Michael Jackson booked on molestation charges

Pop star posts bond and leaves jail; arraignment set January 9

Thursday, November 20, 2003 Posted: 5:44 PM EST (2244 GMT)

Jackson gestures as he leaves the county jail Thursday.

Jackson's booking photo

SANTA BARBARA, California -- Singer Michael Jackson was booked on child molestation charges at the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department on Thursday and left about an hour later after being released on $3 million bond.

Jackson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, told reporters his client had come "to confront these charges head-on. He is greatly outraged by the bringing of these charges. He considers this to be a big lie."

Geragos added, "Michael has given me the authority to say, on his behalf, that these charges are categorically untrue."

Jackson, 45, arrived at the jail wearing a black suit with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The entire process during which he was photographed and fingerprinted took about 30-40 minutes, according to sheriff's department spokesman Chris Pappas. Jackson also handed over his passport.

His arraignment was scheduled for the morning of January 9, Pappas said.

The pop star surrendered to authorities earlier at the Santa Barbara airport after arriving aboard a Gulf Stream G-4 private jet from Las Vegas where he had been shooting a video.

The aircraft taxied partway into a hangar and the doors were partially closed around the fuselage to block media cameras.

Jackson was transported to the jail in a convoy of cars and was taken around back of the building to the jail's inmate reception center. Geragos arrived in a separate car and entered through another door.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson faces multiple counts of lewd or lascivious contact with a child younger than 14.

Jackson's family issued a statement denouncing the "vicious allegation" against him as a "big lie."

"Michael said, 'Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons.' The truth will win this marathon in court," the family said.

During a phone call to CNN shortly after his brother's arrest, Jermaine Jackson declared Michael innocent and denounced the legal action against him as "nothing but a modern-day lynching."

Jermaine Jackson also said said he and his family support Michael "one thousand percent."

The singer's spokesman Stuart Backerman has called the charges "a nightmare" for the singer.

"Michael would never harm a child in any way," he said. "When the evidence is presented and the allegations proven to be malicious and wholly unfounded, Michael will be able to put this nightmare behind him."

Authorities released no details about the child or the time of the alleged molestation. A judge ordered affidavits in the case sealed for 45 days.

Authorities asked other possible victims to come forward.

Jackson could face a minimum of three years and a maximum of eight years in prison on each count if convicted.

CBS announced Wednesday that "given the gravity of the charges" against Jackson it was postponing a special program on him scheduled for November 26.

The allegations come almost a decade after Jackson settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who spent the night at Neverland Ranch when he was 13 and accused Jackson of molesting him.

Criminal investigators stopped pursuing their case after the lawsuit was settled and the boy -- by then 14 -- made clear he did not want to participate in any prosecution of the singer.

Sneddon said he did not know whether the parents of the accuser were aware of the past allegations. He said no civil suit has been filed in the case and none is expected.

Jackson arrives at the sheriff's department in handcuffs after surrendering to police Thursday.

"We have a cooperative victim in this particular proceeding," Sneddon said.

Dozens of law enforcement officers searched Jackson's ranch for about 13 hours Tuesday, and search warrants were served on two other locations in Southern California where some property was seized, authorities said.

Jackson's mansion is on a 2,600-acre estate about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Santa Barbara and features amusement park rides, a petting zoo and statues of children.

Backerman said the tone of the authorities' news conference on Wednesday was disturbing. (Transcript of news conference)

"We are disturbed by the levity of the environment surrounding the announcement of these very serious charges," he said.

Backerman said the singer had been in Las Vegas for two-and-a-half weeks shooting a video for the song "One More Chance." That single is on his "Number Ones" album, a greatest-hits collection released Tuesday by Epic Records.

Questions have been raised about whether the execution of the search warrants was timed to coincide with the music release.

Sneddon rejected that idea. "In fact, we were going to execute these warrants several weeks ago, but had to put it off" for operational reasons, he said.

"It really has nothing to do with his album or whatever else he's doing in his life."

Jackson sang about Sneddon in his song "D.S.," which was on the pop star's 1995 double-CD album "HIStory Past, Present and Future, Book 1." Each chorus repeats the line "Tom Sneddon is a cold man" four times.

Brian Oxman, an attorney for the Jackson family, told CNN he believes the investigation stems from someone else seeking financial gain from Jackson.

"It is a case of excitement and hysteria because we have the same accusations that we had 10 years ago," he said. "It's like playing the playoffs all over again."

Terms of the settlement of the lawsuit -- filed in 1993 and settled the next year -- were confidential, though the boy's attorney said at the time the boy and his family were happy to resolve the matter.

Johnnie Cochran, Jackson's attorney in that case, said at the time that Jackson maintained his innocence and that the settlement was in no way an admission of guilt.