Lawyers for Michael Jackson's doctor want jury sequestered

Arguing that the Casey Anthony trial in Florida exposed a dangerous new order in TV coverage of high-profile cases, lawyers for Michael Jackson's doctor have demanded a sequestered jury for his upcoming trial.

In court papers filed Thursday, the attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray wrote that bombastic, opinionated

commentary from cable personalities like Nancy Grace "demonstrated the danger that is created to a fair trial when basic information is managed for the purpose of entertainment and television ratings."

The judge for Murray's manslaughter trial, which is set for next month, has said previously that he does not believe around-the-clock isolation of jurors is necessary.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor has also said the cash-strapped court system cannot afford the expense of hotel accommodations for the jury.

But in their filing, defense lawyers urged him to reconsider, writing that in the Anthony case, in which sequestered jurors delivered a verdict at odds with much of the television analysis, underscored the need for the panelists to be kept away from media coverage. Anthony was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

"Would [the Anthony jurors] have been so sure of the facts if the 'experts' had informed them on a nightly basis that they were wrong?" defense lawyers Nareg Gourjian and Edward Chernoff wrote.

Murray is accused of causing Jackson's 2009 death from an overdose of surgical anesthetic. He maintains that Jackson administered the fatal dose himself.

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Murray faces a maximum of four years in prison.

In their filing, Murray's lawyers predicted that viewership of the trial on the Internet and television would exceed that for Anthony's trial, given Jackson's global fame.

"There is reasonable expectation that Dr. Murray's trial will be the most publicized trial in history," they wrote.

The attorneys noted that in an aborted attempt at jury selection this spring, a process scuttled by unrelated delays, only one potential panelist said she had never heard of the case.

"And she could not speak English," they added in a footnote.

Representatives for Grace did not return a message seeking comment, and her network, HLN, declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office declined to comment. A hearing is set for Aug. 25.

Attorney Cheney Mason Says He Always Believed Casey Anthony

Controversial defense lawyer Cheney Mason said he always believed in Casey Anthony’s story ever since he met her.
Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, the attorney told Savannah Guthrie, “I do believe her story. I

believed it from the first time I met her which was several weeks before I was formally on the team. I went to her home, her room where all the photographs are, and talked with her.
“I have never for one minute had any doubt at all. She did not kill her child. Period.”
While Mason and his team of defense lawyers, including lead attorney Jose Baez who has notably garnered much fame after the trial, buy Casey’s story, little is known about what really happened to 2-year-old Caylee, whose remains were found in December 2008, nearly six months after she was last seen.
However, as much as the defense has tried to portray their defendant’s innocence, the prosecution and the public have remain unconvinced. Though she was found not guilty of first-degree murder, manslaughter, and child abuse, polls indicate that many still believe Casey Anthony had something to do with her daughter’s death.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors hoped to present evidence to the jury that showed that Casey did in fact murder Caylee. They accused her of suffocating the 2-year-old with chloroform, placing duct tape over her mouth, putting her deceased body in the trunk of her car, and dumping the body in the nearby woods.
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But the high levels of chloroform in the trunk of Casey’s car, the smell of “human decomposition,” and the unaffected behavior of Casey following the death of her daughter were not enough evidence for the jury, or at least beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even all of the lies that the defendant told her family and her friends after her daughter went missing left jurors still grappling for more solid evidence.
During the brief interview, Guthrie asked Mason, “If this trial proved anything beyond a reasonable doubt it’s that she is an accomplished liar. You’re a veteran defense attorney, why do you think she’s suddenly telling the truth?”
“Well I don’t know that it’s sudden,” he responded. “I don’t think her story, her position has changed from the very beginning. People’s awareness of her is certainly greater than it used to be.”
Mason continued to defend his client and stated that though there was no question she told a lot of stories to a lot of people, it was from a protective mechanism and not out of guilt of murder.
He also clarified why the defense team had asked the judge to determine whether Casey was competent to stand trial towards the end of the trial.
“She’s under a lot of pressure. Not only [was] she on trial for her life, but when she [was] not in the trial then she [was] back in lockdown. And just imagine 23 hours a day for 3 years, most people would be drooling. She’s tough, but we needed to find out if she was okay.”
“She’s not mentally ill now.”
Asked if the defense’s accusation of molestation by George Anthony was a “brilliant defense strategy or a dirty trick,” the attorney revealed that it was not the latter.
“The allegation wasn’t new in trial. It had been made in the public eye from letters written in the jail sometime before that. Sometimes evidence or testimony in trial doesn’t turn out to be what you expected it to be.”
And in other unexpected turns, Casey had also decided at the last minute to not testify during the trial. Mason said that it wasn’t because she was afraid to take the stand, however. She had just chosen not to, and was the only person who would ever know why.
Perhaps it was for the best, however, since throughout the trial much of the public had criticized Casey’s demeanor and expressions, which were cold one second and crying the next. Many felt she was putting on an act.
Though nobody coached her on her mannerisms before the court, Mason did say that he and his lawyers did try to keep her emotions down, which he explained was “pretty hard to do when family [testified] against her and people [were] calling for [her] blood like a lynch mob.”
Prosecutors tried to use testimony from her mother and father against her in court, with both Cindy and George denying the defense’s claims that they were involved in the death of their granddaughter. Casey’s parents also purportedly told the family lawyer that they did not believe in her innocence.
With obvious strains in their family, Mason told Guthrie that Casey’s relationship with Cindy and George is “pretty well burned,” though he thought that his client may one day have a relationship with her brother.
Speculation on where Casey will go after her release from prison on July 17 – less than a week away – is buzzing, with some saying that she will flee the country because of the negative reaction from the public. In a recent Gallup poll, about two-thirds of Americans believed Casey is still guilty of murder.
She, as well as Mason and her parents, have already received death threats following the jury’s not guilty verdict.
But Mason believes she won’t leave the country. “She just needs to have some time, counseling, and be reintroduced to society,” he revealed. “She’s been in lockdown for 23 hours a day, for 3 years.”

