LOS ANGELES, April 26 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson has replaced his attorneys less than a week before the singer is set to be arraigned on a grand jury indictment in his child molestation case.
Jackson has retained Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., a high-profile lawyer who, until recently, represented actor Robert Blake who faces trial for murder later this year for allegedly shooting his wife in 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
Jackson's former co-counsel, Benjamin Brafman and Mark Geragos, "stepped down" Sunday, Brafman told the Times, in a move that had been "evolving for a while," he said.
Jackson reportedly met with Mesereau in Florida during the weekend, although Mesereau told the Times Sunday he would not comment on the case until he appears in court Friday.
Jackson was indicted last week by a Santa Barbara County grand jury. The specific charges he faces will be detailed Friday when the 45-year-old singer appears in a Santa Barbara courtroom.
Jackson was charged last December with seven counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent to the child.
