Conrad Murray Trial

The L.A. County District Attorney filed a motion today asking the judge to allow the rehearsal footage from June 23 and June 24 to be entered as evidence in Murray's trial.

According to the motion, the D.A. believes the footage will support expected testimony from "This Is It" director Kenny Ortega that Michael was "happy and excited for the future."

The D.A. says that testimony opposes the defense's theory that hours after the last rehearsal Michael "did a desperate act and took desperate measures that caused his own death."

The stripper, Michelle Bella, met Dr. Murray at the Spearmint Rhino gentleman's club in Las Vegas in 2008. The story of how they met is hilarious, but first the important stuff.

Bella told detectives ... on June 25, 2009, Dr. Murray left a message on her phone at about 8:30 AM. According to sources with direct knowledge of the case ... Bella told cops Murray had mentioned Michael Jackson to her before and said, "I mean his schedule was obviously, you know -- I know that he was like up all hours because of his work so when -- so when he called, you know, he sounded tired and he was like I'm gonna get some sleep whatever."

The interview is significant -- TMZ broke a story on July 27, 2009 that "Authorities believe Dr. Murray may have actually fallen asleep during the time the drug [Propofol] was administered and may have awakened to find Jackson already dead from heart failure."

Now the hilarious part. Bella told cops about the magic moment when she met Murray at Spearmint Rhino -- "He came in there with his scrubs and he was there with like a client of his." Bella, who says she was studying to be a chiropractic assistant, says, "We were just sharing some like, you know, medical knowledge and this and that and I know he was intrigued with me."

Murray must have been intensely impressed with her medical knowledge. According to the transcript, Bella says she "sat with him for about roughly like an hour and a half and he paid me $1,000."

Dr. Conrad Murray crossed the professional line in treating Michael Jackson based on his involvement with three women -- one of whom was a stripper ... this according to new documents filed by prosecutors in his manslaughter case.

According to the docs, Dr. Murray was on the phone with a cocktail waitress whom prosecutors say was his girlfriend ... minutes before the 911 call was made.

Prosecutors say the woman ... Sade Anding, was in Houston where she met Murray while working as a cocktail waitress. Prosecutors say the call proves Murray was paying attention to his girlfriend, and not MJ, during the critical period before Michael's death. And, prosecutors want to admit a $500 check that Murray wrote to Anding "after the two came back from a social outing."

Prosecutors also say Murray had communications with 2 other women on the day Michael died, one of whom is a stripper at Spearmint Rhino Gentleman's Club in Las Vegas. Prosecutors want to admit text messages between Murray and stripper Michelle Bella sent on June 25, 2009 at 8:30 A.M. Prosecutors also want the jury to see a receipt for $1,100 -- showing what Murray paid for at the Spearmint Rhino the day he met Bella.

The questionnaire is 30 pages long and has 117 questions. Among the highlights:

-- What Internet sites or blogs if any, do you visit on a regular basis? (TMZ and others are listed)
-- Have you accessed or posted any blogs concerning Michael Jackson or Conrad Murray?
-- Have you or anyone close to you ever worked in any aspect of the news media, entertainment news media, or the entertainment industry?
-- Have you or anyone close to you ever had a job that required a professional license?
-- Was that license ever suspended, revoked, restricted, or the subject of investigation or inquiry.
-- Do you have any familiarity with the following medications? (Several meds are listed, many of them drugs Jackson took, including Propofol)
-- Do you know anyone who is or has been addicted to prescription medication?
-- Are you or someone close to you currently taking medication for pain, anxiety, depression or insomnia?
-- Over 100 potential witnesses are listed, including the following members of the Jackson family: Blanket, Jackie, Janet, Jermaine, Joe, La Toya, Katherine, Marlon, Paris, Prince, Randy, Rebbie and Tito
(The next 6 have choices of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree and No Opinion)
-- Celebrities and high-profile people feel like they are entitled to act however they please
-- Celebrities and high-profile people think they can bend the rules
-- Celebrities and high-profile people abuse their power and status to intimidate others into giving them what they want
-- Celebrities and high-profile people in Los Angeles get away with crimes because of their status
-- Celebrities and high-profile people in Los Angeles are treated the same way by the police as anyone else
-- Police are more lenient with celebrities and high-profile people
-- Do you think that people of wealth or fame are treated differently in the court system?
-- Have you ever considered yourself a fan of Michael Jackson or the Jackson Family?
-- Have you previously seen in person Michael Jackson, the Jackson Family, or Conrad Murray?
-- Did you ever watch "This Is It"?

In a motion filed today in LA County Superior Court ... Murray's legal team argues the photos "will only unnecessarily and unfairly prejudice the jury against Dr. Murray."

They also claim the photos will not help the jury determine the cause of Michael's death.

On the juicier side ... Murray's attorneys also filed a motion to exclude testimony or evidence dealing with the doc's visits to strip clubs, the women he met there, and the amount of money he spent in those clubs.

