Say Anything Blog

From CNN:

Mark Geragos, lawyer for pop singer Michael Jackson, obtained a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a charter airline that he said secretly videotaped Jackson and him talking on board one of its planes and shopped the tapes to media outlets.

Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said the tapes were made Thursday while Geragos and the singer flew from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Santa Barbara, California, where Jackson surrendered to authorities on suspicion of child molestation and was released on $3 million bond.

The restraining order issued by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe prohibits XtraJet, the airline Geragos said placed the cameras aboard the plane, from releasing the tapes until a hearing in December on a permanent injunction, according to a statement from Backerman.

Geragos told reporters he also had filed suit against XtraJet and reserved the right to sue anyone connected with making or trying to sell the tapes.

Mark Geragos has a point. Those video tapes are a gross violation on Michael Jackson's civil rights and whoever placed them in the airplane should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I am certainly not a Michael Jackson fan. I find it hard to believe, with all the evidence swirling around, that he didn't molest anybody, but that doesn't preclude him from the right to have a private conversation with his attorney or the right to a fair trial.

I hate how these celebrity arrests/trials turn into media circuses. Despite my gut feeling in the matter, I sincerely hope that Jackson gets a fair trial. I hope our legal system can raise above the media storm surrounding the case, find the truth and then mete out justice as warranted. Will that be what happens? Who knows. Its hard to imagine anybody in this country, outside of certain cult compounds and Amish settlements, who could possibly meet the criteria for an impartial juror, but maybe I'm being to cynical.

While I think that Michael Jackson is guilty, I hope that he is not. For the kids sake. Molestiation is an ordeal no child should have to suffer through.