Showing the pictures of the “Thriller” singer’s autopsy risk jeopardising the trial next month of Dr Conrad Murray, they said. Murray is charged with inadvertently causing Jackson’s death in June 2009 by giving him the powerful anaesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, as well as other sedatives.
“These photographs are graphic, gruesome and highly prejudicial,” Murray’s lawyers wrote in the court papers.
They argued that “admission of these photographs to the jurors will jeopardise Dr Murray’s right to a fair trial because of the significant risk that the jury will base their decision not on the evidence presented, but on emotional grounds which play no part in a criminal action”.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Opening arguments in the trial are scheduled for May 9. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor is expected to rule later this month on the defence request.
Jackson, 50, chose Murray as his personal physician as he rehearsed for a series of comeback concerts in London.
Murray’s lawyers also want references to Murray’s trips to strip clubs, where he met at least one woman with whom he had an affair, to be excluded from evidence at the trial.
Murray’s lawyers, Ed Chernoff and Nareg Gourjian, argued that “there is absolutely no relevance whatsoever to all of this sexually scandalous information”.
Jury selection for the trial has been under way for more than two weeks.
A 29-page questionnaire, publicly released yesterday, asks potential jurors if they are fans of Jackson or his family. It also asks whether they know anyone with addiction to prescription medication; if they think celebrities are treated differently in the court system; and if they are familiar with the anaesthetic propofol and other medications.
Murray’s lawyers have suggested in previous court hearings that Jackson had grown dependent on propofol, and plan to argue at trial that the singer administered the fatal dose of the anaesthetic to himself.
Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted. — Reuters
