The boy received $2.4 million from Jackson in a settlement after he alleged he was molested in 1990.

Other witnesses were expected to include the 1990 accuser's mother and the mother of a boy who received a multimillion-dollar settlement after alleging he was molested in 1993.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked Judge Rodney Melville to exclude the allegations, saying many came from third parties who were after Jackson's money. The reference was to former Jackson employees who previously sued the singer and lost, and were then ordered to pay him $1 million in court costs.

Mesereau also noted that Culkin, a frequent visitor to Jackson's Neverland Ranch, "has repeatedly said he was never molested." Culkin's publicist, Michelle Bega, said Monday that the "Home Alone" star "is presently not involved with the proceedings and we do not expect that to change."

Mesereau told the judge that he would put on a "mini-trial" on each allegation that the jury is allowed to hear. "You can't stop the defense from putting on a full-blown defense and I mean just that," the defense attorney warned.

It was unclear exactly what Jackson was accused of doing with each of the five boys, though the 1993 accuser claimed he was repeatedly molested, and Sneddon said the boy in the 1990 case was touched twice over his clothes and once under his clothes.

The judge excluded two other boys named by the prosecution but did not say why.

"Jackson's lawyers now have to regroup; their job has gotten an order of magnitude more difficult," said Cohen. "Instead of focusing upon a single family and trying to convince jurors that its members all are lying about Jackson, they have to focus upon a number of different families and allegations, and it all may be too much to overcome."

Sneddon said he planned to begin presenting evidence of the past allegations in about two weeks. The judge said he intended to give jurors special legal instructions on the issue of past similar acts before that testimony is offered.

Jackson was not present during the arguments but arrived later to cheers from fans.

"There is no way to spin it. This is a monumental defeat for Jackson and his hopes of staying out of prison and it is life raft to prosecutors, whose case so far has been very week," said Cohen. "The ruling also is likely to be Exhibit a in any appeal that follows from a conviction."

After the judge's ruling, comedian George Lopez took the stand and told about helping Jackson's current accuser as the boy battled cancer. Lopez said he came to believe the boy's father was more interested in money than helping his son. He testified the father accused the comedian of stealing $300 from the boy's wallet.

Lopez said he finally cut off the family because of the father's frequent and aggressive requests for help. When the father asked what he was supposed to tell his son, Lopez testified that he responded: "Tell him his father's an extortionist."

"That's been a term used by the defense," said Bremner. "It was a minor victory in what was a five-star day for the prosecution."

The defense contends Lopez, star of the ABC sitcom "George Lopez," is among celebrities who were targeted by the accuser's family in schemes to make money. But prosecutors contend that any such schemes were the work of the boy's father, who is now divorced from the mother.