Attorneys Fight to Keep “Gruesome” Jackson Photos From Jury

Attorneys for the doctor charged with involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's June 2009 death want to keep jurors from seeing "gruesome" autopsy photographs taken of the singer, court papers released Friday show.

"These photographs are graphic, gruesome and highly prejudicial," Dr. Conrad Murray's attorneys, Edward Chernoff and Nareg Gourjian, wrote in a motion filed this week.

They argue that "admission of these photographs to the jurors will jeopardize 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."

The attorneys maintain that medical experts can adequately describe the autopsy findings without the photographs being used.

In other motions filed this week, the defense asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor to exclude any reference during the trial to Murray's child support obligations, his children or "his extramarital affair" with the mother of his youngest child.

Murray's lawyers also asked the judge to bar any reference to the doctor having met two prospective witnesses at strip clubs or gentlemen's clubs, writing that "there is absolutely no relevance whatsoever to all of this sexually scandalous information."

The judge is expected to consider the motions at hearings on April 21 and 22.
 

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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