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Lawyers for Michael Jackson's doctor seek delay in trial

From Ted Rowlands, CNN
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Sequestered jury sought in Jackson trial
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • A judge has already denied Murray's request to sequester the jury
  • Murray's attorneys want an appeals court to decide the issue
  • Opening statements are set for September 27
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(CNN) -- Conrad Murray, the physician who is charged with causing Michael Jackson's death, is urging a judge to delay his upcoming trial so that lawyers can revisit the issue of sequestering the jury.

A Los Angeles County judge denied Murray's lawyer's request to have the jury sequestered during a hearing in August.

On Friday, lawyers for Murray filed an emergency petition asking for the trial to be delayed.

The attorneys are requesting that the trial be delayed until the issue of jury sequestration is decided by an appeals court.

In the 28-page petition, the attorneys questioned a recent ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor, saying he did not fully realize the amount of media attention the trial was going to get.

They compared the upcoming trial to the recent coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial and said Murray could not get a fair trial if the jury was not isolated.

"Because of the international notoriety of Mr. Jackson, it would be impossible for a juror to browse any news source on television or the Internet without seeing a boldly printed headline discussing the trial," the attorneys said in the petition.

The Los Angeles coroner has ruled that Jackson's death on June 25, 2009 was caused by an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, combined with other drugs.

Prosecutors have accused Murray, one of the pop star's doctors, of having a role in the overdose. Jury selection is set to begin next month in his trial.

Opening statements are set for September 27.

Murray's attorneys, Nareg Gourjian and Edward Chernoff, had contended, in court papers, that "there is reasonable expectation that Dr. Murray's trial will be the most publicized in history."