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Jacksons v AEG Timeline Legal
Murray trial jury selection to go ahead as planned
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 7 September 2011
The judge overseeing the trial of Conrad Murray, the doctor accused of causing the death of Michael Jackson through negligence, has said jury selection will begin tomorrow as planned unless the Californian appeals courts instruct him otherwise.
As previously reported, the Murray defence team are trying to have the jury in the manslaughter trial sequestered, ie kept away from external influence 24/7 during the trial. They argue that media interest in the case will be so rampant, it will be impossible for jurors to not be influenced by coverage and comment outside the courtroom.
But Judge Michael Pastor says he trusts the jurors to not allow themselves to be influenced in that way, and therefore he does not believe the cost and stress of keeping the jury in hotel rooms between court hearings is necessary. Team Murray are appealing Pastor’s ruling on this point, and had asked the judge to delay starting the doctor’s trial until an appeals court had ruled on the matter.
But Pastor said yesterday he intended to begin jury selection tomorrow as planned. The first part of jury selection should take about three days, with 480 potential jurors questioned before 100 are presented to legal reps for both the prosecution and defence later this month. It is unlikely a final jury will be in place before the last week in September, so Pastor is possibly confident an appeals court will have ruled re the sequestering proposal by then anyway.
The prosecution will say Murray acted negligently in administering the surgical anaesthetic propofol to Jackson at the singer’s home as a cure for insomnia. Murray’s team are expected to argue Jackson self-administered the lethal shot of the drug, possibly in a bid to commit suicide.
