Michael Jackson’s Vision Box Set
Instead of a traditional flat packaging cover, Michael Jackson’s Vision comes with a unique multi-frame motion cover that brings the packaging to life right in your hands! The advanced-motion lenticular cover features 18 of the most iconic moves from this collection and brings the whole package to new level of interactivity that represents the forward-thinking creativity of the short films within.
What are your thoughts on this new release?
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Source: CNN.com Posted: 08:40 PM ET
Michael Jackson fans kicked out of court for staring at Dr. Conrad Murray
In Session’s Jean Casarez was in court at the time and witnessed the incident. Casarez says that during a status hearing Wednesday afternoon some Michael Jackson fans stared so intensely at Dr. Murray it prompted the court deputy to remove all the spectators from court. The only people left in the gallery were members of the media.
Despite this distraction Judge Michael Pastor managed to get some work done. Jury selection was briefly touched upon in open court. Prosecutor David Walgren told Judge Pastor that there are a fair number of jurors that both the state and defense agree upon. Judge Pastor took the attorneys back to his chambers to discuss jury selection in greater detail, outside the presence of the media.
Before leaving for his chambers, Judge Pastor deferred his ruling on the admissibility of a study from Chile that shows oral ingestion may not kill. Judge Pastor also deferred his decision of the admissibility of “This Is It” press conference video. There will be another hearing to discuss issues with jury selection tomorrow at 4 PM ET.
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Jury To Be Selected for Trial of Michael Jackson’s Doctor
LOS ANGELES — If, as is often said, trials are won or lost in the selection of jurors, the fate of Michael Jackson’s doctor might be sealed today when a pool of prospective jurors is narrowed to a dozen.
That jury is expected to spend about five weeks hearing testimony about the music icon’s final days and the culpability of Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s $150,000-a-month personal physician who gave him the surgical anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.
The approximately 145 potential jurors are already well-known to both sides, thanks to what the judge in the case has called “the most complete questionnaire ever” — 32 pages of questions about their background, job history, views of Jackson and exposure to the media coverage of his 2009 overdose. In an initial screening earlier this month, every potential juror said they had some knowledge of the involuntary manslaughter case against Murray.
Because the questionnaire is so thorough, Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor has said he will allow attorneys only half the normally allotted time to question the would-be jurors as a group in court.
With less than a minute per potential juror, lawyers are likely to have decided beforehand “whether they want to keep them or get rid of them,” said Richard Hirschorn, a veteran Texas jury consultant.
Murray’s defense lawyers retained an unidentified jury consultant to help evaluate the questionnaires. The prosecutor’s office has used such consultants in the past but elected not to this time.
“It’s very lean times for public prosecutors’ offices,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.
In evaluating the questionnaires, experts said, both sides are likely to home in on the questions they care about most. Hirschorn said prosecutors might focus on what jurors wrote about their experiences with doctors and prescription drugs. Particularly revealing, he said, was the question, “Has a physician ever refused to prescribe a medication that you specifically requested?”
“That’s the prosecution case in one sentence — Murray should have said no” to his famous patient, Hirschorn said. People who have been turned down by doctors may be more critical of Murray’s acquiescence: “I’m putting them on the jury 99 out of 100 times,” he said.
Questions about how closely they followed other high-profile legal cases, including the recent Casey Anthony murder trial in Florida, might draw close scrutiny also, said Richard Gabriel, a jury consultant who worked for music producer Phil Spector’s murder defense. He said jurors interested in true crime stories covered obsessively by such cable news hosts as Nancy Grace “tend to be pretty pro-prosecution.”
Justice, on such programs, “has become code for conviction,” he said.
Attorneys might also zero in on potential jurors’ experiences with drug and alcohol addiction, the subject of three questions. Hirschorn said people who have dealt with substance abuse would probably be more open to Murray’s claim that Jackson begged for propofol and gave himself the fatal dose.
“If they know somebody who has been addicted, then they know that person will do whatever they have to to get drugs,” Hirschorn said.
Legal teams typically rank jurors from one to five based on their answers and information turned up by Internet or public searches. In court Friday, experts said, both sides are likely to focus on the jurors they rank as ones — the worst for their case.
“It’s not a matter of picking the people you want. It’s really a de-selection process: getting rid of the worst of the worst and hoping the ones that are left can be fair,” said Hirschorn, who worked for the defense in the William Kennedy Smith rape trial in the early 1990s.
Both sides can excuse 10 potential jurors without giving a reason. Additionally, they can ask the judge to remove anyone who shows bias.
But Howard Varinsky, the jury consultant for prosecutors in the trials of Scott Peterson and Martha Stewart, said the short time for questioning jurors in Murray’s case will probably hurt lawyers’ attempts to tease out bias.
“It usually takes about five, six … minutes” of questioning, Varinsky said. “When you’ve got one minute, you can’t do it. You’re handcuffed.”
The limited time also constrains follow-up questions, such as in the case of jurors who check a box identifying themselves as Jackson fans, Gabriel said.
“You don’t know if that means ‘I’ve seen every concert and own every album’ or ‘I just really liked “Thriller,”‘” he said.
Times staff writer Victoria Kim contributed to this report.
http://www.ydr.com/ci_18958414
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Jury Breakdown
Source: The Michael Jackson Fan Club
(24-9-2011) Now that the jury has been set more information is coming to light about the 12 men and women chosen to hear the case against Dr. Conrad Murray. It was initially reported that there were no African Americans on the panel, however the AP is reporting that one male is indeed African American. The breakdown of jurors follows:
Male, 51, Hispanic
A mail carrier who occasionally watches “Law & Order,” he stated he did not think the justice system treats the famous or wealthy differently from others.
Female, 57, Hispanic
An unemployed former accounting manager who watched parts of the O.J. Simpson case, she indicated she has never bought a Jackson CD.
Male, 45, white
A management consultant who has served on two previous juries, he indicated he was not a Jackson fan but watched the singer’s concert film “This is It” because “I was curious.”
Male, 32, white
A bookseller who said he’d read about the case primarily in headlines. He watched part of the Simpson trial on TV and was a Jackson fan when he was a child.
Female, 48, white
A paralegal who watched portions of the Casey Anthony trial, she stated she thought the justice system treated celebrities differently because “the court system is so over-burdened that they could not handle the security needed if a celebrity were in jail.”
Male, 39, white
A technology worker who indicated he occasionally reads celebrity websites, he considers himself a Jackson fan and owns several CDs by the singer and his family.
Female, 54, Hispanic
An office management worker who occasionally watched the Anthony trial, she indicated she was a Jackson fan when she was younger, but not anymore.
Male, 42, Hispanic
A school bus driver who gets most of his news from the radio, he has never bought any Jackson music.
Male, 54, African American
A technical director in the entertainment industry, he indicated he had watched parts of several celebrity trials and came to the conclusion, “The system isn’t as black and white as it seems, but it works based on the law.”
Female, 43, white
A British-born marketing executive and new U.S. citizen, she indicated she had mostly read stories about Jackson’s children in magazines and viewed jury service as a “privilege and my civic duty to do the right thing.”
Female, 36, Hispanic
A customer service representative who watched portions of the Anthony trial, she also considered herself a Jackson fan.
Male, 54, white
A college professor and former animator, he considers Jackson a “gifted performer” and indicated he knew about Murray and how the singer died.
Source: MJFC / myfoxla.com / AP
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Michael Jackson Press Conference Video Banned From Manslaughter Trial
Source: ABC News.com
Jurors in the manslaughter trial of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s doctor, will not be allowed to watch video of the king of pop announcing his comeback tour three months before he died, a judge ruled today.
Opening statements in the case will begin Tuesday. Attorneys for the prosecution and defense met today with Superior Court Judge Judge Michael Pastor to discuss pending motions before the trial gets underway.
Murray’s lawyers unsuccessfully lobbied to use video of a news conference given by Jackson in March 2009 to announce his “This Is It” comeback tour as evidence in the case. Attorney Nareg Gourjian argued that the video showed Jackson under a lot of pressure and hung over. The defense claimed that the news conference had to be delayed by 90 minutes because Jackson could not pull himself off a couch.
The defense had hoped to use the video to argue that Jackson wasn’t physically fit and that he’d agreed to 10 shows, not 50. Judge Pastor said the tape wasn’t relevant to Jackson’s death. Jackson was found in cardiac arrest June 25, 2009, after overdosing on the powerful anesthetic propofol.
Pastor also denied a motion by the prosecution to enter evidence that law enforcement tried four times to set up a follow-up interview with Murray. The prosecution will likely argue that Murray was uncooperative with investigators.
More than two years after Jackson died, Murray’s trial will give jurors and legions of Jackson fans the first chance to hear Murray’s account of how the king of pop died at 50.
Legal experts believe the trial will hinge on testimony about the potent drug, propofol. Jackson, an insomniac who desperately wanted to sleep as he prepared for a grueling 50-night comeback tour, used the powerful drug to get some rest, according to the Associated Press. He called it his “milk.” Murray administered the drug.
The drug is typically administered intravenously in a hospital setting during surgery.
“The defense is going to say there were a lot of doctors that were giving him propofol. This is a doctor who was helping him wean off [the drug],” said Dan Abrams, ABC News’ legal analyst.
Defense lawyers are also expected to argue that Jackson gave himself an extra dose of the drug when Murray left the room after administering a dose on the day he died. A trace amount of propofol, 0.13 milligrams, was found in Jackson’s stomach. Jackson was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, but was declared dead.
“The prosecution is basically going to say that this was entirely reckless conduct, that he should never have been giving Michael Jackson propofol, never should have walked out of the room for as long as he did,” Abrams said.
Legal experts also think that prosecutors will attack Murray for having waited to report to police about Jackson’s use of propofol.
The jury that will hear the case is a diverse group of seven men and five women. The eldest juror is a 57-year-old Hispanic woman who has never bought a Michael Jackson CD. The jurors also include a mailman, a television director and a British-born marketing executive.
Potential jurors were quizzed on how many of them followed high-profile cases such as that of O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony. They were also asked if they were Jackson fans. Half of the chosen jurors consider themselves fans of the king of pop.
Veteran defense attorney and former legal counsel to Jackson himself, Mark Geragos, said that having Jackson fans as jurors could be an advantage to the defense.
“If the defense of this case is that he was trying to wean Michael Jackson off of these drugs, if that’s the road they’re going down, then they may want Michael Jackson fans,” Geragos said.
Five of the jurors said they believed that celebrities get special treatment by the judicial system, which could play in the prosecution’s favor, legal analyst Abrams said.
“I’d be very worried about that because those are the types of jurors … that tend to say the system doesn’t work. ? That’s a lot of people who are going to know how the legal system works and already have a firm opinion about it,” Abrams said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Michael Jackson Death: Summing Up The First Week Of The Conrad Murray Trial
Source: Huffington Post – By LINDA DEUTSCH
LOS ANGELES — The first week of the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor has had all the trappings of other courtroom spectacles involving the King of Pop: Dozens of sign-toting fans, TV crews, Jackson lookalikes and the familiar faces of the Jackson family enduring yet another public crucible.
Inside the courtroom, jurors heard intimate, riveting details of the pop superstar’s life, including recordings of his drug-slurred voice, his hopes for a major comeback tour, even his love of spinach cobb salad with organic turkey breast.
But jurors have been reminded regularly that someone else is on trial here. And despite all the courtroom drama, the involuntary manslaughter case against Dr. Conrad Murray is relatively straight-forward. To win a conviction, prosecutors must simply prove that Murray acted with gross negligence as Jackson’s personal physician in the days and hours before his death.
Murray, 58, a Houston cardiologist, sat silently as prosecutors called witnesses who said he never told them to call 911 after Jackson was found unconscious in the bedroom of his rented Los Angeles mansion. They suggested Murray could have instructed security guards, a chef and Jackson’s personal assistant to make the crucial call, but he didn’t.
One security guard said Murray delayed the call while telling him to bag vials of medicine.
In the eyes of prosecutors, Murray did nearly everything wrong and even abandoned the singer in his hour of extreme need when he left his bedside to make a phone call. Defense attorneys are aggressively challenging such claims.
Attorney Adam Braun, who briefly represented a doctor charged with overprescribing drugs to Anna Nicole Smith, said the first requirement for prosecutors is to prove the cause of Jackson’s death.
A coroner’s report said he died on June 25, 2009, of acute intoxication from the powerful anesthetic propofol, with the presence of sedatives known as benzodiazepines.
Prosecutors “have to show it was reckless both to prescribe and administer propofol and to leave it next to the bed,” Braun said.
Thus far, prosecutors have focused their evidence on alleged serious acts of omission by Murray. Witnesses said he delayed asking others to make the 911 call; failed to have the proper lifesaving equipment on hand; and didn’t tell paramedics that he had given Jackson propofol.
Central to their case is Murray’s decision to provide the star with propofol, the drug Jackson called his “milk,” delivering it in a cozy home bedroom rather than a hospital room where it is meant to be given with an anesthesiologist on hand and life-saving equipment such as a CPR machine available for any emergencies.
In pictures shown to jurors, there are fluffy pillows and a thick down comforter on Jackson’s bed, but no CPR machine or oxygen monitoring equipment. A lawyer for the producer of Jackson’s ill-fated “This Is It’ concert said the doctor had ordered a CPR machine to be provided when they arrived for the shows in London but not before.
In his opening statement, prosecutor David Walgren said Murray told police he gave Jackson a small amount of propofol on the day he died and provided doses every night for about six weeks before that as a sleep aid.
Defense attorney Ed Chernoff countered that Jackson did not die because Murray gave him propofol; he died because he stopped giving it to him. Murray was actually trying to wean him from the drug when Jackson downed a fatal dose while Murray was out of the room, the lawyer said.
With no one present in the room when that would have occurred, lawyers will be asking jurors to infer it from circumstantial evidence.
Prosecutors also presented evidence that Murray denied important information to paramedics who arrived at the house. Paramedic Richard Senneff testified Friday that Murray didn’t reveal he had given the singer propofol that morning, saying only that he had given Jackson the sedative lorazepam.
Prosecutors claim all those circumstances indicate that Murray’s standard of medical care was below the level that would have been practiced by a reasonable physician.
Murray may be the only person who can tell jurors why he did what he did. But experts say it would be risky for him to testify and open himself up to accusatory questions from the prosecution.
Former federal prosecutor Marcellus McRae, who has been monitoring the trial, said the defense claim that Jackson killed himself is a risky strategy, and calling Murray to the witness stand would be a mistake.
“Dr. Murray doesn’t have to prove he’s innocent,” McRae said. “If you take the stand, the impression is you’re worried. You have some explaining to do. You only do that when you have to.”
The one thing neither Murray nor his attorneys can address is the constant presence in court of the famous Jackson family and the message sent by their presence.
McRae said much of the drama swirling in the courtroom may not determine a verdict. But the presence of the Jackson family is a powerful factor.
“I don’t think people compartmentalize the emotional and the rational,” said McRae. “When you see that a person had a family and that family is in the courtroom, the basic instinct is to want there to be some responsibility.”
He also notes the need for a sense of immediacy since Jackson died over two years ago.
“There’s a linkage for people to see the wreckage caused by his death and the sense of devastation,” he said. “All these people living and breathing in the courtroom makes it immediate.”
Jackson’s mother, Katherine, his father, Joe, and up to six of their famous children have been present daily.
Jurors have also seen a large photo of Michael Jackson’s three children taken at his memorial. They have heard about his daughter crying out, “Daddy,” when she saw him dying.
And during that poignant testimony, they have seen his mother’s tears.
Murray has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/01/michael-jackson-death-sum_n_990609.html
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Judge Issues Gag Order in Jackson Death Trial
Source: Entertainment and Stars
The judge in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor issued a sharply worded gag order for attorneys on Friday and ordered one of them to return for a possible contempt hearing after he appeared on a TV show telling details about the case.
Judge Michael Pastor’s order came at midday on Friday, the fourth day of the widely watched trial in which prosecutors are trying to prove Dr. Conrad Murray was responsible for the drug overdose that caused the pop star’s death on June 25, 2009.
Prosecutors brought to the courtroom paramedics who responded to a call for help on that day, as well as other witnesses, to try to prove Murray was negligent in his care and covered up Jackson’s use of the anesthetic propofol, which was the principal cause of Jackson’s death.
But the day’s bombshell came with Pastor’s gag order, which followed an appearance by defense attorney Matthew Alford on NBC’s morning talk show “Today.”
“The attorneys for the parties in this case … are ordered not to comment to anyone outside of their respective teams either directly or indirectly regarding any aspects of this case, whether orally or in writing,” Pastor said in court.
Alford said on “Today” that one witness had changed his testimony several times. He also declared that Jackson was addicted to propofol. That raised the ire of Pastor, who a day earlier instructed attorneys to rein in their comments to the media. On Friday, Pastor told defense attorneys he found the “Today” show appearance “shocking,” according to a court transcript.
Murray’s defense lawyer, Ed Chernoff, argued that even though Alford was part of his law firm, he was not directly a member of Murray’s defense team and was speaking as a private citizen. Pastor did not seem to accept that argument and ordered Alford to return to his court for a later hearing on possible contempt proceedings.
Also in Friday’s testimony, paramedics who rushed to the singer’s bedside told jurors they were initially optimistic he might live because they arrived within five minutes of being called. But they soon saw Jackson was unresponsive.
“I knew that we got there very, very quickly. It meant we’d have a good chance of restarting the heart if that was the issue,” said paramedic Richard Senneff.
COLD SKIN, DEAD EYES
But Senneff said he quickly realized Jackson had been down for more than five minutes. “His skin was very cool to the touch,” Senneff said. “When I took a first glance at him, his eyes, they were open and his pupils were dilated. When I hooked up the EKG machine, it was flatlined.”
Murray admits administering propofol but denies involuntary manslaughter. His lawyers have argued that Jackson caused his own death by giving himself an extra dose of propofol, mixed with prescription sedatives, without Murray’s knowledge.
In trying to prove Murray’s negligence, prosecutors have spent much of this first week creating a timeline between when Jackson stopped breathing and Murray called for help. During those precious minutes, prosecutors claim Murray was trying to cover up evidence of Jackson’s use of the anesthetic propofol, which ultimately caused the singer’s death.
The first call for help was received at 12:22 p.m., paramedics arrived at 12:26 p.m. and made it to Jackson’s bedroom a minute later, working feverishly to revive Jackson.
Senneff testified he was on the phone with doctors at a nearby hospital and they recommended at 12:57 p.m. that Jackson be declared dead. Murray demanded that Jackson be taken to the hospital for further treatment.
The singer was pronounced dead later that day at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angles.
Jurors earlier heard a voicemail Murray left for one of his heart patients at 11:49 a.m. the day of Jackson’s death — seven minutes before he is believed to have found the singer unresponsive in his bedroom.
Prosecutors seek to prove Murray failed to monitor Jackson properly after giving him a dose of propofol. They claim that instead of watching Jackson in the singer’s bedroom, Murray was busy on his cell phone before discovering around 11:56 a.m. that the “Thriller” singer had stopped breathing.
Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/223395/20111003/judge-issues-gag-order-in-jackson-death-trial.htm
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Conrad Murray Trial In 2nd Week
LINDA DEUTSCH – Huffington Post
LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson was clinically dead when he arrived at a hospital and two emergency room doctors said they thought it was futile to attempt to revive him. His doctor, however, insisted that they try.
Both doctors, testifying at Dr. Conrad Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial Monday, said Murray failed to tell them that he had been giving Jackson the anesthetic propofol or when Jackson had been medicated or stopped breathing.
“He said he did not have any concept of time, that he did not have a watch,” said Dr. Thao Nguyen, a cardiologist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where Jackson was taken on June 25, 2009.
“Dr. Murray asked that we not give up easily and try to save Michael Jackson’s life,” she said. “…In Dr. Murray’s mind, if we called it quits, we would be giving up easily.”
Nguyen said Murray “sounded desperate and he looked devastated.” But, she said, without knowing how much time had passed since he stopped breathing, resuscitation was a remote hope.
“It was not too little too late,” she said. “It was a case of too late. I feared that time was not on Mr. Jackson’s side.”
