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Link to appeal : http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/dockets.cfm?dist=2&doc_id=1999218&doc_no=B237677
Murray notice of motion for an appeal : http://www.scribd.com/doc/80158211/Notice-of-Motion-and-Motion-for-Release-Pending-Appeal?secret_password=1no6ie13r6g5nvfay39a
Nicole Alvarez declaration: http://ww2.lasuperiorcourt.org/hp/1jr1fvzz0q0nij45ysmhci45/1491131481.pdf
"The court has read and considered appellant's motion for release on his own recognizance pending appeal or alternatively for release on reasonable bail filed December 18, 2012, respondent's opposition thereto filed December 28, 2012 and appellant's reply filed January 8, 2013. Good cause appearing therefor, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that appellant's motion is denied."
02/11/2013 Order filed. Appellant's February 5, 2013 request for leave to file a reply to Mr. Flanagan's response is denied.
02/20/2013 Telephone conversation with: Peggy at J. Michael M. Flanagan's office re: response to appellant's January 30, 2013 motion. Counsel will not be filing a response to the motion.
02/25/2013 Motion filed. Appellant's motion for a 21 day extension of time and for a Booth order authorizing appellant's counsel to take a laptop computer into the attorney visiting room at Men's Central Jail.
02/25/2013 Order filed. The court has read and considered appellant's January 30, 2013 motion requiring trial counsel J. Michael Flanagan to provide a copy of the trial file and to respond to appellate counsel's questions in regard to the appeal. Mr. Flanagan advised the court by telephone that no response to the motion would be filed. Good cause appearing therefor, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that appellant's motion is granted as follows: J. Michael Flanagan is ordered to provide appellate counsel Valerie Wass with his entire trial file and to cooperate with appellate counsel.
[copy of order sent to J. Michael Flanagan via U.S. Mail]
02/25/2013 Order filed. Appellant's February 25, 2013 motion requesting to extend the default period and for a Booth Order is denied.
03/04/2013 Motion filed. Appellant's Motion for an Order Requiring Appellant's Trial Counsel J. Michael Flanagan to Comply with This Court's February 25, 2013 Order by Having a Telephone Conference with Appellate Counsel to Discuss the Case, or Be Held in Contempt of Court; and Request for Sanctions in the Sum of $3, 340.00, Based on Trial Counsel's Willful Failure to Comply with His Duty to Cooperate with Appellant Counsel [E-filed.]
03/07/2013 Requested - extension of time
Appeal dismissed for failure to file opening brief. Requested for 04/02/2013 By 18 Day(s)
E-filed.
03/08/2013 Telephone conversation with: Peggy at J. Michael Flanagan's office - counsel will be filing an opposition to appellant Murray's motion of March 4, 2013.
03/08/2013 Granted - extension of time.
Appeal dismissed for failure to file opening brief. Due on 03/25/2013 By 10 Day(s)
The record on appeal was initially filed in this court more than 15 months ago, on January 31, 2012. Augmented and supplemental records were filed in May 2012. According to prior declarations submitted by Ms. Wass, she performed "extensive work" on the matter beginning immediately after January 31, 2012. On June21, 2012 the court extended the time for filing the opening brief for 60 days to August 20, 2012. Since then, the date for filing the opening brief has been extended an additional seven months. Without questioning the legitimacy of any individual extension request, in the aggregate the amount of time requested appears unreasonable. The court grants one final ten (10) day extension to March 25, 2013. If, as she threatens, Ms. Wass believes it is appropriate to file a motion to withdraw unless she receives the extension as requested, the court will consider that motion on its merits.
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Michael Jackson’s doctor appeals conviction, claiming multiple legal errors at trial
By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, April 22, 5:50 PM
LOS ANGELES — Eighteen months after his involuntary manslaughter conviction, Michael Jackson’s doctor on Monday appealed his case, claiming there were multiple legal errors at his trial.
A lawyer for Dr. Conrad Murray argued in the 230-page appellate brief that there was insufficient proof that Jackson died of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol administered by Murray.
The appeal also reiterated an often-stated defense claim that Jackson may have administered the overdose to himself.
The pop superstar died on June 25, 2009, days before he was to leave for England to perform in his ill-fated “This is It” concert. Witnesses said Murray had been giving him propofol as a sleep aid, a purpose for which it was not intended.
Attorney Valerie Wass said that because of Jackson’s great fame, his doctor was used as an example by the judge who sentenced him to the highest term for involuntary manslaughter. She suggested that even if his conviction is upheld, his four-year sentence should be reduced.
Murray is eligible for release in October after serving half his sentence.
Murray’s two-month trial in 2011 drew wide media coverage, and Wass argued that the judge should have excluded TV cameras from the courtroom and granted a motion to sequester jurors to keep them insulated from publicity.
