At a preliminary hearing in the criminal case against Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, lawyer Ed Chernoff had a ready response when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor expressed his concern over Chernoff’s cross-examination of a police detective by saying, “Houston, we have a problem. . . .”

“You have been waiting all week to say that,” Chernoff, a partner in Houston’s Stradley Chernoff & Alford, recalls telling the judge.