Murray, 58, has pleaded not guilty. Authorities say Murray administered the fatal dose and acted recklessly by providing Jackson the drug as a sleep aid at his home when it is supposed to be administered in a hospital. The defense argues that Jackson gave himself an additional dose of the drug when Murray was out of the room.
Nguyen and Dr. Richelle Cooper, who oversaw Jackson’s care in the emergency room, said Murray never mentioned that he had given the singer the propofol. They said he told them that he had given two doses of lorazepam, also known as Ativan, trying to get him to sleep.
“Did he ever mention propofol to you?” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren asked Nguyen.
“Absolutely not,” she said in a firm voice.
Before leaving the stand, Nguyen said, “I’ve never heard of propofol being used outside of a hospital.”
She said at least three medical personnel, including an anesthesiologist, should be present when the drug is given. Walgren asked her: “Have you ever heard of propofol being used in someone’s private bedroom?”
Nguyen replied: “That would be a first. I’ve never heard of it.”
In cross-examination, defense attorney Michael Flanagan was able to get Cooper to say that, even if they had known about the propofol, they could not have saved Jackson’s life.
“Michael Jackson had died long before he became my patient,” she said. “It is unlikely with that information I could have done something that would have changed the outcome.”
She also said that the amount of propofol which Murray has since claimed he gave Jackson would not have put him to sleep and would have dissipated from his body in five to seven minutes.
Murray claimed he administered 25 milligrams. An autopsy showed that he died of an overdose of the drug.
Cooper said Jackson was “clinically dead” by the time he reached the hospital and she had advocated pronouncing him dead at his home when she received radio calls from paramedics describing his condition.
“Mr. Jackson was my patient and I didn’t really have an explanation of why he was dead. I knew it would be a coroner’s case,” she said and suggested he should have been pronounced dead at 12:57 p.m. when the radio call came in.
But she yielded to Murray and Jackson was brought to the emergency room where more than 14 people worked on the effort to revive him.
“My assessment when he arrived was he was clinically dead and given the time – it was about an hour – I thought the attempt at rescue would be futile,” Cooper said. She has said more than an hour of resuscitation efforts at the hospital did nothing to improve Jackson’s condition.
Cooper also told jurors about trying to speak to Jackson’s children after he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 2:26 p.m. “They were crying,” Cooper said. “They were fairly hysterical.”
Murray’s phone records are a central part of the prosecution case. Two staffers from cell phone providers identified records of his calls on the day of Jackson’s death.
Prosecutors intend to show records of Murray’s phone calls and emails from the hours before Jackson’s death to show that Murray had other things on his mind – getting his $150,000 a month deal to serve as Jackson’s personal physician approved, running his medical practices and fielding calls from mistresses.
One of Murray’s former patients, Las Vegas salesman Robert Russell, detailed one of those calls for jurors last week and the phone traced a call to his number.
Later in the case, prosecutors will further detail calls and messages Murray fielded that day, including several the physician apparently made to his girlfriend as he rode in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/conrad-murray-trial-2nd-week_n_992263.html
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RECAP OF WEEK TWO OF THE TRIAL
by Alexandra Wilder – poPaddicts.COM
Here at PopAddicts.com, we’ve compiled the most important developments and shocking details throughout week 2 for Dr. Conrad Murderer Murray’s Manslaughter case. Check out the details below to get caught up in case you’re behind.
• Drugs found in Michael Jackson’s system revealed in court Thursday. Drugs found in Jackson’s system at time of death: Propofol, diazepam, lidocaine, midazolam, ephedrine and lorazepam. You can read the full toxicology report here.
• A close-to-empty 20 milligram bottle of propofol was found on the floor of Jackson’s bedroom. Also found was an empty bottle of flumazenil, which is a momentous find, because the drug is used to reverse the effects of lorazepam, which was found in Jackson’s body at the time of death. This is being used as leverage in order to show Dr. Murray may have tried to use the flumazenil to save Jackson’s life on the night he died.
• Murray’s were the only fingerprints found on the used bottle of propofol, which was used on Jackson the day he died, putting a dent in the defense’s accusation that Michael Jackson ingested or injected the dose of propofol in his system that turned out to be a lethal dose.
• A recording of Jackson was played in court, which was retrieved from Dr. Murray’s iPhone. Even in a drug-induced state, Jackson’s ramblings were only about his love and care for children, his desire to build “Michael Jackson Children’s Hospital,” and how he was certain after his series of concerts at the O2 Arena were finished, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Michael Jackson was the greatest performer who ever lived. (If it were up to me, I believe those in charge of Michael’s estate should build Michael Jackson’s Children’s Hospital in his honor. It was one of his final requests, after all.)
• The defense did break down the LA County Coroner’s office investigator Elissa Fleak, stating, “My work wasn’t ‘perfect.’” She also claimed to have found a small pharmacy’s worth of medication in Jackson’s room.
• Cardiologist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Dr. Thao Nguyen, testifies that Murray never mentioned giving Jackson propofol, and that he had “never heard of propofol being used outside of a hospital.” Nguyen also stated that by the time Jackson arrived, there was no chance of resuscitation, “it was not too little too late; it was a case of too late. I feared that time was not on Mr. Jackson’s side.” The defense attorney did get Dr. Cooper to say that even if they had knowledge of the propofol in Jackson’s system, there was nothing they could have done to save him, “Michael Jackson died long before he became my patient”…which doesn’t take away from the fact that Murray administered a drug he was not licensed to do, inside of a residence, which is unheard of.
• A small flock of Dr. Murray girlfriends and baby mamas also took the stand this week. Baby mama to child number 7, Nicole Alvarez told the court that she had received packages of Murray’s at their shared apartment, presumably containing vials of propofol that were later taken to Jackson’s residence. An ex-girlfriend also testified that she wasn’t able to talk to Murray on the 25th after calling him.
• Dr. Murray’s two hour interview with the police was released. In it, Murray claims he was only away from Jackson for two minutes for a bathroom break, while Murray’s girlfriend says she was on the phone with him for an extended period of time and then dropped the phone in a state of emergency. Murray admits Jackson was “was unable to sleep naturally,” and that he have him propofol drug daily, but tried to ween the icon off the drug.
• Also during the interview, Dr. Murray admits to giving MJ a multitude of drugs on June 25th including Valium and Lorazepam. Other details from the two hour police interview include Murray saying Joe Jackson didn’t come to the hospital, that Jackson told him “I have to sleep, Dr. Conrad, I have these rehearsals to perform,” and why he left the hospital at 4:30 p.m.
http://popaddicts.com/conrad-murray-trial-week-two-recap/
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What To Expect This Week (Week Three) on The Conrad Murray Trial – October 10, 2011 CNN.com
After a break for the Columbus Day holiday, Dr. Conrad Murray’s manslaughter trial will resume on Tuesday at 11:45 ET/8:45 PT, when the rest of Dr. Murray’s audio-taped statement to police will be played for the jury. There is an estimated 45 minutes of audio left.
Some of the key moments yet to be heard by jurors:
–Dr. Murray tells detectives that Joe Jackson never showed up at the hospital with the rest of grieving Jacksons the day MJ died.
–Dr. Murray says that he met with Katherine Jackson moments after she heard MJ had died. He says he told her that he didn’t know what killed him.
–Dr. Murray explains why security cameras caught him leaving the hospital at 4:30PM on the day Jackson died.
Dr. Christopher Rogers, the pathologist who performed Michael Jackson’s autopsy, is expected to testify on Tuesday. Dr. Rogers is likely to address crucial questions regarding the cause of death and manner of death. In the coroner’s report, Dr. Rogers ruled that the cause of death was acute propofol intoxication and the manner of death was homicide.
Later this week the state is also expected to call to the stand an anesthesiologist who will list all of the standards Murray violated when he shot up MJ with propofol. During cross-examinations of these witnesses, expect the defense is expected to push their theory that there was too much lorazepam and propofol in Jackson’s stomach to have been administered by I.V.
The state could rest by the end of the week. The defense is expected to present its case over a few days, then the prosecution is expected to present a rebuttal case which could include a pharmacologist or drug expert who could testify about metabolism and rate of absorption.
Click here for the full transcript of the interview LAPD Detectives conducted with Dr. Conrad Murray two days after Michael Jackson died. You can read the part of the interview the jury hasn’t heard yet.
http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/10/what-to-expect-this-week-in-the-mj-manslaughter-trial/
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“Conrad Murray’s lawyers drop claim Michael Jackson swallowed lethal propofol dose”
October 12, 2011 - Associated Press – Palm Beach Post
An attorney for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson’s death on Wednesday dropped the defense claim that the superstar swallowed a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol while the physician wasn’t looking.
The defense claim had been a key tactic in the case of Dr. Conrad Murray.
Attorney J. Michael Flanagan told the judge that he had commissioned a study about the effects of propofol if swallowed. Flanagan said the studies showed that any effect from swallowing propofol would be “trivial.”
“We are not going to assert at any time during this trial that Michael Jackson orally administered propofol,” Flanagan said.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren and Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor appeared surprised by the disclosure, which was not made in front of jurors.
Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff said during opening statements on Sept. 27 that his team would try to show that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Defense drops claim on Jackson OD – Dr. Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty
Updated: Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011, 4:32 PM EDT Published : Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011, 12:31 PM EDT
Source : wtnh.com – By Anthony McCartney, AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The defense for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson’s death surprised prosecutors and a judge on Wednesday, dropping a key claim that the singer swallowed a fatal dose of an anesthetic while the physician wasn’t looking.
Dr. Conrad Murray’s attorneys have for months suggested that Jackson could have swallowed propofol, which is normally given through an IV drop in hospital settings.
They told jurors in opening statements that they would present a theory that Jackson swallowed several pills of the sedative lorazepam and somehow self-administered the propofol — killing the singer before he had a chance to close his eyes.
On Wednesday, without jurors in the courtroom, attorney J. Michael Flanagan said he commissioned a study about the effects of propofol if swallowed, mainly to counter one by a key prosecution expert that it would have been negligible.
Flanagan said the defense study confirmed that the effect would be “trivial.” ”We are not going to assert at any time during this trial that Michael Jackson orally administered propofol,” Flanagan said.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren and Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor appeared surprised by the disclosure. It was unclear, however, if the defense planned to argue that Jackson might have injected himself with the fatal dose.
In recent days, Flanagan has focused his questions toward prosecution witnesses on the effect that lorazepam might have had on Jackson. Lorazepam was detected in Jackson’s stomach contents after he died.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors are in the final stages of their case against Murray, with three expert witnesses set to testify about their impressions of Murray’s actions in the days and hours before Jackson’s death and his efforts to revive him.
On Wednesday, Walgren called Dr. Alon Steinberg, a cardiologist who told jurors that Murray displayed gross negligence and repeatedly violated the standard of care.
He said Murray lacked the propofol monitoring or life-saving equipment when he was giving Jackson the anesthetic and other sedatives as a sleep aid. Steinberg said Murray should have never given Jackson the anesthetic outside a hospital setting, and criticized his attempts to resuscitate Jackson.
Steinberg said he based his testimony on statements Murray made to police about the dosages of propofol and other sedatives that he gave Jackson, and that the doctor had left the room for only two minutes before finding the singer unresponsive. He said based on Murray’s characterization, Jackson could have been saved if the proper equipment were present and proper life-saving techniques were employed.
Asked by Flanagan whether his opinion would change if it was revealed that Murray had been out of the room for longer than two minutes, or had been on the phone while Jackson slept, Steinberg said no.
“He shouldn’t have been on the phone,” Steinberg said. “You can’t talk on the phone. “
Authorities say Murray gave Jackson the fatal dose in June 2009. A medical examiner told jurors Tuesday that it was unreasonable to believe that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol when Murray left the room for only two minutes.
Dr. Christopher Rogers, who conducted the autopsy on Jackson, testified it was more likely that Murray overdosed the singer when he incorrectly estimated how much of the drug he was giving Jackson to induce sleep to fight insomnia. He said Murray had no precision dosing device available in the bedroom of Jackson’s rented mansion.
“The circumstances, from my point of view, do not support self-administration of propofol,” said Rogers, chief of forensic medicine in the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
Murray told police he gave Jackson only 25 milligrams of the drug, a very small dose that usually would have kept him asleep for no more than five minutes.
Flanagan spent more than two hours Tuesday trying to show on cross-examination that Jackson indeed could have self-administered drugs — not just propofol but the sedative lorazepam, which could be taken in pill form.
Flanagan suggested to the witness that once Murray had started an IV drip of propofol for Jackson and left the room, “it would be easy for someone to inject into that IV?”
“Yes,” Rogers replied.
“But if they pushed it all at once, that can stop your heart, can’t it?” the lawyer asked.
“Yes,” said Rogers.
The implication was that if Jackson was desperate for sleep and in a hurry to administer more propofol before his doctor returned, he might have given himself a fatal dose.
But Rogers noted that investigators don’t really know what happened when Murray left the room, so they were left to consider what is reasonable.
AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.
Cardiology Expert Dr. Alon Steinberg Testifies in Jackson Doc Case
Source: CBS News – By Crimesider Staff
(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - Prosecutors called a cardiologist as an expert to testify against the doctor charged in Michael Jackson’s death.
Pictures: Who’s who in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray
Pictures: Michael Jackson’s Doctor Trial
Video: Dr. Conrad Murray manslaughter trial begins
They called Dr. Alon Steinberg to explain to jurors the role of a cardiologist and explain how Dr. Conrad Murray’s treatment of Jackson deviated from general standards.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Authorities contend he gave Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol, but Murray’s attorneys claim Jackson gave himself the fatal dose.
Steinberg is one of three expert witnesses who are expected to wind down the prosecution’s case against Murray, who faces four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if convicted.
Steinberg told jurors he is not an expert in anesthesiology, sleep treatment or addiction.
Complete coverage of the Conrad Murray – Michael Jackson case on CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20119284-504083.html
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Murray Didn’t Comfort Kids In ER, Family Says
Prosecutors Near Conclusion To Direct Presentation
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Jackson Doctor’s Defense Looms In Trial’s Week 4
Source: IBN Live
Los Angeles: The trial of Michael Jackson’s personal physician will enter a new phase this week, with the doctor’s attorneys trying to counter three weeks of damaging testimony and attempting to show that the singer somehow caused his own death. Lawyers for Dr Conrad Murray have told jurors that the involuntary manslaughter case will hinge on the science of what killed Jackson in June 2009. They will call their own experts to counter prosecution witnesses who have repeatedly told the panel that Murray was reckless and beyond the fringes of medicine when he administered the anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep.
It was not clear when the defense would get to start its presentation. Monday’s testimony was canceled because the government’s final witness, Dr Steven Shafer, will be unavailable. Court spokeswoman Mary Hearn said on Sunday the the trial’s resumption would be announced when more information becomes available.
The Houston-based cardiologist has pleaded not guilty and his attorneys continue to maintain that Jackson somehow gave himself the fatal dose of medication. They have abandoned the theory that Jackson died after swallowing propofol, but now contend he was killed after taking several pills of the sedative lorazepam and possibly giving himself a shot of propofol after Murray left the singer’s bedroom.
Los Angeles: The trial of Michael Jackson’s personal physician will enter a new phase this week, with the doctor’s attorneys trying to counter three weeks of damaging testimony and attempting to show that the singer somehow caused his own death. Lawyers for Dr Conrad Murray have told jurors that the involuntary manslaughter case will hinge on the science of what killed Jackson in June 2009. They will call their own experts to counter prosecution witnesses who have repeatedly told the panel that Murray was reckless and beyond the fringes of medicine when he administered the anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep.
It was not clear when the defense would get to start its presentation. Monday’s testimony was canceled because the government’s final witness, Dr Steven Shafer, will be unavailable. Court spokeswoman Mary Hearn said on Sunday the the trial’s resumption would be announced when more information becomes available.
The Houston-based cardiologist has pleaded not guilty and his attorneys continue to maintain that Jackson somehow gave himself the fatal dose of medication. They have abandoned the theory that Jackson died after swallowing propofol, but now contend he was killed after taking several pills of the sedative lorazepam and possibly giving himself a shot of propofol after Murray left the singer’s bedroom. Dr Murray pleaded not guilty in the murder of pop sensation Michael Jackson.
Defense attorney Nareg Gourjian declined to say on Friday who Murray’s team would call to testify, but told the judge they would include police officers, experts and some character witnesses. He was not asked, nor did he mention, whether Murray would testify in his own defense.
It seems unlikely that Murray will testify. Jurors have already heard his more-than-two-hour interview in which he laid out his version of events before Jackson’s death to a detective who acknowledges he wasn’t conducting an interrogation.
If Murray takes the stand, he would undoubtedly be asked by prosecutors about several unanswered questions, such as why he never told paramedics or ER doctors about giving Jackson propofol, why he never told police he was on the phone for long stretches of the morning Jackson died, and why he recorded the singer when he was impaired, stumbling his way through his plans for a children’s hospital and cementing a legacy larger than those attained by Elvis Presley or The Beatles.
In his opening statement to jurors, lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff said Murray’s team would try to answer two fundamental questions:
“First, how did Michael Jackson get to this point, this desperate point,” Chernoff said. “And second, what happened when Dr Murray was out of the room?”
Prosecution witnesses have acknowledged that only Jackson and Murray know what really happened, but two medical experts testified last week that Murray was grossly negligent. Even if Jackson somehow was able to give himself medication after Murray left the room, the doctor should have been closely monitoring the singer and should have never left any medications within arms’ reach, the doctors said.
Ellyn Garofalo, who last year won an acquittal for one of Anna Nicole Smith’s doctors charged with improperly prescribing pain medications, said Murray’s team should focus on their expert testimony and not start calling character witnesses.
“If they start to call character witnesses, they don’t have a great deal of faith in their defense,” she said.
She said the experts should be able to show that the case isn’t as simple as prosecutors have claimed, and that it is filled with “all kinds of shades of gray.”
Murray’s attorneys should also try to argue that prosecutors should not be second-guessing medical decisions. “Do we really want the DA’s office making medical decisions for doctors,” she asked.
Murray’s case, she noted, differs in one major respect from the case against her client, who was never accused of causing Smith’s death.
Garofalo said Murray’s case will be harder to win, and prosecutors so far have done a solid job of showing that the doctor shouldn’t have been giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid in the superstar’s bedroom.
“It’s a strong case because you have somebody dead after somebody did something that is unheard of,” Garofalo said.
Murray’s defense strategy also appears to involve calling hostile witnesses, including police officers who prosecutors did not call during their case. The defense scored some points early in the trial by getting a coroner’s investigator to acknowledge that she moved some evidence around in Jackson’s bedroom before photographing it and that she didn’t keep all her notes. The officers would likely undergo the similar harsh questioning about their decisions.
They may also call doctors who previously treated Jackson but have never been formally accused of wrongdoing. They are barred from calling one doctor whose name has been repeatedly mentioned during the trial – Jackson’s longtime dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein.
Murray’s team may also call Jackson’s hairdresser, Karen Faye, who they have said will testify that the singer was distraught at the prospect of performing 50 comeback concerts at London’s O2 arena. Such an account would be in contrast with several other witnesses who said Jackson was excited about the concerts and that his three children would see him perform.
The trial, which is entering its fourth week, has moved rapidly, with 33 witnesses so far and both sides presenting more than 250 pieces of evidence. At its current pace, jurors should receive the case next week.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/jackson-doctors-defense-looms-in-trials-week-4/193672-2.html
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Another Trial Delay, Testimony Will Resume On Wednesday
Source: In Session
Judge Michael Pastor granted another delay of the trial for two reasons: The defense has requested a day to review new toxicology evidence of Jackson’s stomach contents recently handed over by the prosecution. The judge also wants to give the state’s final witness, Dr. Steven Shafer, more time to deal with the death of his father. Testimony will now resume Wednesday morning.
There was a hearing held this morning to discuss a schedule update and other issues. After being fined $60 by the judge for being late Friday, prosecutors arrived ahead of schedule by about seven minutes, prompting Defense Attorney Flanagan to exclaim, “You’re early!”
Prosecutor Deborah Brazil pointed to the clock and said, “Maybe we’ll get a credit.”
