THE US: Fans of Michael Jackson erupted in cheers yesterday as the pop star emerged from a double-decker tour bus and went into a California court to be confronted by a prosecutor who has pursued him for years on child molestation charges.
Jackson, wearing a white suit with a mustard armband, entered the Santa Maria court with several family members, also dressed in white. A bodyguard held a black umbrella over the singer, who flashed a peace sign to the crowd.
About 100 mostly young fans pressed against a chain-link fence and hoisted signs saying "Our Love is With You" and "Michael Jackson is Innocent". The hearing is due to decide whether prosecutors can use evidence seized from the office of a private investigator working for the singer.
Dozens of police and a small group of people who were demonstrating in support of sexual abuse victims were also at the court.
Jackson was accompanied yesterday by his parents, Katherine and Joseph Jackson, and siblings Jermaine, Janet, Jackie and LaToya.
Prosecutors received their own boost on Sunday with the release of a leaked report by the state attorney general that rejected Jackson's charge that he was "manhandled" when sheriff's deputies took him into custody last year.
Jackson (45) is charged with committing a lewd act upon a child, administering an intoxicating agent and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on almost $2 million bail.
The defence seeks to show that the prosecutor, Mr Tom Sneddon, violated lawyer-client privilege between Jackson and his former lawyer, Mr Mark Geragos, when he conducted personal surveillance of a private investigator's office.
The investigator, Mr Bradley Miller, was not in his Beverly Hills office when Mr Sneddon went there and photographed the building and its roster of occupants.
Santa Barbara county sheriff's officials have already testified that they used a sledgehammer to break into Miller's office and seize videotapes and files relating to the Jackson case. They maintain that they did not know Mr Miller was employed by Mr Geragos. The conspiracy count has become a centrepiece of the prosecution case with allegations that the 12-year-old accuser and his family were coerced into making a videotape praising the singer's character.
The tape and other materials seized from Mr Miller's office are at issue in the hearing. A ruling that they must be suppressed because they were wrongfully seized would seriously undermine the prosecution's case.