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Neverland logs perused

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

April 21, 2005

Michael Jackson (April 19, 2005)

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - A police officer who used to work as a security guard at Michael Jackson's Neverland Valley ranch said yesterday that in early 2003, ranch management ordered guards not to let a boy allegedly molested by Jackson leave Neverland, bolstering prosecution claims that the youngster was held against his will there.

The witness, Brian Barron, said the order "simply stated [the boy] is not allowed off property," and that he recalled it being in effect in January or February 2003. The boy's mother has said that she, her son and her two other children were held against their will from February to mid-March 2003.

As the prosecution sought to further corroborate the false imprisonment allegation, it also showed a Neverland order, written on a log maintained by security and dated Feb. 19, 2003, that said: "The kids are not to leave," and naming the alleged victim and his two siblings.

While legal analysts said the documents were good for the prosecution's case, they were far from smoking guns, as the defense showed on cross-examination when it got Barron to acknowledge that in several years at the ranch, he never saw an illegal act there. Barron also conceded that "it would not be out of the ordinary" for children visiting the ranch without their parents - as these children frequently did - to not be allowed off the property.

The defense then began going though log sheets that guards maintained at Neverland to record the comings and goings of guests such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, who apparently visited on June 24, 2002, to "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley and a team of CBS colleagues in February 2003.

Their visit followed the airing of a British-made documentary in which Jackson admitted sharing his bed with children and showed him holding hands with the alleged victim. According to the indictment, that documentary threw Jackson into such a panic that he ordered the boy and his family to be held captive to ensure they did not release anything damaging to the pop star's reputation.

By showing the documents, Jackson's side seemed to be trying to demonstrate that no attempts were made to hide anyone's presence at Neverland or to keep it secret when they left. One log suggested that on the night the woman says her family escaped from Neverland, they were actually driven away in view of security guards at the front gate in a Rolls-Royce checked out by a Neverland employee.

Cross-examination was to resume today, and the prosecution was expected to rest its case next week. Jackson, 46, faces 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of molestation, providing alcohol to a minor, and conspiracy and false imprisonment.