Dr. Conrad Murray was not present in the courtroom, but he was represented by his full team of defense attorneys.
Judge Pastor asked for an update after receiving word from prosecutors that Dr. Shafer, the State’s, anesthesiologist/pharmacologist, was not available today because his father passed away. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Shafer will be ready to testify tomorrow morning.
The judge told Walgren that he did not intend for this case to add to the stress that Shafer and his family are going through after their loss and asked Walgren if his witness needed more time.
Defense Attorney Ed Chernoff then raised an issue with the court expressing his concern over a new toxicology report they received from prosecutors.
“We don’t know what it means,” Chernoff said.
Chernoff also said he didn’t know enough about the content of the report to properly cross-examine Shafer on the topic.
Walgren said the toxicology report is meant to counter the defense’s claim that Michael Jackson ingested eight lorazepam tablets.
Judge Pastor ruled court will resume at 8:45AM on Wednesday. He also requested the attorneys to meet with him on Tuesday at 1:30PM.
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Video shows ‘safe’ use of drug that killed Michael Jackson
Tune in to HLN for full coverage and analysis of the Conrad Murray trial and watch live, as it happens, on CNN.com/live and CNN’s mobile apps.
Los Angeles (CNN) — Jurors in the trial of Conrad Murray watched a video Wednesday of an actor pretending to suffer cardiac arrest while being given the surgical anesthetic propofol in a hospital, which is what prosecutors contend killed Michael Jackson.
The video, however, showed doctors and nurses successfully reviving the pretend patient using equipment, drugs and staffing Dr. Murray did not have at Jackson’s home when he realized the pop icon was not breathing.
It was played for jurors as anesthesiologist expert Dr. Steven Shafer narrated from the witness stand, explaining step by step how he prepares and administers propofol.
Shafer is crucial to the state’s effort to prove Jackson’s death was caused by the doctor’s gross negligence in using propofol to help the entertainer sleep while he was preparing for his “This Is It” comeback concerts in London.
Murray, on trial for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s 2009 death, has pleaded not guilty.
“It’s a terrifying dramatization of a person experiencing cardiac arrest, complete with visual effects,” defense lawyer Ed Chernoff said in his argument against letting jurors see the video.
While Chernoff argued it was designed to “inflame the jurors’ minds,” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said it was only intended to inform them about the safe methods of administering propofol.
The prosecution contends that Murray’s use of propofol to help Jackson sleep was so reckless that it was criminal and that it significantly contributed to his death.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ordered Walgren to edit several segments from the video, but he allowed much of it to be shown in court, including a demonstration of what happens when a patient experiences cardiac arrest while under propofol.
Walgren spent an extended midmorning break re-editing the video to delete scenes, including those showing the actor-patient suffering an airway obstruction and aspiration problems because the prosecution is not alleging those were involved in Jackson’s death.
Shafer, who is one of the world’s foremost experts on anesthesiology, testified that he is not being paid for his testimony because he did not want people to think money would influence his testimony.
“This is just a Steve Shafer thing,” Shafer said.
He agreed to testify, at no charge, because he feared the publicity surrounding Jackson’s death had harmed “the reputation of physicians,” Shafer said. “I felt a need to help restore confidence that physicians put patients first.”
“As an anesthesiologist seeing sedation given in ways that do not reflect how anesthesiologist’s practice, I wished to present how an anesthesiologist approaches sedation so that patients are not afraid,” he said.
Propofol, which he regularly uses, has been given a bad reputation, he said.
“I am asked every day, ‘Are you going to give me the drug that killed Michael Jackson?’” Shafer said. “This is a fear patients do not need to have.”
Dr. Shafer’s testimony was suspended last Thursday to enable his lawyers to study a new lab test and allow the prosecution’s anesthesiology expert, Steven Shafer, to attend a medical convention. It was delayed again after a death in the expert’s family.
The judge indicated if Shafer’s testimony is completed Wednesday, court would recess the following day to allow the defense to prepare before presenting its case Friday.
Prosecutors are nearing a conclusion to their direct presentation, but rebuttal witnesses could be called next week after the defense rests its case.
Murray faces a maximum sentence of four years if convicted of involuntary manslaughter, but a new California law could mean the doctor would never see the inside of a state prison cell.
The law, intended to reduce state prison overcrowding, provides for most nonviolent offenders with no prior record to be kept in county jails.
A four-year sentence could become two years if Murray is ordered to serve his time in the Los Angeles County jail, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida.
In addition, the Los Angeles jail is under court order to reduce overcrowding, which means many nonviolent, first-time offenders are allowed to serve the bulk of their time under supervised house arrest.
A conviction, however, would likely trigger the revocation of Murray’s medical licenses in California, Texas and Nevada.
The trial, in its fourth week, is expected to conclude with the start of jury deliberations near the end of next week.
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Murray defense cross-examines propofol expert
Los Angeles (CNN) — Dr. Conrad Murray’s defense team challenged the motives and methods of the prosecution’s anesthesiology expert Friday, while the judge threatened to hold the defense propofol expert in contempt for comments he made about the prosecution.
Dr. Steven Shafer, the last prosecution witness, will still be on the witness stand when the trial resumes Monday.
Shafer testified Thursday that the “only scenario” to explain Michael Jackson’s death was that he overdosed on propofol infused through an IV drip set up by Dr. Murray.
Prosecutors argue that Murray’s reckless use of the surgical anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep led to his death, while the defense contends Jackson self-administered the fatal dose, along with sedatives, without Murray knowing.
Shafer, in his testimony Thursday, said the level of propofol in Jackson’s blood taken during his autopsy could not have been from either Murray or Jackson injecting the drug, but only from an IV system that was still flowing when his heart stopped.
Prosecutors, however, opened the door for one scenario in which Jackson, not Murray, could have triggered the overdose.
“Can you rule out the possibility that Michael Jackson manipulated something to cause it to flow?” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren asked Friday.
“That’s a possibility,” Shafer said. But that is assuming Murray set up the drip and left Jackson’s side, he said.
Would Shafer’s opinion that Murray was responsible for Jackson’s death change if he knew Jackson turned the drip on?
“No, if Michael Jackson had reached up, seen the roller clamp and opened it himself, this is a foreseeable consequence of setting up an essentially dangerous way of giving drugs,” Shafer said. “It doesn’t change things at all. It would still be considered abandonment.”
Lead defense lawyer Ed Chernoff decided to conduct Shafer’s cross-examination instead of leaving it to Michael Flanagan, the defense team’s most knowledgeable lawyer about propofol.
Toxicology studies of drugs in Jackson’s blood and computer models Shafer used to analyze how he died were overshadowed Friday when Chernoff focused on the personal and professional rivalry between Shafer and Dr. Paul White, the defense expert.
The experts first met in 1978 when White was an assistant professor at Stanford University and Shafer was a medical student. They became friends and co-authored research papers, but this trial appears to have changed their friendship.
Chernoff accused Shafer of wanting to “shove it down his (White’s) professional throat” in a question stricken from the record by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor.
White was lectured by Judge Pastor about comments about Shafer attributed to him in an online blog.
White admitted Friday that he told a reporter that he had changed his opinion of Shafer after hearing his testimony Thursday. “I was his teacher when he was a medical student,” E! News Online quoted White as saying. “The truth will come out. It always does.”
White denied calling Shafer “a scumbag,” as the website quoted him as saying.
Pastor, who imposed a gag order on all parties in the trial, set a contempt of court hearing for White next month.
“You are not in any way shape or form, to comment on your views regarding the state of the evidence, witnesses or your views as to any counsel in this case,” Pastor said.
Chernoff cross-examined Shafer about the assumptions he used to reconstruct an IV drip system he believed Murray set up next to Jackson’s bed. Shafer demonstrated the system in his testimony Thursday.
Shafer testified that he did not think it was significant that investigators never found a key component of the tubing in the system. “It’s so easy to remove,” Shafer said.
Murray appeared visibly shaken by Shafer’s testimony Thursday, especially when he demonstrated his version of the IV drip.
Jackson died because Murray failed to notice that his patient had stopped breathing while he was hooked up to an IV drip of propofol, Shafer testified. The doctor should have realized Jackson had stopped breathing about 11:45 a.m. on June 25, 2009, he said.
“When you’re there, you see it, you know it,” Shafer said.
Phone records and testimony showed that Murray was on the phone with one of his clinics, a patient, and then a girlfriend about the time that Shafer calculated the oxygen in Jackson’s lungs became depleted, causing his heart to stop beating.
“Had Conrad Murray been with Michael Jackson during this period of time, he would have seen the slowed breathing and the compromise in the flow of air into Michael Jackson’s lungs, and he could have easily turned off the propofol infusion,” Shafer said
Murray, accused of involuntary manslaughter, could have then easily cleared Jackson’s airways and restored his breathing by lifting his chin, he said.
Earlier testimony from paramedics and emergency room doctors said Jackson was clinically dead by the time an ambulance arrived at the pop icon’s Los Angeles home nearly a half-hour after Murray realized there was a problem.
The last three prosecution experts, all medical experts, focused the Murray trial on the science surrounding Jackson’s death, a contrast to earlier testimony from Murray’s girlfriends and Jackson employees.
Shafer demonstrated how he believed Murray set up the propofol infusion by hanging a 100-milliliter vial from a stand with tubing attached that would have led to a catheter port in Jackson’s left leg.
“This is the only scenario that I could generate” that would produce the high level of propofol found in Jackson’s blood during his autopsy, Shafer said.
“This fits all of the data in this case, and I am not aware of any data that is inconsistent with this explanation,” he said.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson’s death was caused by a combination of sedatives with the propofol, which Murray admitted in a police interview that he used to help Jackson sleep.
The defense contends that Jackson swallowed eight lorazepam tablets, a claim based on testing of lorazepam levels in Jackson’s stomach contents. Shafer discredited the defense lab tests, saying a new test showed the equivalent of only “1/43rd of a tablet” of the sedative in the stomach.
The level of lorazepam in Jackson’s blood was far higher than what would be expected based on the dosages Dr. Murray told detectives he gave Jackson in the hours before his death, Shafer said.
Murray said he gave Jackson a total of 4 milligrams of lorazepam in two separate doses starting 10 hours before his death. Toxicology results indicated that Jackson was given 40 milligrams — not four — in a series of 10 doses, he said.
Shafer testified Wednesday that Jackson would be alive now but for 17 “egregious deviations” by Murray from the standard of care required of physicians.
Murray’s use of propofol almost every night for two months to help Jackson sleep was so unusual, there is no documentation on the dangers, Shafer said.
“We are in pharmacological never-neverland here,” Shafer said, “something that’s only been done to Michael Jackson.”
The trial is expected to conclude with the start of jury deliberations possible as soon as the end of next week.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/justice/california-conrad-murray-trial/
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Defense Expert In Trouble
Source: CNN Justice
Defense expert Dr. Paul White could be held in contempt for comments he made on Thursday, which were apparently overheard by members of the public and media. The judge addressed the matter outside of the presence of the jury.
He asked Dr. White if he said, “What a scumbag,” in reference to prosecutor David Walgren. Dr. White denied making the comment.
He recalled expressing his disapproval over the way Walgren had handled a propofol bottle. He said he made a comment to Walgren about how he thought he was tampering with evidence.
The judge also asked Dr. White if he said that “Dr .Shafer’s testimony has changed the way I think of him.” Or, “I will take the high road, not the low road. The truth will come out.”
Dr. White tried to explain that he felt that some of the things that have been said about him were unfair. But the judge ignored his attempt to put the comments into context.
“You have no business making those comments either in this courtroom or where they can be overheard,” said Judge Pastor.
The judge also reminded everyone that the attorneys, their staff and witnesses are not allowed to comment on the evidence.
A contempt hearing has been set for Nov 16th.
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Defense: Fact or Fiction, Which Is It Doc?
Source: CNN Justice
In a dramatic fashion, defense attorney Ed Chernoff began his cross-examination of Dr. Steven Shafer by asking him if he understands the difference between opinion and fact.
Chernoff accused Dr. Shafer of not stating a single fact throughout his testimony. But Dr. Shafer shot back, telling Chernoff that he had stated his name and that he believed that was a fact.
The focus of Chernoff’s questioning centered on Dr. Shafer’s IV setup, which he demonstrated in open court Thursday. Dr. Shafer says this is how Dr. Murray hooked Jackson up to a propofol drip on the day he died.
Chernoff suggested that Dr. Shafer’s IV presentation was inaccurate because it didn’t use the same items that were found in Jackson’s bedroom. Shafer agreed some of those items were not the same — like he used a 20cc syringe while Murray said he used a 10cc syringe — but Dr. Shafer says he did not find the differences in the items relevant.
Before the cross-examination began, prosecutor David Walgren finished his direct examination of Dr. Shafer by asking him if Jackson could have woken up and manipulated the IV by himself. Dr. Shafer couldn’t rule out the possibility but says he would still hold Murray responsible if that was the case.
“Even if Michael Jackson did reach the roller clamp and open it, it’s a forseeable consequence of a dangerous way of giving a drug. It’s not exculpatory,” said Dr. Shafer.
http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/21/defense-fact-or-fiction-which-is-it-doc/#more-14177
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Drug expert Steven Shafer tells jurors that mathematical models show the doctor gave Jackson 40 times more of the drug than he admitted.
Dr. Steven Shafer, an anesthesiologist, sets up a demonstration intravenous drip of propofol to show jurors on Thursday. (Reed Saxon / Pool photo / October 20, 2011)
October 21, 2011
Michael Jackson’s personal physician probably gave his patient 40 times more surgical anesthetic than he admitted to police, a drug expert testified Thursday.
Janet Jackson Reschedules Shows To Be With Family
AP Photo – In this Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011, photo, American singer Janet Jackson, performs at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Janet Jackson announced Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, that she is rescheduling part of her Australian tour so she can support her family during the trial of her brother Michael’s doctor. Dr. Conrad Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s 2009 death.NEW YORK — Janet Jackson is rescheduling part of her Australian tour so she can support her family during the trial of the doctor accused of involuntary manslaughter in her brother Michael’s death.
Dr. Conrad Murray is on trial in Los Angeles. He is accused of being negligent in his care of the superstar, who died in 2009 of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at age 50.
The prosecution is wrapping up its case this week, and the defense is about to present its case. The Jacksons have been a regular presence at the trial; Janet Jackson was there at the beginning.
“When I planned these shows, the schedule in California was completely different,” she said in a Sunday statement to The Associated Press. “After talking with my family last night, I decided we must be together right now. …. This saddens me in so many ways.”
The shows for her “Number Ones” tour were scheduled in Melbourne on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; to make them up, she’ll perform one night, on Nov. 3, in Rod Laver Arena. She thanked her fans for their support and understanding.
Jackson also has the support of her promoter.
“It is important that Janet is with her family at this critical point in the hearing. While Janet and our company apologize for any inconvenience for the reschedule of the Melbourne shows, we thank Janet for the great and successful concerts in Perth and Adelaide and eagerly await her return. … Our thoughts and prayers are with Janet and the entire Jackson family,” promoter Paul Dainty said.
Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/10/23/1917100/janet-jackson-reschedules-shows.html#ixzz1bhtW0w00
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Dr. Conrad Murray’s Defense Implodes!
By Jen Heger – Radar Legal Editor
As Dr. Conrad Murray‘s defense is about to present its case in the Michael Jackson death trial, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that the embattled cardiologist’s lawyers are fighting with each other!
Ed Chernoff, Dr. Murray’s lead attorney, is from Houston, Texas, and had been staying with another member of the defense team, Michael Flanagan, to save his client money. But he moved out from Flanagan’s posh digs in San Marino, a week and a half ago.
PHOTOS: Key Players In The Trial Of Dr. Conrad Murray
“Ed didn’t like the way Michael was handling the prosecution witnesses. Ed felt that Michael was too abrasive and caustic with his questioning, and that Michael allowed witnesses to clarify points that only helped the prosecution’s case. Things were getting very tense, and he’s moved into a hotel in Santa Monica,” a source close to Dr. Murray tells RadarOnline.com exclusively.
Courtroom onlookers were stunned when Chernoff decided that he was going to be handling the questioning of the DA’s Propofol witness, Dr. Steven Shafer.
“Flanagan had prepared for approximately four months to cross examine Dr. Shafer,” the insider tells RadarOnline.com. “Michael was thoroughly prepared, and ready to attempt to poke holes into what Dr. Shafer had already told the jury on direct examination.
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Inside Michael Jackson’s Mansion On The Day Of His Death
“When Ed told Michael that he would be handling Dr. Shafer, he felt like the rug was pulled out from under him. There is nothing Michael can do about it because Ed is the lead attorney. Michael was specifically brought on board to handle the medicalaspects of the case, along with the witnesses. Ed and Michael are barely talking to each other right now. Michael has essentially been frozen out for the time being.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Judge Michael Pastor ordered Dr. White to appear on November 16, 2011 to determine if he was in contempt of court for calling Deputy District Attorney David Walgren a “scumbag” during a TV interview.
“Chernoff was LIVID that Dr. White made those comments to the press, but his entire case essentially rests with him. Flanagan is still under the assumption that he will be handling questioning of Dr. White, but Ed could very likely commandeer the questioning of him also. Nareg Gourjian, the third lawyer on the team, is just keeping his head down, and staying out of the drama. Nareg will question several of the defense witnesses,” the source states.
Looming over the trial is PETA’s request that a federal investigation be launched after RadarOnline.com reported that the defense had commissioned a study in which Propofol was given to Beagle dogs. Ed Chernoff revealed in court on Friday, that Dr. Paul White had done the testing.
Read PETA’s Complaint To The California Bar
PETA (the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization) filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last Monday alleging “cruel drug toxicity tests on beagles commissioned by the defense team of Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician now on trial for his alleged role in Michael Jackson’s death.
“PETA asserts that if attorneys from Flanagan, Unger, Grover & McCool did commission the tests for the drug Propofol – the toxic effects of which have been extensively studied in dogs and humans – those tests were likely conducted in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act’s prohibition against tests on animals that duplicate previous experiments. PETA has filed a complaint with the State Bar of California as well.”
Read PETA’s Letter To The USDA Demanding A Full Investigation
The prosecution’s final witness, Dr. Steven Shafer, is expected to finish his testimony Monday morning and will then be cross-examined by Chernoff.
It’s anticipated that the defense will call approximately 15 witnesses, and could rest their case by this Friday.
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Dr. Conrad Murray could face up to four years in state prison.
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/10/conrad-murray-defense-team-implodes
Administrator’s Note: Well what can you expect to happen when you are trying to justify defending a guilty man who had no business doing what Murray did! The defense can’t even get their lies straight! If Murray is so right then I dare Flanagan or Chernoff to let him be their doctor the next time they need surgery! Let him put them to sleep at home! I bet they won’t do it! Nothing good will ever come of their efforts to defend Murray!
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Nurse practitioner Cherilyn Lee testified that Michael Jackson asked her to give him propofol to help him sleep. Fighting back tears, Lee said she told Jackson that nobody who cares or has your best interests at heart will give you propofol.
When Jackson first asked Lee for the anesthetic, she says she didn’t know much about it. Lee says she researched propofol and found out pretty quickly that it wasn’t used to treat sleep disorders and it wasn’t safe for use in a home setting.
Lee says she spent the night at Jackson’s house so she could observe his sleep patterns. When Jackson woke up after about three hours of sleep, she says he told her that propofol was the only thing that would get him to sleep right away.
Lee testified that she warned Jackson of the side effects the drugs including:
-Dizziness
-Agitation
-Chills
-Delirium
-Fever
-Memory loss
-Death
Lee said she asked Jackson, “What happens if you don’t wake up?” Jackson replied that he would be OK and only needed a doctor to monitor him. Judge Michael Pastor then gave Lee a moment to compose herself as she was brought to tears.
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Defense To Highlight Positives of Jackson’s Doctor
LOS ANGELES (AP) — After weeks of hearing prosecutors and witnesses cast the physician charged in Michael Jackson‘s death as a bad doctor, defense attorneys will shift the case to some of Dr. Conrad Murray‘s positive traits as the case nears its close.
