Conrad Murray Trial, Day 16: Jackson's Doctor and Nurse Testify - UPDATE 3
After more than two weeks of the prosecution laying out its case, the defense team for Dr. Conrad Murray began calling witnesses in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial Monday.
Murray's defense team attempted to cast doubt on the previous testimony from Jackson's former bodyguard Aberto Alvarez with homicide detectives Dan Myers and Orlando Martinez, who told the court that Martinez hadn't mentioned seeing propofol in the singer's home during his initial police interviews.
Murray's defense team also called Jackson's doctor Allan Metzger and nurse Cherilyn Lee to the stand. Both of them testified that Jackson has asked them about acquiring medication for his insomnia, with Metzger saying that the singer had specifically asked about intravenous medications.
Read on for a full rundown of today's court proceedings.
Update, 2:35 p.m. PT:
The defense team for Dr. Conrad Murray called the testimony of Michael Jackson's former bodyguard, Alberto Alvarez, into question during Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial on Monday.
Murray's attorneys called detectives Dan Myers and Orlando Martinez from the Los Angeles Police Department to the stand to shed doubt on Alvarez's previous testimony.
Alvarez, who was the first security personnel at Michael Jackson's bedroom and placed the 911 call on the day of Jackson's death, told the court at the beginning of the trial that Murray had instructed him to stash an IV bag containing a propofol bottle inside a bag. He also said that Murray instructed him to place a pulse oximeter on the singer's finger.
On the stand Monday, Myers (pictured) testified that Alvarez didn't mention putting bottles away for Murray, or a propofol bottle in a saline bag, during an August 31, 2009 police interview.
Murray's defense team also displayed drawings of a saline bag and pulse oximeter that Alvarez had made during the interview, pointing out that the drawings were made a few days after the Los Angeles coroner's department had issued a press release containing many details about Jackson's death, and amid a barrage of news coverage about the death. The insinuation appeared to be that Alvarez might have drawn from those reports rather than his own experience while making the drawings.
Det. Martinez testified that he was present for approximately half of Alvarez's initial police interview, and said that he never heard him mention that Murray had asked him to stash vials for him, or that he had seen a bottle in a saline bag hanging from an IV rig.
Martinez also testified that he met with Alvarez and assistant district attorney David Walgren at Walgren's office in April 2011, and that Walgren had asked Martinez to bring certain items of evidence -- including the saline bag, the pulse oximeter and a propofol bottle -- for Alvarez to inspect, suggesting that Alvarez's trial testimony might have been influenced by the presentation of evidence.
Returning from the midday break, the defense continued to move reasonably fast, concluding the testimony of Detective Martinez with some inquiries on evidence collected at the death scene, then bringing Dr. Allan Metzger to the stand. Describing himself as Jackson’s “main internal medicine physician” when treating him in 2008 and 2009, Dr. Metzger cited some medications he prescribed for Jackson, including the seizure medication klonopin and the anti-depressant trazadone).
Dr. Metzger said Jackson “asked me about intravenous sleep medicines. He used the word, `juice.' The doctor said Jackson felt no oral medication “would be helpful," but that as a physician he recommended against any intravenous medicines to help induce sleep.
In his cross-examination, prosecutor David Walgren asked Metzger if there was "any amount of money that would have convinced you to give [Jackson] an IV of propofol in his house?"
Metzger replied, “Absolutely not.”
Next up was nurse practitioner Cherilyn Lee, who became a public figure with her press appearances shortly after the singer’s death. With some hesitation, Lee was led laboriously by Chernoff through the history of her involvement with the singer in early 2009, when she was making numerous visits to his home and giving a fatigued Jackson natural, IV–delivered therapies such as the mineral-rich health concoction, “Myers' Cocktail."
Lee testified that Jackson began complaining about having difficulty sleeping, and after she administered a number of all-natural remedies to the singer, Jackson lamented that they were ineffective.
"When I need sleep, I need to go to sleep right away," Lee recalled Jackson telling her.
Lee suggested that Jackson undergo a sleep study, but "he said he didn't have time for all that," Lee testified.
Lee's testimony ended on something of a cliff-hanger, as she told the court, under Chernoff's questioning, that Jackson mentioned a medication to Lee. However, court adjourned for the day before Lee could state the specific medication that Jackson inquired about.
Previously...
Update, 12:16 p.m. PT:
Prosecutors rested their case in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray on Monday, leaving Murray's defense team to take their turn.
Following a final cross-examination of propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer, defense called their first witnesses to the stand, in the form of Beverly Hills Police Department communications director Donna Norris, and Los Angeles Police Department surveillance specialist Alexander Supall.
Norris (pictured) took the stand briefly to discuss the 911 call that came from Jackson's home on the day of its death, detailing the time that the call was placed, the number it was placed from and the cell-phone tower that the information was transmitted from.
Supall, who arrived at Jackson's home on the night of June 25, 2009, to view surveillance footage from the residence's security system, discussed the surveillance set-up at Jackson's home. While he was on the stand, Murray's defense team played two snippets of video filmed by Jackson's security system in the early-morning hours on the day of his death. The first snippet, taken at 12:58 a.m. -- about the time that Jackson returned home from a concert rehearsal -- showed several cars arriving through the front gate of his home. A second section, which began at 12:47 a.m. that morning, shows a car arriving, from a camera above the keypad at Jackson's front gate.
Neither witness was cross-examined by the prosecution.
Court is currently in recess for lunch.
Previously...
As the Conrad Murray trial approaches its conclusion, his defense team kicks off what could be the final week of testimony by continuing its cross-examination of the prosecution's propofol expert, anesthesiologist Dr. Steven Shafer.
