Conrad Murray trial may be delayed due to death in witness's family

[PureLove]

Conrad Murray trial may be delayed due to death in witness's family

The trial of Michael Jackson's doctor may not resume until Tuesday because the father of the prosecution's last witness died, it was revealed at a hearing Friday.

Testimony in Dr. Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial was recessed Thursday afternoon so anesthesiology expert Dr. Steven Shafer could attend a medical conference in Chicago, but Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Friday that Shafer never made it there because of the death in his family.

Prosecutors allege Murray was criminally responsible for Jackson's death because of his gross negligence in his use of the surgical anesthetic propofol and other drugs in Jackson's home to help him sleep.

The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson's June 25, 2009, death was from "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with several sedatives, including lorazepam.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, who is known for keeping tight control on his courtroom, scolded and fined prosecutor Walgren and his co-counsel, Deputy District Attorney Deborah Brazil, for being a few minutes late to Friday morning's hearing.

"People, you were late this morning by six minutes," Pastor said. "What is the reason for this, please?"

"We were just running late, your honor," Walgren said. "We apologize."

"Well, this has happened before," Pastor said, before ordering Walgren and Brazil to pay a $60 fine, $10 for each minute they were tardy to court.

Walgren blamed slow courthouse elevators when he and Brazil were 15 minutes late for a hearing last month.

Shafer, who is expected to give a detailed scientific explanation of how the surgical anesthetic propofol is metabolized in the human body, will be on the witness stand for at least a day once he returns from his father's funeral, according to Walgren.
The defense presentation would follow, lasting until next Friday or the following Monday, according to defense lawyer Nareg Gourjian.

Along with two or three medical experts, the defense has lined up about a dozen patients of Murray to testify about how he's helped them.

On Thursday, a sleep expert testifying for the prosecution said Jackson "clearly" suffered from insomnia that could have been caused by Demerol, a narcotic he was getting frequently from a doctor other than Murray.

Murray's defense team contends Dr. Arnold Klein injected Jackson with 6,500 milligrams of Demerol during visits to his Beverly Hills, California, dermatology clinic in the last three months of his life, and that Murray did not know about it.

Jackson desperately sought sleep the day he died, worried that without rest he could not rehearse that night, which could force the cancellation of his "This Is It" comeback concerts, according to Murray's interview with police.

Dr. Nader Kamangar, a UCLA sleep expert testifying for the prosecution, testified that the combination of drugs Murray gave Jackson "was the perfect storm" that killed him.

"Mr. Jackson was receiving very inappropriate therapy, in the home setting, receiving very potent sedatives, including propofol, lorazepam and midazolam, without monitoring by Murray, and ultimately this cocktail was a recipe for disaster," Kamangar said.

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[bec]

Well we needed a delay to two to get us into November. Or at least to Halloween.

[use_your_illusion]

What they were fined for being 6 min late...this trial has never started on time, only a couple of times actually and I'm sure it hasn't always been the prosecution's fault.

[MJonmind]

Walgren blamed slow courthouse elevators when he and Brazil were 15 minutes late for a hearing last month.

I don't know if there is any connection.

Seems to me that the court could never proceed if they postponed it whenever any of the witnesses had something important they didn't want to miss. A death in the family could excuse that person for a while, but not that the whole court has to stop. This reminds me of the 2005 trial where the judge had no mercy for Michael.  Notice the "60 minutes to appear", and the "10 minutes late", in the story that are similar.

Jackson to Jackson: Why I wore pyjamas
 
 reddit this Gary Younge in New York and Associated Press in Los Angeles The Guardian, Monday 28 March 2005 23.59 BST Article history In an interview with the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson yesterday Michael Jackson explained why he arrived in court wearing his pyjama bottoms two weeks ago, revealed that the actor Elizabeth Taylor used to feed him by hand, and denied persistent rumours that he is on the verge of bankruptcy.
During the wide-ranging discussion the singer said that the child molestation charges brought against him were part of a vast conspiracy to discredit him, and had bought him to the lowest point in his life.

He said he could not elaborate on his conspiracy theories because of a court-imposed gag order, but that he was "completely innocent".

He went on to suggest that he was just the latest in a litany of "black luminaries" to be unjustly accused, citing the former South African president Nelson Mandela and the former world heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson.

"I just want to say to fans in every corner of the earth, every nationality, every race, every language: I love you from the bottom of my heart," Mr Jackson said towards the end of the hour-long interview broadcast live on the internet.

"I would love your prayers and your goodwill, and please be patient and be with me and believe in me because I am completely, completely innocent. But please know a lot of conspiracy is going on as we speak," he said.

After Jesse Jackson pointed out that he looked extremely thin and wan, Michael Jackson said he had never been a big eater - a fact that had worried both family and friends.

"Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times," he said.

"Please, I don't want anybody to think I'm starving, I'm not," he added. "My health is perfect, actually."

But earlier he described the "intense pain" he had been suffering after an accident earlier this month.

On March 11 the singer failed to appear in court for his trial. The judge was unmoved after being told that Mr Jackson was at a nearby hospital "with a serious back problem", and gave the singer 60 minutes to appear or face jail and the loss of his $3m (£1.6m) bail bond.

When the star finally arrived an hour and 10 minutes late he hobbled into court wearing slippers, a suit jacket over a T-shirt and a pair of pyjama bottoms. Mr Jackson said yesterday: "I was coming out of the shower and I fell and all my body weight - I'm pretty fragile - all my body weight fell against my rib cage," he said. "And I bruised my lung very badly."
Mr Jackson said the injury had caused him to cough up blood and was so painful that it brought tears to his eyes in court one day when he was seen wiping his eyes with a tissue. He said he remains under a doctor's care.

Mr Jackson also firmly rebuffed allegations that he is in financial trouble.

"That's not true at all. It's just one of their many schemes to embarrass me. It's to drag me through the mud," he said.

But he indicated that a battle was under way over the music catalogue he owns which contains the rights to songs by the Beatles, Little Richard and others.

"There's a big fight going on, right now as we speak, about that," he said. "I can't comment on it, but there's a lot of conspiracy out there."

Jesse Jackson told the Associated Press earlier this month that he and Michael Jackson, who is a Jehovah's Witness, often prayed together.

He told his audience yesterday that he spoke to the entertainer on the phone nearly every day.

Asked about the lowest point in his life, Michael Jackson said: "Probably the low point, the lowest point emotionally, is probably what I'm going through."

He said the high point had been when he recorded his Thriller album in 1982, adding that he had set out to create a disco version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
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