Tom Sneddon, who pursued child molestation charges against pop icon Michael Jackson in two different decades, died Saturday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital of cancer. He was 73.
“I don’t think you will find a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office who worked for him who has one bad thing to say about him,” said retired assistant district attorney Patrick McKinley, who confirmed his death to the Associated Press.
It was Sneddon, a California district attorney, who pursued the 1993 allegations of child molestation brought against Jackson. Before any charges could be filed in that case, the family and Jackson reached a financial settlement.
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In 1995, Jackson released the track “D.S.” on his album “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.” The angry song is widely considered to be a response to Sneddon’s pursuit of the sexual abuse charges from two years prior. “Dom Sheldon is a cold man,” Jackson sang in the chorus of the song, which sounded a lot like Sneddon’s name when sang.
A decade later, a separate case was brought against Jackson, and Sneddon again pursued the charges. This time, the case went to trial in 2005, becoming one of the most highly publicized legal cases in history. Ultimately, Jackson was acquitted of all charges. Jackson died in 2009.
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Sneddon joined the district attorney’s office in 1969, rising to the top position for the first time in 1981, according to the Santa Barbara News-Press, which was first to report his passing. He would run unopposed in five more elections until his retirement in 2006, one year after Jackson’s case ended.