The judge in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial has ruled that the prosecution cannot introduce adult materials found on computers in Jackson’s bedroom, but the prosecutors were able to show the jury adult magazines seized from the singer’s Neverland home.
Judge Rodney S. Melville, in ruling against the adult images from the computers, said that material had been cached automatically and, therefore, there would be no way to prove anyone had actually seen that material during the time in question. Melville also sided with the Jackson defense’s argument that the material in question didn’t relate to the time of the incidents for which Jackson is on trial.
The prosecutors could and did show the jury a reported 75 images from magazines like Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler, as well as some boxcovers of adult videos or DVDs. The prosecution says Jackson’s primary accuser and the accuser’s brother saw magazines like that when they stayed at the singer’s home, but the prosecution has yet to produce evidence that the boys saw the images that were actually shown in court.
Published reports indicated none of the publications contained DNA from any of the boys’ family. But prosecutors said one of the magazines contained fingerprints of both Jackson and his accuser.
The Jackson defense countered that Jackson once caught the boy looking at the publications and took them away, which could have left both sets of prints on them, while also suggesting the boy could have touched them during 2004 grand jury hearings after which the magazines were fingerprinted.
