LOS ANGELES — Jurors hearing the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson’s doctor will hear an alternate version Friday of what may have occurred in the singer’s bedroom in the hours before his death. Dr. Paul White, an expert in the anesthetic propofol, will finally lay out his rationale for the defense theory that Jackson somehow gave himself a fatal dose of the drug when his doctor left the room. White’s testimony will likely be vigorously challenged by prosecutors, who spent four weeks laying out their case that Dr. Conrad Murray is a greedy, inept and reckless doctor who was giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid. But cross-examination of White will be delayed until Monday to give prosecutors more time to review a new analysis prepared by the defense based on recently-conducted tests on samples taken during Jackson’s autopsy. “This is the entire crux of the defense case,” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said in arguing for a delay. The judge hearing the case, which ends its fifth week on Friday, reluctantly agreed to delay the cross examination and said he is concerned about losing jurors. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor however noted that the panel of has remained rapt throughout the trial. “Every single member of that jury and all the alternates are paying extraordinary attention to every witness,” Pastor said. Murray has pleaded not guilty. White’s opinions will challenge those of the prosecution’s main expert, Dr. Steven Shafer, who testified that the only scenario he believes explains Jackson’s death is that Murray placed Jackson on an IV drip and left the room after he thought the singer was sleeping peacefully. Murray told police he left Jackson’s bedside, but claims he only gave the singer a small dose of propofol the morning of Jackson’s death. He said he left the room and returned after two minutes to find the pop superstar unresponsive. Murray’s defense attorneys have repeatedly claimed that Jackson somehow gave himself the fatal dose, but it will be up to White to explain how that would be possible. Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said that the new models White will show jurors on Friday will offer different simulations about the drugs propofol and sedative lorazepam. They are based on a new computer program and updated test results. Flanagan did not reveal what conclusions White drew from the new models, or whether they would change his testimony. White is a retired researcher and professor who performed clinical studies of propofol for years before it was approved for usage by the Food and Drug Administration in 1989. He said he was initially reluctant to become involved in the case, but after reading through more than a dozen expert reports, he couldn’t figure out how others came to the conclusion that Murray would have had to leave Jackson on a propofol IV drip for the singer to have died with the anesthetic still coursing through his body. He said the others’ theories didn’t make sense based on Murray’s statement to police. “I thought that there were questions if in fact Murray had administered the drugs that he described in his conversations with the police department in the doses he described, I would not have expected Michael Jackson to have died,” White said. He continued to work on the case after meeting with Murray, although White was not allowed to testify about his conversations with the Houston-based cardiologist. Flanagan early in White’s testimony on Thursday asked the doctor to address “the elephant in the room” – whether he could justify Murray’s actions if he left Jackson hooked to a propofol IV and then left the room. “Absolutely not,” White replied. ___ AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report. ___ McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP The rest is here: Propofol Expert To Blame Jackson For Administering Lethal Dose
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Baseball Prospect Claimed He Was Just 16 to Get $1M Bonus
Now the team is stuck with a 22-year-old, .169 hitter, reports Baseball America. Photo Credit: San Diego Padres Read the original: Baseball Prospect Claimed He Was Just 16 to Get $1M Bonus
Are You ‘In Cahoots With Al-Qaida?’
LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday, claiming the law enforcement agency is harassing news photographers and other people who take pictures in public places. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, charges that sheriff’s deputies have harassed several photographers over the past two years. It states deputies have stopped people, frisked them and in some cases threatened to arrest them for taking photos near subways, courthouses and other public places. It names as defendants Los Angeles County, the Sheriff’s Department and several individual sheriff’s deputies. The action was brought on behalf of three photographers, one of them a reporter for the Long Beach Post news site who said authorities indicated they became suspicious when they saw him taking photos near a courthouse. Another of the plaintiffs said sheriff’s deputies asked whether he planned to sell his photos to the terrorist group al-Qaida. Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said public safety requires that deputies question people who might be engaging in suspicious activity, but that it’s important they do it respectfully. “Obviously we have to ask questions. There are security issues that are always at large,” Whitmore said. He added that doesn’t mean his department believes the lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, has merit. “Lawsuits only tell one side of the story,” he said. “We look forward to telling the whole story.” The Long Beach Post photographer, Greggory Moore, said he was on a public sidewalk taking photos of passing cars for a story on Distracted Driving Awareness Month when eight deputies surrounded him. He said he was frisked and asked what he was doing. Moore said authorities told him later that his taking photos across the street from a courthouse signaled a possible terrorist threat, which was why he was stopped and searched. Photographer Shawn Nee said he was on his way home when he exited a subway station in Hollywood and decided to stop to photograph the new turnstiles there. He said a sheriff’s deputy asked him if he was “in cahoots with al-Qaida” before searching him. He said the deputy also threatened to arrest him when he wouldn’t identify himself or say what the photos were for. Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, said such instances of photographers being stopped, questioned and searched is becoming more common, not only in Los Angeles but across the country. He added that security shouldn’t be routinely used as a “pretext” to stifle free expression rights. “Photography is not a crime. It’s protected First Amendment expression,” said Peter Bibring, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. “Sheriff’s deputies violate the Constitution’s core protections when they detain and search people who are doing nothing wrong. To single them out for such treatment while they’re pursuing a constitutionally protected activity is doubly wrong.” The lawsuit asks that the court declare the actions of the Sheriff’s Department unconstitutional. It also seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. More: Are You ‘In Cahoots With Al-Qaida?’
