A hearing in the criminal case of Michael Jackson’s doctor has been postponed because lawyers are bogged down viewing hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage from the singer’s “This Is It” concert.
In a conference with attorneys on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor accepted the requests to delay a July 12 hearing to July 20. He said he wants to know then when the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray can go forward. It is now set for Sept. 8.
Prosecutors want to show jurors clips from the posthumous feature film “This Is It” to prove Jackson was healthy in the days before his death. The defense wants to show he was ill.
Murray, a Houston cardiologist with an office in Las Vegas, is accused of giving the superstar an overdose of the anesthetic propofol and other sedatives when he could not sleep. Jackson died on June 15, 2009, in his rented Beverly Hills mansion where Murray had been attending him.
Murray has pleaded not guilty. The transcript of the conference with the judge and attorneys was released on Thursday.
Attorneys indicated it will take weeks for them to view all of the relevant video recordings of Jackson. They said they have been working every day since June 28 and have gotten through only one of 21 boxes of materials.
“So far, we have found a lot of important stuff,” said defense attorney Nareg Gourjian.
Attorneys have been barred from discussing publicly any evidence they find in the videos.
Prosecutor Deborah Brazil said she has been working along with Gourjian, defense attorney Ed Chernoff, Sony lawyer Kevin Vick and a technician going through material on computer hard drives.
