Page 86 - REDEMPTION_Flipbook_Final 2025

REDEMPTION

cause Mrs. Jackson has repeatedly and publicly denounced
the allegations and insisted that her son was innocent."
Thomas Sneddon, District Attorney from the Santa Barbara
County, and Gil Garcetti, District Attorney from the Los An-
geles County, launched separate investigations into the child
molestation allegations. Although, the investigation actively
lasted for approximately 13 months and remained open for
six years, neither Mr. Sneddon nor Mr. Garcetti were able to
make a case against Michael Jackson. Mr. Garcetti blamed it
on the little boy's refusal to testify after reaching a settlement.
Although it is a well known fact that if they had more than one
witness who could testify to sexual wrongdoings by Michael
Jackson, they would have indicted Michael Jackson. As often
happens in high profile cases, too much taxpayer money was
spent and the police needed justification because of it.
After coming up empty handed, Garcetti sought to change
the California law that does not require juveniles to testify in
sex abuse cases. Simply put, the only witness he had against
Michael Jackson was the little boy, and because of the then
state laws, he could not be forced to testify.
This is not meant to be demeaning to the authorities, be-
cause I thoroughly realize that our police officers put their lives
on the line daily to keep peace in our land. They face constant
dangers from notorious criminals everyday. Even in light of
the recent discovery of wrongdoings by the hands of police
officers, and probably even more cases than have been re-
vealed, there still remain many cases of an abuse of
power at
the hands of law enforcement personnel. This includes not only
police officers, but the officers of parole, probation, jail and
youth authority personnel, and immigration officers. As most
of us have experienced in one form or another, anyone that
has authority over someone else's life, experiences the temp-
tation of abusing power associated with that authority.
Mr. Garcetti appeared to be very single-minded in his man-
ner of pursuit of trying to indict Michael Jackson on the charge
of child molestation. I am not criticizing Mr. Garcetti's approach
or pursuit, but in the interest of justice, there has to be an equal

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