Why Did That Huge SoCal Blackout Happen? Officials Still in the Dark
When millions of people in Southern California, and neighboring Arizona and Mexico, were plunged into the dark and left without power for several hours in early September , everyone wanted to know how such a massive outage could happen. When the lights came back on, it seemed to be just one worker’s fault , but that employee’s error doesn’t explain how widespread the blackout was. more › See more here: Why Did That Huge SoCal Blackout Happen? Officials Still in the Dark
Occupy L.A. Protesters Will Not Back Down
Occupy protesters and followers are questioning whether or not Los Angeles will face similar rioting as the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland movements. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has supported the movement from day one, and at least one other councilman – Bill Rosendahl – are losing patience and feel that the time has come for occupiers to pack up camp and create a new tent city elsewhere. more › More: Occupy L.A. Protesters Will Not Back Down
WikiLeaks Julian Assange ‘Occupy’ Shocker
WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange made a shocking public appearance amid thousands of ‘Occupy’ protesters and hundreds of media cameras. At the London ‘Occupy’ protest, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street sponsored by Anonymous , a sea of protesters pressed behind a line of riot cops in defiance. It was then that Julian Assange suddenly materialized before thousands of shocked protesters. The massive crowd erupted in cheers, stunned by the sudden public appearance of the WikiLeaks founder in supposed exile. The controversial international figure spoke to the demonstrators. “Like all of you, I have had difficulties getting in here today, but there are many people who haven’t yet been able to get through,” Julian Assange told the protesters. “This movement is not about the destruction of law, it is about the construction of law,” Assange continued. “I just wanted to say, we are all individuals.” The crowd of awe-struck ‘Occupy’ protesters cheered as WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange tossed handfuls of candy to the stunned crowd, then quickly disappeared. WikiLeaks Julian Assange ‘Occupy’ Protest Video See more here: WikiLeaks Julian Assange ‘Occupy’ Shocker
Spot-Checking at Locked Metro TAP Turnstiles Yields 53 Citations & 5 Arrests
Who’s got a ticket to ride? Metro’s fare gate lockdown is producing interesting results as the agency determines approximately what percentage of passengers are using paper tickets as opposed to TAP cards. This four-week effort aids in Metro’s mission to get the TAP system and turnstile entry secured and running. Metro officials are spot-checking passengers’ tickets as they get off the Red and Purple Lines. more › Read more here: Spot-Checking at Locked Metro TAP Turnstiles Yields 53 Citations & 5 Arrests
iSwoon for iPhone 4S, Thanks to Apple Store at 3rd Street Promenade
My one stop was at the Apple store located along Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I’d read tweets claiming the store promised they had ordered ample supplies to last the entire day and that there were only 80 people in line. Only 80 people. I arrived at the store at 10:45am, my heart dropping when I noticed the line had vanished. “The line’s right over there,” said a helpful Apple employee, pointing me towards a feasible line of cattle hopeful consumers. more › Go here to see the original: iSwoon for iPhone 4S, Thanks to Apple Store at 3rd Street Promenade
Death Penalty Sought For Salon Shooter
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Prosecutors said it was revenge and a desire to kill his ex-wife that drove a man to go on a deadly shooting rampage at a Southern California salon, leaving eight people dead and another critically wounded. Shaking with emotion at a news conference Friday, Orange County’s top prosecutor Tony Rackauckas vowed to seek the death penalty against the lone suspect Scott Dekraai as details emerged about the grisly scene at Salon Meritage. First, Dekraai wrapped himself in body armor and armed himself with three handguns, prosecutors said. Then, he burst into the salon where his ex-wife worked – their 8-year-old son waiting at his school for one of them to pick him up. Over two minutes, Dekraai moved methodically through the room, shooting his victims in the head and chest. Prosecutors said he wanted revenge against his ex-wife with whom he fought over the custody of their son. “That little boy’s a victim,” said Rackauckas, pausing to compose himself. “Now his mother has been murdered, and he has to grow up knowing that his dad is a mass-murderer. So what kind of sick, twisted fatherly love might that be?” Dekraai appeared briefly in court Friday afternoon, where angry friends and relatives of the victims screamed insults. One person shouted, “I hate you.” Superior Court Judge Erick L. Larsh ordered a medical review after Dekraai’s attorney said his client wasn’t getting his needed antipsychotic medication while he is held in jail without bail. Attorney Robert Curtis also said he would likely request that the trial be moved out of the area. Prosecutors often spend time weighing mitigating and extenuating circumstances before deciding to seek the death penalty. Rackackas said he reached his decision in less than 48 hours because there was no reason to look for such factors in this case. “There are some cases that are so depraved, so callous and so malignant that there is only one punishment that might have any chance of fitting the crime,” said Rackauckas, the Orange County district attorney. The crime, the worst in Seal Beach’s 96-year history, has shaken the tight-knit seaside city of 24,000 that many residents call Mayberry by the Sea. Until this week, it had only one homicide in four years. The crime reported most often last year was larceny. After a final phone conversation with his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, on