Conrad Murray Trial: 'Gruesome' Photo of Dead Michael Jackson Opens Hearing
A photograph of a lifeless Michael Jackson on a gurney at the time of his death opened the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, accused of killing the pop star.
Jackson was pronounced dead on June 25, 2009 after an overdose to the surgical anesthetic propofol, allegedly administered by Murray, Jackson’s personal doctor. The doctor’s defense lawyers have been fighting since April to stop the prosecution showing the official death photograph of Jackson in court.
However, on the first day of the trial that began Sept. 27, the photograph was presented with the words “Homicide” sprawled across it. Murray’s defense lawyers stated that the photograph had the ability to create a bias with the jurors once shown.
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“These photographs are graphic, gruesome and highly prejudicial," Murray's attorneys wrote in the court papers in April, according to New York Daily News reports.
Murray’s lawyers claimed that showing the photographs may eradicate any chance of a fair trial for the doctor.
"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 lawyers wrote in the court documents.
Aside from the graphic photograph, audio of Jackson was also released on the first day of the trial. A nearly inaudible Jackson was heard speaking to Murray while heavily drugged, sounding unlike the voice most associate with the singer.
“When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, 'I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go,'" Jackson is heard saying in painfully slow, clearly drugged-up speech.
"I'm taking that money, a million children, children's hospital, the biggest in the world, Michael Jackson's Children's Hospital," the posthumous message from Jackson said in a retrieved message from Murray’s phone.
Jackson chose Murray as his personal physician while preparing to perform in a series of comeback concerts in London.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter. The doctor’s trial has been pushed back since May 9 in a Los Angeles Superior Court.
