The DA in the Michael Jackson Case
Michael Jackson's response to the arrest warrant issued for him based on new child molestation charges is here.
Tom Sneddon, the District Attorney in Santa Barbara in charge of the new Michael Jackson case, was also in charge of the 1993 case. Today he said "he had put the earlier case out of mind." We don't think that's true. Here's a sampling of what our Lexis research turned up (out of 100 entries for "Tom Sneddon" and "Michael Jackson" between 1994 and 2001.)
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia) March 7, 2001"Heal The Kids" was described as an image-building deception by Santa Barbara district attorney Tom Sneddon, who prosecuted the singer for alleged child molestation in 1993. Jackson avoided trial by paying the family of his 13-year-old accuser around $20 million. Sneddon recently warned the case could be reopened at any time.
Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia) February 16, 2001
In a twist on the eve of his launching appeal [for a children's charity program], the district attorney who brought the case said it was not closed. "The case against Michael Jackson was never closed, and he was never exonerated," said DA Tom Sneddon. "It's in suspended animation and can be reopened at any time."
Broadcast News (BN) February 15, 2001
Remember the child molestation charges levelled against Michael Jackson a few years ago? So does the district attorney in Santa Barbara, California, Tom Sneddon. He's the one who investigated Jackson in 1993 when a then-13-year-old boy claimed Jackson molested him. Jackson later settled with the family and was never charged by authorities.
Sneddon tells the New York Daily News the case against Jackson was never closed and it can be re-opened at any time. He says the statute of limitations hasn't run out because Jackson was living out of the country for so much time.
Daily News (New York) February 14, 2001
Michael Jackson is not out of the woods.
So says Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon, the man who brought child molestation charges against the singer in 1993. Jackson is scheduled to deliver a speech tonight at Carnegie Hall on behalf of his Heal the Kids initiative. Although Sneddon can't be there in person, he's definitely arching an eyebrow from 3,000 miles away.
"The case against Michael Jackson was never closed, and he was never exonerated," Sneddon says. "It's in suspended animation and can be reopened at any time."
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