Jackson doc's trial ready to go 
LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's sad and perplexing final days of life will be laid bare as the involuntary manslaughter trial of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, begins on Thursday with jury selection.
Details of how the King of Pop, who'd been apparently suffering for years from debilitating insomnia, was addicted to a powerful anesthetic approved only for use in surgery and, more importantly, how he obtained it, is at the core of the case Los Angeles prosecutors will present in the televised trial, which is tentatively set to begin with opening statements on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
"Drug abuse by prescription has been going on for a long time and needs to be brought under control," said Barry Groveman, a former criminal prosecutor for the city and county of Los Angeles, who is following the legal ramifications of the trial.
"A doctor occupies a high order in our society and, therefore, is held to a high standard. This trial is all about what that standard is."
Autopsy photos taken after the 50-year-old's death on June 25, 2009, will be shown in what is expected to be a packed court filled with Jackson fans and family, including his 81-year-old mother, Katherine, and three children -- who were present when the singer died and may be called as witnesses.
"A mother's job is never done," a visibly weary Katherine, who is raising Jackson's children, told local media.
L.A. District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said jurors will be selected from a pool of 150, and will be told the trial "could last up to three months." Partly to save about $500,000, the cash-strapped California justice system decided not to sequester jurors in hotel rooms throughout the trial. Lawyers for Murray had argued that jury isolation was necessary, especially after inflamed commentary by TV personalities during the Casey Anthony trial earlier this summer.
There is a list of more than 100 potential witnesses in the case that may be called, including dozens of medical experts.
The District Attorney's office began building a case against Murray when the coroner ruled that Jackson, who was preparing for his "This is It" comeback tour, died as a result of an acute overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol -- which the singer allegedly referred lovingly to as "mother's milk" -- mixed with sedatives.
Prosecutors say Murray, 58, breached medical standards by giving Jackson access to propofol at his home as a regular sleep aid and failed to monitor him.
"Your honour, I am an innocent man," Murray stated at his initial hearing six months ago. He has acknowledged to police he used the drug for two months to treat Jackson's insomnia, but insisted the doses he gave should not have been fatal.
Nonetheless, L.A. Country Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ordered Murray to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter based on "a direct nexus and connection between the acts and omissions of Dr. Murray and the homicide in this case." Pastor then stripped the cardiologist of his California medical licence pending the outcome of the trial.
Murray began working for Jackson just a few months before his death. He closed his Houston and Las Vegas medical practices when concert promoters AEG offered him $150,000 a month to serve as Jackson' personal physician for the tour so as to ensure the singer was healthy enough to attend rigorous rehearsals.
Murray's laywer, Ed Chernoff, has maintained Murray did nothing wrong. "Dr. Murray didn't prescribe or administer anything that should have killed him," he said.
His defence of Murray hinges on creating a portrait of a drug-addicted pop star who was sick and strung out, but so worried about a comeback that he pushed himself to do a tour he wasn't physically capable of doing.
"The crux of the defence is going to be that Michael Jackson engaged in a desperate act and took desperate measures that caused his death," Chernoff said in pre-trial motions.
Chernoff has raised the possibility that the chronic insomniac injected himself with an additional, lethal dose of propofol, or drank it, while he was alone in the bathroom of his mansion and Murray was in another room. Opening statements by Deputy District Attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil are expected to immediately address this defence -- and get to the heart of what they say is the matter: That Jackson died of a drug he should never have had access to.
They are expected to tell of an otherwise healthy Jackson, who was the victim of a careless doctor who may have fraudulently obtained the powerful drug; a doctor who was on the telephone on a personal call when the artist stopped breathing and who was then unable to perform basic CPR to revive him.
"There isn't anybody that doesn't have a relative or friend that has not experienced drug abuse by prescription and has a deep concern," said Groveman, the former prosecutor.
Groveman said Murray's defence will have no choice but to put the cardiologist on the stand to testify.
"The jury will want to hear from him as an intellectual member of society. A doctor has a lot of range and he may be able to have a good explanation for what he did."
Groveman added, "and I would certainly hope so."
Meanwhile, Katherine Jackson said she sometimes feels the maximum prison term of four years for Murray, if convicted, is hardly worth the strain of a public trial.
