| Jackson trial delayed, sister of lawyer is ill
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Individual questioning of prospective jurors for Michael Jackson's child molestation trial will not begin as scheduled on Monday because the sister of the pop star's lead defense attorney is gravely ill, the court said Friday.
Prospective jurors were asked to return to court nonetheless to be assigned new jury numbers, the court said. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville plans to hold a previously scheduled hearing on media issues.
The judge recessed court last Tuesday after selecting a pool of 250 prospective jurors who were willing to serve for up to six months on the high-profile trial. He had planned to begin questioning potential jurors who filled out preliminary questionnaires.
The questionnaire asked, among other things, if they had ever had cancer, their opinion on people of different races and whether they followed the 1993 molestation allegations against the pop star.
Jackson is accused of molesting a 13-year-old former cancer patient. He is also charged with giving the boy alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family at Jackson's Neverland ranch. The pop superstar has pleaded not guilty to the charges and recently issued statements saying he expects to be acquitted.
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