MARCH 16 2005 (2:28PM) – The media is stuck on Scott Peterson’s sentencing thus far today, so the reports of what’s happening in the Jackson courtroom are few and less detailed as they would otherwise be. But interesting reports we’re getting is from testimony from Paul Zelis, one of the officers involved in investigating the case. If you remember, a big deal was made out of the allegation that fingerprints of the accuser and his brother were found on one of the adult magazines in Jackson’s house. Well, it turns out that the police didn’t fingerprint the magazines until Summer of 2004, after the grand jury indictment and LONG after they were seized from Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. There was an article from Celebrity Justice where a source revealed that one of the grand jurors asked a deputy if the magazine the accuser was allegedly handling on the stand — while testifying in front of the grand jury — had been fingerprinted. The officer reportedly said they weren’t. From that Celebrity Justice report dated Feb 1 2005:
“Based on what we’ve seen, this evidence may have been compromised,” Levin observed. “We know when this accuser testified before the grand jury he handled these magazines. At one point, one of the grand jurors asked, ‘Have these magazines been fingerprinted?’ And the sheriff said, ‘No.’ That leaves the door wide open for the defense to argue, ‘How do you know when the boy touched the magazine? At Neverland? Or before the grand jury?'” (see Could Jackson Prosecution Evidence Be Compromised? – CJ)
If true, this is incredibly sloppy and ridiculous. It also snatches away one of the pieces of information pro-prosecution pundits tried to hang their hats on. So when we get further details about what was brought out in court, we’ll post them.