Michael Jackson shopped for sleep in last months, witnesses say
By Alan Duke, CNN
October 25, 2011 -- Updated 0930 GMT (1730 HKT)
Los Angeles (CNN) -- A nurse who says Michael Jackson asked her to give him propofol to help him sleep returns to the witness stand Tuesday morning for the second day of Dr. Conrad Murray's defense presentation.
Cherilyn Lee, who first treated Jackson with IV drips loaded with vitamins, is expected to describe how two months before the pop icon's death, she warned him it wouldn't be safe to give him anesthesia in his home.
A Los Angeles doctor testified for the defense Monday that Jackson asked him for "intravenous sleep medicine" the same weekend he made the request from Lee.
Jackson's meetings with the doctor and nurse came after Murray had already placed his first order for propofol supplies that he soon started administering to Jackson on a nightly basis leading up to his death two months later.
Prosecutors rested their case in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial Monday morning after 33 witnesses testified over 16 days.
Testimony could end this week after the defense calls about 10 more witnesses, including the head of the company that promoted Jackson's comeback concerts, several Murray heart patients and a defense anesthesiology expert.
A major part of Murray's defense strategy is to convince jurors that Jackson was responsible for his own death through his aggressive search for propofol, the surgical anesthetic the coroner ruled killed him.
The prosecution contends Murray's reckless use of propofol in Jackson's bedroom, without proper precautions, made him criminally responsible for his June 25, 2009 death.
Dr. Allan Metzger, who treated Jackson off and on for two decades for "his profound sleep disorder," testified as a defense witness Monday that Jackson called him to his home on April 18, 2009, to ask for help.
Jackson asked for "intravenous sleep medicine," but he did not specifically name a drug, Metzger testified Monday. "I think he used the word juice," he said.
Jackson wanted the anesthetic delivered by IV because "he did not believe any oral medicine would be helpful," Metzger said.
Metzger declined Jackson's request, instead giving him prescriptions for two oral sedatives to help him sleep.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren used the defense witness to make the prosecution's point that using propofol outside a clinical setting is unacceptable.
"Is there any amount of money that would have convinced you to give him intravenous propofol in his house?" Walgren asked Metzger.
"Absolutely not," Metzger answered.
The defense then called Lee, a nurse who practices nutrition and natural remedies. Lee worked with Jackson to help his fatigue and insomnia from February through April of 2009, she said.
After two months of using IV infusions of vitamins, "sophisticated" vitamin smoothies and bedtime teas, Jackson began asking for more help, Lee testified.
"His complaint was 'I have a problem sleeping and all the natural remedies and everything you're doing is not working,'" she said. "When I need sleep, I need to go to sleep right away."
The court session ended before defense lawyer Ed Chernoff could ask Lee to describe what kind of help Jackson was asking for, but the nurse previously told CNN that he requested propofol.
"I told him this medication is not safe," Lee told CNN on June 30, 2009. "He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.'"
Four police officers were also called as defense witnesses Monday morning, but their testimonies were brief.
A Beverly Hills police officer testified that a 911 call routed through her department at 12:20 p.m. on June 25, 2009, asked for help at Jackson's Holmby Hills estate.
A Los Angeles police officer testified next about retrieving seven minutes of video from a security camera at Jackson's home. The video, shown to the jury, captured Jackson's arrival home from his last rehearsal just before 1 a.m. on the morning he died.
Michael Jackson fans sitting in court appeared to become emotional as they viewed the last video ever recorded of the pop icon alive, grainy security camera video of Jackson arriving home from his last rehearsal.
Two LAPD investigators were called to the stand by the defense Monday and testified briefly.
Randy Phillips, the head of AEG Live, is expected to be called by the defense this week.
Murray's lawyers have argued that Jackson was pressured by Phillips, whose company was promoting his comeback concerts in London, to show up healthy and on time for rehearsals or else the tour might be canceled.
Murray, in a police interview, said he was using sedatives to wean Jackson from propofol, which he had used almost every night for two months to fight his insomnia. But after a long, restless night and morning, the lorazepam and midazolam had no effect, Murray said.
"I've got to sleep, Dr. Conrad," Murray said Jackson pleaded to him. "I have these rehearsals to perform. I must be ready for the show in England. Tomorrow, I will have to cancel my performance, because you know I cannot function if I don't get to sleep."
Murray said he gave in to Jackson's pleas and gave him an injection of 25 milligrams of propofol around 10:40 a.m.
The testimony of anesthesiologist expert Dr. Steven Shafer, concluded Monday morning, 11 days after he took the stand as the prosecution's 33rd, but perhaps most important, witness.
Shafer testified last week that there was no way Jackson got only the amount of propofol Murray said he did, based on the high level of the drug found in blood taken during his autopsy.
The "only scenario" to explain Jackson's death was that he overdosed on propofol infused through an IV drip set up by Murray, Shafer said.
The defense contends Jackson self-administered the fatal dose, along with sedatives, without Murray knowing.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/25/justice/california-conrad-murray-trial/index.html?eref=rss_crime
25 October 2011 Last updated at 02:31
Murray defence begins arguments in Jackson death trial
Detective Orlando Martinez was one of the first defence witnesses called
Lawyers defending Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, have called their first witnesses.