Michael Jackson doctor's court hearing postponed

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 lawyers 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 September 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 defence 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 anaesthetic 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 lawyers was released on Thursday.
Lawyers 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 defence lawyer Nareg Gourjian.
Lawyers have been barred from discussing publicly any evidence they find in the videos.
Prosecutor Deborah Brazil said she has been working along with Gourjian, defence lawyer Ed Chernoff, Sony lawyer Kevin Vick and a technician going through material on computer hard drives.
Gourjian, who originally estimated there were 100 hours of footage from rehearsals, said he now believes there is much more.
"There are about eight to ten different cameras that were recording the rehearsals and each one has different views and different footage," he said. "So it is critical that we review the footage from each camera."

Casey Anthony trial: Judge fed up with bickering attorneys(Video)

The constant courtroom bickering between defense attorney José Baez and prosecutor Jeff Ashton may have had its final showdown Sunday.
The tension between the two opposing attorneys in the Casey Anthony murder case has been obvious since

the start and has led to at least one public courtroom apology to Ashton from Baez.
Outside the presence of the jury Sunday, Baez complained to Chief Judge Belvin Perry about Ashton's facial expressions during the defense attorney's closing argument.
Then, later in the day, during a heated portion of his closing argument, Baez referred to Ashton as that "laughing guy."
Ashton immediately objected — in a rare move for closings, Perry called a sidebar and then sent the jury out. There was concern among all the parties that the judge would find them in contempt or level some other sanction.
Perry called a recess and watched video from the courtroom — footage the lawyers also reviewed. Ashton, who also reviewed the tape, told the judge he appeared to be smiling behind his hand and apologized.
Baez asked that Ashton not be held in contempt but said the prosecutor's behavior needed to stop. Baez also apologized for his remark.
Perry said he accepted their apologies — for now.
 

Anthony Defense: Prosecution Evidence a Fantasy
"If it happens again, the remedy will be exclusion of that attorney from further representation at these proceedings," Perry said. "Enough is enough."
Perry last week issued an order outlining what prosecutors and defense attorneys cannot say during closing arguments, which began Sunday and will continue today.
Among his edicts: "Counsel shall avoid using derogatory terms or characterizations when referring to Defendant, a witness, or opposing counsel and shall not make any disparaging comments about counsel's occupation or performance in court."

Anthony trial enters 30th day

The trial of a Florida mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter resumes in an Orlando courtroom, a day after her attorneys sought a mistrial and a judge ruled that she was competent to continue the trial.
Testimony resumes Tuesday morning, a day after Casey Anthony's attorneys asked the judge to select a new jury. The attorneys sought the mistrial based on a ruling by a federal judge in Miami last week. It declared Florida's death penalty unconstitutional.

Anthony has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and could face the death penalty if convicted of that charge.
The trial judge ruled Anthony is competent after her attorneys asked that she get a mental evaluation.

Casey Anthony Trial Update: Judge Perry Adjourns Trial, to Resume on Monday(Photo-Video)

The Casey Anthony trial abruptly went into recess on Saturday over legal issues, but it remains unknown over what exactly.
Judge Belvin Perry Jr. cancelled the nearly 7 hours of hearings scheduled for Saturday and said the court would resume on Monday, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Attorneys on both sides declined to comment on the unexpected recess.

