Jackson Court Documents Released
Investigators in the Michael Jackson child molestation case have seized about 100 pages of phone records, videos of the pop star, and a DVD of a party at his Neverland Ranch, according to court documents.
The documents released Monday included search warrants from January, law enforcement affidavits requesting them and lists of seized items.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville agreed last month to release the records, but ordered details to be omitted; the resulting documents do not include such information as where the warrants were served and descriptions of the items taken.
Whether the items will have any significance in the case wasn't immediately clear. Jackson attorney Benjamin Brafman cited a gag order in declining to comment.
Phone records with the number omitted were in response to a warrant dated Jan. 22, 2004 - the same day comedy club owner Jamie Masada, who introduced Jackson to his young accuser, held a news conference saying he had received threatening phone calls telling him not to speak about the case.
It was unclear if the phone records involved the threats, and Masada did not return a call Monday.
Documents released Monday also show that during a Jan. 30 search of an unidentified property, investigators seized computers, photos, videos, three videos of Jackson on compact discs and a DVD of a party at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
A Jan. 31 search yielded computers, documents - some involving Jackson - and videotapes. The address of the property was removed, but law enforcement officials confirmed on Jan. 31 that they were searching the Calabasas residence of one of Jackson's former producers, Marc Schaffel.
Schaffel has an unlisted number and could not be located Monday.
Also Monday, Michael Jackson unveiled a new Web site, www.mjjsource.com, that merges a celebration of his music career with news and background on his criminal trial - including short biographies of his attorneys and a calendar listing upcoming court dates.
By Tim Molloy