SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Prosecutors scored two wins yesterday when a judge ruled they can introduce Michael Jackson's nudie magazine collection and a documentary in which he admits sharing his bed with kids.
Judge Rodney Melville okayed the admissibility of more than a dozen photo books with naked people, 23 vintage nudist magazines, two X-rated DVDs and 32 X-rated mags, including a copy of "Barely Legal" with both Jackson's and his accuser's fingerprints on it.
Prosecutor Ron Zonen said Jackson used the mags as "grooming material" to get the boy interested in sex and pave the way for sexual advances.
The magazines from 1936 showed "naked children," according to Zonen.
Jackson lawyer Brian Oxman tried to block the X-rated material, saying there was no proof it was Jackson's because many Neverland employees had access to his master suite and used his computer.
Oxman said there will be evidence Jackson's prints got on the same magazine as the boy's because he "took them away from the [boy and his brother] ... and put them away."
Zonen shot back, "I don't believe that explains how his fingerprints got on the inside of the magazine."
Oxman called many of the magazines "collector's items."
Melville also ruled prosecutors can kick off the trial by showing British journalist Martin Bashir's documentary "Living With Michael Jackson" in which the singer nuzzles his then-13-year-old accuser and discusses sleepovers with boys. Bashir was ordered to testify.
In the day's only major victory for the defense, the judge ruled the press and public can be in the courtroom when the accuser, now 15, and his brother, 14, testify - a move prosecutors fought hard against
