DOCUMENT: Crime

Michael Jackson Indicted, Pleads Not Guilty

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Michael Jackson Indicted, Pleads Not Guilty

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APRIL 30--A California judge today unsealed an indictment charging Michael Jackson with the molestation last year of a cancer-stricken boy. Notably, the ten-count felony indictment--which supercedes a criminal complaint filed in December against the 45-year-old singer--adds a new conspiracy charge that prosecutors allege involved 28 separate overt criminal acts by the so-called King Pop, including child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion. The indictment, a copy of which you'll find below, also charges Jackson with four counts of committing lewd acts upon a child, one count of an attempted lewd act upon a child, and four counts of administering an intoxicating agent. Jackson entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment today before Judge Rodney Melville, who released the indictment in a redacted form to cloak the names of alleged coconspirators and details of the overt acts. In addition to several small redactions, Melville withheld six entire pages of the indictment. (7 pages)