Conrad Murray defense appeal to stay (delay) the Trial has been denied. The Trial will resume as scheduled with tomorrow’s jury selection. The jurors will NOT be sequestered.
JURY SELECTION - STARTS TOMORROW
480 potential jurors will be summoned tomorrow for a three-day period to fill out jury questionnaire. They will be asked if they have they ever seen a member of the Jackson family in person, or watched "This Is It" a film, or suffer from insomnia, what news websites they read, and whether they are familiar with various drugs involving this case, etc..
Those who don't qualify will be dismissed. The qualifying jurors will return around Sept 23 for voir dire where the prosecution and the defense attorneys will select jurors.
DEFENSE WITNESS - DR. PAUL WHITE
In today’s hearing, Michael Flanagan announced that the defense will call on the testimony of Anesthesiologist Dr. Paul White. His area of expertise is in Propofol.
Dr. Paul White is a colleague of Dr Steven Schaffer (prosecution witness)
Judge asked what the nature of Dr. White’s testimony is. Michael Flanagan answered that Dr. White will testify about “the effects of Propofol and the way it is metabolized” The doctor will also address oral consumption of Propofol.
PROSECUTION WITNESS - DR. STEVEN SHAFER
"Dr. Shafer is an internationally recognized expert in the field of anesthesiology and pharmacology. He is a professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia University. He is an adjunct professor of Anesthesiology at Stanford University. He is an adjunct professor of Bio Engineering and Therapeutic sciences at the University of California. He is editor in chief of the leading Anesthesia Journal under which sits Dr Paul White as a contributor to that journal. He received countless awards internationally. He lectures internationally"
~DAVID WALGREN, prosecutor
~DAVID WALGREN, prosecutor
Dr. Steven Shafer will testify as to the “egregious violations and standard of care by Conrad Murray”. He will testify that "through countless and unconscionable violations of the standard of care", Conrad Murray is responsible for Michael Jackson’s death. He will also testify that there is “ZERO POSSIBILITY” that Michael ingested Propofol.
JUDGE PASTOR ALLOWS PIGLET STUDY
& DEFER DECISION ON CHILEAN STUDY
Yesterday the defense team filed this motion requesting an exclusion of two studies cited by a prosecution witness. Dr. Steven Schaffer, piglet study and Chilean study.
David Walgren pointed out that the one study about the piglets was published in International Journal of Anesthesiology. He noted that the scientific studies are often tested on animals. He stated that up until this case, oral consumption of Propofol was unheard of so there was no reason to study the effects of oral consumption.
The judge asked if the study by the Chilean Professor was ever published. David Walgren replied that it wasn’t published. Dr. Schafer included in his report data from this study such as blood and plasma levels. Defense was given a copy of Dr. Schaffer’s report.
Michael Flanagan argued “I don’t know how many piglets but I think five piglets have Propofol suppositories shoved up their rectum and they were watched if they went to sleep. I don’t think that it applies humans”. This study was done by veterinaries.
David Walgren explained the Chilean study: It involves 6 students. Three of them drank 20ml Propofol and three of them drank 40ml Propofol. Five of the students didn’t have significant amount of Propofol but one with a level of 1.93 =enough to sedate someone.
Michael Flanagan argues that the Chilean study is unpublished and “it hasn’t been subject to peer review”. Mr Flanagan opined that it isn't a scientific study but merely
one anesthesiologist sharing a random thought with another anesthesiologist.
“I have no issue whatsoever with the comparative study (piglet study) that is published. The question here is the status and posture of the Chilean study” said Judge Pastor and asked the prosecutor if, as Mr. Flanagan implied, this was just a phone conversation between two anesthesiologists.
“No your honor. Most of what Mr. Flanagan said has no basis whatsoever. This was a study performed pursuant to all the standard protocols in the scientific community. It was a study at a university where Dr. Sepulveda is both a medical doctor & an anesthesiologist and a professor. It was a study that concluded that oral Propofol has no bioavailability and was NOT, according to Dr. Schaffer’s opinion, could NOT have been the cause of death as it relates to Michael Jackson” ~DAVID WALGREN
The prosecution did NOT inquire how Dr. Schafer got the information about the Chilean study so David Walgren does NOT know if he got the info during a phone conversation.
Judge ruled that he will allow the piglets study. He deferred his ruling about the Chilean study.
“With regard to the study by Dr. Sepulveda, I need more information about the underlying data. At this point in time, I’m deferring the resolution issue until I am satisfied as to the underlying foundation for the information. Both Dr. Schaffer and Dr. White and anybody else who is going to be testifying needs more specific information from the source” ~JUDGE Michael Pastor
The court is adjourned till 9:00am tomorrow's jury selection. Opening statements are scheduled on September 27. The trial is estimated to last between four and six weeks.
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