Rodney Melville

Rodney Scott Melville is a presiding judge in Santa Barbara County's superior court. He was the judge in Michael Jackson's 2005 child molestion trial, in which Jackson was acquitted.

Biography Melville was born in 1941 and studied at San Diego State University and Hastings College of the Law, University of California.

Melville became an attorney for the firm Melville & Iwasko and became a state certified specialist in family law. Melville served as a deputy district attorney in the San Bernardino County district attorney's office for two years.

People v. Jackson In 2005, Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation by a 13-year-old boy. The case went to court and Melville was appointed the presiding judge. Prior to the start of the trial, Melville had cameras banned from the courtroom, put a gag order on both sides and oversaw a three-day jury selection procedure.