Jackson jury not permitted to view film footage
Unseen footage of Michael Jackson's final rehearsals cannot be shown to jurors in the forthcoming trial of the doctor charged in his death, a judge has ruled.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor backed Sony Pictures and threw out a subpoena for 16 hours of previously-unseen footage of Jackson's rehearsals for a series of comeback concerts.
He said that the images were valuable to the studio and did not show the singer in poor health as Dr Conrad Murray's lawyers have claimed.
Prosecutors had wanted to show several hours of footage to show that Jackson was engaged, confident and healthy in the days before his death on June 25, 2009.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. His trial is due to begin on September 8.
