SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The judge in Michael Jackson's (search) child molestation trial has agreed to let the singer file a request to make a public statement of unspecified content, according to papers posted on the court's Web site.
Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville (search) has imposed a gag order in the case. Jackson's lawyers filed the request Aug. 13, with the proposed statement blacked out. It was posted on the court's Web site Wednesday.
Also posted Wednesday was Jackson's request to file an objection to the release of a sealed California attorney general's report.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson wants the report released. In it, state officials reportedly concluded that Jackson was not mistreated as he claimed when he surrendered to authorities last year. A copy of the leaked report was posted Sunday on the CBS News Web site.
In an interview broadcast by CBS's "60 Minutes" a month after his Nov. 20, 2003, arrest, Jackson said he was "manhandled" by sheriff's deputies who took him into custody.
The California Bureau of Investigation reportedly said there was no evidence to support Jackson's claim that his shoulder was dislocated when he was handcuffed or that there was criminal misconduct by sheriff's personnel.
Jackson, 45, is charged with committing a lewd act upon a child, administering an intoxicating agent and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $3 million bail.
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