They will have to counter four weeks of testimony from prosecution witnesses, who alleged that Dr Murray acted unethically and with gross negligence
Among the first witnesses were a doctor and a nurse practitioner, who had both previously treated or counselled Jackson.
Dr Allan Metzger, a friend of Jackson's for over two decades, testified that Jackson had requested anaesthetics from him as a sleep aid.
During their cross-examination, prosecutors used the same testimony to show that other medical professionals rejected using intravenous or oral anaesthetics to help Jackson sleep.
Cherilyn Lee, a holistic nurse practitioner who treated Jackson with vitamin infusions, testified that she urged Jackson to undergo a sleep study for his insomnia, but he refused, saying he didn't have enough time.
Ms Lee, who has spoken publicly about Jackson requesting propofol from her, is expected to tell jurors about further exchanges with the late singer when she continues testifying on Tuesday.
The defence also questioned Detectives Dan Myers and Orlando Martinez about testimony from bodyguard Alberto Alvarez.
Mr Alvarez said that after Jackson's breathing stopped, Dr Murray told him to place equipment and vials into a bag before calling the 911 emergency service.
The defence has contended that Mr Alvarez may have changed his story after a coroner's official report was released.
Dr Murray is not expected to testify, but the defence has said they will call their own propofol expert to counter testimony of anaesthesiologist Steven Shafer, the prosecution witness who testified for five days.
Defence lawyers argued in opening statements that Jackson could have drunk an extra dose of propofol, but later told the court they would drop the argument based on their own studies.
Prosecutors have portrayed Dr Murray as grossly negligent for administering the drug outside of a hospital setting.
The defence has argued that he was trying to wean a troubled Jackson off the drug, and that the pop superstar, desperate for sleep during rehearsals for a planned comeback concert, administered the fatal dose himself.
Correspondents say that with multiple witnesses already called on Monday, the case could go to the jury as early as the end of this week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15440281
Michael Jackson: Defense of Dr. Conrad Murray stumbles at the start
Score one for the prosecution. A former physician for Michael Jackson, called as a defense witness, says he would "never" have administered propofol at a patient's home as sleep medicine.
By Warren Richey, Staff writer / October 24, 2011
Michael Jackson: Defense of Dr. Conrad Murray stumbles at the start
Score one for the prosecution. A former physician for Michael Jackson, called as a defense witness, says he would "never" have administered propofol at a patient's home as sleep medicine.
By Warren Richey, Staff writer / October 24, 2011
Lawyers defending Michael Jackson’s personal physician sought Monday to poke holes in the prosecution’s case in the month-long manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.
But the effort seemed to falter badly when a former physician for Mr. Jackson – called as a defense witness – testified that he would never, for any price, administer an intravenous sedative like propofol at a patient’s home as sleep medicine.
“Did you ever give Michael Jackson propofol,” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren asked Dr. Allan Metzger.
“Never,” Dr. Metger answered.
Was there any amount of money that would convince Dr. Metzger to administer propofol to Jackson in his house, Mr. Walgren asked.
"No,” the doctor said emphatically.
Rather than helping the defense, Metzger’s testimony appeared to significantly bolster the involuntary manslaughter case against Murray.
Murray is charged with giving Jackson a lethal dose of propofol on June 25, 2009 in an effort to treat the pop star’s chronic insomnia. The medical examiner ruled that Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication.
A medical expert called by the prosecution told the jury last week that the available evidence suggests that Murray set up an unimpeded intravenous drip of propofol that continued to flow into Jackson’s body until he was so drugged that he stopped breathing and died.
Defense lawyers ridiculed the assertion as mere opinion. But it remains to be seen whether Edward Chernoff and others on the defense team will offer a more plausible explanation for how so much of the powerful anesthetic got into Jackson’s system.
They have suggested that Jackson may have self-administered the lethal dose, but medical experts have said that prospect is unlikely because the anesthetic is so fast-acting.
Dr. Metzger’s testimony came shortly after Walgren announced that the prosecution was resting its case. So far, prosecutors have called 33 witnesses and introduced over 220 pieces of evidence at the trial at the Los Angeles County Courthouse.
Defense lawyers are expected to call 15 witnesses.
After the defense presents its case, prosecutors may call rebuttal witnesses before the case is submitted to the jury. The may happen as early as next week.
In addition to Metzger, the defense on Monday called four members of the Los Angeles Police Department and a nurse/practitioner who gave nutritional supplements and natural sleep remedies to Jackson intravenously in February and March 2009. The testimony of Cherilyn Lee is potentially significant because it demonstrates that Jackson was participating in nightly intravenous drips before the arrival of Dr. Murray in April.
Murray has said he provided propofol to Jackson on a nightly basis from April until his death in June.
Ms. Lee testified that at one point Jackson asked her to sit at his bedside through the night so she could observe his difficulty in staying asleep. She said she watched Jackson sleep for about five hours before he woke up around 3 a.m.
She said she had administered a special nutritional IV with a low dose of vitamin C, in addition to a cup of “Sleepy Time Tea.”
“I stayed and watched him every second,” she told the jury.
Lee said Jackson had asked her to come to London and continue her nutritional therapy while on tour. But later Jackson complained that natural remedies would not ease his insomnia.
If convicted, Murray faces up to four years in prison and loss of his medical license.
The trial is set to continue on Tuesday.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justic...se-of-Dr.-Conrad-Murray-stumbles-at-the-start
