Jackson pleads not guilty on old and new charges

Michael Jackson pled not guilty to all charges during his arraignment in a Santa Maria courtroom on Friday morning. The proceedings were a way of determining whether there was sufficient evidence to send Jackson's case to trial and to avoid a public pre-trial hearing. They consisted of the jury handing down ten indictments, including several counts of lewd behavior with a child and administering an intoxicating agent.

All of those charges were ones that Jackson and his new attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. expected but a new charge accuses him of conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion. Jackson, 45, was arrested last November, and in December accused on seven accounts of lewd behavior with a child and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent.

The crimes allegedly occurred between Feb. 1 and March 31, 2003. In January he pleaded not guilty to all of those charges. But Jackson's latest accusations obviously came as a shock. A conviction on any of the 10 charges could result in a 20 year prison sentence. The Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville said the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings would be turned over to attorneys Monday. A hearing on whether the case should be sealed will be held on May 28. Hundreds of fans waited outside the courtroom in support of Jackson while other fans traveled to the Neverland ranch to show there support of the pop star. Jackson is still free on $3 million bail and contends that these accusations are not true.