Wednesday morning, authorities say, Dekraai drove to Salon Meritage in downtown Seal Beach, where he knew she would be working. During a two-minute span, authorities say, he gunned down eight people in the salon and another outside in the parking lot. One person survived and is hospitalized in critical condition. The wounded person, 73-year-old Harriet Stretz, was having her hair done by her daughter, Laura Lee Elody, who was killed. As people ran out of the building screaming or hid in adjacent rooms or simply lay on the floor attempting to play dead, the onslaught continued, with Dekraai only stopping to reload. When he was done, the gunman walked out of the salon and, encountering a man in a parked car, shot him to death and drove away. In a 911 call soon after the shooting, a construction worker who was across the street provides a physical description that matches Dekraai’s appearance, calling him a large white man who weighs maybe 300 pounds. “He was willing to end any life in his path, and he did,” Rackauckas said. Police pulled over Dekraai a short distance away, and he surrendered without resisting. Rackauckas called the killings cruel, merciless and methodical, adding they had nothing to do with love for Dekraai’s son, who friends said the 41-year-old former tugboat operator doted on. Dekraai and Fournier split up in 2006 and divorced the following year. The two had been involved in an increasingly acrimonious custody fight over their son ever since Dekraai had asked a judge for “final decision making authority” when it came to matters involving their son’s education and his medical and psychological treatment. Both parents were in court the day before the shootings for a custody hearing that was continued until December. Fournier’s attorney, John Cate, said a recent evaluation by a court-appointed psychologist concluded the couple’s custody agreement, which gave each parent close to equal time with their son, should remain the way it was. But Cate added that the report concluded neither parent was behaving as they should have. “He found they were not co-parenting. In fact, they were parallel parenting and doing a poor job of it at that,” Cate said of the psychologist’s conclusions. “It led to a great deal of mistrust.” Despite the report, he said both Dekraai and Fournier were well mannered in court on Tuesday. Cate also said one of the victims of the shooting, Christy Wilson, was a co-worker of Fournier’s who spoke with the court-appointed psychologist. He speculated that might have led to Wilson being targeted by the gunman. “She was a good friend of Michelle’s and she paid the price for it, apparently,” the lawyer said. Throughout the custody battle, Dekraai and Fournier traded serious allegations, each calling the other an unfit parent. Dekraai said in court papers that Fournier had a drinking problem, once showed up drunk at their son’s Little League game and didn’t keep a close watch on the boy. Fournier responded in court papers that Dekraai was mentally unstable, had been violent and abusive to her when they were married and had once called 911 and threatened to kill himself and others. Dekraai’s stepfather, Leroy Hinmon, had gotten a temporary restraining order against him in 2007 after he said Dekraai attacked him. The order required Dekraai to surrender his guns, but it had long since expired. Cate said Dekraai acknowledged to the court-appointed psychologist that he had been diagnosed as bipolar and was taking pain medication for a leg injury. Shortly after their separation, Dekraai was badly injured in a tugboat accident as he tried to save a co-worker who was crushed to death when a towline snapped. A Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective who investigated the accident called his actions “heroic.” “He saw her pinned by her towline, and he immediately went to her side to try to assist her,” Detective Robert Harris said at the time. His leg badly mangled, Dekraai was unable to work, and friends and acquaintances have said he was in constant pain since then. He told the court he lived off an insurance settlement and his retirement benefits. ___ Associated Press Writers Gillian Flaccus in Santa Ana, Calif., and John Rogers in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Visit link: Death Penalty Sought For Salon Shooter
Assembly Candidates Back ‘Occupy’ Movement
The three major candidates vying for California’s newly formed 50th Assembly District , which includes Beverly Hills, are in favor of the growing “Occupy” movement , Patch exclusively reports. The grassroots protest is railing against corporate profits, worker layoffs, the existing federal-tax structure and other issues. Occupy Los Angeles, which is happening downtown, was launched roughly two weeks ago in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in New York, which began about a month ago. “I support Occupy Los Angeles in their efforts to peacefully demonstrate to express their values and discontent,” Assemblywoman Betsy Butler , D-Marina del Rey, told Patch. ”The Occupy movement has grown out of a frustration that so many hardworking Americans are not benefiting from the resources enjoyed by Wall Street and the most fortunate amongst us.” Torie Osborn also stands behind the protesters. “Everyday people rising up to say ‘NO MORE’ to inequality is an honored American tradition. It can magnetize an unstoppable social movement for real change,” Osborn told Patch. ”I embrace this outpouring of students and veterans and teachers—and so many more—fed up with radical inequality and unfair taxation in the richest country in human history.” Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom told Patch that he “absolutely” supports the movement. “As a grassroots expression of people’s concerns and outrage over what’s happening in the country and world, it’s pretty remarkable,” he said. This article originally appeared on Santa Monica Patch. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . More here: Assembly Candidates Back ‘Occupy’ Movement