As his lawyers were in downtown L.A. picking a jury that will decide if he is criminally responsible for the death of Michael Jackson, Dr. Murray proudly sported the number 18 -- the magic number that makes people barely legal.

Barely legal is all it should take to get an acquittal.

Who knew, the best jury consultants in town were Abercrombie and Fitch?

According to court documents obtained by TMZ ... "Applied Pharmacy has been shut down by the State of Nevada and will file Bankruptcy in 90 days."

One of the more revealing questions: "Do you believe patients have the responsibility to tell their doctors about their complete past and current social habits, including use of drugs, alcohol and prescription medications?"

A central part of Dr. Murray's defense is that Michael Jackson was a hard-core Propofol addict who hid his drug dependence from the doc ... thus Murray wasn't operating with full knowledge.

Other questions laser in on what people think of the case, with a heavy emphasis on social media.

-- Do you have a blog? If so, describe.

-- Are you active on social networks. If so, which?

The answers will lead Murray's lawyers to spontaneous comments of prospective jurors that could be more revealing than answers they give in court.

And the questionnaire asks: "Do you financially support others outside your immediate family?"

Dr. Murray has had money troubles that could make him sympathetic to certain jurors.

Other questions include: "At what age should a person be held accountable for their decisions, actions and consequences."

The defense is looking for people who believe in personal responsibility, such as small business owners.

In legal papers obtained by TMZ, Murray's legal team claims Klein fueled MJ's drug dependency by giving him scores of Demerol injections in the months prior to his death. TMZ broke the story ... in the 3 months before Jackson died, Dr. Klein gave MJ 51 Demerol injections.

The docs claim, "Due to Mr. Klein's actions, Mr. Jackson became physiologically and psychologically dependent on Demerol."

Murray's team wants Klein to produce all his medical records, claiming "Dr. Klein is a relevant and highly material witness to the defense."

Dr. Murray's lawyers were in court this AM. Among other things, they lasered in on a broken syringe that had rolled under Michael's deathbed. The defense wants a first generation fingerprint to determine who was handling it.

Defense sources tell us ... Dr. Murray insists he did not break the syringe. As TMZ first reported ... the defense believes MJ caused his own death by giving himself a massive overdose of Propofol while Murray was out of the room.

Defense sources say ... there were only two people in the room, and since Murray did not break the syringe, Michael must have handled it.

The defense is asking that the FBI deliver the first generation fingerprint.

Lawyers for Dr. Arnold Klein -- Jackson's longtime doc -- and AEG honcho Randy Phillips asked the judge to quash subpoenas issued by Dr. Murray, requiring them to produce information about MJ that the defense claims is relevant to his death.

Murray wants to find out exactly what drugs and treatment Klein gave MJ in the months before his death. TMZ reported Klein injected Michael with Demerol 51 times in the 3 months that preceded his death.

As for Phillips, we've learned Murray's team wants to know what interactions AEG had with Michael -- in particular, AEG's expectations about Michael's rehearsal schedule and its involvement in selecting Dr. Murray as Michael's doc.

The surveillance video of Michael Jackson's home the day he died has been erased -- lost forever, because the LAPD never knew MJ's death would turn into a criminal case.

TMZ broke the story ... the LAPD only copied 4 minutes of footage from the surveillance videos trained on Michael's house the day he died. The video shows Jackson coming home from rehearsal at around 12:30 AM.

Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyers will ask a judge today to order authorities to turn over the nearly 24 hours of surveillance video surrounding MJ's death.

But here's what we found out. The tape recirculates every 24 hours, and when the LAPD pulled the video shortly after MJ's death, the case was not a homicide investigation so all cops wanted to do was establish a time line -- so the only relevance of the video was showing when MJ entered the home.

We're told cops never looked at the rest of the surveillance video.

Lawyers for Dr. Murray will go to court Wednesday and ask a judge to order authorities to turn over all of the surveillance videos.

Sources connected to Murray tell TMZ ... the only video the LAPD turned over was from around 12:30 AM the day MJ died ... showing Michael returning to the house after his rehearsal.

Sources connected with Murray claim the cops only downloaded 11 minutes of the video. Murray's lawyers want to see all 24 hours ... particularly who comes in and out of the house in the hours before MJ died.

MJ's former nanny, Grace Rwaramba, spoke with LAPD investigators in the months after Michael died ... and explained how Murray became a "regular" around the house when the singer lived in Vegas ... coming by at least two times a week.

Grace told investigators Michael would constantly brag about Murray in front of the kids -- and that's why after he died, the kids would say, "There's no way daddy could have died of a heart attack because Dr. Murray is the best doctor in the whole world."

Grace also said Michael first met Murray through a member of MJ's security team ... and explained MJ felt he could trust Murray, because the security guy claimed he had some sort of mysterious leverage over the doc.

Grace offered no further explanation about the mysterious leverage.

And here's another bombshell -- Grace says that during a family trip to Florida, the kids called 911 when they discovered MJ "passed out" in their hotel room. It's unclear when the incident took place.