Appeals Court denies to sequester jury; judge allows the prosecution witness to testify

The Second District Court of Appeals denied Murray's lawyers' petition to obtain a jury sequestration.

California appeals court ruled today that the trial judge, Michael Pastor, did not abuse his discretion, as Murray's lawyers claimed in their petition, when he decided not to sequester the jury.

"The court has read and considered the petition," the brief court decision said. "The petition is denied in the absence of a showing of abuse of discretion."

The denial has definetly cleared that the trial can go ahead.

At a hearing today, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, ruled that jurors can hear from a prosecution witness about a study done on piglets involving Propofol.

Pastor said he saw no basis for precluding Dr. Steven Shafer, a prosecution expert witness, from testifying in Murray's trial about a study of intravenous and rectal administration of propofol in piglets.

Murray's lawyers had objected to Shafer and argued that the study has nothing to do with how oral ingestion of Propofol would affect a human.

The study involved five piglets that "have Propofol suppositories shoved up their rectums and they are watched to see if they went to sleep," Murray's attorney Michael Flanagan said. "The rectum is at the other end of the (gastrointestinal) system."

The prosecution referred to Dr. Shafer as an "internationally recognized expert in the field of anesthesiology and pharmacology", testifying about the study, which was published in an international anesthesiology journal.

The second study by a noted Chilean anesthesiologist used volunteer students who drank Propofol. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said the report supports the opinion of prosecution expert Dr. Steven Shafer that "the rapid hepatic metabolism of propofol makes it impossible for Michael Jackson to have received a fatal overdose by drinking Propofol."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor raised questions about the experiment in a hearing Wednesday.

"I need more information about the underlying data since it is not a scientific published article," Pastor said. "I don't know the source of the information."

Therefore, the judge deferred a ruling about a second study in Chile in which six students volunteered to drink Propofol and submit to blood testing at various intervals. That study, which was recently done, has not been published yet, according to Deputy District Attorney David Walgren.

In court papers filed today, Walgren wrote that Shafer has "previously opined that the defendant conducted multiple egregious and unconscionable violations of the standard of care and that there is almost nothing in Murray's care of Michael Jackson that reflected the actions of a trained physician."'

The prosecutor noted that Shafer has submitted a written opinion in which he says that there is "zero possibility that the Propofol was orally ingested."

Meanwhile, Murray decided to take the stand in a further attempt to escape the involuntary manslaughter charges, Star magazine reported.

Jury selection for the trial is set to start Thursday morning when about 160 potential jurors gather in the downtown Los Angeles courthouse to fill out questionnaires of about 100 questions to determine if they are qualified to hear the case.

Opening statements in the trial, which will be televised, are expected to start on September 27.

MJFS - sources: AP / myfox9.com / cnn.com