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Lawyers weren't trying to make friends

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson tried for years to portray District Attorney Tom Sneddon as an overzealous prosecutor with a personal grudge, and Sneddon sometimes played into that caricature.

In D.S. , an anti-Sneddon song, Jackson calls the prosecutor a "cold man" who is trying to "shock in every single way." Sneddon's gruff demeanor and often baffling sense of humor didn't help shake perceptions that he was out to bring down an international pop star who avoided criminal charges from 1993 molestation allegations.

But Sneddon, 64, and his supporters say he is driven by a strong desire to help victims, especially children.

"My past history with Mr. Jackson had absolutely, unequivocally nothing to do with our evaluation of this particular case," Sneddon said Monday, after the not guilty verdicts. "That's been a nice little 30-second sound bite the media has used to try and justify this thing. But it never had anything to do with either the sheriff's investigation or our decision to file."

Sneddon, who has been a prosecutor for 35 years and has held his elected office for the past 22 years, has helped children through fundraisers, victims' advocacy programs and coaching youth sports.

"He's done more for kids in this community than anybody," said former Sheriff Jim Thomas, an NBC News analyst and close friend of Sneddon.

A former boxer at Notre Dame who earned the nickname "Mad Dog" for his tenacious courtroom demeanor, Sneddon grinned and joked with reporters at the November 2003 news conference announcing a warrant for Jackson's arrest.

He denied any personal vendetta and dismissed a suggestion that he had planned the charges to coincide with the release of a new greatest hits collection by Jackson.

"Like the sheriff and I are really into that kind of music," Sneddon said.

Craig Smith, a former prosecutor who worked under Sneddon, said that his humor sometimes falls flat and that he could appear overconfident or flip.

"Tom has a very good sense of humor," said Smith, a Santa Barbara College of Law professor. "I think sometimes in public settings it doesn't come off too well."

One of Sneddon's worst moments came when he cross-examined actor-comedian Chris Tucker, a defense witness. When Sneddon showed a photograph of the accuser's family with Tucker, the comedian quipped, "That's a nice photograph. Can I get it?"

Sneddon snapped back, "That depends on whether you're a good boy," a remark that many observers found patronizing given that Sneddon is white and Tucker black.

After his defeat, Sneddon quickly faced the cameras to proclaim, "We all did our job, did it conscientiously."

Meanwhile, Sneddon's imposing counterpart stood before prosecution witnesses and told them, "My name is Tom Mesereau, and I speak for Mr. Jackson."

The mantra of Jackson's defense attorney, meaning "I'm on his side, not yours," was stated firmly to Jackson's teenage accuser and his mother, to accusers from cases now decades old and to celebrities such as Jay Leno. Mesereau was the dominant legal personality.

Often witnesses found themselves on the defensive. The accuser's mother would turn to the jury, point a finger at Mesereau and declare, "He's wrong!"

One witness, a former Jackson security guard, whimpered, "I want to go home."

Jamie Masada, a comedy club owner, tried comic gibes to spar with Mesereau.

Mesereau replied acerbically: "Maybe I'm in the wrong profession."

"He is probably the best cross-examiner I've ever seen in a courtroom," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, who sat in on the trial.

Mesereau, 54, was born in West Point, N.Y. His father, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, was a close aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Mesereau did his undergraduate work at Harvard and was an amateur boxer, studied international relations at the London School of Economics and received his law degree from Hastings.

As a criminal lawyer he quickly scored an enviable record of winning acquittals in a wide array of jury trials.

Once a year, he travels to Alabama to defend a death penalty case at his own expense and prides himself on saving downtrodden defendants from execution.

He also volunteers legal services at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, where he was honored for contributing to the African-American community.

[Last modified June 14, 2005, 01:27:13]