Murray’s defense team plans to call up to five character witnesses Wednesday who will likely speak about the Houston-based cardiologist’s care and life-saving abilities. The attorneys did not name the witnesses, but they are expected to be Murray’s patients.
The flurry of character witnesses come as defense attorneys wind down their case. They told a judge Tuesday that after the character witnesses, they will only call two experts to try to counter prosecution experts who said Murray acted recklessly by giving the pop star the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.
Defense attorneys could rest their case Thursday. They have already called nine witnesses, including a doctor and nurse practitioner who treated Jackson but refused his requests to help him obtain either an intravenous sleep aid or propofol.
Murray, 58, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He faces up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if convicted.
His attorneys contend Jackson was desperate for sleep and gave himself the fatal dose of propofol when his doctor left the room. They attempted to argue that Jackson would have been indebted to concert promoter AEG Live for nearly $40 million if his shows were canceled, but a judge blocked any mention of the figure to the jury Tuesday.
Instead, jurors heard from two witnesses who knew Jackson and described their interactions with the singer in the months before his death.
Nurse Cherilyn Lee testified about trying to help Jackson gain more energy in early 2009 to prepare for rehearsals for his planned series of comeback concerts. She said the singer complained he couldn’t sleep, and on Easter Sunday asked her to help him obtain Diprivan, a brand name for propofol.
Lee, at times tearful, said she initially didn’t know about the drug. But after asking a doctor about it and reading a reference guide, Lee said she tried to convince Jackson it was too dangerous to use in his bedroom.
“He told me that doctors have told him it was safe,” Lee testified of Jackson’s request for the anesthetic. “I said no doctor is going to do this in your house.”
The singer, however, insisted that he would be safe as long as someone monitored him, she said.
By Murray’s own admission, he left Jackson’s bedside on the morning of his death. When he returned, Jackson was unresponsive, according to his interview with police two days after Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009.
The physician said he only left Jackson’s bedside for two minutes, although his own attorneys have suggested it might have been longer. Phone records show Murray made or received several calls in the hour before Murray summoned help.
Lee acknowledged that she told detectives that she had told Jackson, “No one who cared or had your best interest at heart would give you this.”
After refusing to help Jackson obtain propofol, she never saw the singer again.
Another defense witness, AEG Live President and CEO Randy Phillips, said Jackson appeared to have total confidence in Murray during meetings in early June, just a weeks before the “This Is It” concerts were to debut in London.
Jackson had missed some rehearsals and there were complaints from the show’s choreographer that the singer didn’t seem focused. A meeting was convened to discuss Jackson’s health, and Murray reassured Phillips and others that the singer was healthy and would be able to perform.
“It was very obvious that Michael had great trust” in Murray, Phillips said.
Phillips said he attended Jackson’s final rehearsal and was impressed.
“I had goose bumps,” he said, adding that wasn’t a typical reaction. “I am as cynical as you can be about this business.”
After the rehearsal, Phillips said he walked Jackson to his vehicle, which was waiting to take him to the rented mansion. “He said, ‘You got me here. Now I’m ready. I can take it from here,’” Phillips recounted.
By the time Jackson and security arrived at the home, Murray had already arrived at the house and was waiting to help the singer get to sleep.
AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.
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Key Expert to Resume Testimony for Jackson’s Doctor
Source: ctpost.com – By Anthony McCartney
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors hearing the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson‘s doctor will hear an alternate version Friday of what may have occurred in the singer’s bedroom in the hours before his death.
Dr. Paul White, an expert in the anesthetic propofol, will finally lay out his rationale for the defense theory that Jackson somehow gave himself a fatal dose of the drug when his doctor left the room.
White’s testimony will likely be vigorously challenged by prosecutors, who spent four weeks laying out their case that Dr. Conrad Murray is a greedy, inept and reckless doctor who was giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid. But cross-examination of White will be delayed until Monday to give prosecutors more time to review a new analysis prepared by the defense based on recently-conducted tests on samples taken during Jackson’s autopsy.
“This is the entire crux of the defense case,” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said in arguing for a delay.
The judge hearing the case, which ends its fifth week on Friday, reluctantly agreed to delay the cross examination and said he is concerned about losing jurors. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor however noted that the panel of has remained rapt throughout the trial.
“Every single member of that jury and all the alternates are paying extraordinary attention to every witness,” Pastor said.
Murray has pleaded not guilty.
White’s opinions will challenge those of the prosecution’s main expert, Dr. Steven Shafer, who testified that the only scenario he believes explains Jackson’s death is that Murray placed Jackson on an IV drip and left the room after he thought the singer was sleeping peacefully.
Murray told police he left Jackson’s bedside, but claims he only gave the singer a small dose of propofol the morning of Jackson’s death. He said he left the room and returned after two minutes to find the pop superstar unresponsive.
Murray’s defense attorneys have repeatedly claimed that Jackson somehow gave himself the fatal dose, but it will be up to White to explain how that would be possible.
Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said that the new models White will show jurors on Friday will offer different simulations about the drugs propofol and sedative lorazepam. They are based on a new computer program and updated test results.
Flanagan did not reveal what conclusions White drew from the new models, or whether they would change his testimony.
White is a retired researcher and professor who performed clinical studies of propofol for years before it was approved for usage by the Food and Drug Administration in 1989. He said he was initially reluctant to become involved in the case, but after reading through more than a dozen expert reports, he couldn’t figure out how others came to the conclusion that Murray would have had to leave Jackson on a propofol IV drip for the singer to have died with the anesthetic still coursing through his body.
He said the others’ theories didn’t make sense based on Murray’s statement to police.
“I thought that there were questions if in fact Murray had administered the drugs that he described in his conversations with the police department in the doses he described, I would not have expected Michael Jackson to have died,” White said.
He continued to work on the case after meeting with Murray, although White was not allowed to testify about his conversations with the Houston-based cardiologist.
Flanagan early in White’s testimony on Thursday asked the doctor to address “the elephant in the room” — whether he could justify Murray’s actions if he left Jackson hooked to a propofol IV and then left the room.
“Absolutely not,” White replied.
AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.
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A leading anesthesiologist on Friday told jurors in the trial of Michael Jackson’s personal physician that the singer probably caused his own death by injecting himself with a dose of the drug while his doctor wasn’t looking.
In his testimony, defense expert Paul White directly challenged the theory put forth by the government’s main medical witness, Dr. Steven Shafer. The prosecution expert testified that the only plausible scenario was that Dr. Conrad Murray had left a large intravenous drip of the anesthetic propofol running into the singer’s bloodstreams for three hours, even after he stopped breathing.
On Friday, White said Shafer’s theory was ruled out by the level of the drug found in Jackson’s urine at autopsy. Given the urine levels and evidence at the scene, the more likely explanation was that the singer gave himself the drug, said White, one of the first U.S. researchers to study the drug.
“You think it was self-injection of propofol … between 11:30 and 12 o’clock?” defense attorney Michael Flanagan asked.
“In my opinion, yes,” White said.
White’s statement is the first evidence the defense has put forward to support a theory they’ve argued all along: that it was Jackson, not Murray, who administered the lethal dose of propofol that killed the pop star. Shafer testified that blood levels of the drug found at autopsy did not support self-injection — something he said was a “crazy scenario.”
White offered no defense to what several medical experts called by prosecutors have told jurors — that even if Jackson gave himself the drug, Murray was still responsible for the singer’s death for leaving him unattended. At the beginning of his testimony Thursday, he acknowledged he could not explain away Murray’s conduct.
Administrator’s Note: Dr. White’s testimony is nothing bull! He’s the real scumbag if you ask me!
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Jackson Trial Courtroom Resembles Medical Theater
October 31, 2011
Source : Yahoo Entertainment News
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – At times the wood-lined courtroom could have passed for a medical lecture theater: experts with saline drip stands and complicated graphs earnestly demonstrating the half-life of benzodiazepine drugs.
Except that you don’t usually see Janet and LaToya Jackson sitting in the back of a pharmacology class, listening attentively to explanations of sedation thresholds and titration techniques.
But this has been the scene in the plainly furnished room on the ninth floor of the LA Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles, where Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray has been on trial for the last five weeks.
Jackson — who in one of the more surreal moments of the trial was inadvertently refered to as “Mr. Lorazepam” — has been the spectre hanging over proceedings which come to a climax this week.
“Let’s deal with the elephant in the room here,” defense attorney Michael Flanagan intoned last Thursday. “Conrad Murray has been accused of infusing a dose of propofol and leaving his patient. Can you justify that?”
His star witness, Dr Paul White, couldn’t.
But that was what he was here for, to debunk the prosecution claim that Grenada-born medic Murray was guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the King of Pop’s 2009 death.
Murray — who has sat grim-faced throughout the sometimes harrowing, sometimes eye-glazingly dull testimony — denies the charge.
His iPad-wielding lawyers Ed Chernoff and Flanagan have done their best to defy the odds and get him off, arguing that Jackson was a desperate addict who would have killed himself accidentally anyway.
They have been helped by a spectacular litany of medical problems from which Jackson apparently suffered for years before his untimely death on June 25, 2009, on the eve of an ill-fated series of comeback shows in London.
Incontinence, insomnia and mental instability were just three revealed in painful detail at the trial, which heard how Jackson died from a cocktail of the sedatives lorazepam, midazolam and propofol, given to help him sleep.
A condom catheter, intravenous (IV) drug tube and oxygen nasal canulla were attached to Jackson’s body when paramedics arrived, while pictures of his naked corpse on a hospital gurney had his family running from the courtroom.
Led by his mother Katherine and father Joe, the family has filed in every day since September 27, some members more often than others — to sit on the wooden benches reserved for them at the front of the court’s public seating.
Occasionally, they would turn to exchange words with journalists sat behind them, while Jackson fans — winners of a daily ballot for tickets for the handful of spare seats in court — were consigned to the back row.
Genial judge Michael Pastor has drawn praise, sharing jokes with the jurors and court staff — but he is not to be crossed: when a fan’s phone went off near the trial’s start, she was escorted smartly out, the device confiscated.
Early witnesses included a cocktail waitress and a quintessentially Hollywood actress, Murray’s girlfriend — who couldn’t contain her breathless excitement at having met Michael Jackson, even as she discussed his death.
A string of friendly character witnesses came on proclaiming how the “caring” Murray saved their lives and treated them for free — prompting the 58-year-old medic to dab his eyes at one stage.
But the last week descended into a dizzying blizzard of medical testimony, as key witnesses argued over exactly what Murray might have done, or not done, in the fateful hours before Jackson’s death.
Murray’s lawyers, and even the judge seemed to tire at the end, repeatedly confusing the names of the two sides’ opposing propofol experts, one of whom allegedly called the other a “scumbag” in the back of the court.
Flanagan it was who seemed to have most problems concentrating — drawing laughter when, in the middle of another interminable exchange Friday, he called Jackson “Mr. Lorazepam” — and didn’t notice until the judge pointed it out.
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Professors’ Views On Jackson Death Create Rift
The differing opinions of two professors on how a powerful anesthetic killed Michael Jackson has left jurors with two scenarios to consider about how the King of Pop died, and in the process has also strained the relationship of the two longtime collaborators and friends.
Armed with decades of experience, IV bags and syringes, the men showed jurors how a powerful, milky-white anesthetic may have flowed from a bottle into Jackson’s body on the morning of June 25, 2009.
Doctors Paul White and Steven Shafer worked alongside each other for years and are credited with helping bring propofol to operating rooms and making its usage safe.
But their different theories on how Jackson died from the drug – whether his personal physician Conrad Murray administered it or the singer injected it himself – have sparked a clash of harsh rhetoric between the two men more familiar with operating rooms and classrooms than the high stakes of a celebrity trial.
White and Shafer were colleagues at Stanford University and conducted research on propofol before it was approved for use in U.S. operating rooms in 1989. Both help edit a leading anesthesia journal. Until White’s retirement last year, both were practicing anesthesiologists.
Each man’s search to explain how Jackson died led them to conduct their own research and computer modeling.
The tension between them began after Shafer, an affable Columbia University researcher, told jurors on Oct. 20 that he was “disappointed” in White for suggesting earlier that Jackson may have drunk the fatal dose of propofol.
Shafer’s dismissive comment that even first-year medical students knew that wouldn’t work cut deeply for White, who worked on propofol for six years before it was approved for use in the United States.
As Shafer testified, White occasionally shook his head until being admonished by a judge to stop making any gestures in court.
White, according to a report posted online by E! Entertainment Television, turned to reporters while Shafer testified and called either Shafer or a prosecutor a “scumbag.” White later told a judge he didn’t recall making the remark but acknowledged talking to an E! reporter about being bothered by Shafer’s testimony.
“Of course, when someone makes derogatory comments about you in court, it has an effect on you,” White told the judge. “I was very disappointed in Dr. Shafer’s remark.”
White’s interview may earn him a contempt-of-court violation for violating a gag order, but that issue will be decided after Murray’s trial is concluded.
The courtroom rhetoric between the men cooled last week, with White repeatedly crediting Shafer for his work.
“Dr. Shafer is actually a good friend, and he actually helped me on a number of the papers,” White testified.
White left behind any hurt feelings as he took the witness stand and matter-of-factly detailed his theory that Jackson must have given himself a fatal dose of propofol. It was the only explanation, White said, for the levels of the drug found in Jackson’s blood and urine during an autopsy.
Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/10/31/3610838/professors-views-on-jackson-death.html#ixzz1cN0NUSNm
Prosecutor To Grill Key Defense Expert In Conrad Murray Trial
Los Angeles (CNN) — The anesthesiologist who testified last week that singer Michael Jackson probably died from drugs he gave himself will face questioning by the prosecution Monday in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.
Closing arguments, followed by the start of jury deliberations, are likely to come this week in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Walgren was given the weekend to consult with his anesthesiology expert on how to attack the testimony of Dr. Paul White, who is the last and most important defense witness.
The prosecution contends that Murray’s reckless use of the surgical anesthetic propofol to put Jackson to sleep caused Jackson’s death, but the defense blames Jackson for self-administering the fatal overdose while Murray was not watching.
The defense contends Jackson’s insomnia, unknown to Murray, was a side effect of withdrawal from a Demerol addiction, which they blame on another doctor.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson’s June 25, 2009, death was caused by “acute propofol intoxication” in combination with two sedatives.
Jurors must choose between two competing theories offered by White and Dr. Steven Shafer, the prosecution’s anesthesiologist, of how and when the fatal overdose entered Jackson’s body.
Both doctors, longtime friends and colleagues, are among the top experts in the world concerning propofol.
White, in his testimony for the defense Friday, said the level of drugs found in Jackson’s stomach, blood and urine, convinced him that the pop icon died after he rapidly injected himself with propofol on top of a large dose of lorazepam he swallowed when Murray was away.
Shafer, who testified over an 11-day span for the prosecution, concluded the “only scenario” that fits the scientific evidence is that Jackson was on a constant IV drip of propofol for three hours before his death.
Shafer testified that Murray must have also injected Jackson with a series of large doses of lorazepam, a sedative, hours before his death.
The prosecution theory requires “an incredible coincidence of circumstances” using a “befuddling” IV drip configuration and an “irrational” assumption about how Murray injected sedatives, White testified.
White testified Friday that it is his opinion Jackson died after he injected himself with a 25-milligram dose of propofol between 11:30 a.m. and noon. Testimony and phone records indicated it was about noon that Murray realized Jackson was not breathing.
White theorized that Jackson could have “pushed” the drug into an catheter in his leg using a syringe over a 15- to 30-second period, much faster than a doctor would have done.
“I believe it could potentially have lethal consequences,” White testified.
Shafer conceded last week that it was possible that Jackson, not Murray, could have been the one to open the IV drip to a fatal pace, but prosecutors contend that it would make no difference in Murray’s guilt.
Murray is responsible for Jackson’s death, even if he did not give him the final and fatal dose, because he was criminally reckless in using the surgical anesthetic to help Jackson sleep without proper precautions, the prosecution contends.
While Jackson was hooked up to an IV drip, it only delivered a saline solution to keep him hydrated, the defense contends.
Shafer demonstrated in court how he believed the IV system was set up by Murray, but investigators never found a critical piece of tubing that would have been needed to infuse a propofol drip into the catheter in Jackson’s left leg.
The 100-milliliter propofol bottle prosecutors believe Murray used was empty when investigators found it, leading Shafer to conclude that the last drops entered Jackson’s body just as his heart stopped beating.
White called it “an incredible coincidence of circumstances” that the bottle would empty exactly when Jackson died.
White also said such a flow of propofol would have made Jackson “sleepy but arousable and breathing spontaneously,” but it would not have killed him.
But Murray’s own words, spoken to police two days after Jackson’s death, led the jury toward Shafer’s drip theory and away from White’s self-injection theory.
Murray told detectives that the pulse oxymeter monitor on Jackson’s finger showed his heart was beating at 122 beats per minute after he realized his patient was not breathing. This would indicate Jackson suffered respiratory arrest first, followed about 10 minutes later by cardiac arrest, a cardiologist and Shafer both testified.
The difference is key to interpreting what the high level of propofol in Jackson’s blood means, since a beating heart would circulate the drug through the liver, which would break it down into a metabolite.
White’s theory that Jackson died quickly from a rapid injection requires the assumption that his heart almost immediately stopped beating, before Murray would have seen the monitor on his finger.
The defense expert also questioned the prosecution’s contention that Murray placed the propofol bottle into an empty saline bag with an opening cut into it to suspend it from the IV stand next to Jackson’s bed.
It would have been more logical for Murray to use a plastic suspension tab built onto the bottle, a routine practice.
“It’s befuddling to me, because anyone picking up the bottle would naturally gravitate for pulling up the little hanger,” White said. “Why would you go to all the hassle?”
Hanging the bottle inside a bag also would not work because if Jackson “rolled over and moved his leg, it would easily come out of the bag,” White said.
The suspension tab on the propofol bottle had not been activated, both sides agreed.
Investigators who recovered the bottle and an opened bag testified they found them together, but they did not photograph it.
White also questioned Shafer’s computer model conclusion that Murray gave Jackson at least nine four-milligram injections of the lorazepam at regular intervals from 1:30 to 5 a.m. the day he died.
Those “enormous” sedative doses alone would have put anyone to sleep and possibly killed them, White said.
He said it would be “irrational” for a doctor to sit at Jackson’s bedside and repeatedly inject the sedatives to a patient in very deep sedation, as Shafer’s theory implies.
White concluded that Jackson swallowed a large dose of lorazepam several hours earlier, which would have left “a very high concentration” of the sedative in his body.
“So you’ve got drugs that have additive or even synergistic effects, and I think the combination effect would be very profound,” White said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/31/justice/california-conrad-murray-trial/
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Conrad Murray trial: Judge halts proceedings as witness claims Michael Jackson had own stash of propofol
Judge Michael E Pastor is forced to temporarily suspend proceedings in the trial of Conrad Murray after Dr Paul White, a witness for the defence, attempts to introduce evidence previously ruled inadmissable.
Source: The Telegraph
The Los Angeles Superior Court Judge fined Dr Paul White $1,000 for violating an order not to mention in his testimony conversations he had with Dr Murray, information the judge had previously ruled was inadmissible evidence in Murray’s trial for the involuntary manslaughter of 50 year-old pop-star Michael Jackson.
A key defence witness, Dr White is an anesthetics expert expected to be the final witness in the month long trial. He has already been reprimanded by the judge for allegedly whispering ‘scumbag’ to gathered journalists during the testimony of prosecution witness and former colleague Dr Steven Shafer. Dr White had denied making the remark.
After a line of questioning by prosecutor David Walgren involving propofol use in Michael Jackson’s house, Dr White referenced the conversations after having first been admonished by the judge earlier in the session.
“Well, Conrad Murray certainly purchased propofol, but I understand Mr Jackson had his own supply as well,” says Dr White, referring to information gleaned during conversations with Murray.
“Really?” asked David Walgren, prosecutor.
The exchange prompted Mr Walgren to accuse White of using “rehearsed lines” on the stand, which defence lawyers objected to. Dr White then continued to reference the conversation despite orders not to.
“As I indicated, I’ve had two lengthy conversations…” he said.
