Weeks after acquittal, fighting over seized property continues

Lompoc - CA, As the Michael Jackson trial fades into pop-culture history, defense attorneys and prosecutors continue to squabble over items seized during law enforcement raids of the pop star's Neverland Valley Ranch in 1994 and 2003. The defense earlier requested that Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville order the return of all seized property to Jackson. Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Gerald Franklin filed an opposing motion that even referred to a hypothetical future investigation of the singer. "Defendant has a list of every item of property and evidence seized or generated in the investigation of his conduct, both in the early 1990s and in 2003," Franklin wrote. "Certain of that property seized from Neverland is contraband. Certain of that property may not belong to Mr. Jackson. Other items of property may have relevance in the event of a future investigation." The prosecutor's motion also referred to photographs snapped by law enforcement in 1994 of Jackson's genitalia, as part of an investigation into whether Jackson molested a 13-year-old Los Angeles boy. Franklin argued against defense claims that the pictures would appear in the media if not returned to Jackson. In 1994, a judge ordered the photographs to be locked away in a safety deposit box, only to be reopened with judicial approval. "There they have remained, hidden from the world, to this day," Franklin wrote. "And there they should remain." Jackson defense attorney Stephen Dunkle responded to Franklin's motion by again requesting that all items relating to the singer be returned. "The District Attorney and the Sheriff's Department are not entitled to retain seized property," Dunkle wrote. "...This case is over. Law enforcement is merely holding the seized materials for the Court and has no independent right of possession." As to the 1994 photographs, Dunkle was adamant that they should be returned. "With regard to photographs and videotapes take during the search of Mr. Jackson's residence and person," Dunkle wrote. "The Court should consider that those photographs and videotapes were seized pursuant to search warrants stemming from criminal actions that are no longer being investigated or pending." No date has been set for Melville to consider the motion. Source: The Lompoc Record / eMJey