“The unprecedented fame of the alleged victim combined with the pervasiveness of modern media rendered it impossible for appellant to receive a fair trial with a non-sequestered jury in a case that was televised and streamed live around the world,” the appeal said.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor had denied the defense motion, saying jurors who are sequestered often feel like prisoners and it interferes with their decision-making process. He instructed jurors daily to avoid publicity, and there was no indication that they violated the order.
The appeal also challenged the prosecution theory that Jackson was hooked up to an IV drip of propofol and left alone in his bedroom by Murray.
It called that scenario “absurd, improbable and unbelievable,” and provided an exhaustive reprise of scientific testimony about Jackson’s death. Murray told police he gave the singer an extremely small dose of propofol, a fact contradicted by scientists who reconstructed the events preceding the death.
Wass contended that one defense attorney, Michael Flanagan, failed to adequately cross-examine a scientist who testified to that issue. She said he and other lawyers also waited too long to ask for examination of residue in a propofol bottle found in Jackson’s room, Their motion was filed 11 days after conviction and was denied.
The appeal faulted the judge for refusing to admit as evidence some of Jackson’s previous medical records, his contract with concert promoter AEG, and his financial documents.
“The trial court abused its discretion by excluding all evidence of Jackson’s financial condition, including lawsuits pending against him because such evidence was relevant to establish Jackson’s state of mind on the day he died, which may have explained his conduct that morning and supported the defense theory of the case,” the appeal said.
The attorney general’s office, representing the prosecution, has 30 days to respond to the appeal. Wass then has another 20 days for her response.
She said the outcome of the appellate case could have some impact on pending medical board proceedings for Murray in Texas and California. The boards will decide whether to revoke Murray’s license to practice medicine in the two states.
Meanwhile, Murray may be summoned to testify in a civil lawsuit filed against AEG by Jackson’s mother, Katherine. Jury selection in that case is currently underway. She claims the concert promoter was negligent in hiring Murray to care for the singer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...4b4_story.html
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COURT URGED TO REJECT JACKSON DOCTOR'S APPEAL
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY
— May. 14 1:34 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The involuntary manslaughter conviction of Michael Jackson's doctor should not be overturned because there were no serious errors made by the judge overseeing his criminal case, a state attorney wrote in a filing urging a court to reject his appeal.
Supervising Deputy Attorney General Victoria B. Wilson wrote in a response Monday to Conrad Murray's appeal that the former cardiologist's own lawyers forfeited several opportunities to object to a judge's rulings in the case.
Wilson's filing also states jurors were presented overwhelming evidence that Murray's actions caused Jackson's death and his conviction should be upheld.
Rulings cited by Murray's attorneys as legal errors by Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor were not mistakes, but rather kept the jury focused on whether the physician was responsible for Jackson's June 2009 death, Wilson wrote.
Murray remains jailed after being sentenced to four years behind bars for providing Jackson with the anesthetic propofol, which the singer overdosed on in his bedroom.
"The record shows that (Murray) was playing Russian roulette with Mr. Jackson's life over the course of several months," Wilson wrote.
His attorney Valerie Wass appealed the conviction in April, arguing that Pastor erred by not allowing jurors to hear evidence about Jackson's troubled finances, his contract with concert giant AEG Live LLC, and by not sequestering the jury and allowing television coverage.
Wilson wrote that none of those rulings were errors, or would warrant overturning Murray's conviction.
"The argument is nothing more than the reflection of a criminal defendant who harbors no sense of responsibility or remorse for taking the life of a human being," Wilson wrote.
"Of course I disagree," Wass said Monday night. "I believe there were serious errors made."
She said Wilson's filing didn't address her argument that the prosecution theory about how Jackson overdosed was incorrect and how additional forensic testing could demonstrate that.
Wilson's filing however noted that Murray's three-person legal team had access to evidence in the case for months before the trial, and in some cases conceded they hadn't thought to raise certain issues.
Wass said she would raise what she said were omissions in Wilson's response in a subsequent filing.
Jackson's finances and his relationship with AEG and Murray are the subject of a civil lawsuit being heard at a courthouse down the street from where Murray was convicted. The case brought by Jackson's mother against AEG claims the concert giant failed to properly investigate Murray before allowing him to serve as a tour doctor, and ignored signs of Jackson's poor health.
AEG denies wrongdoing, and a deputy medical examiner who conducted Jackson's autopsy told jurors Monday that the pop singer appeared to be in excellent health when he died.
Allowing the criminal jury to hear evidence of Jackson's massive debts and pending lawsuits would have been a distraction, and a mistake, Wilson wrote.
Pastor was right to be concerned that presenting evidence of Jackson's financial troubles "would result in a salacious sideshow of Mr. Jackson's finances and lawsuits and run the risk of distracting the jury from its task of deciding (Murray's) guilt," she wrote.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/court...doctors-appeal