“Will the court admonish the witness?” asked Mr Walgren.
Judge Pastor then excused the jury and reprimanded the witness, in an exchange that was not televised.
The contempt of court charge is the second for White, following a charge for the inflammatory comments about Dr Shafer. A hearing for both contempt charges is set for November 16.
Dr Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal physician during at the time of his death on June 25, 2009, faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted of the singer’s death.
Murray remains silent as testimony ends in Jackson death trial
Los Angeles (CNN) — Dr. Conrad Murray announced in court Tuesday that he will not testify in his involuntary manslaughter trial.
Murray paused and looked at each of his lawyers for several seconds before telling the judge, “My decision is that I will not testify in this matter.”
His decision to remain silent brought to an end the defense case in the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor, setting the stage for closing arguments on Thursday. Lawyers have been given Wednesday off from court to prepare their arguments.
A Michael Jackson fan was removed from the courthouse after yelling “Murderer, Murderer” at Murray as he walked down the hallway during a recess late Tuesday morning.
Jackson fans lined both sides of the hallway and held hands as members of Jackson’s family walked past at the end of the morning session.
Parents Joe and Katherine Jackson attended court Tuesday, along with their youngest son, Randy Jackson.
Prosecutors briefly recalled their anesthesiology expert, Dr. Steven Shafer, for a rebuttal to defense propofol expert Dr. Paul White before resting their case Tuesday morning.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor will meet with lawyers for both sides Tuesday afternoon to discuss what exhibits will be admitted into evidence and what instructions he will give to jurors before they begin deliberations Thursday afternoon.
The prosecution contends that Murray’s use of the surgical anesthetic propofol to treat Jackson’s insomnia in his home deviated from the standards of care expected of a doctor so egregiously that it made him criminally responsible for Jackson’s death.
If Murray had decided to tell jurors his version of what happened the day the world’s biggest pop star died under his care, it would have been at the risk of intensive cross-examination by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Walgren.
Walgren proved his cross-examination skills again Monday in a fiery battle with Dr. Paul White over the defense anesthesiology expert’s theory that Jackson died from drugs he gave himself.
White completed his testimony Tuesday morning.
White’s bruises in his battle with Walgren on Monday included a contempt-of-court citation and a $1,000 fine after he ignored repeated warnings from Pastor not to refer to his personal conversations with Murray.
Walgren insisted that White answer his questions based only on what he knew from Murray’s interview with police, not what Murray told him privately. It otherwise would have been a way for the defense to introduce statements from the defendant without him having to testify.
“Nice try,” Pastor told the defense as he ruled they couldn’t do that.
Walgren spent much of Monday trying to discredit what White said during his testimony Friday, and getting the defense expert to support the prosecution’s argument that Murray’s treatment of Jackson was reckless.
White conceded that Murray deviated from the standards of care, but he would not agree that they were so “egregious and extreme” that they make Murray criminally responsible for Jackson’s death. Murray’s deviations were “perhaps between minor and serious, but it’s not extreme,” he said.
Walgren also was successful in getting White to agree that he would not have done what Murray did — take the job of sedating Jackson nearly every night at home with propofol.
“No amount of money” could get him to take the job, White said. “Absolutely not,” he testified. “That would be a job I would never consider accepting.”
The prosecution contends greed led Murray to leave his medical practice and put his ethics aside to serve as Jackson’s private doctor for $150,000 a month.
But the biggest battle between Walgren and White was fought over the competing theories of how Jackson died and the scientific evidence that supports them.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson’s June 25, 2009, death was caused by “acute propofol intoxication” in combination with two sedatives.
White concluded that the level of drugs found in Jackson’s stomach, blood and urine, convinced him that Jackson died after he rapidly injected himself with propofol on top of a large dose of lorazepam he swallowed hours earlier.
Shafer, the prosecution’s propofol expert, concluded the “only scenario” that fits the scientific evidence is that Jackson was on a constant intravenous drip of propofol for three hours before his death.
Shafer also testified that Murray must have also injected Jackson with a series of large doses of lorazepam, a sedative, hours before his death.
White theorized that Jackson could have “pushed” the drug into an catheter in his leg using a syringe over a 15- to 30-second period, much faster than a doctor would have done. “I believe it could potentially have lethal consequences,” White testified.
Under cross-examination Monday, White said he believed Jackson used the same syringe Murray had loaded with propofol an hour earlier to give Jackson a 25-milligram injection. Murray filled it with 50 milligrams initially, leaving it half-filled in Jackson’s bedroom, under White’s theory.
White ruled out the possibility that Murray would have injected the fatal dose unless “he wanted to potentially harm Mr. Jackson.”
Walgren asked White whether he thought Jackson intended to harm himself.
“I don’t think he realized the potential danger,” White replied.
The defense contends Jackson was desperate for sleep, fearing his comeback concerts would be canceled if he missed another rehearsal from lack of rest.
Walgren pressed White for an opinion about Murray’s decision to leave Jackson alone with a syringe of propofol, considering he should have known Jackson had “pushed” a syringe of propofol before.
“No, I would not leave the room,” he said.
Prosecutors contend Murray is responsible for Jackson’s death, even if he did not give him the final and fatal dose, because he was reckless in using the surgical anesthetic to help Jackson sleep without proper precautions.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/justice/california-conrad-murray-trial/
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Closing Arguments to Begin in Jackson Doc Trial
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY
LOS ANGELES Closing arguments are set to begin Thursday as the involuntary manslaughter trial against Michael Jackson’s doctor heads into its final stages before jury deliberations.
Before listening to arguments by prosecutors and defense attorneys, Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor will give jurors detailed instructions on how they should interpret evidence in the case and what they can and cannot consider.
There has been no time limit announced for how long each side will argue its position, although Pastor cautioned attorneys on Tuesday to keep their final speeches focused.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren will have the first and last word during arguments as he tries to convince the jury of seven men and five women that Dr. Conrad Murray should be convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Walgren has cast Murray as an inept, reckless physician who was distracted on the morning of Jackson’s June 2009 death after giving the singer a powerful dose of the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.
Prosecutors are operating on the theory that while Murray was engaged in lawful practices during his treatment of Jackson, he acted in a criminally negligent way by using propofol as an insomnia treatment without the proper staff or medical equipment, and that he botched resuscitation efforts and lied to other medical personnel about his actions.
The majority of the witnesses and evidence was presented by prosecutors, who must convince the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict Murray.
Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff is likely to argue that Jackson was responsible for his own death and took a fatal dose of propofol when Murray left his bedroom on June 25, 2009. Chernoff will also likely rely on the statements of five character witnesses, mostly former patients, to try to convince jurors that he should not be held responsible for Jackson’s death.
After Walgren’s final arguments, Pastor will offer some additional instructions and the jury’s deliberations will begin.
The panel has listened attentively throughout the six-week trial, which featured 49 witnesses and some complex medical testimony. They also heard several audio recordings, including one of Jackson himself in which his speech was slow and slurred, as well as Murray’s lengthy interview with police detectives.
It is unclear if any of those items will get a reprise during closing arguments, but Walgren told Pastor he is planning a slideshow presentation.
Murray, 58, has been stoic through most of the proceedings. He cried when one of his friends, Ruby Mosley, talked about the cardiologist founding a clinic in a poor Houston neighborhood in honor of his father.
The jury did not hear directly from Murray, who opted not to testify in his own defense.
The doctor faces up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if he’s convicted
Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/11/03/1703214/closing-arguments-to-begin-in.html#ixzz1ceLqubDT
Jackson Doctor Shopping Story
Source: NY Post
While Dr. Conrad Murraystands trial for the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson, he’s been quietly filming a blockbuster documentary that’s being shopped to major TV networks.
Sources say Murray, who announced yesterday that he will not testify in his defense, has sold the rights “to his story” to a production company that’s been filming interviews with him daily as the trial progresses.
The unidentified production company is shopping the documentary as a package deal that would also include a video diary and a sit-down interview with Murray.
“A news division that pays for the documentary will end up with a side deal of getting the sit-down with Conrad,” a source said. “It’s crafted in such a way for a news division that doesn’t pay for interviews.”
LOS ANGELES – The case against the doctor accused of killing Michael Jackson has gone to the jury, with deliberations set to begin Friday.
The seven-man, five-woman panel got the case Thursday after spirited, daylong closing arguments by a prosecutor and defense attorney.
A defense attorney for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson’s death told jurors Thursday the singer caused his own death with an overdose of an anesthetic and his physician shouldn’t be convicted of killing the King of Pop.
“If it was anybody else, would this doctor be here today?” defense attorney Ed Chernoff asked during his closing argument at the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.
Chernoff said prosecutors hadn’t proven that Murray committed a crime by giving Jackson doses of the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid in the singer’s bedroom.
“They want you to convict Dr. Murray for the actions of Michael Jackson,” Chernoff said.
He urged the jury to closely consider Murray’s lengthy interview with police and said his words show he didn’t give Jackson the deadly dose.
Earlier, during his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren projected images of Jackson’s grief-stricken children on a giant screen and told jurors that Murray took away their father.
With Jackson’s mother and siblings watching from the courtroom gallery, Walgren showed a photo of Jackson at his last rehearsal before the picture of the three Jackson children — Prince, Paris and Blanket — at their father’s memorial.
He also reminded jurors of the scene in Jackson’s bedroom when Paris came upon Murray frantically trying to revive her lifeless father and screamed, “Daddy!”
“For Michael Jackson’s children this case goes on forever because they do not have a father,” Walgren said. “They do not have a father because of the actions of Conrad Murray.”
The prosecutor repeatedly called Murray’s treatment of Jackson bizarre and said there was no precedent for the cardiologist giving the singer the powerful anesthetic to help him sleep.
Still, Jackson trusted him and that eventually cost the singer his life, Walgren said.
“Conrad Murray looked out for himself and himself alone,” the prosecutor said.
Murray has pleaded not guilty, with his lawyers arguing that Jackson injected the fatal dose when Murray left the singer’s bedroom on June 25, 2009.
Earlier, Walgren, in a carefully structured argument enhanced by video excerpts of witness testimony, spoke of the special relationship between a doctor and patient and said Murray had corrupted it in the treatment of his famous client.
Murray violated his medical oath to do no harm and “acted so recklessly that it caused the death of Michael Jackson,” the prosecutor said.
Walgren portrayed Murray as a greedy opportunist who was more concerned with earning $150,000 a month as Jackson’s personal physician and traveling to London for his “This Is It” concert than with the welfare of his patient.
He cited evidence showing Murray did not call 911 after finding Jackson unresponsive. Instead he called Jackson’s personal assistant, a decision the prosecutor said was just one of the doctor’s bizarre actions on the day the singer died.
He suggested Murray delayed the call until he could hide medical equipment and bottles that might incriminate him.
“He’s putting Conrad Murray first. He’s intentionally not calling 911. He’s intentionally delaying help that could have saved Michael Jackson’s life,” Walgren said.
“What on Earth could motivate a medical doctor to delay making that all-important call?” he asked. “Self-preservation.”
Evan after paramedics arrived, the doctor made no mention of giving Jackson propofol because of “a consciousness of guilt,” Walgren said.
He ridiculed the defense theory that Jackson injected himself with the fatal dose of propofol and denounced the testimony of defense expert Paul White who blamed Jackson for his own death.
“What you were presented by Dr. White was junk science. It was garbage science,” Walgren said.
Chernoff countered that Dr. Steven Shafer, a propofol expert who testified that evidence showed Murray killed Jackson, was wrong and overstepped his role as a scientist by becoming an advocate for Murray’s conviction.
He said Shafer ignored Murray’s statement to police in which the physician said he gave the singer a small dose of propofol and left the room after the drug should have worn off.
“It doesn’t matter, Dr. Murray did not kill Michael Jackson,” Chernoff said.
The prosecutor played statements of several doctors who testified that they would never have agreed to give Jackson propofol for insomnia in a private home.
“The setting represents an extreme violation of the standard of care,” Walgren said. “No one ever did it until it was done to Michael Jackson. It is gross negligence and it is a cause of Michael Jackson’s death.”
At one point, Walgren suggested Murray was conducting “an obscene experiment” on Jackson.
With only Jackson and Murray present in the singer’s room on the day he died, there will be things that are never be known about his death, Walgren said. But he said it was clear that Murray, untrained in anesthesiology, was incompetent.
“Conrad Murray is criminally liable,” he said. “Justice demands a guilty verdict.”
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PDF Version of Instructions To The Jury For Deliberations
http://cnninsession.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/jury-instructions.pdf
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What the Conrad Murray Jury Will Have To Decide
Source: HLN – Beth Karas
There is only one charge for the jury to consider in the Dr. Conrad Murray’s trial: involuntary manslaughter.
There are no lesser-included charges. But there are two theories of involuntary manslaughter that the jurors will consider. They can find Murray guilty of one or both theories but they must be unanimous on whatever they decide.
What does involuntary manslaughter mean?
Involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional killing without malice. Malice is when someone does something with a conscious disregard for life.
This next part gets a little complicated, but keep reading: We’re going to break it down for you.
Involuntary manslaughter is committed when a defendant commits a lawful act with criminal negligence, or fails to perform a legal duty and that failure is criminally negligent, and the defendant’s acts or failure to perform a legal duty unlawfully causes the death of someone else.
Here are two theories of involuntary manslaughter that are relevant to the Murray trial:
1. the commission of a lawful act with criminal negligence
2. failure to perform a legal duty where such failure was criminally negligent
What is a lawful act?
A lawful act is something the defendant does that does not break any laws.
In this trial, the jury will be instructed that the commission of the lawful act with criminal negligence is that Murray, a licensed physician, administered propofol to Michael Jackson.
What does it mean to fail to perform a legal duty?
In most situations people, are not required to act under circumstance. For example, if you are a regular citizen walking down the street and see someone about to jump out a window of a tall building, the law doesn’t require you to try to save the jumper.
But the jury in this trial will be instructed that Murray, a physician who assumed the duty of care of Michael Jackson, had a legal obligation to care for him and that the failure to perform this legal duty could have been committed when Murray gave Jackson propofol then left him unattended.
The prosecution is expected to argue a host of ways in which Murray was negligent in the administration of propofol and failure to perform a legal duty of care. At the charge conference on November 1, prosecutors listed seven acts under the “lawful act” theory and 15 acts under the “failure to perform a legal duty.”
Those acts or failures include:
. no other medical personnel present
. inadequate monitoring equipment
. failure to constantly monitor Jackson
. ineffective resuscitative care
. failure to call 911 immediately
. administering propofol for insomnia
NOTE: The above list is not complete, because the prosecution did not read the entire list in open court.
What does causation mean?
A critical element of involuntary manslaughter is that the negligent act or failure to perform a legal duty caused someone’s death.
The instruction to the jury in this trial will include the following language:
An act (or failure to perform a legal duty) causes death if the death is a direct, natural, and probable consequence of the act (or failure to perform a legal duty) and the death would not have happened without the act (or failure to perform a legal duty).
A natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes.
It’s important to know that there may be more than one cause of death. An act causes death only if it is a substantial factor in causing the death. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor. However, it does not need to be the only factor that causes the death.
A special instruction to the jury, which the prosecution drafted, is expected to be read following the definition of causation. We do not have the exact language, but it deals with whether an intervening act could have been foreseen. If the intervening act (Jackson self-administering propofol) was foreseeable, then Murray can still be found guilty.
What does criminal negligence mean?
The jury instruction will include the following language:
Criminal negligence involves more than ordinary carelessness, inattention, or mistake in judgment. A person acts with criminal negligence when:
1. he acts in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death or great bodily injury; and
2. a reasonable person would have known that acting or failing to perform a legal duty in that way would create such a risk.
In other words, a person acts with criminal negligence when his behavior is so different from the way an ordinarily careful person would act in the same situation that his act (or failure to perform a legal duty) amounts to disregard for human life or indifference to the consequences of that act (or failure to perform a legal duty).
The jury will be instructed that, in order to find Murray guilty, they must find that the prosecutors proved each of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
Elements of Involuntary Manslaughter/Lawful Act Performed Negligently
1. Conrad Murray committed a lawful act, but acted with criminal negligence; and
2. Conrad Murray’s acts caused the death of Michael Jackson.
Elements of Involuntary Manslaughter/Failure to Perform a Legal Duty
1. Conrad Murray had a legal duty to Michael Jackson;
2. Conrad Murray failed to perform that legal duty;
3. Conrad Murray’s failure was criminally negligent; and
4. Conrad Murray’s failure caused the death of Michael Jackson.
Jurors must keep all that in mind and then they must be unanimous on one or both theories:
1. lawful act committed with criminal negligence or
2. failure to perform a legal duty and such failure was with criminal negligence.
If the jurors cannot reach a unanimous decision, then they are considered deadlocked — also called a hung jury. Judges encourage juries to work toward a decision, but if they absolutely can’t agree, then the judge declares a mistrial. That means the case could be retried and we start all over.
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Conrad Murray Trial: Jury Ends First Day Of Deliberations Without Reaching Verdict
Source: Huffington Post – By Andrew McCartney
LOS ANGELES — Jurors considering the case against Michael Jackson’s doctor ended their first day of deliberations Friday without reaching a verdict or asking any questions indicating how far along they have gotten in their discussions.
The seven-man, five-woman panel was given highlighters and blank forms to request evidence after starting deliberations around 8:30 a.m.
They recessed around 4 p.m. and were set to resume discussions Monday.
The jury must reach a unanimous verdict to either convict or acquit Dr. Conrad Murray of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s June 2009 death.
Jackson died from a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol; Murray has acknowledged giving Jackson propofol to help him sleep.
The jury is not sequestered and will deliberate during the court’s regular hours. A verdict will be read the same day it is reached.
During closing arguments of the six-week trial, attorneys for the Houston-based cardiologist attacked prosecutors and their witnesses, saying they had over time developed stories and theories that placed the blame for Jackson’s death squarely on Murray.
Prosecutors countered that Murray was an opportunistic and inept doctor who left Jackson’s three children without a father. They said that Murray giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid violated standards of care and amounted to a secret experiment in which the doctor kept no records.
Media were stationed Friday outside the courthouse and in the courtroom where the jury’s decision will eventually be read.
Attorneys handling the case will receive a two-hour notice when a verdict is reached. Murray waived the need for his presence if the panel asks any questions, but he must be present when a verdict is announced.
Jurors heard from 49 witnesses and have more than 300 pieces of evidence to consider. They were given lengthy instructions by the judge about how to deliberate.
If Murray is convicted, he faces a sentence ranging from probation to four years behind bars, and he would lose his medical license. The sentence will be decided by Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor after receiving input from attorneys for both sides and probation officials, if necessary.
A recent change in California law means that Murray, 58, might serve any possible incarceration in a county jail rather than a state prison. A prison term could be shortened by overcrowding.
If acquitted, Murray could still be pursued by medical licensing authorities in the states of California, Nevada and Texas.
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Conrad Murray trial: Michael Jackson’s family waits anxiously as jury deliberates verdict in involuntary manslaughter case
Murray faces up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted
BY Nancy Dillion
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson’s relatives waited anxiously Friday as jurors began deliberations in the involuntary manslaughter trial of his personal doctor.
“I’m so shaky right now waiting for a verdict! Every little noise has me jumping out of my skin!” sister La Toya Jackson said on Twitter shortly before lunchtime.
La Toya, matriarch Katherine Jackson and other relatives are expected to make a beeline for the courtroom as soon as the seven-man, five-woman jury reaches a verdict.
Jurors did not ask any questions Friday morning but did request highlighter pens.
During a six-week trial televised around the world, they heard from 49 witnesses.
Now they must decide whether Dr. Conrad Murray was criminally negligent when he provided Jackson with a dangerous hospital-grade anesthetic in a bedroom setting behind closed doors.
“It is impossible to predict what will happen, especially after Casey Anthony’s acquittal, but I think (Murray) is hosed,” said veteran prosecutor Vesna Maras, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor.
Maras went up against a member of Murray’s legal team when she prosecuted two nurses in a 2004 propofol case. One of the nurses pleaded to a lesser charge; one was acquitted, but the incident happened in a hospital.
