The following from an article posted at
www.mjjforum.com...
On April 25, 2004, Jackson issued a statement, saying, "It is imperative that I have the full attention of those who are representing me. My life is
at stake."
Jackson is correct; his life is at stake. There is concern among professional therapists that there is an epidemic of false allegations of sexual
abuse of children. In 1996, the Institute of Psychological Therapies found that as many as sixty-six percent of cases were unsubstantiated. Deliberate
false allegations were found to be as high as fifteen percent. The rights of children must be protected, but so must the rights of the accused. The
role of a District Attorney is to seek the truth, not to seek conviction at all costs. There are strong indications that Sneddon, whose nickname is
"Mad Dog," is driven more by a vendetta than a search for the truth. Sneddon has said that over the years, he hasn't "given the case a passing
thought." That is not an accurate statement. The web-site "Talk Left: the Politics of Crime," has a compilation of numerous of Sneddon's
statements over the past ten years, that the case was still open, despite the fact that the investigation was discontinued in 1994 when two grand
juries failed to indict Jackson.
In a press conference following the filing of charges against Jackson on Dec. 18, 2003, DA Sneddon summarily dismissed the Los Angeles Police
Department and the Department of Children and Family Services' investigations of Jackson. The investigations concluded that complaints of molestation
had been unfounded, but Sneddon said in the press conference, "They have a lot of problems down there (LA) and that office has a lot of problems."
What he did not mention was that the Santa Barbara Children's Services and Santa Barbara law enforcement had conducted similar investigations and had
come to similar conclusions. Then there was Jackson's three million dollar bail, three times that of a murderer and nearly fifty times that of the
bail schedule for the alleged crimes. Sneddon has hired a public relations firm, and there is a web-site devoted to the case.
It seems to be assumed that the wheels of justice are turning smoothly. There is evidence that in Santa Barbara County, this may not be true.
Currently, Tom Sneddon is being sued for ten million dollars for malicious prosecution, by Santa Barbara defense attorney Gary Dunlap. Dunlap alleges
that Sneddon violated his civil rights on twenty-two counts, including wire-tapping, illegal search and seizure, and the cover-up of misconduct by
editing tapes. Dunlap was charged, tried and acquitted on all counts, but he suffered needlessly, both personally and professionally. Dunlap went on
to state that vindictive prosecutions are done in Santa Barbara "on a routine basis."
There have been other civil cases against Sneddon of which the public is unaware because they were settled out of court. Among them is the case of
Efren Cruz. In December, 2001, Tracy Williams of the LA Times reported a story entitled, "Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder Sues Prosecutors." Cruz
served four and a half years in Pelican Bay prison for a shooting he did not commit, and upon his release sued Sneddon and three senior prosecutors
for 120 million dollars, for malicious prosecution, negligence, conspiracy to keep him in prison, and violating his civil rights. Allegedly, the
prosecutors withheld evidence that would have exonerated Cruz. That evidence was the real killer's secretly taped confession. The lawsuit was settled
out of court at taxpayer's expense, for an undisclosed but substantial amount.