Prosecutors can call Michael Jackson's former wife, Debbie Rowe, to testify against him at his child molestation trial, a judge ruled today over defense objections.
Rowe, the mother of two of Jackson's children, was expected to take the witness stand this week to testify that she was part of an effort to salvage the onetime King of Pop's image following the broadcast of a devastating British documentary.
Prosecutor Ron Zonen said she would tell jurors that Jackson's henchmen pressured her into giving a "highly scripted" videotaped interview supporting him in exchange for visits with her two children.
Prosecutors say Jackson's camp panicked after the documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson," aired in February of 2003 showing him nuzzling with the young teen who would later accuse him of child molestation and defending his practice of sharing a bed with boys.
The 46-year-old pop icon is accused of conspiring to imprison the boy's family at his Neverland Valley Ranch and bullying them into making a videotaped interview, a so-called rebuttal tape, that has become central to the trial.
In the rebuttal tape the boy, his mother and siblings praise Jackson warmly as an ideal father figure and vehemently deny any suggestion that he acted improperly.
Jackson is charged with molesting the boy, then 13, at Neverland and faces more than two decades in prison if he is convicted.
Prosecutors said they no longer would call as a witness Chris Carter, a former Jackson head of security who faces robbery and kidnapping charges in Las Vegas. They offered no reason for the change of plans.
