Народът срещу Д- р Конрад Мъри - 07. 10. 2011 - Ден 9

Murray Trial Day 9: More Testimony About the Toxicology Report

Fri Oct 7, 2011 3:04am EDT

A toxicologist from the Los Angeles coroner's office will resume testimony today about the drugs found in Michael Jackson's system to begin the ninth day of proceedings in Dr. Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial.

The doctor who performed Michael Jackson's autopsy and ruled his death a homicide, Dr. Christopher Rogers, is among the potential witnesses, as is Los Angeles police detective Orlando Martinez. The court will break on Monday for Columbus Day.

Martinez interviewed Murray after Michael Jackson's June 25, 2009 death. Murray told Martinez he'd been administering propofol to Jackson for two months as a sleep aid, and jurors may finally hear the recording of the two-hour interview Martinez conducted with Murray.

Coroner's office toxicologist Dan Anderson took the witness stand on Thursday, and described the drugs found in Jackson's system during the autopsy. The drugs included propofol, lidocaine, diazepam, nordiazepam, lorazepam, midazolam and ephedrine, he said.

The Los Angeles County coroner ruled Jackson died of "acute propofol intoxication," and that sedatives were also a factor. Prosecutors contend Murray is criminally liable for Jackson's death because he recklessly administered the propofol, a potent surgical anesthetic drug, and was negligent in properly monitoring Jackson.

Anderson also testified about the various drugs found in medical implements in Jackson's bedroom, including propofol and lidocaine in a syringe found on a table near the singer's bed, and propofol, lidocaine and flumazenil found in a different syringe and IV tubing found in the bedroom four days after Jackson died.

Anderson also testified that Demerol was not detected in Jackson's system, which is significant. During opening statements last week, defense attorney Ed Chernoff suggested the reason Jackson needed propofol and other drugs administered by Murray to sleep was because he had been receiving shots of Demerol from Beverly Hills dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein.

The early part of Thursday's proceedings revolved around the testimony of coroner's office investigator Elissa Fleak, who weathered aggressive questioning by Chernoff about her note and photo-taking practices before finally admitting that no criminal investigation is conducted without mistakes.

CNN.com reported that defense and prosecution sources say the trial should go to the jury within the next two weeks. Murray faces up to four years in prison and loss of his medical license if convicted.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...10899020111007

Michael Jackson Death Trial: A Tape Of Dr. Conrad Murray To Be Played


By ANTHONY McCARTNEY 10/ 7/11 10:18 AM ET AP


LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors are expected to play for jurors a police interview conducted with the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death, during which he lays out his version of events in the final hours of the singer's life.

The more-than two hour interview has never been played in public before, nor has a transcript of its contents been released. In it, Dr. Conrad Murray details his treatments on Jackson in the hours before the singer's death, including his administration of the anesthetic propofol.

The interview was conducted by two Los Angeles police detectives, one of whom, Scott Smith, will introduce the interview for jurors during the trial's ninth day on Friday, prosecutors have told a judge.

The interview will be played after defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan finishes cross examination of coroner's toxicologist Dan Anderson. On Thursday, Anderson told jurors that propofol was found in various parts of the singer's body, his blood and urine during an autopsy. The amounts found led coroner's officials to conclude that Jackson died from acute propofol intoxication, with other sedatives administered by Murray contributing to the singer's death.

Defense attorneys contend Jackson gave himself the lethal dose after Murray left the room. Flanagan attempted Thursday to get Anderson to say that high levels of the sedative lorazepam found in Jackson's stomach meant that he swallowed the drug himself. Anderson told jurors he couldn't determine that based on the information he had.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and faces up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if convicted.

Murray's police interview two days after Jackson's death on June 25, 2009 is one of the last big pieces of evidence prosecutors have to present against Murray. According to search warrant affidavits, police said Murray detailed his treatments of propofol and other drugs to try to get Jackson to sleep.

