SANTA MARIA, California - Michael Jackson`s lawyers returned to court Thursday, three days after the star`s acquittal on child sex charges, to demand the return of more than 600 items seized from his Neverland Ranch.
At the hearing, Judge Rodney Melville ordered that Jackson`s passport, which he was forced to surrender to prevent any risk of him fleeing the country following his November 2003 arrest, be returned to the star.
Among the items impounded by investigators in two swoops on Neverland were a cache of pornographic magazines with titles like "Barely Legal" that prosecutor had claimed Jackson used to "groom" his teen accuser into child abuse.
Lawyer Robert Sanger, who formed part of the crack legal team that helped get the 46-year-old superstar dramatically acquitted on all charges after a 19-week trial, asked Melville to order prosecutors to return Jackson`s belongings.
"Mr Jackson wants his stuff back," Sanger told reporters after the brief hearing in the California town of Santa Maria where Jackson`s trial ended Monday.
"Anything that was seized from the property of a person should be returned. All the people from whom the items were seized should have their items returned to them. That`s all we`re asking for," he said.
More than 70 investigators swooped on Jackson`s sprawling, fantasy-inspired estate near Santa Maria on November 18, 2003, two days before his arrest on charges of molesting a 13-year-old cancer patient.
Hundreds of items, including racy magazines, computers and photographic books featuring nudes were seized and used in evidence against the world`s most famous criminal defendant.
A second raid on the estate was launched in December 2004, shortly before Jackson`s trial began in late January.
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors images from a wide array of magazines with titles ranging from "Total Teen Filth," to "Over 50," and "Plumpers and Big Women" that police found in the entertainer`s bedroom.
Sanger did not specify Thursday exactly which items he was seeking to recover for the star who was holed up at Neverland where he returned as a free man after jurors cleared him on 10 charges against him.
And Judge Melville did not immediately make a ruling on the return of the items, instead giving prosecutors an opportunity to examine the evidence and to state if there was any good reason why they should not be given back.
But the judge did rule that sheriffs must return Jackson`s passport.
The judge also indicated he was poised to grant public access to all documents relating to Jackson`s trial that remain sealed under a tight gag order he imposed after the star`s arrest.
"I would only consider leaving sealed a very limited number of things," he told the court, saying however he would protect private details of the jurors who found Jackson not guilty.
The judge gave rival lawyers a week to state which items they would prefer to keep sealed and said he would make a final decision within 30 days.
Meanwhile, defeated prosecutor Tom Sneddon, who was not in court Thursday, told interviewers Wednesday he had no intention of giving Jackson a picture taken of the star`s penis during a 1993 child sex investigation against him.
"It could turn out to be evidence," Sneddon, who had unsuccessfully tried to prosecute Jackson in 1993, of the photograph that reportedly shows distinctive markings.
06/16/2005 18:48 GMT