Thomas W. Sneddon Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. is 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.
[edit] Biographical Information
Thomas Sneddon has served as District Attorney of Santa Barbara County since 1983 and is currently serving his sixth term. Prior to his election as District Attorney, he had since 1977, 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
 |
Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
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 ultimately ended in Jackson being acquitted on June 13, 2005. According to Jackson fans, Sneddon has only prosecuted Michael Jackson out of a personal vendetta. 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.