The Houston-based cardiologist, who was accompanied by an attorney during the interview, told detectives that he had been trying to wean Jackson off propofol because he was afraid he was addicted. He told the police he had given the singer other sedatives, including lorazepam and midazolam, in the hours before Jackson's death, but that the singer couldn't fall asleep.

Murray told the police that he had only left Jackson alone for a couple minutes when he returned around 11 a.m. on June 25, 2009 to find the singer had stopped breathing. Murray's attorneys have disputed this portion of the timeline and say the doctor returned to find Jackson unresponsive around noon.

In the interview, the physician also told detectives that other doctors had given Jackson propofol as a sleep aid in the past. The singer called it his "milk," according to descriptions of the interview included in search warrant affidavits.

The doctor also told police during the question-and-answer session where vials of propofol that remained in Jackson's rented mansion could be found. The disclosure led police to search the singer's bedroom and closet two days after the interview and turned up an IV bag, several drugs and creams to treat vitiligo and bottles of propofol.

Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff on Thursday attacked the credibility of a coroner's investigator who collected evidence at the house on the June 25 and June 29, 2009 searches of Jackson's home. Chernoff noted that investigator Elissa Fleak had moved items in the room and failed to note in a report until nearly two years after Jackson's death that she had found a bottle of propofol inside an IV bag.

Jackson's bodyguard Alberto Alvarez described the bottle in the IV bag during testimony last week and in January during a preliminary hearing, leading Chernoff to question whether Fleak had added the detail to match Alvarez's description. Fleak had photographed the bottle and IV bag together, but with the container placed outside the bag.

Fleak denied any wrongdoing, and denied Chernoff's contention that she had made "a substantial number of mistakes."

The investigator also acknowledged that she had handled a syringe without gloves, leaving a thumbprint on the item.

Walgren attempted to deflect the criticism, asking the investigator whether she had conducted a perfect investigation. No, she replied.

"Have you ever conducted a perfect investigation?" Walgren asked.

"No," Fleak said.


Soure: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1000006.html

Jackson Doc's Print On Propofol Bottle

Video http://nancygrace.blogs.cnn.com/2011...le/?hpt=ng_mid

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Conrad Murray trial: Whether Jackson swallowed sedative is debated


October 7, 2011 | 10:40 am

A toxicologist and an attorney for Michael Jackson’s doctor jousted Friday over whether the presence of a sedative in the singer’s stomach was proof he swallowed the drug.

In a painstakingly slow cross-examination rife with highly technical terms such as “ion trapping” and “bioavailability,” the lawyer for Dr. Conrad Murray repeatedly suggested there was no other explanation.

And the witness repeatedly insisted there might be, but the question should be put to someone with more training.

Conrad Murray witnesses: Who's who

How the minuscule amount of lorazepam found in Jackson’s stomach got there is in dispute at Murray’s manslaughter trial.

Murray acknowledged giving Jackson two injections of the drug, but his defense contends the singer later downed a handful of lorazepam pills without Murray’s knowledge.

Dan Anderson, a toxicologist at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office, said that in his experience “drug levels can be detected in the stomach … that were not given orally.”
Pressed by defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan to explain given the specific properties of lorazepam, the witness demurred, saying he preferred “to leave it to the many experts who are going to march up here after me.”

Flanagan persevered, pressing Anderson on details including the absorption time of lorazepam and whether it was subject to “postmortem redistribution.”

Anderson, shifting in the witness chair, told the lawyer several times he was uncomfortable offering opinions.

“I personally would rather leave this to a pharmacologist who would be coming,” he said.

Both sides have retained stables of forensic experts to bolster their theories of Jackson’s 2009 death from the surgical anesthetic propofol.

Murray, 58, faces a maximum of four years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter. His trial is concluding its second week of testimony.

Source:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...-sedative.html

Michael Jackson Death Trial: Conrad Murray's Police Interview Played in Court

LOS ANGELES Oct. 7, 2011

urors have begun listening to Conrad Murray's interview with police officers in the days after Michael Jackson died, allowing the jury and Jackson fans to hear Murray's account of the singer's final moments alive.

