Appeals court ruling: jurors won’t be sequestered

Yesterday, the appeals court upheld the judge’s ruling in Michael Jackson’s murder case. As a result, the jurors will not be sequestered and, according to the schedule, their selection will begin starting today. The appeals court, by confirming Judge Michael Pastor’s opinion, said that sequestering the jurors would be unnecessary, extremely costly, and would be tormenting and tense for the jurors themselves.

Conrad Murray’s defense attorneys, accused of murder, had requested that the jurors be placed under 24-hour surveillance to prevent any access to the media. They believe that the news the media publishes about Michael Jackson’s murder case will affect the jurors’ impartial verdict.

Also, in the hearing held yesterday, the judge allowed one of the prosecution’s witnesses—whom the defense attorneys objected to—to attend the court. This witness is a specialist anesthesiologist doctor who, according to two studies of his own, says that death caused by injecting the anesthetic propofol is impossible.

The defense attorneys had argued that Michael, when Dr. Conrad Murray was not in the room, caused his own death by accidentally taking this drug.

However, the judge postponed issuing a ruling on the use of one of the studies conducted regarding this case until the next session. This study was conducted by a prominent researcher from Chile, and because it hasn’t been published, the judge is hesitant about granting permission to use it in court. He says he doesn’t know the sources of this research and needs more information.

In this study, a number of volunteer students ingested propofol and nothing unusual was observed. The prosecution believes that this study supports their witness’s viewpoint, Dr. Steven Shaffer, who says that taking the drug is non-toxic.

Shaffer says that this drug is broken down quickly by the liver and that even if Michael Jackson had taken it, it would be impossible for it to have been the cause of his death. Prosecutor David Walgren says that according to Shaffer, the probability of absorbing propofol through ingestion is zero.

David Walgren quoted Shaffer in court: “There is no indication in the way Conrad Murray cared for Michael Jackson that suggests the presence of a trained physician.”

Conrad Murray is a cardiology specialist and has medical licenses in three states.

The prosecution says Dr. Shaffer will testify that Dr. Murray is responsible for Michael Jackson’s death because: “He violated the medical standard beyond the limits, with the utmost disregard and irrational behavior.”

Today, 160 members of the general public in Los Angeles will be called to court so that the first round of selecting jurors can begin among them.

Source: eMJey.com / latimes.com / AP / CNN