We have now entered week 5 and are on day 16 of the People vs. Conrad Murray trial. The trial was originally due to last 5 weeks. At this juncture in the trial the prosecution finally close their case and the defence take the stand.
Dr Steven Shafer
Today Dr Steven Shafer was yet again on the stand to finish his testimony. This is the fifth day of Shafer’s testimony.
Dr Shafer was still being cross-examined by defence lawyer Ed Chernoff. The key comment that Dr Shafer stated today was that it was hard to determine the exact effect Propofol had on Michael Jackson has he had been given so much of the drug in the two months before his death. Shafer stated "there's very little, almost no precedent for this level of Propofol exposure."
During his testimony Dr Shafer stated that he believed Murray administered 40 times the amount of Propofol to Jackson than what he told police. Shafer also believed Murray had to have infused the drug even after Jackson’s heart stopped to be able to explain the levels of Propofol in Michael’s body.
There was more talk about the levels of Lorazepam in Michael’s stomach. The half-life of a Lorazepam tablet is 22 minutes (in 22 minutes half of the tablet would be dissolved into the stomach). It would take around 2 hours for the levels of Lorazepam in the body to peak.
The defence then asked Dr Shafer about the possibility of Michael taking the Lorazepam on his own accord. Shafer stated he could not discount the possibility that Jackson had swallowed the tablets himself. He stated this would have had to have occurred around 8AM with a quantity of 16mg.
During his testimony today Dr Shafer also told the jury that the American Society of Anaesthesiologists have a set of guidelines that state Propofol should not be used outside of a supervised medical setting. Murray clearly did not follow these guidelines.
The defence also wanted to discuss Dr Shafer’s demonstration of the IV set up again. The defence tried to put forward that the demonstration may not be valid as certain tests were not conducted. They also again at length discussed vented IV’s.
Shafer then discussed in detail the body’s response to remove Propofol from it, the urine sample results and Demerol. It seemed pointless to discuss Demerol as there were no traces of this in any of the toxicology results. It seems the defence are still pressing forward with trying to shift the blame to Dr Arnold Klein, who gave Jackson Demerol regularly.
The prosecution got to redress cross-examine Dr Shafer and were keen to point out that the IV Murray used was indeed a vented IV, such as the one that was used in Dr Shafer’s demonstration. They also stated that self-injection simulations rely on information about dose and time of administration. As Murray had kept no medical notes whatsoever all of Shafer’s work had to be calculated of estimations.
The prosecution then revealed that they had conducted new tests regarding the Lorazepam in MJ’s stomach and the results show it was actually the equivalent of 1/250th of a tablet. There is a possibility that Dan Anderson, the toxicologist, may need to be recalled to the stand to confirm these findings.
During today’s testimony it was also noted that Dr Shafer has special expertise in mathematical modelling and his computer programs are now the default standard within this line of work. It is an interesting fact that Dr White will rely on Dr Shafer for the mathematical elements of his testimony.
Dr White was not present in court today, the first time during Dr Shafer’s testimony. This may be due to the fact that Dr White is facing a contempt of court hearing in November due to comments he made in court regarding Dr Shafer.
Today Dr Shafer also told the court for his reason for absence last week due to the death of his father. As the jury cannot view media, TV or Internet reports during the trial they were unaware of the circumstances.
Prosecution case closed
After five weeks and thirty three witnesses the prosecution then closed their case.
The defence then opened their case and their first witness, Dona Norris, took to the stand.
Dona Norris
The first witness was Dona Norris, a Beverly Hills police department communications and property evidence manager.
Norris’s testimony was discussing the timescale of the 911 call made regarding Michael Jackson. No new information was presented during this testimony.
Alexander Supall
The second witness was Alexander Supall, a surveillance specialist with the LAPD. His role is to collect footage from surveillance cameras for the police. On the 25th June 2009 Supall went to Jackson’s house to retrieve footage from the cameras there.
The court was shown footage from the CCTV camera that was at the front of the house. The footage showed cars arriving at the property.
A BMW (Murray’s car) arrived at the property at 00:50. Six minutes later a convoy of cars arrived containing Jackson and his entourage.
The defence asked why more footage was not collected by Supall. He stated at the time the only evidence the police needed was who arrived at the house. Supall also pointed out that surveillance cameras record for 24 hours. They then overwrite the previous footage to record the next 24 hours. There is no longer any other footage from that night from these surveillance cameras. The defence stated their annoyance of not being able to see all the footage as it may show if any evidence was tampered with or if the scene was disturbed.
Dan Myers
The third testimony came from Detective Dan Myers, an LAPD homicide detective. Detective Myers had interviewed Alberto Alverez in August 2009. The main questions in court were about when Alverez first mentioned that he was requested to put certain items into a bag by Murray. The defence are trying to argue that at first Alverez did not mention Propofol being in the bag.