Prosecutors in the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial began playing the tape shortly before the jurors went to lunch. They are expected to hear the rest of the more than two hour interview when they return from their break.

The interview was conducted by Los Angeles police detectives on June 27, 2009, just two days after Jackson died of a drug overdose. It was conducted at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Ray, Calif., where Murray's attorneys were staying. Murray could face four years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the king of pop's death.

The interview has never been played publicly before. Since the trial began, all recordings of Murray's voice have been from the day Jackson died.

On the tiny portion of the recording played so far, Murray says that he first treated Jackson and his three children for the flu in 2006 while they were staying Las Vegas. He tells police that he treated Jackson intermittenly since then.

When asked about whether Murray knew if Jackson had any other doctors, Murray says, "He never disclosed that to me, but because he moved around so much, I would assume that he was."

That statement could raise juror's eyebrows. Jurors have seen pictures and heard testimony that on nightstands next to the bed where Jackson died and where Murray administered propofol to the singer were vials of prescription pills prescribed by at least two other doctors than Murray.

In addition to the police interview, jurors also watched surveillance video of Conrad Murray leaving the UCLA Medical Center after Jackson was declared dead.

Detective Scott Smith told jurors that he went to the hospital on the day Jackson died, but was unable to track Murray down for an interview. He did talk briefly to Jackson's bodyguard and driver.

Smith said that the day after Jackson died, Jackson's family alerted him and the coroner of additional evidence found in the master bathroom of Jackson's mansion.

Pictures of the master bathroom showed a messy space with drawers open,notes taped to windows and things covering the floor.

The evidence included three empty pill bottles and a shaving bag full of rotten marijuana. Smith said police at first thought the marijuana was heroin.

The playing of the police interview and surveillance video marks a shift from two days of forensic evidence in the case, including fingerprint evidence and Jackson's toxicology report.

On Thursday, a Los Angeles County toxicologist detailed the drugs found in the king of pop's body at the time he died. Propofol, the powerful anesthetic, that Jackson overdosed on was found in both his stomach contents and his blood.

Jackson died at age 50 after a night of rehearsing for his comeback tour, "This Is It." He came home the night before, threw his black jacket on the bathroom floor and tried to sleep. Prosecutors claim that Murray recklessly administered propofol and other drugs to the singer to help him sleep and failed to properly monitor Jackson while he was under the influence of the drugs.

Defense attorney Ed Chernoff said in opening statements that Jackson was a desperate insomniac.

"Michael Jackson swallowed up to eight pills on his own, without telling his doctor. Michael Jackson self-administered an additional dose of propofol," Chernoff said on Sept. 27.

The testimony of toxicologist Dan Anderson might have cast doubt on the possibility of Jackson swallowing a lethal combination of pills and propofol.

The singer's stomach only had .13 milligrams of propofol in it, an amount that typically wouldn't be lethal.

Prosecutor David Walgren asked the toxicologist if that amount was "the equivalent of specks of sugar crystals from a one gram sugar packet you might see in a restaurant."

Anderson said that Walgren's comparison is accurate.

The amount of propofol in Jackson's blood was far greater. Propofol is typically administered intravenously and in a hospital setting. If the drug was administered through an IV, it would show up in Jackson's blood.

In vials of blood taken from Jackson's dead body at the UCLA Medical Center, there was 4.2 micrograms of propofol present.

In addition to the toxicology report, prosecutors read the fingerprint analysis done on items found in the Jackson home. A bottle of propofol had Murray's left index fingerprint. Jackson's fingerprints were not on any of the items tested which included a syringe, two propofol bottles and two saline IV bags.

The fingerprint evidence was not all good news for prosecutors. Mystery fingerprints were found on both a cut saline bag and a propofol bottle that was found inside the bag.

