Jackson Jury Hears From Print Pro

A Secret Service forensic scientist testified in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial Thursday, describing fingerprinting techniques to lay the groundwork for prosecution testimony about prints found on adult magazines seized at the pop star's Neverland ranch.

The expert, Antonio Cantu, did not test any of the magazines but was called to explain the methodology.

"This is a new technology that can find fingerprints where you least expect them in a way you would never expect to find them," reports CBS Legal Consultant Randy Taraborrelli.

The prosecution has said one magazine had fingerprints from Jackson and his accuser. The defense has noted that the magazines weren't fingerprinted until after grand jury hearings in March and April 2004 and the accuser may have touched them during those hearings.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. has also suggested Jackson once caught the boy looking at the magazines and took them away, which also could have left both sets of fingerprints.

On Wednesday, prosecutors were barred from using sexually explicit material found on computers in Jackson's bedroom, but showed jurors a barrage of adult magazines that they said were seized from the singer's home.

Jurors saw about 75 images, including dozens of photographs from magazines like Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, and a few covers of adult videos or DVDs. About fifteen of the images were from publications like Barely Legal that feature women who have recently turned 18.

Prosecutors contend Jackson's accuser and his brother saw magazines similar to the ones shown while staying at Neverland, but have not yet presented any evidence that they saw the images presented in court. None of the publications bore the DNA of the boy's family.

Though Jackson has twice been late to court in the last week with what he said was severe back pain, his attorney was the one with health problems Wednesday. Brian Oxman, one of Jackson's lawyers, left court in an ambulance because of what his wife said was a touch of pneumonia.

Oxman was taken from the courthouse by ambulance to Marian Medical Center, where hospital officials said he was stable and resting comfortably.

In other developments, a prosecution witness was being held in Las Vegas on unrelated charges of kidnapping, burglary and robbery. Christopher Eric Carter, 25, was indicted Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges, said his attorney Lloyd Baker.

Carter was being held in Clark County Jail on $850,000 bail and was scheduled to return to court in that case Monday. Baker said he received documents Wednesday from Sneddon's office requesting Carter appear as witness in Jackson's case.

Jackson's team scored a victory Wednesday when Judge Rodney S. Melville refused to let prosecutors introduce images found on the hard drives of three computers found in Jackson's bedroom.

The judge said the material had been automatically "cached" and that "there wouldn't be any way of knowing if anyone looked at the material or not." He agreed with the defense that the material did not appear to relate to the time period of the alleged crimes.

In arguing for the computer evidence, the prosecution said technicians had isolated material that included teen-themed adult Web sites and adoption sites.

Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said he felt the adoption sites showed that Jackson was the user of the computers and related to his statements in a documentary that he was interested in adopting children.

"We intend to use this evidence to show ... Michael Jackson knows how to use a computer ... that he knows how to access adult materials on Internet sites," the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Robert Sanger called the material prejudicial and noted that all of it was dated either two years before Jackson met his accuser or several months after his involvement with the child and his family had ended.

"It's heterosexual material and it is not directly related to the case," Sanger said. "The issue of who accessed the material is totally unresolved."

The prosecution said the computers contained online user aliases believed to be Jackson's, including "Marcel Jackson." But Sanger noted that Jackson has a cousin who sometimes goes by the name Marcel, although the attorney noted that he wasn't saying the cousin downloaded the material.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient at Neverland in February or March 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to make a video rebutting a Feb. 6, 2003, documentary in which he appeared with the boy and said he let children sleep in his bed but it was non-sexual.