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LOS ANGELES – Testimony in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's personal doctor could wrap up by Oct. 21, attorneys told the judge Friday.
During a 35-minute hearing before Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, lawyers for the prosecution and defense said they expected the last witness for either side to finish by the end of next week or no later than Oct. 24. Defendant Conrad Murray and the jury were not in court for the session.
So far with 12 days at trial, 33 witnesses have testified for the prosecution in support of charges that Murray negligently gave Jackson a fatal overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid in June 2009. Murray, 58, a cardiologist, has pleaded not guilty.
Steven Shafer, an anesthesiologist and an expert on propofol, was on the witness stand when court adjourned Thursday. Shafer will be the last state witness, prosecutor David Walgren told Pastor.
The defense will call about 15 witnesses, including "police officers, experts and some character witnesses," but could add more, defense lawyers said. There will be at least two defense experts and as many as four, depending on what Shafer says in his remaining testimony, defense lawyer Nareg Gourjian said.
Shafer could complete his testimony Monday or Tuesday, after what defense counsel J. Michael Flanagan estimated would be "a couple hours" of cross-examination. But a member of Shafer's family has died and he might not be able to return Monday, requiring cancellation of the day's proceedings, Pastor said.
Along with Paul White of Dallas, the defense's propofol expert, Shafer had been planning to attend a national conference of anesthesiologists this weekend in Chicago, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award, Walgren said. Shafer won't go to the conference, the prosecutor said.
"I feel terrible," the judge said. "I'm sure all of us do. Doubly tragic, in the sense he had this personal loss and then not to receive this honor."
In another development, Walgren moved to admit into evidence 211 prosecution exhibits that jurors already have seen. Murray's defense raised objections to only two: a clip of Jackson rehearsing for his planned "This Is It" concert tour and a photo of Jackson's three children.
Pastor ruled for the prosecution and accepted all 211 items. Jurors will have unlimited access to them during deliberations, Pastor said, except for bottles of propofol, drug residues, medical instruments and other potentially dangerous items. Only if jurors ask to see these items will a bailiff bring them in and supervise their review by the jurors, the judge ruled.
Pastor, angered when Walgren and co-prosecutor Deborah Brazil showed up in court six minutes late, fined each $60. He deferred collecting the fines until "a later time" when he'll ask them to explain their tardiness, he said.
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During a 35-minute hearing before Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, lawyers for the prosecution and defense said they expected the last witness for either side to finish by the end of next week or no later than Oct. 24. Defendant Conrad Murray and the jury were not in court for the session.
So far with 12 days at trial, 33 witnesses have testified for the prosecution in support of charges that Murray negligently gave Jackson a fatal overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid in June 2009. Murray, 58, a cardiologist, has pleaded not guilty.
Steven Shafer, an anesthesiologist and an expert on propofol, was on the witness stand when court adjourned Thursday. Shafer will be the last state witness, prosecutor David Walgren told Pastor.
The defense will call about 15 witnesses, including "police officers, experts and some character witnesses," but could add more, defense lawyers said. There will be at least two defense experts and as many as four, depending on what Shafer says in his remaining testimony, defense lawyer Nareg Gourjian said.
Shafer could complete his testimony Monday or Tuesday, after what defense counsel J. Michael Flanagan estimated would be "a couple hours" of cross-examination. But a member of Shafer's family has died and he might not be able to return Monday, requiring cancellation of the day's proceedings, Pastor said.
Along with Paul White of Dallas, the defense's propofol expert, Shafer had been planning to attend a national conference of anesthesiologists this weekend in Chicago, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award, Walgren said. Shafer won't go to the conference, the prosecutor said.
"I feel terrible," the judge said. "I'm sure all of us do. Doubly tragic, in the sense he had this personal loss and then not to receive this honor."
In another development, Walgren moved to admit into evidence 211 prosecution exhibits that jurors already have seen. Murray's defense raised objections to only two: a clip of Jackson rehearsing for his planned "This Is It" concert tour and a photo of Jackson's three children.
Pastor ruled for the prosecution and accepted all 211 items. Jurors will have unlimited access to them during deliberations, Pastor said, except for bottles of propofol, drug residues, medical instruments and other potentially dangerous items. Only if jurors ask to see these items will a bailiff bring them in and supervise their review by the jurors, the judge ruled.
Pastor, angered when Walgren and co-prosecutor Deborah Brazil showed up in court six minutes late, fined each $60. He deferred collecting the fines until "a later time" when he'll ask them to explain their tardiness, he said.
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