Lawyers for Conrad Murray seek test of drug vial

Dr. Conrad Murray remains expressionless after the jury returns with a guilty verdict on Nov. 7, 2011, in the 2009 death of pop singer Michael Jackson. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / July 30, 2012)

Dr. Conrad Murray asked an appellate court Monday to order lab testing on a piece of evidence that his defense said might cast doubt on his guilt inMichael Jackson's death.

In a filing Monday, a lawyer for Murray asked justices for the 2nd District Court of Appeal to authorize forensic analysis on residue in a drug vial taken from the bedroom of the pop star's rented Holmby Hills mansion.

The 100-milliliter bottle — known as Exhibit 30 — was a hotly disputed piece of evidence at the trial last year that ended in Murray's conviction for involuntary manslaughter. The doctor's fingerprint was on the vial, and prosecutors theorized that it held the dose of surgical anesthetic propofol that killed Jackson on June 25, 2009. They alleged that he had mixed a small amount of another anesthetic, lidocaine, into the propofol vial, attached the bottle to an intravenous drip and then left Jackson unattended.

Murray's defense said the vial was in a bag of trash and was unrelated to Jackson's death. They maintained that Jackson injected himself with propofol from a syringe when his doctor was not looking.

In the filing, Pasadena appellate attorney Valerie Wass wrote that the testing by the coroner's office could determine whether lidocaine was present in the vial and therefore which theory was true.

"If a forensic examination of the residue in Exhibit 30 revealed no lidocaine, it would completely negate [the prosecution expert's] concluding theory … leaving only the theory of bolus injection just prior to Jackson's death," Wass wrote.

The request to test Exhibit 30 was the third by Murray's lawyers. The trial judge, Michael Pastor of Los Angeles County Superior Court, refused a motion for the analysis shortly after the verdict in November 2011, saying that it was not timely. A subsequent request was declared moot.

Murray's legal team has argued that they did not grasp the need to test the residue until the testimony of a prosecution expert at the close of the seven-week trial.

The 58-year-old cardiologist received a four-year sentence but is expected to serve two years in county jail under statewide prison realignment. He was suspended from the practice of medicine, and state officials are moving to revoke his license permanently.

Murray is appealing his conviction, and in recent months, his lawyer has sought permission to examine numerous pieces of evidence in the case, including the doctor's iPhone. A recording Murray made with the phone of Jackson sounding drugged and confused was one of the most provocative pieces of evidence presented to jurors.

Wass, who is representing Murray pro bono, said she was unaware of the appellate justices ever granting a request like the one to test the vial, but "I certainly felt strongly enough to give it a try."

harriet.ryan@latimes.com

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.