And amid all the froth and fury, Judge Michael Pastor tries to prevent the continuation of Michael Jackson's personal physician for manslaughter trial to degenerate into the Internet and innuendo...Every day in the courtroom on the ninth floor of Los Angeles, he patiently repeated his instruction to the jury not to look at popular websites or follow the media.
Last week, he taught angry lawyers at trial should not speak publicly about the case after a partner's lawyer criticized the defense witness and a testing strategy discussed during a television program.
But in the process of major celebrities first time in social media - especially Twitter - gained dominance, it was particularly difficult for the judge to keep the circus Pastor at bay in this latest installment in the saga of sorry King of Pop .
Jackson died 50 years in June 2009 from an overdose of propofol, a powerful anesthetic that he took as part of a cocktail of drugs to combat insomnia.
Conrad Murray, the doctor kept on a $ US150 ,000-a-month contract a few weeks ago, is accused of negligently administered the lethal dose. He pleaded not guilty to carries a maximum prison sentence of four years.
Murray told his defense to Ed Chernoff, a lawyer little known of his home state of Texas, rather than one of Hollywood lawyers who often champion the scene in these high-profile cases.
Mr. Chernoff is an unlikely choice for the role. He had been driving home the son of the school in Houston two years ago when another lawyer called to ask for help for a new client referred by a friend - a doctor who was interviewed 1600 km away from the death of the most famous singer in the world.
He agreed to help find a lawyer Murray California, but was unable to. Over time, Mr. Chernoff has become increasingly obsessed with the case and friendly with Murray, and have passed the exam California law so that it can defend the doctor himself.
Mr. Chernoff defense strategy is to blame the culture of Hollywood and the Death Star.
Testimony of medical experts will be delivered by both parties in the coming weeks, but the impact on the jury is not clear, especially with the CSI effect - named after the show in which the crime are complex murder mystery resolved by scientific evidence in an hour.
David Feige, a U.S. defense lawyer who is now a television writer in Los Angeles theater law, doubted that the CSI effect determine the trial. "This is a test very American," he said "It's not really about drugs or manslaughter, but the power of celebrity culture in this country. And how well the medicine is twisted into the vortex of American celebrity. "