Jacksons To Throw Fans A Party

Michael Jackson's family plans to throw a party at a casino this weekend to thank the singer's most loyal fans for their allegiance during his 14-week trial, a casino spokeswoman said.

It was not immediately known if the singer — who has not appeared in public since being acquitted Monday of child molestation charges — would be at the party.

"We don't know who will perform. We're just told the Jackson family is putting together an event for fans they have selected," Frances Snyder, a spokeswoman for Chumash Casino, told the Los Angeles Times in Friday's editions.

The family expected to choose a group of people Friday to receive invitations for a bash Saturday night at the casino in Santa Ynez, the newspaper reported.

Members of Jackson's family, including his father, Joe, have been staying at the casino hotel in recent weeks. The casino is near Jackson's Neverland ranch.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville, who placed a tight lid of secrecy on evidence in Jackson's trial, said he intends to release virtually every sealed document and also ordered that authorities return the pop star's passport.

Melville said he had accomplished his goal of providing a fair trial to both sides. He was still considering whether to release videos that were shown during the trial, and he allowed time for attorneys 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 during a hearing on motions filed during the trial.

Jackson, 46, on Monday won complete acquittal on a 10-count indictment that alleged he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003, plied the boy with wine and conspired to hold him and his family captive to get them to make a video rebutting a damaging television documentary.

Jackson, who surrendered his passport after his arrest in 2003, has not appeared in public since the verdict. His brother Jermaine said Wednesday on CNN that Jackson was resting, and, on the issue of whether he might move away, said that "we've always had a love for places outside the U.S."

But Jackson's acquittal, however, doesn't necessarily mean his legal woes are over. Jackson, who has a history of paying millions of dollars to make child molestation allegations go away, could still be hit with a civil lawsuit.

At trial, the mother testified she did not plan a lawsuit and didn't want "the devil's money."

However, she could change her mind.

If Jackson is sued, he could face even more stress than during the four-month criminal trial because his accusers could force him to testify.

"If he refused to take the stand, there would be a default entered" and Jackson would be held liable for damages, said Daniel Petrocelli, the attorney who sued Simpson for the family of murder victim Ronald Goldman.

Jackson, who never took the witness stand in his criminal trial, emerged from court after the verdict looking frail. Friends and family said he ate little during his 4-month trial and the stress aggravated a back injury and left him in pain.

"Look what they put him through for so long, and its time for him to just get back into himself and just let the light come into him ... ," Jackson's brother Jermaine said Wednesday on CNN's "Larry King Live."

He added that his brother is "at peace and we're very happy."

Jackson also has the option of suing, and Jermaine Jackson said if he had been the one on trial he would sue for malicious prosecution.

"They tried to bury him," he said.

trial that his once vast fortune is in peril.