Thomas William Sneddon Jr. (May 26, 1941 – November 1, 2014) was the

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Santa Barbara County, California Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

. He had more than two decades of experience as a District Attorney, and more than three decades of experience as a prosecutor. He is best known for leading two investigations of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

on child sexual abuse allegations in 1993 and 2005. His most famous case was when he was prosecuting child molestation charges against entertainer

in the trial People v. Jackson in 2005, at the end of which Jackson was acquitted.

Life and career

Sneddon was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and grew up in Northern California. In 1963 Sneddon graduated from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, where he was on the boxing team, and in 1966 from UCLA Law School, where he met his wife. From 1967 to 1969 he served in the U.S. Army. From November 1969 until May 1977, Sneddon served as a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Barbara County. In 1977, he was promoted to the position of Supervisor of Criminal Operations. On January 3, 1983, Sneddon became the 33rd

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

of Santa Barbara County and was re-elected without opposition for five terms. In 2010 he retired from the DA's office. A father of 9 children, Sneddon was Chair of the Committee for Child Support Enforcement since its inception in 1991. He was presented with a "Director's Award" in 1995 by the California Family Support Council. A year later he was appointed co-chair of the National District Attorney's Child Support Committee and invited by the US Attorney General Janet Reno to be a member of the Presidential Commission's Federal Task Force to review and enhance federal criminal prosecutions for failure to pay child support.

Prosecution of Michael Jackson

His most publicized cases were his two investigations of

on child sexual abuse allegations in 1993 and 2003, 2004, and 2005. The first criminal investigation was closed with no charges; Jackson settled a related civil suit with a civil settlement of over $15 million to the plaintiff Jordan Chandler, who ceased cooperating with investigators after two

grand juries A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential crime, criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or ...

returned a refusal to indict Jackson. The second set of allegations against Jackson resulted in a

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

which ended on June 13, 2005, with Jackson's acquittal. In 1995 Jackson wrote a song about him, titled "D.S." Sneddon denied ever listening to the song. Jackson reportedly kept an “enemy list” on which Sneddon appeared, along with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, illusionist Uri Geller, music executive

Tommy Mottola Thomas Daniel Mottola (born July 14, 1948) is an American music executive, producer and author. Mottola is currently the Chairman of Mottola Media Group and was previously the Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, parent of the Columb ...

, attorney Gloria Allred, and

Janet Arvizo ''People v. Jackson'' (full title: ''1133603: The People of the State of California v. Michael Joe Jackson'') was a 2005 criminal trial held in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California. The American singer-songwriter Mich ...

, mother of a Jackson accuser.

Death

Sneddon died on November 1, 2014. He was 73.

References

External links

Thomas William Sneddon Jr. profile
Martindale.com; accessed November 2, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sneddon, Thomas W. Jr. 1941 births 2014 deaths Deaths from cancer in California People from Santa Barbara County, California District attorneys in California Michael Jackson University of Notre Dame alumni UCLA School of Law alumni United States Army soldiers