On July 27, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff, District Attorney, and County Counsel received letters from an attorney alleging the sheriff leaked seized information on the late pop star Michael Jackson to TMZ, a celebrity gossip website.
Howard King, attorney for F. Marc Shaffel, said in the letter the sheriff inappropriately released a videotaped interview and other video footage Shaffel created with Jackson’s ex-wife, Debra Rowe.
The footage was apparently seized during Jackson’s 2004 criminal investigation. The attorney’s letter was also widely distributed to the news media.
“Mr. King’s allegation is preposterous,” Sheriff Bill Brown said in a press release from the Sheriff’s Department. “I was not sheriff at the time of the Michael Jackson case, and I have never released any information relating to it. The only recipients of such information from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department were the District Attorney’s office, and presumably Jackson’s numerous defense attorneys, through the normal discovery process.”
On July 30, King revealed that the only source for his allegations was TMZ. He also confirmed to Santa Barbara County officials that TMZ denies they received this information from the sheriff or Sheriff’s Department.
This article appears in Aug 6-13, 2009.