“In my opinion, Murray created the scenario that killed Michael Jackson, whether he did it himself or provided the tools,” Maras told the Daily News. “It’s like a babysitter leaving a curious child near a bunch of loaded guns with the safeties off and then acting surprised when the kid shoots himself.”
She said an acquittal would amount to a “purely emotional verdict” not rooted in the law.
“But I never say never. Maybe a juror thinks (Jackson) was a junkie and too bad his babysitter walked away, he did this to himself. Maybe they just feel sorry for Dr. Murray, that he’s just the last guy in a string of people doing this.”
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told jurors Thursday that Murray broke his oath to do no harm when he provided four gallons of propofol for at-home consumption to preserve his fat $150,000-per-month paycheck.
He said Murray pumped Jackson with the anesthetic, which is known to suppress breathing, and then “abandoned” his bedside vigil to cell-phone chat with paramours and use the bathroom the morning of June 25, 2009.
“Did Michael Jackson yell out for help? Did he gasp? Did he choke? Were there sounds? We don’t know. And we’ll never know because of the neglect and negligence of Conrad Murray,” Walgren said during closing arguments.
He said it didn’t matter whether Murray or Jackson gave the fatal dose.
“Self-administration is not an extraordinary or unforeseen circumstance,” he added. “The people cannot prove exactly what happened behind the closed door. As I stated earlier, Michael Jackson could give answers, but he is dead.”
Murray’s defense tried to narrow the case Thursday, saying that without evidence that Murray provided a constant propofol infusion with an IV drip, there was no crime.
Lead defense lawyer Ed Chernoff used his final salvo to portray Murray as a “little fish in a big dirty pond,” suggesting Jackson secretly swallowed or injected drugs while Murray wasn’t looking in a desperate bid to beat his insomnia and escape the pressures of his comeback tour.
“They’re trying to create a drip that never existed,” Chernoff said. “They want you to convict Dr. Murray for the (actions) of Michael Jackson.”
Murray, 58, faces up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted.
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Jury in Jackson Case A Diverse Cross-Section Of LA
Source: kait8.com – By Linda Deutsch
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The seven men and five women who hold the fate of Michael Jackson’s doctor in their hands are a diverse cross-section of Los Angeles, people of varying ethnicities from different towns who might never have met if they had not been thrown together in the jury pool.
They are white, black and Hispanic, mostly middle-aged and live in an assortment of suburbs in the Los Angeles urban sprawl. Most have children and some have grandchildren.
They include a professor, postman, bus driver, actor and movie animation supervisor.
The panel is set to resume deliberations Monday after spending their first day in discussions Friday without reaching a verdict.
Dr. Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors accused him of administering a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol to the King of Pop.
The jurors, who have been engaged by all the details of the case, will likely be methodical in their deliberations.
Nine of them have prior jury experience and one woman, a native of Spain, has served on five juries, all of which reached verdicts. She was once a jury forewoman.
A woman who has worked as a paralegal for 30 years is serving on her first jury and appeared enthralled.
They knew about the involuntary manslaughter charge against Murray before they came to court and most of them know Jackson’s music. A few said they were fans and one, the video animation specialist, said he had some interaction with Jackson when the singer was making the video, “Captain EO.”
Details about their lives were culled from lengthy written questionnaires obtained by The Associated Press. Their identities have been kept secret and even lawyers in the case know them only by their jury numbers.
In six weeks together the jurors have displayed uncommon attentiveness to the task at hand. Several, including alternates, have taken notes and kept lists of evidence. Once, when the judge was at a loss to find the number of an exhibit, a member of the jury spoke up and told him.
There were no drooping eyelids or distracted glances. When a scientific expert was conducting experiments on the floor of the courtroom, panelists stood up in the jury box to get a better view.
Their attention to evidence and witnesses has impressed Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, who commended them for their commitment, punctuality in getting to court and willingness to give up their personal lives to serve.
When the trial went longer than Pastor had predicted, he apologized, but the jurors seemed unperturbed.
Every night, when he gave them an admonition to avoid the news, the Internet and other sources of information about the trial, they listened as if it was the first time they had heard it and they nodded in agreement.
Many of the panelists have a familiarity with prescription drugs; most of them said they trust their doctors and several believe that celebrities receive a different kind of justice than average people.
Some have learned about the justice system from TV, watching such shows as “Law and Order” and “CSI.” Others watched broadcasts of real-life, high-profile trials including the Casey Anthony case and the O.J. Simpson trial.
One woman, an accounting manager, remembered that during the Simpson trial, “a TV was brought to the office for everyone to follow it.” A man in his 30s said he followed that trial in school as an educational experience.
While not sequestered, the jurors have had a rare opportunity to bond because they were kept together for lunch and transported together between a secret parking lot and the courthouse. In order to avoid exposure to events outside the courtroom, the judge had lunch catered for them every day.
But during lunches and coffee breaks there was one thing they could not discuss – the trial. Now, in a secluded jury room, they can give each other their opinions as they try to reach a verdict.
http://www.kait8.com/story/15973193/jury-in-jackson-case-a-diverse-cross-section-of-la
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Conrad Murray found guilty in Michael Jackson trial
Editor’s note: Tune in to HLN for full coverage and analysis of the Conrad Murray trial and watch live, as it happens, on CNN.com/Live and CNN’s mobile apps.
Los Angeles (CNN) — Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.
A stone-faced Murray appeared to show no emotion as the verdict was read by court clerk Sammi Benson, but someone in the gallery let out a loud, but short scream.
Sentencing was set for November 29, with Murray facing up to four years in prison on the conviction. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ordered Murray to be held without bail until that date, and Murray was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.
“This is not a crime involving a mistake of judgment. … This was a crime where the end result was the death of a human being,” Pastor said in explaining his decision to remand Murray to police custody. “That factor demonstrates rather dramatically that the public should be protected.”
Murray served as Jackson’s personal physician as Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts, with Murray giving him the surgical anesthetic propofol to help him sleep nearly every night for the last two months of his life, according to testimony.
Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, was caused by “acute propofol intoxication” in combination with two sedatives, the Los Angeles County coroner ruled.
The verdict followed about nine hours of jury deliberations, which began Friday morning in the downtown Los Angeles County courthouse.
Fans gathered outside of the courthouse ahead of the verdict with signs of support for Jackson including one banner that read, “We miss Michael.” The crowd began celebrating once word of the guilty verdict reached them, chanting “Rest in peace.” Passing cars honked their horns.
Crowd outside erupts in jubilations
The seven men and five women on the jury heard 49 witnesses over 23 days, including Murray’s girlfriends and patients, Jackson’s former employees, investigators and medical experts for each side.
The prosecution, in closing arguments on Thursday, argued that Murray was responsible for Jackson’s death because his reckless use of propofol to treat the pop icon’s insomnia in his home was criminally negligent.
Defense lawyers contended the matter was a negligence case that should instead be heard by the state medical board.
“If it were anybody else but Michael Jackson, would this doctor be here today?” lead defense lawyer Ed Chernoff asked in his closing.
Jurors were left to decide if the propofol overdose was infused into Jackson’s blood by a steady intravenous drip, as the prosecution contended, or if Jackson injected himself using a syringe left nearby by Murray, as the defense argued.
“He was just a little fish in a big, dirty pond,” Chernoff said, pointing the finger at other doctors who treated Jackson, and Jackson himself.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren attacked the defense for trying to blame “everybody but Conrad Murray, poor Conrad Murray.”
“If allowed more time to argue, I am sure they would find a way to blame Michael’s son, Prince,” Walgren said in his closing rebuttal.
Walgren painted Murray as a selfish doctor who agreed to take $150,000 a month to give Jackson nightly infusions of propofol in his home, something prosecutors argued an ethical doctor would never do because of the dangers.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/justice/california-conrad-murray-trial/index.html
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Michael Jackson Would ‘Absolutely’ Be Alive If Not for Conrad Murray, Juror Says
Source: ABC News – By Jim Avila
Nearly all the 12 jurors chosen to decide the fate of Dr. Conrad Murray in the trial over the death of Michael Jacksonhad decided on his guilt the first day of deliberations, the first juror in the case to speak out exclusively tells ABC News.
Debbie Franklin, a 48-year-old mother of two from Temple City, Calif., was the juror who, on Monday, rung the buzzer three times in the Los Angeles courtroom where Murray had sat on trial for the past six weeks to alert the judge and the world that a verdict had been reached.
“Our hearts were pounding to go out there,” Franklin told “Good Morning,” of the moment she and the other jurors emerged from eight hours of deliberations to issue a guilty verdict for Murray that could send him to prison for up to four years.
The jury convicted Murray of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 drug-overdose death of the King of Pop. Prosecutors alleged that Murray supplied an insomnia-plagued Jackson with the powerful operating-room anesthetic propofol to help him sleep as he rehearsed for his “This Is It” comeback tour.
Franklin says she and the other jurors believe Jackson, who was 50, would “absolutely” be alive today if not for Murray.
“Conrad Murray did it,” she said. “Conrad Murray agreed to be the one to go into the bedroom and do this. He [Jackson] was looking for somebody to say yes, and Conrad Murray said yes.”
Prosecutors portrayed Murray, 58, as a negligent doctor who gave the singer what he wanted, the drug propofol, at home in Jackson’s bedroom without the necessary safeguards and care when things went wrong.
“I thought they did an excellent job,” Franklin said of the prosecution. “They were ready for every witness. The questioning went from beginning to end. Nothing seemed to sidetrack them.”
Franklin says there were three factors presented in the trial that led the jury to a guilty verdict for Murray.
“The three biggest things for us were the 911 call, not calling 911. That was a big issue, and not having the medical equipment in the room to put somebody under sedation and leaving the room,” she said.
While the jury was nearly unanimous from the trial’s start that Murray played a role in Jackson’s death, not everyone was convinced the doctor was solely responsible, Franklin said.
Murray, who did not testify in his trial, told police that he administered only a small dose on the day Jackson died. His lawyers blamed Jackson for his own death, saying the singer injected himself with an ultimately lethal dose of the drug while Murray was out of the room.
“Even if Michael Jackson injected himself, which I don’t think we believed, but, we felt, even if he did, that wouldn’t have mattered because Conrad Murray brought the situation there,” she said. “He was the doctor. He was in charge.”
Jackson’s behavior was barely a consideration, despite the fact that Franklin believes “he had a lot of issues… I believe he had addictions or dependence.”
But the argument that the pop singer’s addiction led to his own death was not enough to sway Franklin, or the other jurors.
“I really think they didn’t have a lot to work with,” she said of Murray’s defense team. “They tried to do what they could with what they had.”
Although the jury came to a verdict fairly quickly, it was not easy for the seven men and five women.
“We took a vote and it was not unanimous, so we said let’s think about it over the weekend and talk about it on Monday,” she said of the jury’s first day of deliberations on Friday. “It was stressful. It was a lot of work. Yelling, everybody was talking.”
Franklin says the jury was more easily able to reach a guilty verdict for Murray because of the decision by the prosecution to charge the doctor with involuntary manslaughter, not murder.
The jury was asked to determine only whether Murray was primarily responsible for the singer’s death, not whether Murray actually gave Jackson the fatal dose.
“We absolutely agree that he did not mean to do this,” Franklin said. “We don’t think he even had a motive to do this. We think it was something that he was doing that was careless that got out of hand.”
Immediately after Monday’s verdict was delivered, Murray was handcuffed and led off to jail without bail to await sentencing Nov. 29.
“I never gave it a second thought,” Franklin said of the court’s decision to take Murray away in handcuffs. “It didn’t bother me.”
Murray now faces as many as four years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 29. The lightest sentence he could receive is probation, since Murray is a defendant with no prior criminal record, a factor that Judge Michael Pastor will be taking into account. Because of jail overcrowding, Murray may spend little or no time in jail despite whatever sentence Pastor metes out.
“I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision,” Franklin said. “I really have no feeling one way or the other what the sentence is. We did our job.”
Click here to see live interview:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/michael-jackson-absolutely-alive-conrad-murray-juror/story?id=14912611
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Jackson Executors Blast MSNBC For Murray Documentary
Program Had Inside Access
Read more: http://www.koco.com/entertainment/29729163/detail.html#ixzz1dKPSH3M0
By Courtney Zubowski/ KHOU 11 News
HOUSTON — An Attorney who defended Dr. Conrad Murray says the Houston cardiologist was caught off guard by the guilty verdict.
“I can tell you that he’s devastated and it’s hard to see him that way. It’s hard to see him in jail,” attorney Ed Chernoff said in his first television interview since the verdict.
On Monday, a Los Angeles County jury found the doctor guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Michael Jackson.
Prosecutors said Murray, who was hired as Jackson’s personal physician, gave the King of Pop a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol.
Jackson died in June 2009 at his Beverly Hills mansion.
Murray faces up to four years in prison. His attorney will ask the judge for probation.
“I think it would be absurd to put him in prison in California where they’re releasing violent prisoners because of the overcrowding situation in the prisons. To fill a prison bed with a cardiologist, with no prior criminal record, who the jury essentially said made a mistake, and then not necessarily for nefarious motives, it would be a tragedy, but, having said that, this is a different case,” said Chernoff.
Chernoff is Murray’s lead defense attorney. He exchanged brief words with his client before the verdict was read.
“Dr. Murray turned to me and said, ‘have faith.’ I said, ‘faith and God is one thing, faith in human beings is a whole different ball game,’” recalled Chernoff.
Following the verdict, Murray was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs and was taken to jail where he will remain until, at least, his sentencing at the end of the month.
“The whole thing’s a show, the whole thing’s a show and that’s part of the show. I warned him about it,” said Chernoff.
Chernoff described the six-week long trial as a “Kim Kardashian” like reality TV show. He said it felt more like the Golden Globes or a Broadway play than a court case.
He described his experience walking into the courtroom for closing arguments.
“I’m walking through the hallway, and it’s as if the curtain is opening, the hall is lined with 100,200 people,” he said. “This one guy yells out, ‘Chernoff, I came here to watch you lose.’ I said, ‘well, but, you did come out, you did come out didn’t you,’” he shared. “There were a lot of times during trial I would think to myself, ‘Oh Lord to be in Texas again.’”
With the guilty verdict, Murray automatically lost his California medical license. The same thing could happen in Texas, Nevada and Hawaii, where he is also licensed to practice.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s going to be a domino effect,” said Chernoff. “He’s devastated as you can imagine. He’s devastated, but he’s going to survive.”
Murray’s sentencing is set for Nov. 29th in Los Angeles.
A judge will make the decision rather than a jury.
How does this lowdown scumbag thinks Michael’s family and people across the world feel? You killed him and then you have the nerve to be surprised that you have to go to jail? You are alive and Michael is not!
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Star defense witness in trial for Michael Jackson’s doctor set to fight $1,000 contempt fine
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, November 16, 10:30 AM
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a bench warrant today for a lawyer who left a phone message saying he could not attend a contempt hearing because he was in trial in another state.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said he wants details in writing from attorney Matt Alford, including whether or not he asked the judge in the Houston trial for permission to be absent to attend the California contempt hearing, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
The contempt case concerns comments Alford made on NBC’s Today show about the then-ongoing manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray concerning the death of pop singer Michael Jackson.
Pastor contends Alford’s televised comments about a prosecution witness and the jury violated a gag order he issued prohibiting defense lawyers from commenting publicly about the case. Alford did not participate in the Murray trial but is a partner of the physician’s lead defense lawyer, Ed Chernoff.
The judge said he wants to see Alford in court again on Nov. 29, the same day he is scheduled to sentence Murray.
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Conrad Murray Trial Expert Fined For Contempt
White was accused of telling a reporter during the trial that Deputy District Attorney David Walgren was a “scumbag.”
He also made a comment to jurors while on the witness stand that may have been a violation of the judge’s ruling.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/entertainment&id=8434238
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Judge Denies Request For Retest In Murray Case – 11/21/11
Source: Associated Press – By Anthony McCartney
A judge has denied a request to retest a vial of the powerful anesthetic that killed Michael Jackson.
Dr. Conrad Murray’s lawyer asked for testing on a vial of the anesthetic propofol on Friday.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor says Murray’s defense attorneys knew about the vial at the start of the case and could have requested the testing months ago.
Attorney J. Michael Flanagan wrote in a court filing that the testing is necessary to analyze the prosecution theory that Murray placed Jackson on an IV drip of propofol and the painkiller lidocaine then left the room.
A prosecutor argued Monday that Murray received a fair trial and there was no legal basis for the request.
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By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:47pm EST
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to sentence Michael Jackson’s former doctor to the maximum four years in prison for his involuntary manslaughter conviction in the singer’s 2009 death.
In a separate court filing, defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray, 58, sought to convince Los Angeles trial judge Michael Pastor to sentence their client to probation.
The dueling legal papers come in advance of a hearing on Tuesday at which Pastor will issue his sentence for Murray, who is currently in jail awaiting that court date.
Jackson was found lifeless at his mansion on June 25, 2009, about three weeks before he was due to begin a series of comeback concerts in London.
Murray was at the singer’s house and had given him the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, which medical examiners said was the chief cause of his death.
Doctors testified at the trial that propofol, which is often used for surgery, should never be given in a home setting without adequate staffing and equipment.
In seeking to justify their request for a maximum prison sentence of four years for Murray, prosecutors David Walgren and Deborah Brazil argued that the doctor took advantage of Jackson’s trust in him, all while being under salary for $150,000 a month.
“Instead of utilizing his medical knowledge and training to provide Mr. Jackson with proper medical care, the defendant acted as an employee and as a drug dealer and completely corrupted the trust necessary in a proper doctor-patient relationship,” prosecutors stated.
Defense attorneys said in their court papers that Murray’s “background and character” warrant a sentence of probation, not prison time. They also cited his history of treating poor patients regardless of their ability to pay.
“Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pail of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson,” defense lawyers stated.
Legal experts have said that, because of overcrowding in California prisons, Murray may spend as little as a few months behind bars regardless of what he receives as a sentence.
California adopted a new law in October that sends low-risk prison inmates to county jails, and in turn officials who run Los Angeles county jails have been releasing inmates early because of a lack of space.
“It will be very difficult to achieve an appropriate sentence of incarceration for Dr. Conrad Murray,” Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, whose office prosecuted the case, told reporters earlier this month.
In addition, an attorney for Jackson’s estate said in a court filing that the singer would have earned $100 million had he completed all 50 shows at London’s O2 arena that he was scheduled to perform before his death.
Murray has been in jail since November 7 awaiting his sentencing hearing, due to a decision by Pastor to not allow him to remain free until that upcoming hearing.
That decision was made on the same day that a Los Angeles found Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-michaeljackson-idUSTRE7AN00B20111124
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Dr. Conrad Murray May Face $100m Payout To Jackson’s Kids
Thursday Nov 24 2011
Dr. Conrad Murray may be asked to pay $100 million to Michael Jackson’s children for their loss, it is reported.
The 58-year-old former physician was found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of the King of Pop earlier this month.
The singer died two years ago from acute Propofol intoxication at the hands of the doctor.
Murray will be back in court on November 29 for his sentencing hearing where he will find out his fate.
But according to new documents filed by the District Attorney and obtained by TMZ, it states that Prosecutors want the huge payout because Jackson’s children are “entitled to wages or profits lost due to injury incurred by the victim.”
Jackson’s three kids; Prince, Paris and Blanket are considered victims under the law and are entitled to restitution from Murray.
The D.A. references a letter from MJ Estates that estimates the Thriller star would have made $100 million in revenue from the This Is It tour.
The defence team are also pushing for the maximum sentence of four years behind bars for Murray.
The D.A. says they are seeking the strongest punishment possible under Murray’s conviction because he was “risking Mr. Jackson’s life every night” by giving him the powerful anesthetic in his futile efforts to treat the star’s insomnia.
The legal office also claims that Jackson was a “particularly vulnerable victim” and Murray lied to mask his crime.
See official court documents here courtesy of TMZ: 1123_murray – prosecution sentencing document 11-23-11
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Conrad Murray sentenced to four years behind bars
Los Angeles (CNN) — Dr. Conrad Murray was sentenced Tuesday to four years in jail — the maximum sentence allowed under the law — in the death of Michael Jackson.
