Jackson Grand Jury Pool Is Quizzed

SANTA BARBARA —  Selection of a secret grand jury to decide whether entertainer Michael Jackson should be tried on child molestation charges began Thursday, with police and sheriff’s deputies observing media representatives to make sure they did not try to talk to potential jurors or photograph them.

More than 200 Santa Barbara County residents were ushered into a Superior Court annex across from the main county courthouse in downtown Santa Barbara as the process of picking 19 grand jurors began.

It will continue today, and prosecutors are prepared to begin presenting evidence against Jackson early next week, sources close to the case say.

Although grand juries always conduct their business in secret, the proceedings Thursday were backed up by police on motorcycles and bicycles who intently watched a small cluster of news reporters and television cameramen outside the annex to ensure they observed a controversial “decorum order” issued Wednesday by Judge Clifford R. Anderson III, presiding Superior Court judge in Santa Barbara County.

On at least two occasions Thursday, law enforcement officials approached camera crews and warned them not to photograph any members of the grand jury pool or talk to potential jurors, two of the conditions imposed by Anderson under threat of being charged with contempt.

In contrast to public court hearings that have drawn hundreds of news people to the northern Santa Barbara County city of Santa Maria, where any future Jackson trial is currently set, the closed grand jury proceeding Thursday drew only a couple dozen news organizations. A few interviewees who were dismissed early were overheard telling reporters that they were asked whether they had formed any opinion on Jackson’s guilt or innocence.