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| JUST BEFORE HE DIED |
MICHEAL JACKSON'S last days captured on hundreds of hours of videotape will have to be admitted as evidence in the trial of his doctor Conrad Murray a judge ruled yesterday.
Raw video of the King of Pop was bought by Sony Pictures after his death and used to produce their "This is It" video after his death.
But defense lawyers want to use footage left on the cutting room floor, arguing it would help them with their case to prove their clients innocence.
Since Sony was under a contractual obligation with the estate to not use anything that showed
Jackson in "a negative light," the unused video may be helpful to the defense, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said.
The judge gave Sony a week to work out technical details with the defense for a way they can view the raw video without the risk of it leaking.
Jackson hired video photographers to record his rehearsals as he prepared for his comeback concerts in London, scheduled for July 2009.
His estate later sold the video and documentary rights to Sony for about $80 million.
Murray, who was hired as Jackson's personal doctor in the months leading up to the concert, was later charged with involuntary manslaughter in his death after an autopsy ruled that he had overdosed on propofol.
But his lawyers suggested that a frustrated and sleepless Jackson may have self-ingested the fatal dose while the doctor was out of his bedroom.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said in his final arguments at Murray's preliminary hearing in January: "Michael is not with us today because of an utterly inept, incompetent, reckless doctor, the defendant Conrad Murray."