Judge Michael Pastor, in a lengthy statement delivered before sentencing Murray for involuntary manslaughter, said he felt a significant responsibility to determine the appropriate sentence, utilizing his “sense of fairness and decency.”
“There are those who feel Dr. Murray is a saint,” he said. “There are those who feel Dr. Murray is the devil. He’s neither. He’s a human being. He stands convicted of the death of another human being.”
Pastor said that while he had considered the entire “book” of Murray’s life, he also had “read the book of Michael Jackson’s life.”
“Regrettably, as far as Dr. Murray is concerned, the most significant chapter, as it relates to this case, is the chapter involving the treatment, or lack of treatment, of Michael Jackson.”
Jackson died “not because of an isolated one-off occurrence or incident,” Pastor said. “He died because of a totality of circumstances which are directly attributable to Dr. Murray … because of a series of decisions that Dr. Murray made.”
Murray, he said, became involved in “a cycle of horrible medicine.”
He cited Murray’s “pattern of deceit and lies. That pattern was to assist Dr. Murray.”
A tape recording of Jackson’s slurred voice was Murray’s “insurance policy,” Pastor said. “It was designed to record his patient surreptitiously at that patient’s most vulnerable point. I can’t even imagine that happening to any of us because of the horrific violation of trust.”
He said he wondered whether that tape would have been offered for sale, had Jackson not died and a rift had developed between the two in the future.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter three weeks ago after a trial in which prosecutors successfully argued that Murray’s reckless use of the surgical anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep, without proper monitoring equipment, led to the singer’s death.
Testimony during the trial revealed that Murray gave propofol nearly every night in the two months before the singer’s death on June 25, 2009, as Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts set for London the next month.
Prosecutors asked for the maximum four years behind bars, and for Murray to pay Jackson’s children more than $100 million in restitution. Defense lawyers requested probation.
In a sentencing memo filed with the judge last week, prosecutors said Murray has “displayed a complete lack of remorse” about Jackson’s death, and is, “even worse, failing to accept even the slightest level of responsibility.”
Deputy district attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil cited Murray’s decision not to testify in his own defense, even while he was giving interviews for a documentary that aired days after the verdict.
“In each of these interviews, the defendant has very clearly stated that he bears no responsibility for Michael Jackson’s death,” the prosecutors said. “Moreover, the defendant has continued to express concern only for his individual plight and portrays himself, not the decedent, as the victim.”
“I don’t feel guilty because I did not do anything wrong,” Murray said in the documentary quoted by the prosecution.
“Finally, the defendant consistently blames the victim for his own death, even going so far as to characterize himself as being ‘entrapped’ by the victim and as someone who suffered a ‘betrayal’ at the hands of the victim,” the prosecutors said.
The defense argued that Jackson, fearing the comeback concerts could be canceled if rehearsals did not go well, put intense pressure on Murray to help him sleep.
The prosecutors contended in their sentencing memo that Murray should be ordered to pay Jackson’s three children restitution for the “wage and profits lost,” as provided under California’s “victim’s bill of rights” law.
The singer’s “estate estimates Michael Jackson’s projected earnings for the 50-show O2 concert series to be $100 million,” the prosecutors said.
With nearly $2 million in funeral expenses and 10% interest added each year, the prosecution is asking Pastor to order Murray to pay Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson more than $120 million in restitution.
While it is doubtful that Murray, who is unlikely to ever practice medicine again, could pay very much of that sum, it could prevent him from reaping financial benefits from any books, interviews or film projects in the future.
Defense lawyers, in their sentencing memo, included a biography of Murray that described him as “a self-made man of humble origins,” who paid his own way through medical school without scholarships or family funds.
“He was raised in a home that lacked indoor plumbing or electricity, and he walked to school barefoot for his first couple years of school,” the defense said.
He worked as a doctor for 20 years, with “no prior contacts with the law,” and many of his patients were elderly in low-income, underserved communities, the defense said.
“It seems reasonable that the transgression for which he is to be judged should be viewed within the context of the larger life of which it is a part,” it said.
The defense challenges the prosecution’s contention that Murray is not remorseful.
“Dr. Murray wishes to make it unmistakenly clear to everyone that he deeply mourns the loss of Michael Jackson’s life, and he profoundly regrets any mistakes or oversights on his part that may have contributed to it,” the defense said.
The judge should also consider “the manifold collateral consequences that Dr. Murray has sustained as a result of his mistake,” the defense said, including the loss of his medical career, the public disgrace and loss of privacy.
“Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pall of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson,” the defense said.
The defense memo included a letter from Murray’s elderly mother, Milta Rush. She sat in court for much of her son’s trial, just a few feet away from Jackson’s mother.
“I sympathize with Mrs. Jackson as a mother,” Rush wrote in a letter to the judge. “I sense she was very close to her son. I really wanted to approach her personally and tell her I am sorry for the loss of her son, but I was unsure if she would be receptive, and I did not want to take the chance of violating court rules. I am sorry for all her loss.”
Murray’s mother also told the judge her son is “saddened and remorseful” about Jackson’s death.
The defense argued that Murray was trying to help Jackson. “His compassionate intentions should not be overlooked,” defense lawyers said.
“The victim was a willing recipient of the medications administered,” the defense said. “In fact, Mr. Jackson had repeatedly begged Dr. Murray for propofol to overcome his insomnia so that he could sleep.”
Murray does not pose a safety threat to the public, the defense said in filings before the hearing. “The likelihood of recurrence is essentially nonexistent since Conrad Murray’s medical license has been suspended.”
Aside from the arguments of what Murray deserves, the defense contended that California’s prison and jail crowding means that “neither the space nor the public funds exist to continue imprisoning nonviolent, nondangerous offenders who do not need to be incapacitated for the sake of public safety.”
“Dr. Murray is clearly such a defendant,” the defense said. “He is an individual who remained free on bond for more than two years prior to the jury verdict, adhering assiduously to all of the bond conditions that had been imposed.”
If Murray takes up a state prison or county jail cell, it “may mean that someone else with higher potential for violence will be released,” the defense said.
Instead, the defense proposed that Murray could be sentenced to community service along with probation.
“Though he will perhaps not again be a doctor qualified to make diagnoses, he could educate and counsel patients about heart care and disease prevention,” it said. “There are many nonprofit clinics and organizations that would benefit from his participation, if ordered to perform community service as a condition of his sentence and a means of ‘putting some water back into the public well.’”
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/29/justice/california-conrad-murray-sentencing/?hpt=hp_t1
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Judge: Murray’s secret recording designed to blackmail Jackson
Source: NY Daily News.com – By Nancy Dillion
The disgraced doc convicted of accidentally killing Michael Jackson has filed a notice of appeal, one of his lawyers confirmed Friday.
Conrad Murray signed the paperwork from jail this week saying he’s representing himself, a step that’s required to get court-appointed counsel, lawyer J. Michael Flanagan said.
Flanagan said the Houston cardiologist can no longer afford private legal help.
“There’s probably going to be a restitution decision that puts him underwater,” Flanagan explained.
“We’re helping him with the appeal paperwork, and eventually there’s a possibility we might be appointed to work on his appeal. We know the case and think we’re the logical people to be appointed, but you never know,” he said.
The Friday filing was first reported by TMZ.com.
A court spokeswoman confirmed the court’s receipt of the form.
Prosecutors have asked for $100 million in restitution from Murray for Jackson’s estate. A hearing on the matter has been set for January.
Murray, 58, sat stone-faced at his Tuesday sentencing as Judge Michael Pastor sentenced him to four years in jail and branded him a reckless liar who caused Jackson’s overdose death and then tried to cover his tracks.
“He has absolutely no sense of remorse, absolutely no sense of fault and is and remains dangerous,” Pastor said.
Despite his max sentence, Murray is expected to serve less than two years because a new state law means he’ll bypass state prison and remain in Los Angeles County’s notoriously overcrowded jail.
“He’ll probably be released in winter 2013,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told The News. “He’ll be a keep-away inmate who’s escorted everywhere he goes. He will not mingle with the jail population.”
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Michael Jackson’s Dermatologist Questioned
The doctor is under investigation for his relationship with Jackson.
Source: BET – By Hillary Crosley
Dr. Conrad Murray may’ve been convicted for his hand in Michael Jackson’s death but the probe continues.
Following Murray’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter in Jackon’s death, Dr. Arnold Klein, The King of Pop’s dermatologist, has been subpoenaed by the Medical Board of California, for allegations that he prescribed more Demerol than necessary to Jackson. Although Klein has yet to be accused of criminal conduct in connection to Jackson’s 2009 death, he will have to appear for questioning on December 15.
The Medical Board, according to TMZ, aims to question Klein about claims that he self-prescribed narcotics, used false names on narcotic prescriptions, illegally handed out drug samples to famous patients and committed gross negligence by practicing while afflicted with multiple sclerosis. In a interesting twist, the dermatologist’s lawyer Herbert L. Weinberg recently quit the case though no concrete reason has been announced.
During the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, according to Rolling Stone, expert witness Dr. Robert Waldman claimed that Klein gave Jackson 900 milligrams of Demerol over a span of three days in May 2009. This action led to withdrawal symptoms like anxiety and insomnia, which Jackson tried to relieve with the ultimately lethal sedative Propofol. According to Dr. Waldman, Klein gave Jackson “stiff doses” of Demerol that were unnecessary for the singer’s plastic surgery treatments.
http://www.bet.com/news/celebrities/2011/12/05/michael-jackson-s-dermatologist-questioned.html
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Lawyer says Jackson doctor under tight security, calls measures ‘offensive’
Source: Washington Post
LOS ANGELES — The doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson is coping with tight security and isolation and remains optimistic that he will win an upcoming appeal, his civil attorney said Tuesday.
Charles Peckham said sheriff’s deputies appear to be subjecting Conrad Murray to more security than other inmates at Men’s Central Jail and that the physician was left heavily shackled during their jailhouse meeting.
“Treating him like Hannibal Lecter is offensive,” Peckham said, referring to the fictional serial killer from popular books and films. A sheriff’s officials defended the security measures, saying they were for Murray’s safety.
The attorney had to obtain a court order Tuesday to meet with Murray to discuss strategy on a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s father. Peckham said despite the judge’s order, he was denied entry to the jail, but officials relented after speaking with the civil trial court handling the case.
He said their initial 30-minute meeting was cut short when the jail was placed in lockdown, but Peckham said the time was enough to upset him and see that Murray’s fortunes had dramatically changed.
“This man who saved lives made a mistake, and they’re going to him pay like a mass-murderer,” Peckham said. The doctor spoke extensively to documentary filmmakers before his conviction, but few details of his life behind bars have been divulged.
Murray “is a real target because of his notoriety and because of the Michael Jackson connection,” sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said. “We’re just being extra cautious right now.”
He said jail officials will evaluate how to handle Murray’s incarceration, but that he may not serve his whole sentence in isolation from other inmates. He noted that without a recent change in state law, Murray would be serving his term in state prison, not a county lockup.
Peckham said Murray, who has been jailed since a jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter on Nov. 7, is optimistic that an appellate court will grant an appeal on the case.
Peckham’s visit came hours after the physician, who was never paid the $150,000 a month he expected for serving as Jackson’s personal physician, asked a court to provide a publicly funded attorney to handle his appeal because he is indigent.
J. Michael Flanagan, who was one of Murray’s criminal defense lawyers, agreed with Peckham’s description. He said that when he visited Murray recently, four deputies escorted the physician into the meeting room and shackled him to a table.
“He can’t even scratch his nose,” the attorney said. Flanagan said he saw another inmate who was charged with murder meet with his attorney without the same restrictive measures.
“This is because of his notoriety,” Whitmore said. “It’s not so much the crime itself.”
Peckham said he didn’t “think the sheriff’s department is being anything but professional. I do however believe the amount of security for Dr. Murray is vastly out of proportion with the potential threat.”
He said Murray told him he appreciates the support and prayers he’s received from former patients and friends.
In the early days of his confinement, Murray was classified as suicidal in jail records, according to a probation report. Peckham said he saw no indications that the physician intended to take his own life and that he seemed to be in control of his mental health.
Murray indicated in a two-page court filing Tuesday that he would rely on a court-funded attorney to help craft his appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that felony convicts have a constitutional right to assistance of counsel.
Flanagan and Murray’s other criminal attorneys had sought to present evidence to jurors about Jackson’s finances, details of his deal for a series of comeback concerts, and information about other doctors treating the pop superstar. But the judge refused and ruled the trial would be about Murray’s care of the singer.
The Houston-based doctor had been giving Jackson nightly doses of the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid. The drug is normally given in hospital settings with extensive monitoring equipment, but testimony showed Murray had only basic equipment and left Jackson’s bedside on the morning of his death.
Pastor has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 23 to decide whether to order Murray to pay any restitution to Jackson’s family or reimburse them for funeral expenses, which totaled more than $1.8 million.
Jackson’s estate estimated the singer would have earned at least $100 million if he had performed his “This Is It” concerts planned for London’s O2 arena.
Murray will lose his medical license as a result of the conviction is upheld.
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Medical Board Suspends Conrad Murray’s License 1/3/12
Source: Reuters – Tim Kenneally
Dr. Conrad Murray’s medical license has been suspended by the Medical Board of California, a spokesperson for the board confirms to TheWrap.
Murray, who’s currently serving a four-year sentence in L.A. County Jail after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, has 15 days to surrender his wall certificate and wallet license.
A spokesperson for the board told TheWrap that license suspension is standard operating procedure for doctors who’ve been convicted of felonies.
Murray can appeal the decision within those 15 days — a distinct possibility, since he’s also appealed his criminal conviction. Should Murray file an appeal, the board would set up a hearing on the matter.
Murray was also licensed to practice medicine in Nevada and Texas. In April 2010, the Texas Medical Board restricted Murray’s license, prohibiting him from administering anesthetic agents, including propofol, which was found to have killed Jackson. The Nevada Board of Medical Examiners has also suspended his license.
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Judge Issues Favorable Ruling For Insurers Of Jackson’s Tour
Source: Los Angeles Wave 1/5/12
The insurers of Michael Jackson’s attempted comeback concerts won a round in court Thursday when a judge said the company can begin collecting information from the promoters of the singer’s attempted 2009 comeback tour.
A group of Michael Jackson fans are suing Dr. Conrad Murray for “emotional damage” over the singer’s 2009 death.
Last November, Murray was found guilty of administering the fatal dose of anesthetic propofol which cost the Thriller hitmaker his life.
He was sentenced to four years behind bars for the crime but his legal woes are far from over. Members of the Michael Jackson Community, which is based in France, have launched a lawsuit against the imprisoned medic for causing them pain and distress.
Lawyer Emmanuel Ludot filed the documents on behalf of about 100 fans on Friday.
He tells the AFP, “It’s similar to losing a childhood friend in a traffic accident. Because this death affects you, you have the possibility to file a suit and seek compensation.”
The case is set to be heard in Orleans, France on April 11th.
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Dr. Conrad Murray Back to Court to Prove MJ Partly Caused His Own Death
Source: TMZ.com
Dr. Conrad Murray is asking the judge in his criminal case to deny Michael Jackson‘s family full restitution, on grounds MJ caused his own death.
Murray filed legal docs yesterday — obtained by TMZ — asking for evidence the defense never received during the trial … evidence that could show Michael self-administered the fatal dose of Propofol.
Murray’s lawyer, Michael Flanagan, argues that in deciding how much restitution the family gets, it’s appropriate to consider the victim’s responsibility for his own demise.
So Murray will concede he’s partly to blame — he can’t argue otherwise because of the conviction — but he still wants to prove that MJ ultimately caused his own death.
The prosecution is asking for around $100 million in restitution, but the judge hasn’t decided on a figure. But once the figure is set, if Flanagan gets his way and the judge were to decide MJ was 50% responsible for his death, the judge would reduce the restitution award by 50%.
So the fat lady hasn’t sung … yet.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/01/10/dr-conrad-murray-michael-jackson-death-restitution/
Administrator’s Note: This man is so disgusting beyond words!!!! A true sociopath!!!
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Doctor convicted in Michael Jackson’s death seeks release from jail pending appeal
Source: Washington Post
LOS ANGELES — The doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s death asked a judge Friday to release him from jail pending his appeal.
Dr. Conrad Murray, who is serving a four-year jail sentence, said in a declaration that he should be released either on his own recognizance or on bail with electronic monitoring.
He said he is not a danger to society, will not flee the area, and wants to work to help support his seven children.
His lawyer, J. Michael Flanagan, said in the motion that Murray knows he cannot work as a doctor but would find other employment. He suggested the sentence and Murray’s mode of confinement is extremely severe for a man with no prior criminal record.
He said Murray is being held in solitary confinement and is chained to a table when he meets with his lawyers. He also said Murray is extremely sorrowful about Jackson’s death.
Jackson died in June 2009 from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, administered by Murray. Flanagan conceded that Murray made some medical misjudgments but said he never intended harm to Jackson.
Murray’s appeal has not yet been filed, but the motion offered a preview of some issues that will be raised, including the claim that Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor should have allowed testimony about Jackson’s financial condition.
Flanagan said the exclusion of that evidence “seriously compromised the defendant’s ability to demonstrate the desperate situation which was guiding the decisions and choices of both Mr. Jackson and Dr. Murray.”
Murray appeared to be blaming Jackson for decisions that led to his death.
“Mr. Jackson was an uncooperative patient who made decisions and demands based upon his particular needs,” said Flanagan. “One of which was his extremely precarious financial situation complicated by drug addiction. “
Flanagan also cited the judge’s refusal to sequester the jury and the presence of cameras in the courtroom as appellate issues.
With Murray’s appeal expected to take more than a year to move through the courts, the attorney said it would be unfair to keep him jailed in the interim.
Under sentencing guidelines, Murray is expected to serve no more than half of his sentence. The attorney said if he served his complete sentence he would not receive the benefits of a favorable appeal decision if his case was overturned.
A hearing on the motion was set for Feb. 24.
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So Awkward! James DeBarge Mad Dr. Conrad Murray Is His Jailmate?
Source: News One – By Ruth Manuel -Logan
Former crooner James Debarge and Dr. Conrad Murray are just a few feet away from each other at the L.A. County Men’s jail. And why is this a problem? According to TMZ, Debarge, who was once briefly married to Janet Jackson, isn’t reportedly happy about Murray’s location, because he considered Michael Jackson a brother.
DeBarge, once thought of as a “pretty boy,” was a member of the successful five-family ’80s group DeBarge. After James and Janet eloped in 1984, they were married less than a year. At the time, all fingers pointed to Jackson patriarch Joe as the one who put the kabosh on the relationship.
Although James and his siblings had a string of successful R&B and pop hits, drugs eventually split the successful family unit up. Over the years, James has been arrested several times and has battled drug addiction. He was most recently arrested yet again for assault with a deadly weapon and drug charges.
Murray, who was Michael’s personal physician, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last November in the death of the pop icon and is expected to serve about two years of his four-year sentence. The cardiologist had been giving Jackson nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts. Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Murray acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.
Murray is serving out his sentence in a county jail rather than a state prison. Under a recent California policy, those convicted of certain non-violent crimes, including involuntary manslaughter, are not required to serve their time in prison.
Ironically, now the two men have to catch glimpses of each other in a jail that holds approximately 4,000 inmates. Reportedly, both James and Murray have been placed in Administrative Segregation, the place where famous inmates are housed to keep them from associating with the general prison population.
James, who was only recently seen on “Dr. Drew’s Life Changers” talk show with former DeBarge member siblings Randy and Bunny, according to lawyer Spencer Vodnoy, is ”really upset” he’s so close to Murray.
http://newsone.com/entertainment/ruthlogan/el-debarge-unhappy-with-dr-conrad-murray-as-his-jailmate/
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Boy Back In School After Michael Jackson Act
Source: Wiona Daily News
The 9-year-old boy suspended from St. Stanislaus school last week for mimicking Michael Jackson’s famous groin grab dance move was back in class Monday.
Lenny Boberg performed the moves to Jackson’s 1983 smash-hit single “Billie Jean” during a lip-sync fundraiser Thursday at the school.
