Conrad Murray attends pre-trial hearing in Michael Jackson's death

LOS ANGELES

The hearing lasted about 20 minutes. Dr. Conrad Murray was required to attend Tuesday's hearing, but he will not be in court on Wednesday when attorneys will finalize the juror questionnaire.

Jury selection will begin on Thursday. If the questionnaire is similar to the one created in May when the trial was postponed, it will be about 30 pages long.

Approximately 480 jurors will be summoned for the trial over the course of three days. Jurors will be asked if they will be able to take time off for the trial, which is expected to last five weeks.

A major issue is whether or not jurors will be sequestered during the trial. That issue was decided in August when the judge decided against sequestering.

However on Friday, Murray's attorneys filed an emergency appeal arguing that this is going to be the most publicized trial in history and jurors are going to be "poisoned" by all of the media coverage. They want jurors sequestered in a hotel the entire length of the trial.

It is unclear when the appeals court is going to be taking up this issue. Murray's defense team wants his trial to be put on hold until a decision is reached. But for now the trial will go on as scheduled.

Murray is facing manslaughter charges in connection with the death of Jackson. Opening arguments are expected to take place around Sept. 27th.

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