PLEASE NOTE: SOUND QUALITY AS INCOMING
APTN
1. Michael Jackson and family walking through supporters during recess
2. Fans waiting for the Jackson entourage (MUTE)
3. Jackson pointing to supporters
4. Jackson walking past bus
5. Jackson lawyer Tomas Mesereau Jr. walking toward bus
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox pop, Kevin (no last name given) Jackson supporter:
"I've been a Michael Jackson fan ever since he was on Ed Sullivan back in '74, so that might tell you how old I am, but, I'll still listen to his music twenty years from now."
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lisa Dawn Marble, Jackson supporter:
"Michael is a humanitarian. Michael is very effective at helping people all over the world; individuals and societies. He's extremely inspiring and compassionate. I recognised when I was nine years old that Michael's purpose was to spread understanding and compassion all over the world."
POOL
8. Jackson family leaving courtroom (MUTE)
9. Jackson and family members inside courthouse (MUTE)
10. Jackson and family members leaving courthouse
11. Wide shot Jackson family and Michael Jackson leaving courthouse and walking toward bus
12. Bus departs
APTN
13. Two shots of bus pulling away, crowds waving
Fans of Michael Jackson erupted in cheers on Monday as the pop star emerged from a double-decker tour bus and went into court for an often testy showdown between his defence attorney and the prosecutor who twice filed child molestation charges against the singer.
Jackson, wearing a white suit with a mustard yellow armband, entered court with five of his siblings, also dressed in white, and his parents.
A bodyguard held a black umbrella over the singer, who flashed a peace sign to the crowd.
About 100 mostly young fans pressed against a chain-link fence and hoisted signs saying "Our Love is With You" and "Michael Jackson is Innocent" outside the hearing on whether prosecutors can use evidence seized from the office of a private investigator working for the singer.
Dozens of police and a small group of people demonstrating in support of sexual abuse victims were also at the court.
The defence is seeking to have key evidence excluded from the case by arguing that prosecutors violated Jackson's attorney-client privilege by searching the Beverly Hills office of a private investigator hired by his then-defence attorney, Mark Geragos.
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon testified that he didn't know at the time that Geragos had hired the investigator, Bradley Miller.
As he testified, the exchanges between Sneddon and Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau Junior were contentious at times - prompting a warning from Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville.
In a public relations flourish, Jackson decided to attend Monday's pre-trial hearing with his parents, Katherine and Joseph Jackson, and siblings Jermaine, Janet, Randy, Jackie and LaToya.
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 three (m) million US dollars bail.
Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials already have testified that they used a sledgehammer to break into Miller's office and seize videotapes and files relating to the Jackson case.
They maintain that they did not know Miller was employed by Geragos.
The conspiracy count has become a centrepiece of the prosecution case with allegations that the 12-year-old accuser and his family were coerced into making a videotape praising the singer's character.
The tape and other materials seized from Miller's office are at issue in the hearing.
A ruling that they must be suppressed because they were wrongfully seized would seriously undermine the prosecution's case.
