SANTA MARIA, California, Feb 22 (AFP) - Pop superstar Michael Jackson was due back in court Tuesday after a stint in hospital with "flu-like symptoms" caused a week-long hiatus in his slow-moving, child-molestation trial.
Jackson's return will jump-start the stalled process of selecting the 12 men and women of the jury who will decide whether the fading pop legend should spend up to 20 years behind bars.
The two sides had started questioning prospective panelists on February 14, but proceedings were suspended the following day after the self-crowned "King of Pop" was rushed to hospital.
Jackson, overcome by vomiting, was put on an intravenous drip during his 33-hour stay at the Marian Medical Center in the small Californian city of Santa Maria, a few kilometers from the courthouse where he is being tried.
Rodney Melville, the no-nonsense judge running the proceedings, agreed to suspend the trial for a week only after talking to a doctor who assured him Jackson would need several days to recover.
For the potential jurors, it has been an ominous start to a trial that has made little progress since opening January 31 in a blaze of publicity.
One day later, it was adjourned for a week, and in week two, all but one hour of hearings were canceled following a death in the family of Jackson's lead lawyer Thomas Mesereau.
Even barring further delays, it could be weeks before a jury is seated, and Melville has warned the trial could last another five months after that.
During jury selection, each side can dismiss 10 potential jurors without citing a reason and can challenge others they feel could be biased.
The defense has already unveiled a dazzling list of 370 possible witnesses that includes some of the world's most famous people, including Elizabeth Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Larry King, and 10 members of the star's family.
But before the witnesses are heard, Melville is expected to consider dozens of motions, including one calling for the litigation history of Jackson's accusers to be brought into evidence.
Jackson's legal team is moving to portray the family of his now-15-year-old accuser as "professional plaintiffs" who made a living from making "outrageous" sex assault charges in fraudulent lawsuits.
Another defence motion seeks to recuse Jackson's nemesis, lead prosecutor Tom Sneddon, who once referred to the defendant as "Wacko Jacko."
The defense argues that Sneddon, who unsuccessfully tried to prosecute Jackson when he was accused of child abuse in 1993, showed his bias by saying he would testify to what he knew about the star at trial if Jackson tried to "question his motives for prosecuting this case."
Jackson immortalised Sneddon with a slightly altered name in one of his songs that proclaims: "Dom Sheldon is a cold man."
Another motion before the judge is a prosecution bid to subpoena Jackson's financial records and use expert testimony on his wealth to show that Jackson's alleged financial woes could have prompted him to try to stop his accuser and the boy's family from making allegations against him.
Jackson has pleaded innocent to the 10 charges that he molested the then cancer-stricken 13-year-old, plied him with alcohol and conspired to kidnap him and his family and keep them prisoner at his Neverland Ranch.
02/22/2005 14:53 GMT - AFP