Judge bars computer porn

The judge in Michael Jackson's sex abuse trial has barred prosecutors from showing the jury evidence seized from computers at the pop star's Neverland Valley Ranch, including pornographic images of teenage girls.

The jurors instead were shown more than 75 pornographic magazines and pictures taken from Mr Jackson's home, along with a framed photograph of Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, who has been identified by a former Neverland maid as being especially close to the entertainer as an adolescent.

The decision to bar from the trial the material taken from Mr Jackson's computers marked a setback for prosecutors, who hoped that it would corroborate the testimony of Mr Jackson's now 15-year-old accuser and his brother.

Both teens have testified that Mr Jackson, 46, and an aide showed them pornography on a laptop computer during their first visit to Neverland in 2000 and later in magazines.

As the court session ended on Wednesday a member of the defence team, Brian Oxman, suddenly took ill. Mr Jackson dabbed at Mr Oxman's face with a tissue and helped remove the attorney's suit coat and tie as a bailiff called for help.

Sheriff's deputies cleared the courtroom and Mr Oxman, who was conscious but pale, was wheeled on a gurney to a waiting ambulance and driven to nearby Marian Medical Centre. Lead Mr Jackson attorney Tom Mesereau and two other members of the defence, Susan Yu and Robert Sanger, spent 45 minutes at the hospital but did not speak to reporters as they left.

Mr Oxman's law partner told Reuters he was admitted to the hospital for treatment of pneumonia. She said Mr Jackson had not spoken to Mr Oxman, but his brother, Randy, had checked on the attorney.

"He's fine," Maureen Jaroscak said. "He's not very happy that they want to keep him overnight, but otherwise he's fine." Mr Oxman last week was at the centre of reports that a rift had developed in the entertainer's defence team after the Court TV network broadcast a tape of him shouting about his treatment by other lawyers and complaining that he had not been paid.

Though he has not cross-examined any witnesses so far in the trial and rarely addressed the court, Mr Oxman appears close to Mr Jackson and confers with the famous defendant during breaks in the proceedings.

Mr Oxman's illness marked the latest strange twist in the sensational trial, which has also included two hospital visits by Mr Jackson. Earlier this month, Mr Jackson was nearly arrested after failing to arrive at court on time, only to turn up over an hour late - wearing pajamas and hobbling as if in pain.

Mr Jackson is charged with molesting a young boy at Neverland, plying the youth with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. The self-styled King of Pop, who has pleaded innocent, faces more than two decades in prison if convicted.

Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said prosecutors wanted to show jurors the contents of four hard drives taken from computers at Neverland, which he said proved the performer was a practiced web surfer who looked at teen-themed porn sites as well as sites related to Walt Disney, toys and photographs of adoptable children.

But defence lawyers argued that none of the material was from February and March of 2003, the period during which Mr Jackson is accused of sexually molesting the then-13-year-old boy and that prosecutors could not prove that it was accessed by the singer.

The judge agreed. "The court will grant the defence motion not to allow (the material)," Judge Melville said. "It does appear to be cached material. There's no way of knowing if anyone looked at it or not."

Courtroom drama has history of making Jackson sick

Michael Jackson's emotional and physical health threatens to upstage his trial for child molestation, raising questions about the ability of the once invincible King of Pop to endure more months of daily assaults on his reputation.

The glittering memories of the moonwalking Mr Jackson, who in the 1980s thrilled millions with his innovative dancing and dazzling concerts, have been eclipsed by pictures of a dazed, once pajama-clad, middle-aged man entering court for another round of public humiliation.

Mr Jackson, 46, says it is a back injury that is causing his suffering. "I'm very much hurt. I'm in pain. I'm in pain," he whispered to reporters.

Trial observers wonder whether the real cause of his pain is the daily stress of seeing some of the tawdry details of a very private life held up for the world to shudder at.

"I think for a man who has worked so hard to construct an image, to sit here in court and watch that image be eviscerated is very difficult for him," said J. Randy Taraborrelli, who wrote the 1991 biography Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness.

"I think it is having a real effect on his emotional state and then on his body, as stress will do."

Mr Jackson is on trial on 10 counts of child molestation, plying a minor with alcohol and conspiracy to commit child abduction. He has pleaded not guilty but could face 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

More than three weeks of prosecution testimony have painted a very different picture of Mr Jackson from the tender-hearted, if slightly eccentric, world-famous recording star.

Mr Jackson's defence team has dented the credibility of the 15-year-old recovering cancer patient at the centre of the case but has yet to present a detailed rebuttal of the allegations.

Jurors have been shown dozens of legal, but pornographic, magazines, DVDs and books that police said were found in Mr Jackson's Neverland bedroom, in briefcases, in his wine cellar, stuffed into closets, and in his bathroom.

They have seen photos and videos of his bedroom, crammed untidily with cardboard boxes, lifelike mannequins, books, movie memorabilia and Peter Pan-themed trinkets.

They have heard testimony from Mr Jackson's accuser and others of his preference for drinking wine disguised in soda cans. They have also heard his favorite food is not gourmet fare but KFC fried chicken.

Lawsuits have a history of making Mr Jackson sick. In 1993, when he was also facing allegations of molesting a young boy - accusations that were settled out of court for a reported $23 million - he abruptly cancelled a world tour and went into hiding for treatment for an addiction to painkillers.

Bertram Fields, his lawyer at the time, said he was "barely able to function adequately on an intellectual level".

In 2003, Mr Jackson was briefly hospitalised for dehydration suffering from what Mr Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman called a "reaction to lawsuits." The singer was taken ill shortly before a scheduled deposition in a copyright lawsuit.

"Some people react to food. Some people react to lawsuits. ... He gets upset, he doesn't drink, he doesn't eat, he can't sleep," Mr Oxman told Reuters at the time. He said Mr Jackson had been involved in more than 1,500 lawsuits in his career and was "exhausted with this kind of thing."

Last month, jury selection in Mr Jackson's current trial was delayed for a week after the singer went to a hospital emergency room. He had apparently vomited in his car en route to court.

The judge has shown little sympathy for Mr Jackson's physical plight, forging ahead with what is expected to be a six-month trial after brief consultations with the singer's doctors and lawyers.

"The paradox of Michael Jackson is that he's almost sort of an athlete when he hits the stage, but by the same token he's so fragile when thrown into adult situations, where he's required to act like an adult," said Mr Taraborrelli.