SANTA MARIA, California, Nov 4 (AFP) - A judge on Thursday rejected Michael Jackson's bid to have the prosecutor pursuing him on child molestation charges kicked off the case because of an alleged personal vendetta.
Jackson's lawyers had asked Judge Rodney Melville to remove Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon and his office from the case, claiming that Sneddon harboured a personal bias against the star that would prevent him from getting a fair trial.
But during a pre-trial hearing in the California town of Santa Maria, near Jackson's Neverland Ranch, Melville said there was no evidence to suggest that Sneddon and his team held a grudge against Jackson.
"It is my belief that he has not been excessively zealous," Melville said, denying Jackson's motion to have Sneddon recused from the celebrity case.
The judge said there was "no evidence of a disabling conflict" of interest on behalf of the prosecution that would prevent Jackson from getting a fair trial.
Jackson's lawyers argued that his constitutional rights had been violated because Sneddon was waging a personal crusade against the "King of Pop," whom he unsuccessfully tried to prosecute for allegedly abusing a child in 1993.
Attorney Thomas Mesereau told the judge on Thursday that Sneddon and his prosecutors had become too personally involved in the case to be objective.
"They are blinded by zeal, blinded by emotion and are losing touch with reality in how they are handling this prosecution," Mesereau said.
"Sneddon interjected himself in this case as a witness and he will be one," Mesereau added. "He has lost his objectivity and his sense of professionalism."
Sneddon and his office strongly denied the claim that he harboured a decade-old grudge against the superstar, who once recorded a song pillorying Sneddon.
Prosecutor Ronald Zonen told the court that while Sneddon failed to prosecute Jackson in 1993, he did not take it personally.
A lawyer representing the attorney general of California, who would have taken over the case had Sneddon been recused, defended the district attorney's ability to prosecute the case and said he had not acted unfairly.
Sneddon was "justified in his prosecution and has been striking hard blows, not foul ones," he told the judge.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy at Neverland in February and March of last year. He was arrested on November 19 and freed on three million dollars bail.
In April, he pleaded innocent to 10 charges including child molestation, plying a minor with alcohol and conspiracies to kidnap, illegally imprison and extort his alleged victim or his family. Trial is scheduled for January 31.
11/04/2004 19:10 GMT - AFP