Michael Jackson trial won't show unreleased footage

Jurors in the Michael Jackson manslaughter trial will not see unreleased footage from This Is It, the documentary-concert film that documents the rehearsals for the tour of the same name that would have kicked off in July of 2009, reports the Associated Press. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ruled

Monday that the more than 100 hours of unreleased footage do not show the singer in poor health, and should be left out of the trial as they would offer no assistance to the defense. Attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, wanted to show four hours of the film, while prosecutors wished to show up to 12 hours.

Pastor reviewed several hours of the footage, then canceled his plans to visit Sony Pictures Studios for the rest. Sony filed a motion Friday citing comments by defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan, who called a review of the footage a “big waste of time.” Pastor agreed that the footage, which could be used for extended versions of This Is It, have significant value to Sony and should not be shown publicly without good reason. Jury selection is slated to begin on Sept. 8.

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."