Jackson To Be Charged Today

Michael Jackson will be charged Thursday in the child molestation case that has drawn international attention, Santa Barbara County prosecutors said.

Prosecutors will file charges at the Santa Barbara County Superior Court's division in Santa Maria, a few miles from Jackson's fairytale-inspired Neverland Ranch. A short media briefing will follow, District Attorney Thomas Sneddon said in a statement Wednesday.

The charges are expected to detail for the first time the allegations that Jackson molested a 14-year-old, cancer-stricken boy who slept over at Neverland several times. The boy appeared with Jackson in a British documentary that aired on ABC in February.

Jackson has said the allegations against him are "predicated on a big lie," while his attorney has said the accuser's family is seeking the superstar's money. Jackson has been free on $3 million bail since he turned himself in Nov. 20.

Charges are usually filed around the time of an arrest, but Sneddon said last month he was delaying the filing against Jackson so the county could set up a Web site to release information to the myriad news organizations following the case. The site, designed for media access only, was launched Monday.

Sneddon has declined to comment on the charges. But former Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Thomas, who has spoken with Sneddon about the case, said the charges would allege that Jackson molested the boy several times over a period of more than a month.

Sneddon sparked criticism Tuesday by bringing in a Hollywood public relations firm to handle media inquiries in the case.

Legal experts said they have never heard of such a procedure, even in the most high-profile cases.

"It may be naiveté on their part, but it makes it look like their interests are something other than seeing that justice is done," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson.

"I've never heard of it happening before," she said. "It seems to be shades of O.J. Prosecutors are so struck by the spotlight that their vision is blurred."

In the O.J. Simpson murder trial, there were no outside media consultants, but the case became a mass media extravaganza nevertheless.

Even if Sneddon's motives are innocent, Levenson said, a good defense attorney will be able to argue that the prosecutors were more interested in image than evidence.

Meanwhile, although blacks are rarely on juries in Santa Barbara County, experts interviewed by the Los Angeles Times feel Jackson can get a fair trial there.

"I think the celebrity factor outweighs the racial stuff," said Connie Rice, a prominent civil rights lawyer in Los Angeles. "When a case is very close, race will work against an underclass poor black, but work in favor of a celebrity."

A retired probation officer who heads a group that provides scholarships for local black high school students agrees.

"I think he can get a fair trial here," John H. McCoy Jr., said. "He's very popular with a lot of people here.

Sneddon issued a written statement Tuesday announcing that the firm Tellem Worldwide would be assisting him. He provided reporters with phone numbers to call their representatives.

Company president Susan Tellem said she contacted Sneddon last month and offered her firm's services without pay. After seeing his first press conference on the case, she said she surmised he would need assistance handling the media barrage.

The firm has a history of volunteerism and she felt it could help both Sneddon and the news media.

Asked if working with the district attorney against Jackson could hurt her with other celebrity clients, she said, "I don't think taking a position of helping the media report a story is being against Michael Jackson."

A 1993 case against Jackson involving another boy collapsed when the singer's accuser received a reported settlement of $15 million to $20 million and refused to testify against him.

Some see Sneddon as a man bent on vendetta after failing to bring Jackson to trial a decade ago.

"To me the prosecutor is an issue," attorney Rice told The Times. "He appears intemperate. He's too eager and he appears overzealous. If it was my case, I'd go after the prosecutor and a change of venue."