Key witness against Murray is missing
A man who testified earlier that he shipped large amounts of the surgical anesthetic Propofol to Conrad Murray in the weeks before June 25 apparently moved out of the United States and cannot be located for this month's trial, prosecutors told the judge Thursday.
The Los Angeles Coroner ruled that the death was caused by an overdose of Propofol combined with other drugs.
The judge scheduled two additional hearings for next week to decide if the prosecution can use the missing witness' previous testimony and to get a head start on the last phase of jury selection in the involuntary manslaughter trial.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said the hearings will help keep Murray's trial on track for face-to-face questioning of potential jurors September 23.
Prosecutors want to use the previous testimony of Tim Lopez, given at Murray's preliminary hearing last January, because they've been unable to contact him since he moved to Thailand. Pastor said prosecutors must show Monday that they have done everything possible to reach Lopez.
Lopez, the owner of a wholesale pharmacy in Las Vegas, testified that he shipped a total of 15 liters of Propofol to Murray in the three months before June 25, 2009.
A hearing Monday morning will also consider the prosecution's request to exclude the testimony of Jackson's makeup artist. Murray's lawyers want Karen Faye to repeat statements given in interviews about what she described as Jackson's ill health in the weeks before June 25, as he was rehearsing for his comeback concerts.
The prosecution told the judge in a hearing Thursday that much of what Faye has said in the past is based on what she heard others say, not her own recollections.
The judge will also consider if Murray's lawyers can call a Texas medical examiner to testify about his inspection of the Los Angeles County coroner's facilities and practices. Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Thursday that the man's testimony is not relevant to the Murray case.
The judge again raised questions about the prosecution's plan to present testing done on university students in Chile who voluntarily swallowed Propofol. Murray's lawyers objected that the study was never published or reviewed by other scientists.
The prosecution argues that the experiments disprove the Murray lawyers theory that the overdose was caused by the ingesting of the drug, not from an injection given by Murray.
The coroner stated that was not possible for Michael Jackson ingest or self-inject the Propofol and that he was in good health.
Pastor also scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday afternoon to begin the process of deciding which potential jurors should be dismissed "for cause." Both sides will be able to question jurors based on their answers given to 113 questions posed to them in writing last week.
Murray's lawyer Nareg Gourjian said he received the defense copy of the 30-page questionnaire responses only Wednesday. Lawyers for both sides have only until next week to study the 145 jurors' answers to determine if the potential jurors can put aside biases and what they've heard about the case to reach a fair verdict.
Opening statements are scheduled on September 27, after the in-person questioning of jurors on September 23.
MJFS - source: cnn.com