Winona Area Catholic Schools Principal Pat Bowlin ap-proached the boy and his mother at the event and told them the routine -specifically the handful of times Lenny reached for his groin area to imitate one of Jackson’s best-known dance moves – constituted gross misconduct and that the boy was being suspended, said Lenny’s mother, Mindy Boberg.
She said her family met Mon-day morning with Bowlin, the Rev. Richard Colletti and Winona’s director of Catholic education, Marsha Stenzel, and was told her son’s suspension will be reversed. She said she also was told Lenny will receive an apology and be able to make up any school work he missed Friday.
“They seemed to think that we wanted more out of it,” Boberg said. “All we wanted was Lenny back in school. If it had been dealt with appropriately Thursday, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. We really just wanted the wrong righted and for our son to feel like he was treated with respect.”
Bowlin said Monday night that he apologized for the manner in which the incident was handled but stood by the disciplinary action— a one-day suspension.
Stenzel declined to say much about the incident Monday or answer questions about how it was handled, other than to say the suspension was never intended to be indefinite, as the family first thought. She wouldn’t say whether the suspension would be lifted from Boberg’s record, as the family contends.
She plans to meet again with the family next week.
“We are going to take our time and pray about it and get our facts together,” Stenzel said.
Phone calls and emails to Colletti were not returned Monday.
News of the suspension — reported first by the Winona Daily News and La Crosse Tribune — had spread around the world by the end of the weekend.
The story appearing on websites for the New York Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Mail in London and the Daily Telegraph in Australia, among others. “Good Morning America” also has contacted the Boberg family.
Boberg said she didn’t expect the immense amount of publicity and is just happy her son is able to again attend classes. “We just wanted Lenny to go back to school,” she said, “and to make sure he knows that people can’t treat you that way.”
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Michael Jackson’s Doctor Barred From Practicing In Texas
Source: Houston Chronicle – By Todd Ackerman
Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson‘s death, finally has been formally barred from practicing medicine in Texas.
The Texas Medical Board Friday suspended Murray’s license, nearly three years after the death of the pop singer. Murray, currently serving a four-year jail sentence, administered an overdose of the anesthetic propofol that killed Jackson in June 2009.
“This achieves the same effect as license revocation,” said Leigh Hopper, board spokeswoman.
Murray is currently asking a California judge to release him from jail pending appeal of the case. His lawyer said Murray knows he cannot work as a doctor but would find other employment in California to help support his seven children, according to the Associated Press. A hearing on the motion is set for Feb. 24.
Prior to Jackson’s death, Murray worked a few days a month in Acres Homes, flying in from his primary practice in Las Vegas. He opened the cardiology practice in the impoverished north Houston area in his late father’s honor in 2006, then left in the spring of 2009 to become Jackson’s personal doctor.
He returned to Acres Homes to see patients, sporadically, after Jackson’s death, beginning in late 2009 and as recently as summer 2011.
The medical board didn’t need to seek an emergency suspension after Murray’s November conviction because he’s incarcerated and not a threat to Texas patients, Hopper said.
The medical board order noted the state saved “money and resources” because Murray cooperated in the matter. It called such cooperation a mitigating factor in determining the appropriate sanction.
The license suspension is the second action the Texas Medical Board has taken against Murray in the aftermath of Jackson’s death. In 2010, about five months after he resumed seeing patients in Acres Homes, the medical board prohibited him from administering propofol.
That action, like Friday’s license suspension, followed judicial sanction in California.
Officials at the Texas Medical Board suggested at the time it was appropriate to let California take the lead because that was where the standard of care issue took place and because the state already was devoting resources to the investigation.
Under sentencing guidelines, Murray is expected to serve no more than half of his sentence.
Murray’s license will remain suspended until superseded by a subsequent order of the Texas Medical Board, the order says.
Administrator’s Note: Long overdue in my opinion! Should have happened a whole lot sooner, but better late than never.
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Joe Jackson’s Wrongful Death Lawsuit Tossed Out
Source: Contact Music
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Jackson’s father has been thrown out by a California judge.
Joe Jackson launched a legal battle against the King of Pop’s personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray in August, 2010, accusing him of administering a fatal dose of anaesthetic Propofol, which led to the superstar’s untimely death in June, 2009.
The lawsuit, which Joe filed on behalf of his wife Katherine and their family, was later amended to include concert organisers at Aeg Live and bosses at Applied Pharmacy Services in Las Vegas, a company which allegedly supplied Murray with Propofol, as defendants.
However, Tmz.com reports Joe’s entire case has now been thrown out due to a technicality.
U.S law states that two cases with identical allegations can’t stand up in court, and, as family matriarch Katherine Jackson lodged her own wrongful death lawsuit two months before her husband, Joe’s has been dismissed.
He was reportedly seeking damages of between $10 million (£6.7 million) and $500 million (£333.3 million) for emotional distress, loss of support and loss of companionship.
Murray is currently serving a four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter relating to the King of Pop’s death.
http://www.contactmusic.com/news/joe-jacksons-wrongful-death-lawsuit-tossed-out_1296304
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Prosecutors Oppose Jackson Doctor’s Bail Bid
Source: cw56.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s doctor was properly sentenced to four years behind bars in the star’s death and should not be released on bail, prosecutors argued Tuesday in a response to his bid for release while his case is appealed.
Dr. Conrad Murray would be a danger to the community and a flight risk if he was released on bail or on his own recognizance with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, Deputy District Attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil said.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a trial focusing on use of the anesthetic propofol as a sleeping medication for the superstar. Jackson died of an overdose of the drug in June 2009.
Murray’s four-year jail sentence is the highest term that could be imposed for that crime.
Prosecutors said the sentence was appropriate under the circumstances and noted it was unlikely Murray would serve more than half that time.
“Michael Jackson died because of a totality of circumstances directly attributable to the defendant,” the motion said. Murray had practiced “a form of highly dangerous and experimental medicine that directly resulted in Mr. Jackson’s death,” it added.
“Based on his failure to accept responsibility for the decisions he made, his complete lack of remorse and lack of insight into the danger of his criminally negligent conduct, he remains a danger to the community,” the motion stated.
It noted that he has many contacts outside the state and out of the country and could flee if released.
The motion also said Murray has not established the existence of any substantial legal question that might result in reversal of his conviction.
His lawyer, J. Michael Flanagan, said in a motion last month that Murray knows he cannot work as a doctor but would find other employment. He suggested the sentence and Murray’s mode of confinement is extremely severe for a man with no prior criminal record.
Murray is being held in solitary confinement and is chained to a table when he meets with his lawyers, according to Flanagan, who said Murray is extremely sorrowful about Jackson’s death.
Flanagan conceded that Murray made some medical misjudgments but said he never intended harm to Jackson.
With Murray’s appeal expected to take more than a year to move through the courts, the attorney said it would be unfair to keep him jailed in the interim. His appeal has not yet been filed. Conceivably, he could serve his entire sentence before the appeal is decided.
A hearing on the motion was set for Friday.
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Were Michael and Whitney More Than Just Friends? Yes, According to David Gest (Excerpt Only)
Source: The Sun
“My friendship with Whitney started in 1985 when I was introduced to her by my best friend Michael Jackson.
At the time, I was producing the American Cinema Awards in LA and as Michael and I were driving to Disneyland in his Rolls-Royce, I said I would love to have Whitney receive the Distinguished Achievement in Music Award. He dialled and passed me the phone saying, “Okay, here she is, ask her.”
I was like “Holy Focaccia, Michael, you’ve got Whitney Houston on the phone!”
I liked Whitney from the moment I spoke to her and she immediately said yes to the honour.
I produced eight shows with her, a number of them in aid of her Whitney Houston Foundation.
When I met with her last year, it was to interview her for my film Michael Jackson: Life Of An Icon.
She really loved Michael and he adored her. Michael told me they once shared a passionate kiss, and she told me she was at one time very much in love with him.
I think she really wanted to marry him but, although he had a crush on her, he was too shy. Later, he confessed to me he should have made every move. If they had got together, I believe Whitney would not have done drugs or become a semi-recluse.”
Administrator’s Note: It would be nice if you had heard these type of things from the people involved themselves. They didn’t tell for obvious reasons, so why should friends and acquaintances? I have always thought that they made a cute couple and wondered why they did not ever get together. If this is true, it makes me really sad. 
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Chris Brown Wants Michael Jackson Daughter Paris in Music Video, but Katherine Jackson Says ‘No!’ (Excerpt Only)
Source: International Business Times
Michael Jackson’s 13-year-old daughter Paris is making her big-screen debut in a fantasy/adventure film called “Lundon’s Bridge and the Three Keys,” and she is reportedly a huge fan of singer Chris Brown. She was photographed attending one of his concerts back in October, when TMZ claimed that the late King of Pop’s daughter is “in love with Chris Brown.” (The pop star let Paris attend a special pre-show sound check, and also took a photo with her, pictured right.)
One person who’s not so happy, on the other hand, is Jackson family matriarch and Paris’s guardian, Katherine Jackson, who, according to the National Enquirer, allowed her granddaughter to listen to Brown’s music and attend his shows, but has put her foot down on a potential collaboration with the singer, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting pop singer Rihanna after a heated argument following the Grammy Awards.
Referring to Katherine Jackson, the Enquirer wrote, “She doesn’t feel that Brown, who was convicted of felony assault for his attack on Rihanna, is a good influence. She allows her granddaughter to be a fan, and she lets her attend his concerts, but she draws the line at Paris working side by side with him.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/304613/20120225/paris-michael-jackson-chris-brown-rihanna.htm
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Lawyer: Jackson Theft Accused Will Prove Innocence
The State: By Jill Lawless – Associated Press
LONDON — Two Michael Jackson fans accused of stealing unreleased music by the late King of Pop from Sony’s computers are confident they can prove their innocence in court, their lawyer said Wednesday.
Solicitor Karen Todner said James Marks and Jamie McCormick “are eager to point out to Michael Jackson’s fans and family that they would never do anything to harm the legacy that is Michael Jackson’s music.”
“As Michael Jackson has said,” she added, “‘Lies run sprints but the truth runs marathons.’”
The two British men were arrested last year after Sony Music Entertainment noticed a breach of its systems.
The entertainment company has a seven-year deal, worth up to $250 million, to sell unreleased recordings by Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50.
Sony says no customer data were compromised in the attack on the company’s internal music-sharing system.
Marks, 26, and McCormick, 25, pleaded not guilty last week at Leicester Crown Court in central England to computer misuse and copyright offenses. They were freed on bail and are due to stand trial in January.
The case is not believed to be linked to Anonymous or Lulz Security, loose-knit hackers’ collectives, broadly sympathetic to the WikiLeaks’ secret-spilling site, who have targeted government and corporate websites around the world.
Last year, hackers targeted Sony Playstation and Sony Online Entertainment networks, compromising personal information, email addresses and the security of millions of user accounts. At the time, Lulz Security claimed responsibility for the hack.
On Tuesday, the FBI announced that five alleged Lulz Security members had been arrested in the U.S., Britain and Ireland after one of the group’s leading hackers turned informant.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/07/2181405/lawyer-jackson-theft-accused-will.html#RSS=technology#storylink=cpy
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Cicero Bar Accused of ‘Billie Jean’ Performance Without Permission
Source: The Chicago Tribune Breaking Business – By Corilyn Shropshire
A Cicero bar owner is being sued for allegedly allowing the public performance of chart-topping songs such as Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love The Way You Lie” without permission.
Record company Broadcast Music Inc. filed a copyright infringement suit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois against Martha E. Macias, who is listed as an officer of Dona Cuca Inc., the parent company of the Cicero-based Merendero Bar & Grill.
Macias is alleged to have allowed four songs to be performed publicly at the restaurant without “a license or permission to do so,” according to the suit.
Music star Eminem, who wrote and performed the hit “Love the way you lie,” is also named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit along with MJ Publishing/Mijac Music, the company that owns the rights to the late pop star Michael Jackson’s No. 1 hit “Billie Jean.”
Others named in the suit include the owners of the songs, “El Ultimo Adios” performed by Mexican singer and actress Paulina Rubio and “Me Gustan Todas,” performed by “reggaeton” singer Fuego.
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Doctor Who Gave Daughter Surgical Anesthetic At Home Sees License Suspended
Source: Los Angeles Times
A Northridge doctor’s license was suspended Thursday after medical authorities found he had been injecting his daughter at home with propofol, the same drug that killed pop star Michael Jackson.
Robert S. Markman, 66, a retired anesthesiologist, constructed a treatment area in his adult daughter’s “filthy” house, in a bedroom she rarely left, the Medical Board of California alleged in petition for an interim suspension order made public Thursday.
Markman injected his daughter, whose name was not given, with the surgical anesthetic about 500 times over five years to treat the severe genital pain she had experienced for years, the order states.
Markman began treating his daughter after her efforts to find treatment from numerous medical centers and other physicians were unsuccessful, according to a declaration by Markman cited by the board.
“This is a tragic case of a woman who has suffered excruciating pain for 17 years and had not been able to get any relief,” said Mitchell J. Green, a San Francisco attorney representing Markman. “The only relief she ever received was from her father, who is an anesthesiologist who has made what is, by all accounts, a breakthrough.”
Interim suspension orders are a rare move by the medical board, sought when it is believed a doctor in question could cause harm before a formal decision can be made in a case, said Dan Wood, a spokesman for the board.
“It doesn’t happen all that often, but our mission is to protect the public’s health, and in order to do that, sometimes we have to move this way,” Wood said.
Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in November in the death of Michael Jackson, with prosecutors saying his intravenous administration of propofol in Jackson’s home was recklessly outside the bounds of accepted medical practice.
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Judge Orders Michael Jackson’s Mother To Answer More Questions In Lawsuit Against AEG
Source: The Los Angeles Wave
Attorneys for AEG Live won a round in court Tuesday when a judge ordered Michael Jackson’s mother and his three children to answer more questions about their lawsuit accusing the entertainment conglomerate of negligently hiring Dr. Conrad Murray to care for the late King of Pop.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos also said AEG Live can continue taking Katherine Jackson’s deposition, which began last week but is still incomplete.
Jackson was set to perform a string of 50 shows in London for AEG Live, but he died June 25, 2009 of acute propofol intoxication in Los Angeles while rehearsing for the concert series.
The negligence suit was filed in September 2010 by Katherine Jackson on behalf of herself and her son’s three children, Michael Jr., Paris-Michael Katherine and Prince Michael, alleging the company was negligent in hiring Murray.
The complaint also alleges AEG Live is responsible for the medical decisions made by Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death and was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison.
AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam said he was pleased with the ruling, because the judge ordered everything the defense wanted except for monetary sanctions covering the cost of bringing the motion. He said Katherine Jackson’s lawyers cannot make “heinous” allegations in a lawsuit, then refuse to show proof.
Putnam has called the lawsuit a “shakedown” of AEG Live.
However, plaintiffs’ attorney Kevin Boyle said the AEG Live motion was “typical defense gamesmanship.”
During the hearing, Boyle claimed some of the questions AEG Live posed to Jackson’s children were highly personal, including whether they had anything in their diary indicating their father “was going to kill himself.”
AEG Live lawyers maintain the firm was not Murray’s employer. They say Katherine Jackson has not provided all the information she has to show that AEG hired Murray to be her late son’s exclusive doctor as he prepared for the tour.
But Boyle said his side provided an extensive response, including statements from two AEG Live executives that Murray was given the job as the singer’s physician.
Attorney Jessica Stebbins, also representing AEG Live, said many of the responses the plaintiffs provided only arrived in her office Monday. Boyle replied that some of the answers took significant time to obtain, but he declined to elaborate, citing attorney-client privilege.
Boyle said he also may move later to amend the complaint further and to ask Palazuelos to appoint a third-party “discovery referee.” The referee, typically a retired judge, would sort out the materials exchanged between boh sides and make recommendations to the judge.
Stebbins said she was not sure a discovery referee is necessary, but would agree to have one if both sides concur on the person serving the role. She also said she may ask Palazuelos to postpone the trial date, now set for Sept. 10, because of the delays in getting the information needed in preparing AEG Live’s defense.
http://wavenewspapers.com/article_3764f2cc-8e7e-11e1-8ee1-001a4bcf6878.html
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Michael Jackson’s Estate Settles with Thriller Actress Ola Ray 5/11/12
Three years after she filed her lawsuit…
TMZ reports that Michael Jackson’s Estate has settled with Ola Ray, the actress who played Michael’s date in the legendary “Thriller” video, three years after she filed her lawsuit.
Ray sued Jackson and his production company for breach of contract in May of 2009, a month before Jackson died, claiming that she hadn’t been paid royalties from the 1983 video.
Director John Landis filed a similar lawsuit against the Estate. Both sides are in the process of negotiating a settlement.
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Tito Forgives Murray, Jermaine Does Not
Source: Piers Morgan Tonight
Sitting down with Piers Morgan for their first interview since the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, older brothers Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and Jackie open up about their individual feelings toward Conrad Murray, Michael’s personal doctor:
“I feel like we’re supposed to have forgiving hearts,” says Tito, of the man found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in November. “Doesn’t mean I have to forget. I have a forgiving heart. Sure, I forgive him.”
Jermaine, meanwhile, does not echo his brother’s sentiments:
“No, no. I don’t feel that way at all. I feel like it’s just negligence,” he tells Morgan. “It’s on his part and others. And we’re yet to know what really, really happened. I’m a forgiving person, but not when it comes to that.”
To watch: click here.
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Judge Postpones Trial In Katherine Jackson’s Lawsuit Against AEG Live
Source: Las Angeles Wave
Attorneys for AEG Live on Tuesday won a delay until next year for the start date of the trial of Katherine Jackson’s lawsuit accusing the entertainment conglomerate of negligently hiring Dr. Conrad Murray to care for her late son.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled there was good reason to postpone trial from Sept. 10 until April 2 because of AEG Live’s challenge in obtaining all the information it needs from the opposing side to prepare a proper defense.
Lawyers for AEG Live filed paperwork with Palazuelos last week stating that the size of the litigation and a number of procedural issues have slowed the progress of the case. The documents also state that new information shows Michael Jackson had a history of drug abuse that began long before the singer met Murray.
Katherine Jackson’s lawyers stated in their court papers that the lawsuit under law is on a priority list for trial because one of the late entertainer’s two sons is under age 14.
“Here, it is indisputable that (Prince Michael Jackson II), born Feb. 21, 2002, and having suffered the tragic loss of his father, meets those requirements,” according to the Jackson lawyers’ court papers.
After Tuesday’s hearing, Jackson family attorney Kevin Boyle said he will weigh the option of filing a motion for a priority trial date because of the Jackson boy’s age. But he also said the new trial date may actually help his clients.
“The way we keep obtaining more information, it might be beneficial,” he said.
AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam — who has called the Jackson case a “shakedown” of his clients — said even if Boyle files a motion for a priority trial date, the soonest it could be set is six months from the Sept. 10 date and nine months at the latest.
In additional court papers filed Monday, AEG Live attorneys state that deposition testimony from Katherine Jackson and two of her children revealed that Michael Jackson “had a decades-long history of severe substance abuse, including an addiction to prescription painkillers and repeated interventions.”
The information contradicts the Jackson family’s claims that AEG Live “somehow forced Mr. Jackson to receive dangerous medication from his physician,” according to the AEG Live court papers.
The more information that is obtained from the Jacksons increases the likelihood that it will “further undermine their case,” the AEG Live court papers state.
Jackson was set to perform a string of 50 shows in London for AEG Live, but he died June 25, 2009, of acute propofol intoxication in Los Angeles while rehearsing for the concert series.
The negligence suit was filed in September 2010 by Katherine Jackson on behalf of herself and her son’s three children, Michael Jr., Paris-Michael Katherine and Prince Michael, alleging the company was negligent in hiring Murray.
The complaint also alleges AEG Live is responsible for the medical decisions made by Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death and was sentenced Nov. 29 to four years in prison.
http://wavenewspapers.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_5dc28c8a-9eba-11e1-aa14-001a4bcf6878.html
Re: “Lawyer says Jackson doctor under tight security, calls measures ‘offensive’”
I have only three words, “Poor, Conrad Murray.”