Singer, accuser may meet in court again

A videotape of the first police interview with Michael Jackson's young accuser can be shown to jurors at his child molestation trial, the judge ruled on Thursday, setting the stage for another face-to-face meeting between the pop star and the 15-year-old boy.

Defence lawyers say if prosecutors show the videotape, in which the boy tells of sexual abuse by Mr Jackson, they will call him back to the witness stand for cross-examination - along with his mother, a psychologist who interviewed him before police, and the family's then-attorney, Larry Feldman.

Jurors have not heard from the high school student since he took the witness stand in March and testified Mr Jackson masturbated him at least twice after nights of drinking at the 46-year-old singer's Neverland Valley Ranch.

The boy's earlier testimony came on a memorable day in the sensational trial during which Mr Jackson was nearly jailed for failing to arrive at court, only to turn up an hour late - wearing pyjamas, walking gingerly and complaining of a back injury.

Prosecutors and defence attorneys are both down to their final witnesses. Closing statements will likely begin next week, followed by jury deliberations.

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville, who ruled prosecutors could show the videotape as part of their rebuttal case, also handed them a setback when he barred from the trial pictures of Mr Jackson's penis taken during a 1993 investigation.

Those pictures, which were taken by police at Neverland over Mr Jackson's protests after another boy accused him of molestation, have never been publicly displayed.

In December 1993, Mr Jackson proclaimed his innocence on television and said he had been humiliated by the police who photographed his genitals.

Prosecutors had argued they should be allowed to show the pictures because Mr Jackson's attorneys have portrayed his long-held practice of sharing a bed with young boys as innocent.

"This child was able to give a description of a very unique feature of his anatomy," Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen told the judge, adding that the boy could not have done so "unless there was something between the defendant and that child that was more than casual, more than innocent".

Defence lawyer Robert Sanger called the prosecution argument "really a stretch" and the judge agreed that the evidence was too inflammatory to be shown to jurors.

Mr Jackson is charged with molesting the boy, then 13, at Neverland in February or March of 2003, plying the young cancer patient with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.

The self-proclaimed King of Pop, who released one of the top-selling pop albums of all time in Thriller, faces more than 20 years in prison if he is convicted.