Michael Jackson’s Former Lawyer Joins Conrad Murray’s Defense Team

One of Michael’s lawyers in his 2005 trial—Conrad Murray’s defense team—will be joining the defense team, and a former colleague believes his move will create a conflict of interest. Narg Garghian is expected to take on the defense of Conrad Murray alongside Ed Chernoff and Michael Flanagan. She will fill in for Joseph La, who stepped down from the team earlier this month. Garghian was an assistant to Mark Geragos, Michael’s initial lawyer in the 2005 trial. Geragos is very concerned that one of his former assistants, who had close access to Michael’s personal information, is going to be part of Murray’s defense team. He has asked Judge Michael Pastor to prevent this person from joining Murray’s team due to a conflict of interest, by filing a request. A hearing was held yesterday to address this request, and Judge Michael Pastor said he is also worried about a possible conflict of interest and wants to know the Michael Jackson Foundation’s view on the matter before making a decision. The judge’s approval for Garghian to join Murray’s defense team depends on the condition that she had no specific involvement in Michael’s 2005 case and that her defense of Murray does not end up discrediting her previous client, Michael. However, Garghian believes she had only limited access to Michael’s information and was not very involved in his case, because Michael had changed his own legal team before the trial began. In 2003, the two were hired after filing charges against Michael, but in 2004 Michael replaced Mezerow with Geragos and said he needed a lawyer who would devote all of his time to his case. At that time, Geragos was involved in defending Scott Peterson, who was accused of murdering his pregnant wife. Geragos is a well-known lawyer for celebrities. He also had, not long ago, the defense case of Chris Brown, who was accused of assaulting and beating his girlfriend Rihanna. Also, during yesterday’s hearing, Murray’s defense team presented a list of more than 90 witnesses to the prosecutors. The prosecutors’ witness list reaches more than 100 people. Source: eMJey.com / CNN / LA Times