Jackson: Press Pushes for Gory Details

The press corps want to know who's bad, and they're not gonna beat it until a judge tells 'em to do so.

Media outlets covering Michael Jackson's child-molestation case are asking a Santa Barbara judge to release last month's grand jury indictment against the onetime King of Pop, as well as transcripts of witness testimony.

Attorney Theodore Boutrous, who filed the motions on behalf of several major news organizations, argued on Tuesday that the Gloved One's case did not meet the high legal standard that would warrant keeping the allegations against him confidential.

"This case does not raise any of the issues that have traditionally been invoked to seal or partially seal indictments, such as the need to protect the lives of witnesses, to ensure the defendant or other potential targets did not flee or the need to protect innocent persons from injury," Boutrous said in the motion filed in Santa Barbara Superior Court.

At a hearing last month, Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville ordered the bulk of Jackson's indictment held from public view at the request of the embattled entertainer's attorney.

As a result, only edited portions of the indictment were made public, none of which named Jackson's alleged co-conspirators or provided details of the acts he supposedly committed against the unnamed minor, widely believed to be the young cancer survivor shown holding hands with the singer in Martin Bashir's now infamous 2003 documentary on Jackson.

Jackson, 45, was indicted on Apr. 30 of 10 felony counts: four counts of lewd acts involving a minor, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent, reportedly wine, to commit a felony, one count of trying to force a minor to commit a lewd act on Jackson's "body and certain parts" and one count of conspiracy.

The "Thriller" singer has pleaded innocent to all the charges and remains free on $3 million bail.

Melville cited several reasons for keeping portions of the indictment sealed, including protecting of the identity of Jackson's accuser and avoiding possible tainting of the jury pool by disclosing sordid details.

However, in his petition for news organizations, Boutrous challenged that justification and argued that the child's identity, though not disclosed by the press, is already known in public, thanks to his appearance in the Bashir documentary.

The lawyer also said that an indictment "always cast the defendant in a negative light," so there's no reason to think publishing details of the case would prejudice prospective jurors. As a solution, he suggests both sides carefully scrutinize the jury pool during jury selection.

Boutrous asserted that keeping the material confidential breaks with legal precedent and opens the door for "every defendant in a case of public interest to argue an indictment should be sealed so the world will not learn of his or her alleged bad acts."

The lawyer also filed a separate motion seeking the release of all 13 days of testimony before the grand jury, including accounts by Jackson's accuser, as well as another John Doe, reportedly the alleged victim's brother who is said to have witnessed two acts of molestation on his sibling.

A hearing on the media's petitions has been set for May 28.

Meanwhile, Court TV's Diane Dimond, the reporter who has been on the Jackson beat since initial allegations of child molestation first surfaced more than a decade ago, claims to have uncovered new information about the mysterious multiple co-conspirators and their connection to Jackson.

According to Dimond, gay-porn producer Marc Schaffel is listed as a conspirator for allegedly trying to separate the boy and his family from investigators and may have even tried to spirit the family out of the country. Schaffel produced Michael's ill-fated 9-11 charity tune ("What More Can I Give?"), which was delayed after news of Schaffel's porn credits surfaced.

Two other Jackson associates, Frank Tyson and Vince Amen, are believed to be the other co-conspirators, according to their New York attorney, Joseph Tacopina, who said there were no plans for the men to cut a deal with prosecutors. The men are allegedly facing accusations of conspiring with Jackson to commit abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.