Perry recessed the court after meeting with defense attorneys on Saturday morning. The court was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., longer than normal for Saturday hearings.
Casey Anthony, 25, is accused of first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in June 2008. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
Anthony’s attorneys claim Caylee died from drowning in her grandparents’ swimming pool and that Casey’s father, George, was involved in covering up the death and disposing the body. George has denied involvement in the death of his granddaughter.
Meanwhile, the state maintains that the defendant suffocated Caylee with duct tape, stored her in the back of her trunk for days, and then dumped her body in the woods nearby the Anthony’s home.
The toddler was last seen on June 16, 2008, reported missing on July 15, 2008, and the remains of her tiny body was found in December 2008.
On Friday, the court heard the testimonies of Casey’s mother, Cindy, and her older brother, Lee.
Lee gave an emotional testimony, claiming that the family ignored Casey’s pregnancy with Caylee until just days before she gave birth. He claimed no one acknowledged Casey’s pregnancy until nearly when Caylee was born and broke down in tears during his testimony.
The defense is thought to be trying to illustrate the Anthonys as a dysfunctional family. The prosecution, however, questions the accuracy of Lee’s testimony, which appears to differ from his 2009 deposition. When questioned by the prosecution earlier this month, Lee often responded that he didn’t remember his deposition and expressed little emotion.
In the deposition, Lee had said his parents were excited about news of a granddaughter and prepared a nursery for her as well as a baby shower.
On Friday, the defense also called back several investigators, including Orange County deputy Ryan Eberlin. Eberlin explained that he handcuffed Casey on the night of July 16, 2008, because her mother, Cindy, had accused Casey of stealing her credit cards.
Judge Perry told the jury to not consider Casey’s fraudulent use of credit cards in the case because it was unrelated to her current charge of murder.
A video of a happy 2-year-old Caylee and her mom, Casey, was also shown in the court room yesterday.
Perhaps the biggest shocker this week was the revelation by Cindy Anthony that she searched for the words chloroform and chlorophyll on the family’s computer. The prosecution had called computer experts to the stand earlier in the trial who gave damaging testimonies that there were Google searches for chloroform that were later deleted from the Internet search history. There was also a search for how to make chloroform, but Cindy said she did not remember if she made that search.
Cindy’s chloroform testimony shakes up the prosecution’s argument that Casey Anthony made searches for chloroform. The prosecution maintains that Casey used chloroform to knock Caylee out before using duct tape on her. There was also high level of chloroform found in the trunk of Casey’s car.

Casey Anthony trial: Witness testimony continues after tense jury selection

A central Florida mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter wiped away tears Thursday as her ex-boyfriend described to jurors affectionate moments Casey Anthony shared with her toddler. Anthony Lazarro testified under questioning from Anthony’s defense attorney that she taught Caylee how to swim and regularly displayed affection for her daughter. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death. She has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have offered strikingly different portrayals of Anthony. Prosecutors have gotten witnesses to testify that Anthony never seemed upset during the time Caylee disappeared. Defense attorneys have coaxed witnesses to testify that Anthony was a loving mother. Caylee was last seen June 16, 2008. Prosecutors said Caylee died from three pieces of duct tape being placed over her mouth and nose, while the attorney for Anthony, 25, has claimed the toddler accidentally drowned in her grandparents’ pool. Thursday’s testimony continued to portray very different pictures of Casey Anthony and her relationship with daughter Caylee Anthony. As Elizabeth Flock explained: The trial of Casey Anthony, a 25-year-old woman acused of murdering her two-year-old daughter in 2008 opened in Orlando on Tuesday with stunning new revelations. During this week’s proceedings, prosecution and defense attorneys presented vastly different accounts of how Anthony’s daughter, Caylee, had died. For the first time, prosecutors said Caylee Anthony died from three pieces of duct tape being placed over her mouth and nose while a defense attorney for the mother claimed the toddler drowned in the family pool and the little girl’s grandfather covered up the accident. Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder but has pleaded not guilty to the crime. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death. An autopsy was never able to conclude a cause of death for Caylee. No witnesses saw what happened to 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, and only her killer knows exactly how she died. No one has confessed. So when her mother, Casey Anthony, goes to trial Tuesday on murder charges, the jury’s decision will likely come down to forensic evidence. Prosecutors plan to have jurors smell the odor from her car, present evidence of chloroform in the 1998 Pontiac Sunfire and present photos that they say show her partying with friends after her daughter disappeared. They also likely will seek testimony from a botanist, a hair and fiber examiner from an FBI lab, and a cadaver dog handler. Anthony’s defense attorneys plan to present testimony from an expert in the new field of touch DNA, an entomologist and Dr. Henry Lee, a famous forensics expert who has worked on the O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector and JonBenet Ramsey cases. “It is going to be a battle of experts,” said Karin Moore, a law professor at Florida A&M University in Orlando. “They don’t have a confession. They don’t have an eyewitness. They don’t have direct evidence. They are relying on forensic science that is circumstantial, at best.”

