No wonder Michael Jackson likes shopping at Wal-Mart. There, he can get a discount.
In Santa Barbara County, California, however, the bail's more than full price, with the judge in the entertainer's child-molestation case ruling that $3 million is just the right amount for the pop oddity.
The decision, handed down Friday and announced Monday, came after the Jackson camp last month asked Judge Rodney S. Melville to reduce the singer's bail, arguing the seven-figure price tag was excessive.
In his ruling, Melville conceded that the bail was, yes, "in excess of the usual," with the usual being around $435,000 for the felony charges faced by Jackson.
However, the judge wrote in court papers, the bail obviously isn't too steep for the 45-year-old Grammy winner, spotted haunting a Colorado Wal-Mart in February, as evidenced by the fact that he's posted that amount on two separate occasions.
Jackson initially was booked on charges last November. In April, he was slapped with a grand-jury indictment that trumped the first set of accusations. In each instance, Jackson pleaded innocent to all charges and met the $3 million bail requirement.
As they are wont to do, prosecutors argued against reducing Jackson's bail, charging in court papers that "Michael Jackson, international celebrity" was an "adored" figure in "Europe, the Near East and Africa," including in some countries which do not have extradition treaties with the United States.
In short, they claimed the moonwalker was a flight risk.
In his ruling, Judge Melville agreed "a cognizable financial incentive" was needed to encourage the jet-setting Jackson to show up for the upcoming court festivities.
A trial in the Jackson case tentatively has been scheduled for Sept. 13.
The Jackson FileE! Online tracks all the latest developments.
Under the indictment, Jackson is charged with 10 felony counts related to the molestation of a child, reputedly a 13-year-old cancer patient, at his Neverland Ranch last year in Santa Barbara County, as well as conspiring against the boy and his family.
The defense request to lower Jackson's bail came as the mighty-morphin' superstar has begun to remake his image as a defendant. Since adding attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. to his team, and deleting Mark Geragos, Jackson's been working to curry favor with Judge Melville.
When once Jackson was tardy to Melville's court and danced atop a SUV upon leaving it, Jackson's last appearance was marked by the studious, wire-framed eyeglasses perched on what passes for his nose.
Mesereau, meanwhile, has a bit of an image makeover in order himself after being fined $18,950 last Friday for likening a deposition in the Robert Blake murder case to a "clown show" and likening the rival attorney to a "clown."
The remarks were made in January 2003 during a deposition for the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Bonny Lee Bakley, the wife of Blake whom authorities allege the actor gunned down in 2001.
Mesereau parted ways with Blake in February.