Jackson trial to focus on accounting

[b]Jackson trial to focus on accounting[/b] By Martin Kasindorf, USA TODAY Updated 6/25/2006 10:25 PM ET SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A year after Michael Jackson’s acquittal on child-molestation charges, the singer is to go to trial again today against claims that he owes $3.9 million to an unindicted co-conspirator in his criminal case. Echoes of last year’s trial in Santa Maria, Calif., could resound through the breach-of-contract trial here that pits Jackson against former associate Marc Schaffel, says Howard King, a lawyer for Schaffel. Jury selection begins today. Jackson, 47, moved to Bahrain with his three children soon after the jury found him innocent. He probably won’t appear at the trial here, but jurors will see him in a videotaped deposition, defense lawyer Thomas Mundell says.