"I have mixed emotions," she said in an interview.
She has said she plans to attend the trial each day with other family members, including Jackson siblings Janet and La Toya, despite the reliving of painful memories.
"Michael was the nicest person in the world," his mother said. "It just hurts me because my son is gone forever and this man (Murray) is trying to get away and get off."
The key figures in the trial
DR CONRAD MURRAY
BORN: Feb. 19, 1953 in Saint Andrew, Grenada.
RAISED: On the island of Grenada, but moved to Trinidad with his mother at age 7. At age 19, moved to the United States to attend Texas Southern University, graduating magna cum laude.
MED SCHOOL: Meharry Medical College School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. Completed medical school there in 1989 and an internal medicine residency at the same school in 1993.
PRACTISED MEDICINE IN: Houston, Texas, and Las Vegas. Also previously licensed in California.
MET MICHAEL JACKSON: When the doctor treated one of the Jackson children at his clinic in Las Vegas.
DEFENCE ATTORNEY CLAIMS: Murray did not administer enough of the anesthetic propofol to kill him and Jackson must have obtained another dose somewhere else.
MURRAY CLAIMS: "I am an innocent man."
JUDGE MICHAEL PASTOR
COURT: Los Angeles Superior Court
PREVIOUS NOTABLE CASES: Jason Priestley's DUI and the handling of the case involving topless photos of Cameron Diaz.
KNOWN FOR: Thoroughly reading every legal document. Read: Nothing gets by him.
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS DAVID WALGREN and DEBORAH BRAZIL.
AGES: 56 and 53, respectively.
UNIT: Major Crimes
PREVIOUS NOTABLE CASES: Walgren was recently assigned to the reinvestigation of the Roman Polanski rape case and extradition hearing.
KNOWN FOR: Being two of a small army of 1,056 lawyers representing the city.
DEFENCE ATTORNEY ED CHERNOFF
AGE: 50
BACKGROUND: A former district attorney in Houston, Texas, who left to start his own criminal defense firm in 1999.
PREVIOUS NOTABLE CASES: In one highly publicized federal trial, got the jury to acquit in just 15 minutes a man accused of hacking into the Harris County District Clerk's computer and causing damage.
KNOWN FOR: His speedy acquittals and the invention of the phrase, "if the print doesn't fit, you must acquit."
About the trial
JURY SELECTION: Expected to begin Thursday, Sept. 9. About 150 prospective jurors will be questioned. Lawyers will pare the list to 12, plus two alternates.
WILL JURY BE SEQUESTERED?: No. Judge Pastor will, however, warn reporters not to try to talk to jurors, and instruct jurors to avoid commenting to any reporters about the case.
OPENING STATEMENTS: Tentatively set for Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Los Angeles Superior Court, 111 N. Hill Street in downtown LA.
LIKELY SHOULD END BY: Christmas.
Defining 'involuntary manslaughter' -- and the Canadian equivalent
What is 'involuntary manslaughter' and why haven't you heard of it?
That's because in Canada the equivalent charge is labeled 'criminal negligence causing death.' In a nutshell, it means doing something that displays "wanton disregard" for the life of another.
It's the low end of our homicide laws. At the other end, we have first or second degree murder -- typically where the Crown establishes the murder was "planned and deliberate," or committed during the course of a serious offence.
The difference between first and second degree is dictated by the occupation of the victim. For example, murder of a cop or jail guard is first degree. If the murder doesn't satisfy the conditions for first or second degree, then it's considered manslaughter. The label is crucial in determining the sentence and parole eligibility.
In California, an involuntary manslaughter conviction merits a three-year sentence, but mitigating factors can reduce it to two years, and aggravating factors can increase it to four.
Judges have more discretion in Canada, where a criminal-negligence-causing-death conviction can merit anything from a suspended sentence (meaning no jail time) to life (meaning no parole for 10 years). If a gun is involved, the minimum is four years. Where the death is accidental, a Canadian sentence would likely be under two years.
- Alan Shanoff, Special to QMI Agency
Alan Shanoff is former legal counsel to Sun Media
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/02/jackson-docs-triall-ready-to-go
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