The judge in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial has ruled that prosecutors can call the singer's former wife to testify against him.
Michael Jackson departs the Santa Barbara County Courthouse
Ms Debbie Rowe, the mother of two of Jackson's children, was expected to take the witness stand this week to testify that she was part of an effort to salvage the singer's image following the broadcast of a devastating British documentary.
Prosecutor Ron Zonen said she would tell jurors that Jackson's henchmen pressured her into giving a "highly scripted" videotaped interview supporting him in exchange for visits with her two children.
Prosecutors say Jackson's camp panicked after the documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, aired in February of 2003 and showing him nuzzling with the young teen - who would later accuse him of child molestation - and defending his practice of sharing a bed with boys.
The pop icon (46) is accused of conspiring to imprison the boy's family at his Neverland Valley Ranch and bullying them into making a videotaped interview - a so-called rebuttal tape - that has become central to the trial.
In the tape, the boy, his mother and siblings praise Jackson warmly as an ideal father figure and vehemently deny any suggestion that he acted improperly. Mr Zonen said the performances by the family of Jackson's accuser and by Ms Rowe in the interviews were similarly "over the top".
Jackson is charged with molesting the boy, then 13, at Neverland and faces more than two decades in prison if he is convicted.
Jackson defence lawyer Robert Sanger urged Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville to bar Ms Rowe from testifying, saying there was nothing improper about scripted questions during an interview.
Mr Sanger said that the defence would need to cross-examine Ms Rowe at length, prolonging a trial that is already in its third month.