Michael Jackson's former doctor faces top challenge

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's
former doctor faces a tough challenge
clearing himself of involuntary manslaughter
charges in the pop star's death as his trial,
which promises to avoid many dark aspects
of Jackson's life, begins with jury selection
this week.
While it is Dr. Conrad Murray, who will be on
trial when attorneys begin selecting a panel
on Thursday, the "Thriller" singer's infamy
will loom large over the proceedings.
Jackson was one of the world's most
recognizable singers, dubbed the King of
Pop, when he died in June 2009, at age 50.
He also was known to have battled an
addiction to painkillers, and Murray's
attorneys had hoped to present evidence of
his past drug use at the trial.
But in an obstacle for the defense, Los
Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor
barred testimony from a half-dozen doctors
whom Murray's attorneys had indicated in
court papers would portray Jackson as
drug-dependent.
"The deck is, for various reasons, stacked
against the defense here," said Stan
Goldman, a professor at Loyola Law School
in Los Angeles.
Jackson stopped breathing at his Los
Angeles mansion on June 25, 2009, in what
authorities say was an overdose of the
powerful anesthetic propofol and various
sedatives.
Murray, who pleaded not guilty to the
charge of involuntary manslaughter, has
admitted giving Jackson propofol, a drug
normally used for surgery, as a sleep aid.
During a series of court hearings earlier this
year defense attorneys suggested that when
Murray was out of the room, Jackson could
have given himself a large, fatal dose of the
drug, possibly by swallowing it.
Murray faces up to four years in prison if
convicted.
FINDING A JURY
As for choosing an impartial jury, legal
experts say it will be impossible to find
anyone who knows nothing of Jackson.
Some will adore him, while others will abhor
him. So attorneys will have to work to find
the most unbiased jury possible under the
circumstances.
"It's going to be like a Ouija board, it's going
to be guess work," Goldman said.
After a jury panel is selected, the trial will be
recessed until opening arguments begin the
last week of September.
Jackson's family has faithfully attended all
the court hearings in the case, with his
mother, Katherine, 81, often sitting with his
father, Joseph, 83.
The King of Pop's supporters also will be on
hand, and if earlier hearings are any
indication they will wear black as a sign of
mourning over their fallen idol. At earlier
court hearings, some fans hired a plane to
fly a banner over the courthouse that read
"Change charges to murder."
"If the jurors walk through, on the way to
the courthouse, a massive amount of fans
who are declaring the guilt of the defendant
in the case, I find it hard to believe it won't
have some impact," Goldman said.
But some trial watchers say the circus
atmosphere that is expected outside the
courthouse may, in fact, never materialize.
Indeed, Jackson's fans failed to jam the
streets of downtown Los Angeles during his
2009 memorial, as had been widely
expected.
Laurie Levenson, a colleague of Goldman's at
Loyola Law School, said she does not believe
the proceedings will become anywhere near
the public and media frenzy that
accompanied the 1995 murder trial and
acquittal of O.J. Simpson.
For one, the Grenada-born Murray is not a
celebrity, just a doctor with patients in
Nevada and Texas.
"We have a 'trial of the century' about every
six months here in Los Angeles," Levenson
said wryly.