Lopez Allegations

Judge Rodney Melville yesterday agreed to allow testimony that Gavin Arvizo once claimed comedian George Lopez stole his wallet.

Jackson's lawyer, Robert Sanger, said that Lopez and Gavin met at a comedy club but later fell out. Sanger said that Gavin then accused Lopez of stealing his wallet and demanded $300.

This, at least according to the game plan of the defence, shows a pattern of the accuser trying to make money out of celebrities.

District Attorney, Tom Sneddon sought, to block the Lopez evidence on the grounds that Gavin tried to resist his father's plan to say there was $300 in the wallet.

Judge Rodney Melville rejected a defence request for a mistrial, after a witness mentioned the name of Jordie Chandler who made sex allegations against Jackson in 1993.

On Thursday, a former housekeeper at Jackson's Neverland ranch mentioned Jordie Chandler who received a multimillion-dollar civil settlement after claiming in 1993 that Jackson molested him.

The defence argued that the testimony violated Melville's ruling that no evidence of past sexual crimes could be admitted, unless the judge said so.

In denying the request for a mistrial, Melville said prosecutors elicited the testimony to establish how much contact Jackson had with boys who visited Neverland, not to suggest any impropriety by the singer.

Judge Melville also set a March 28 date for a hearing on the prosecution request to allow evidence of alleged prior offences into Jackson's trial.