Thomas W. Sneddon Jr.
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Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. was the district attorney of Santa Barbara County, California. He has 22 years of experience as a D.A, and 35 years of experience in prosecution. He is best known for prosecuting and ultimately losing the Michael Jackson trial in 2005.
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[edit] Biographical Information
Thomas Sneddon served as District Attorney of Santa Barbara County from 1983 up until 2007. Prior to his election as District Attorney, he had served in the District Attorney's office as Supervisor of Criminal Operations. He began his career in the office in 1969 as a Deputy District Attorney after a brief tenure in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. He served in the United States Army from 1967 to 1969. His education background includes a B.A. in history from the University of Notre Dame and a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
[edit] Prosecution of Michael Jackson
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He is most notable for twice prosecuting Michael Jackson on child molestation charges without success in 1993 and in 2005. The second set of charges against Jackson resulted in a long trial, which ended in Jackson being acquitted on June 13, 2005. According to Jackson, his supporters and several former prosecutors, Sneddon has only prosecuted out of a personal vendetta and his personal hatred for Jackson. The 1993 case ended in a settlement rather than a conviction, much to Sneddon's disappointment. During the press conference following the singer's acquittal, he was asked to comment on his grudge against Jackson. Sneddon strongly denied having motives other than simply doing his duty as a prosecutor. In previous statements, he has said that the Jackson trial took place during his last term as district attorney, so careerism played no role in his decision to accept the case. In response to the case itself, Sneddon has no regrets: "We did the right thing for the right reasons." Sneddon is rumored to have inspired the song "D.S." on Michael Jackson's HIStory album. The song contains the lyrics "Dom Sheldon is a cold man", which sounds much like "Tom Sneddon is a cold man", at one point he even sings 'Thomas Sneddon' (although it is written in the HIStory booklet as "Dom S. Sheldon") and goes on to describe "Dom" as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Sneddon was criticized for referring to Michael Jackson as "Wacko Jacko", and also for his "We got him" remark after Jackson's arrest despite having no evidence against Jackson.
During the initial stages of the trial a website, sneddonexposed.com[1] , was launched. Sneddon reportedly protested against the website and it disappeared several months later.