The defence are also trying to allege that Alberto Alverez and Faheem Mohammad were influenced by Michael Amir Williams.
The jury were also once again shown drawings Alberto Alverez drew of items such as the Propofol bottle inside a saline bag and a pulse oximeter. The drawings were provided two months after Michael died and four days after the coroner announced that Propofol was the cause of death.
Orlando Martinez
The fourth testimony came from Detective Orlando Martinez, an LAPD detective who helped conduct the police interview with Conrad Murray with Detective Scott Smith (who was a prosecution witness).
Martinez stated that in his interview with Alberto Alverez it was never mentioned that Murray asked Alverez to hide Propofol vials or that he saw a Propofol bottle in an IV bag. Martinez claims that during this interview Alverez drew an empty saline bag.
Dr Allan Metzger
The fifth testimony was from Dr Allan Metzger. Dr Metzger was Jackson’s primary physician and friend for 15 – 20 years. Metzger testified that he wanted Michael to know that he was always there for him.
Over the years Metzger spoke to MJ about his health and wellbeing. The main problems Michael had were stress, skin problems and sleep issues. Metzger told the court that he had worked with another doctor to help Jackson with pain management, especially back pain. (I would assume this would be from the back injury that Michael obtain through a stage prop accident which occurred in 1999). Dr Metzger also testified that he had wanted Jackson to see Dr Arnold Klein about a skin condition.
Metzger told the court that he received a phone call from Michael in February 2009. In April 2009 Metzger visited Michael at home as Michael wanted to discuss some things. Michael confided in Metzger that he was excited about the tour but also fearful as he did not want to not do a good job with the 50 shows in London. Michael was worried about his nutritional state, hydration and how to keep healthy during the tour.
MJ told Metzger that after a show he would have trouble coming down and being able to sleep. Michael asked Dr Metzger about intravenous sleep medicines as he claimed that other sleep medicines did not work for him. Michael wanted some form of anaesthetic. Dr Metzger told Jackson that using intravenous sleep medicine was 'dangerous, life-threatening, and should not be done outside of hospital'.
The prosecution asked Dr Metzger if any amount of money would persuade him to give Propofol. Metzger replied no.
Cherilyn Lee
The sixth testimony of the day came from Cherilyn Lee, a holistic nurse. Lee started working for Michael in February 2009 to help Jackson with tiredness and anaemia. Michael asked Lee to join him on the This Is It tour saying “I am feeling so great with the therapies you have rendered me that I would love for you to go with me.”
Lee would regularly administer vitamins to MJ intravenously, as well as recommending herbal teas to help him sleep.
Lee believed one of Michael’s problems with sleep was caused by him drinking many Red Bull drinks, which are high in caffeine.
Court was then adjourned for the day. Lee will continue her testimony tomorrow.
Summery
After five days on the stand Dr Steven Shafer was finally allowed to step down. Dr Shafer’s testimony was the most key, and most scathing of Murray, so it is no surprise how lengthy Shafer’s testimony was.
After five weeks the defence finally took to the stand. The prosecution had 33 witnesses but it is reported the defence will only have 15. It has been speculated that by the end of the week the defence may rest their case.
The first two defence witnesses were purely just to show the timeline of events and were seemingly irrelevant. No new information emerged.
The third and fourth witnesses, Detective Myers and Detective Martinez, were to show the inaccuracies in Alberto Alverez’s account. It is interesting as to why Alverez did not mention being asked about putting vials in a bag or the Propofol in the saline bag during his initial interview. It may be because beforehand he did not want to implicate himself or Murray but once a homicide investigation was announced he wanted to try and make sure he was not indicated. Or it could be that there is an ulterior motive. It should be remembered that this is not the first time in the trial that Alverez’s account differs to other witnesses. The paramedic’s account of 25th June differs to Alverez’s.
I am quite surprised the defence called Dr Metzger as a witness. Metzger’s testimony worked in favour of the prosecution rather than the defence as he stated under no circumstance, and for no amount of money, would he ever have performed an anaesthetic on a patient as Murray did. It seemed the defence almost shot themselves in the foot by calling Metzger to testify.
Yet again the defence were a mess. It is interesting to follow some legal commentators of the case on Twitter as they seemed utterly shocked at just how the defence are presenting their case. As I have mentioned before I think the poor defence is highly damaging for Murray and if they do not start to act more professional the jury will soon lose faith in them. If this occurs Murray will not get a fair trial.
I had also previously mentioned how I felt it was odd that Dr White, a potential defence witness, and Dr Murray, the defendant, were allowed to speak in court. I consulted a barrister who is commentating on the Murray case as to why this is allowed to happen. I was informed that “Dr White is an expert witness. Experts are in a special category of witnesses. Indeed, experts are encouraged to talk to each other to agree things between them.”
The trial continues tomorrow.
Sophie Dewing
http://exploredreamdiscoverblog.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment