Murray's lawyers lacked to fulfill the discovery requirements
At a hearing held today, Murray lawyers have one day left to satisfy a judge's order that they hand over to prosecutors all of the statements and reports gathered from potential defense witnesses.
California court rules require both sides to meet certain discovery requirements 30 days before a trial starts. Murray's trial is scheduled to begin with the jury selection on September 8 and his lawyers must fulfill discovery obligations within Tuesday, which marks the thirtieth day.
"We've been down this road before and I hope we don't have to go down it again," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said during the hearing after prosecutors complained that the defense was holding back.
Prosecutors have not seen statements from 76 of the 103 people on the defense witness list, documents which would let them know what they might testify about, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said.
"We can resolve this," lead defense lawyer Ed Chernoff told the judge. The defense has insisted it has handed over everything its collected, but that many of the potential witnesses have not cooperated.
The judge moved talks about jury selection from open court into his chambers this morning. The lawyers are drafting the questions they'll ask potential jurors next month.
"It never stops," Pastor said, referring to his concern that parts of the jury questionnaire might be leaked to the media.
The 129 questions asked nearly 500 potential jurors in March and April were made public after the jury pool was whittled down to 171 people. But the process has to be repeated since the trial was postponed for several months to allow lawyers more time to prepare.
During the proceedings has been revealed that a list of drugs Murray prescribed to patients other than Jackson is in the hands of the prosecution. The list was not released.
Prosecutor David Walgren said he's not sure if the list has any relevance to the case and he's worried about potentially violating healthcare privacy protections.
Walgren brought up the list, saying the prosecution want the judge to review medical records for Murray's patients to decide if they could use them in the trial to demonstrate Murray's prescription practices.
Pastor said he wants the issue presented in writing.
"I don't like going through people's personal medical records unless there's a specific reason," the judge said.
Pastor ordered lawyers back to court Wednesday morning, so he can handle the discovery issues.