Sneddon “hypocrite” for Requesting Gag Order – MJEOL Bullet #58

Sneddon “hypocrite” for Requesting Gag Order – MJEOL Bullet #58 A new low has been reached on the side of the prosecution in the Michael Jackson case. Reports were swirling late today that district attorney Tom Sneddon had the unmitigated gall to request a gag order be placed on all parties, especially on Jackson’s defense attorney, Mark Geragos. This nonsensical request was made late this evening (Jan 7). On Fox news show On the Record w/ Greta van Sustren (Jan 7), her panel, lawyers Ted Williams and Bernie Grimm, outright called Sneddon a “hypocrite” and blasted him for already prosecuting and finding Jackson guilty in the press. Geragos, on the other hand, refused to comment on any specifics in this case until after charges were filed, although he too commented on the overall nature of the case. There is no doubt this latest motion filed by the prosecution will only help to illustrate that Sneddon definitely has a vendetta against Jackson, something many people have been saying from the very beginning of this case. After the way Snedon has attempted to convict Jackson in the court of public opinion, some have called his gag order request “shockingly ridiculous.” Mark Geragos calls the prosecution’s motion “outrageous.” He told Associated Press reporter Linda Deutsch:

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“When I first read it, I wondered if the district attorney’s office was suffering from short-term memory loss,” Geragos said. “I was not the one conducting multiple press conferences with audio and visual displays.” He cited a list of questions and answers Santa Barbara County DA Tom Sneddon issued at the time of the first press conference justifying the filing of charges. He said his own public statements have been responses to the prosecutors (see Prosecutors seek to muzzle Jackson’s attorney, others in case).

According to Deutch, Sneddon suspiciously makes no mention at all of his own press conferences or the press conference by current Santa Barbara sheriff Jim Anderson in the gag order motion. Remember, this is the same prosecutor who set up a website that only chosen media have access to. Sneddon also held a press conference before Jackson was arrested where he laughed and joked with reporters. He released a question-and-answer press packet, approximately 110 questions long, about everything from the charges to a critique of Jackson’s song “D.S” found on Jackson’s HIStory album. This same prosecutor has also given sit-down interviews to prosecution sympathizers like Court TV’s Diane Dimond and CNN’s Art Harris all before Jackson was ever formally charged. Reportedly, he personally vouched for Jackson’s guilt, something a prosecutor should never do and drew heavy criticism from those in the law profession:

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“Prosecutors are not supposed to personally vouch for a defendant’s guilt even at trial, let alone outside it; it’s the evidence, not the prosecutor’s opinion, to which the jury must look. And personally vouching—as Sneddon has done—for a defendant’s guilt with respect to a prior offense for which he was never criminally charged, is arguably an even lower blow” (see Evidence of Prosecution Bias in Michael Jackson Case).

Why does Sneddon want a gag order now? It could be because he isn’t getting his way and he can’t control the media. Gary Dunlap, an attorney currently suing Tom Sneddon for $10 million, has had run-ins with Sneddon’s tactics. He says:

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“Sneddon is used to having his own way and for the media to fall right into line with him. And it’s always been that way, and I think that, all of a sudden, with my [Dunlap’s] case and with Michael Jackson’s case, people are beginning to question the integrity of his office” (see Attorney Suing Tom Sneddon- MJJF Radio interview -TRANSCRIPT ).

Once the world media started doing their own digging into the family’s litigious and troubled background, and once Geragos started to chime in with his own opinions about the case, things started to look bleak for Sneddon. An internal memo was leaked from the Department of Children and Family Services saying they investigated this very allegation and found it to be “unfounded”. Just yesterday (Jan 6), Geragos reportedly told MSNBC that “Michael has a concrete, iron-clad alibi for the dates they are saying this abuse took place. The fact of the matter is, no abuse ever happened” in response to constant assertions from prosecution sympathizers that Jackson is guilty of molestation (see Geragos: I’m in charge, Sheriff is a moron). After tipping off the media Jackson’s house was about to be raided, after leaking search and arrest warrant information to Diane Dimond, after giving a joke of a press conference, after hiring/accepting services from a PR firm—with it’s own ties to Jackson’s first accuser’s family—Tellum Worldwide, after handing out press packets with a litany of Q&A information, after delaying the filing of charges against Jackson for a month allegedly to set up a website which is only accessible to approved media personalities, after tainting the jury pool by publicly vouching for the guilt of Jackson in both this case and the 1993 case (in which Jackson was never charged), after leaking information to prosecution mouth-pieces like the former judge from the 1993 case and the former sheriff of Santa Barbara Jim Thomas, after giving at least two interviews to prosecution sympathizers in the media, after ranting about how strong his case is, NOW Sneddon wants a gag order? Give me a break! -MJEOL