The fingerprints found on both did not belong to Murray, Jackson, Jackson's bodyguard who claimed to have moved the IV bag, or any of the investigators or first responders.

"Fingerprint evidence can be confusing because on the one hand, if you find someone's fingerprint, it's significant…If you don't find someone's fingerprint, it doesn't necessarily mean someone wasn't there," said ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams.

Murray's defense attorney attempted to cast shadow over the thorougness of the investigation into Michael Jackson's death during the cross-examination of a coroner investigator Thursday.

Defense attorney Chernoff repeatedly asked investigator Elissa Fleak from the Los Angeles coroner's office whether she made mistakes when gathering evidence and taking photos at Jackson's rented mansion after he died of a drug overdose.

"You made substantial number of mistakes in your investigation of this case," Chernoff asked.

"No," Fleak responded.

On Wednesday, prosecutors painstakingly went through photos taken by Fleak at Jackson's home and of a dead Jackson at the UCLA Medical Center.

The photos ranged from an ambu bag on the floor to a jug of Jackson's urine to vials upon vials of propofol and other drugs found on Jackson's nightstand and in three bags in his closet.

Fleak admitted that her fingerprints were on a syringe that she had moved and that she had mistakenly referred to a catheter as a broken syringe in her report.

Upon cross-examination, she potentially dealt a blow to prosecutors by saying that an IV bag did not appear to have the milky residue of propofol, seeming to contradict her own testimony given Wednesday. Fleak told jurors Wednesday that she'd recovered an IV bag that had been slit and had propofol in it from a blue Costco bag in Jackson's closet. Today, she said a picture of that IV bag didn't look like it had any of the drug's residue.

In addition to giving a seemingly contradictory statement, Fleak also admitted to jurors that she never noted that the slit IV bag had a propofol vial in it until March of this year. Fleak also said that Jackson's home was not secured after she gathered evidence.

"I think they [the defense] made a little bit of headway. I don't think that this is the strongest part of their defense...that the investigation was sloppy," said legal analyst Abrams.

Source:http://abcnews.go.com/US/Conrad_Murr...ry?id=14688593

Michael Jackson called hiring me 'divine guidance,' Murray says

PROPOFOL

October 07, 2011|By Alan Duke, CNN

Michael Jackson begged for his "milk," his nickname for propofol, after a sleepless night and just hours before he died from what the coroner said was an overdose of the surgical anesthetic, the singer's doctor Conrad Murray told detectives.

"I've got to sleep, Dr. Conrad," Murray said Jackson pleaded to him. "I have these rehearsals to perform. I must be ready for the show in England. Tomorrow, I will have to cancel my performance, because you know I cannot function if I don't get to sleep."

Jurors in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial heard about half of the two-hour police interview on Friday, before going home for a three-day weekend.

Los Angeles Police Det. Scott Smith, one of two investigators who questioned Murray, is heard telling Murray at the start that he would make the interview "as painless and as quick as possible."

The audio recording, however, was too much for Michael Jackson's oldest sister, Rebbie. After she whispered to a bailiff, she walked into the jury box, next to the alternate jurors, and through the middle of the courtroom to the exit.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor stopped the audio playback and appeared angry at the disruption. "I can't have people walking through the courtroom!" Pastor said.

Murray is not expected to testify during the trial, but the interview playback means that jurors will have heard his story -- at least as he told it two days after Jackson's death.

"This is divine guidance," Murray said Jackson told him when he asked him to work as his personal doctor.

"He wanted me to be around forever. And he wanted to open a children's hospital where children all over the world can get treatment, and he wanted me to be the medical director," Murray told the detectives about his relationship with the pop star. Earlier this week, jurors heard a recording in which Jackson -- using slow and slurred speech -- talked to Murray about his dream of having a children's hospital.

The prosecution is playing the interview between Murray and the detective to help prove their case that the doctor should be held criminally responsible for reckless medical treatment that they say significantly contributed to Jackson's death.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-07/j...?_s=PM:JUSTICE