Jackson syringes still not tested
LOS ANGELES -- Attorneys for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death asked a judge on Wednesday to order testing on two syringes and an IV bag found in the pop singer's home that they say are rapidly deteriorating.
The request comes after more than a month of private meetings between defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge to try to get testing on the items performed.
Dr. Conrad Murray's defense team has expressed urgency for the testing, saying fluids in the items are deteriorating rapidly and have become "salt" in one of the syringes.
The testing they are seeking may determine the quantities of drugs in the items, which the cardiologist's lawyers say could be crucial information for a trial.
Attorney J. Michael Flanagan told The Associated Press that he submitted a motion asking a judge to order the testing after being unable to reach an agreement with prosecutors about the testing. No hearing date has been set, he said.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death in June 2009 at age 50. Authorities say he gave the singer a lethal dose of sedatives, including the anesthetic propofol and painkiller lidocaine.
"We are running out of time," Flanagan said.
An e-mail message for district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Transcripts of the meetings about the syringes obtained by the AP show Murray's defense team is willing to have the items tested by the Los Angeles coroner's office. The fluids have degraded and it remained unknown whether the proposed testing will yield useful information, according to the transcripts.
Murray's attorneys contend testing, which would establish the quantities of the drugs, should have been done along with other tests after the singer's death.
Flanagan said he had been trying to get the testing done for more than five months to no avail.
Prosecutor David Walgren had downplayed the potential value of the testing during a Nov. 4 meeting, telling a judge his office didn't concede the testing Murray's team is seeking "is relevant to anything or important."