Murder trial witnesses say they saw no change in Casey Anthony's behavior

One month after prosecutors say a Florida mother murdered her two-year-old daughter and left the body in garbage bags in a wooded area, she invited an acquaintance to the toddler’s upcoming birthday party, an Orlando courtroom was told Wednesday. The mother, Casey Anthony, continued to suggest for weeks after the alleged murder that her daughter, Caylee, was staying with a nanny or that she had to leave soon to pick the little girl up. “She said she had to pick up her daughter.… She said that her birthday was the next month and I was invited to her birthday party,” said Jamie Realander in testimony Wednesday, the second day of Ms. Anthony’s expected two-month murder trial in an Orlando courtroom.

Ms. Realander met Anthony while working at a local night club. “She invited you to her daughter’s birthday party the next month?” asked Assistant State Attorney Frank George. “Yes,” Ms. Realander replied. According to Realander the conversation took place on July 15, 2008. That date is significant because prosecutors allege that sometime on June 16 – a month earlier – Anthony used chloroform to subdue the toddler and then affixed duct tape over her mouth and nose before hiding the body. Caylee would have been three years old on August 9, 2008 – her birthday. If convicted, Anthony faces a death sentence. Web of lies is alleged According to prosecutors, Anthony’s repeated references to her daughter from mid-June to mid-July were all part of an intricate web of lies calculated to cover up a premeditated murder. But the apparent lies are only part of the story. Rather than the one-dimensional monster portrayed by the state attorneys office, the view of Anthony emerging from trial witnesses is far more complex and perhaps ultimately inscrutable. Every witness has portrayed her as a loving, caring mother. There is no dispute on this point. There has been no testimony – at least so far – that she felt burdened by motherhood, or that the toddler was excessively interfering in her social life. Her former boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro, testified Wednesday that he had no problem with her being a mother. “You knew she had a daughter,” Defense Lawyer Jose Baez said on cross-examination. “You didn’t have any issues about dating a girl who had a child?” “No,” Mr. Lazzaro answered. Growing romance They had met in late May, a few weeks before Caylee’s disappearance. The timing of the alleged murder and the trajectory of their growing romance is chilling. During direct examination, Assistant State Attorney George had Lazzaro recount for the jury the events of June 16 – the alleged murder day – and the days that followed. He said he met Anthony on the evening of June 16 and they went to a Blockbuster Video. The security camera in the video store captured the two, walking like lovers, arm and arm. The implication for the jury is that Anthony had just spent much of the day murdering her daughter and hiding her body before meeting her boyfriend for a carefree evening. “How would you describe her demeanor,” the prosecutor asked. “It was the way she was every day, happy,” Lazzaro said. “Happy to see me.” Did she cry or act scared? No. Was she nervous? Did she tell you her daughter was missing? No. Was there any difference in the way she acted? No. Anthony and Lazzaro stayed together for the next 36 hours. Lazzaro told the prosecutor he “played hooky” from college the next day, remaining in his apartment. “Why,” the prosecutor asked. “I didn’t feel like leaving my bed,” he said. The defense's version The defense attorney, Mr. Baez, told the jury in his opening remarks on Tuesday that Anthony’s repeated lies are a symptom of years of sexual abuse by her father and brother. It is her way of coping, he said, to find an alternate reality and essentially hide in plain sight. According to Baez, Anthony did not kill her daughter, who died in a swimming pool accident. The body was discovered, Baez says, by Anthony and her father, George. The accident was supposedly covered up to prevent investigators from discovering the long history of incest in the Anthony family, he suggested. Prosecutors sought to counter the effects of this explosive defense gambit by immediately calling George Anthony to the stand Tuesday as the trial’s first witness. He said he did not know how his granddaughter died and he repeatedly denied sexually abusing his daughter. During Lazzaro’s cross examination, Baez sought to return to the theme of sexual abuse. He asked Lazzaro if there came a time when Anthony shared a secret with him about her father abusing her. “Yes,” he said. Prosecutors objected to the question and answer because the answer was hearsay. Lazzaro wouldn’t necessarily know the truth of the statement, just what Anthony told him. The judge sustained the objection. Anthony is accused of first-degree murder in the disappearance and death of Caylee, who was last seen alive on June 15, 2008. Her remains were discovered six months later in December in a wooded area not far from the family’s home. Law enforcement was not told that Caylee was missing until mid-July after Anthony’s parents called 911. At one point, Anthony said her daughter was kidnapped by her nanny, but the story was later dismissed. The case touched off a nationwide search, with tips flooding in from across the country until the body was discovered.