LOS ANGELES – The judge presiding over Michael Jackson's (search) child molestation case ordered 82 pages of documents and related tape recordings sealed Friday because they contain "sensitive information" about a boy's claims that Jackson sexually abused him.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville (search) said he could not anticipate any time before the trial that the material, related to a search conducted at Jackson's Neverland Ranch, could be made public.
His ruling gave only hints of the contents: a young's boy's accounts of what allegedly happened, interviews with his family, statements that came out during the child's psychological counseling and information about another case 10 years ago in which Jackson was accused of molestation.
The evidence was contained in an affidavit in which authorities explained their reasons for seeking a search warrant for Neverland Ranch (search).
Melville said that release of the material would violate the parties' privacy rights and "complicate the process of selecting an unbiased jury."
"It was immediately obvious to the court ... that the statements and other evidence reported there are of a confidential character," Melville said in his ruling. "The affidavit contains reports of statements of a minor about events of a sexual nature."
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