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Michael Jackson case kicks off
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Los
Angeles
(Reuters):
Jury
selection
began
today
day
in
a
bitter
court
fight
between
Michael
Jackson
and
a
former
porn
producer
who
figured
prominently
in
the
pop
star's
child
molestation
trial.
Jackson
was
not
expected
to
testify
at
the
trial
of
a
4
million
dollar
breach
of
contract
lawsuit
by
ex-business
associate
Marc
Schaffel
and
was
not
in
court
as
a
pool
of
prospective
jurors
was
summoned
to
a
Santa
Monica
courtroom.
Prosecutors
named
Schaffel
an
''unindicted
co-conspirator''
in
Jackson's
sex
abuse
case
and
accused
him
of
helping
the
entertainer
intimidate
his
young
accuser
and
the
boy's
family.
After
a
sensational
four-month
trial,
a
jury
exonerated
Jackson
on
all
charges
in
June
2005.
Schaffel,
who
produced
gay
porn
before
working
with
Jackson
on
a
charity
single
and
two
TV
specials,
sued
the
47-year-old
pop
star
for
failing
to
pay
him
more
than
$3.8
million.
Jackson
has
counter-sued,
calling
Schaffel
a
''swindler''
who
misappropriated
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars.
The
trial,
which
is
expected
to
last
about
two
weeks,
begins
one
day
after
Jackson
announced
that
he
would
move
to
Europe
to
reignite
his
pop
career
with
his
first
new
studio
album
since
2001
and
a
possible
supporting
tour.
Prosecutors asserted during Jackson's child molestation trial that the singer, who ruled the pop charts in the 1980s with such albums as ''Thriller'' and ''Bad'' had fallen on hard times. Since the trial Jackson has mostly lived in Bahrain and earlier this year California authorities ordered the man who once crowned himself King of Pop to shutter his Neverland Valley Ranch for failing to pay the staff and maintain proper insurance.
