People vs Conrad Murray - Day 6

On day six of the trial we continue with prosecution witness testimonies.

Stacey Ruggles

The first testimony of the day was from Stacey Ruggles, an employee of Conrad Murray since 1997. Ruggles stated she spoke to Murray on the 25th June 2009. That was all the prosecution asked.

The defence asked about when Ruggles helped Murray open a medical office in Texas. The medical office was for people who couldn't afford a physician. Ruggles stated Murray didn't really make money out of this office. So far all testimonies by people who have worked with or been treated by Murray have been positive. A previous patient of Murray stated his treatment was first class, up until the time Murray went to work for Jackson, (at what point the patient claimed Murray 'abandoned' him).

Ruggles also testified that she was told in April 2009 that Murray would be working with Michael Jackson.

Ruggle's testimony only took 7 minutes.

Murray’s girlfriends testify

Next to testify were four of Murray's girlfriends.

Bridget Morgan, one of Murray's girlfriends, phoned Murray on June 25th 2009 but he did not pick up.

Michelle Bella, who met Murray in a Las Vegas nightclub, was texting with Murray on 25th June. She also confirmed Murray had told her a few weeks earlier that he would be working with Michael Jackson.

Nicole Alvarez

Nicole Alvarez, Murray's long term girlfriend and the mother of one of Murray's children, confirmed she had packages of Propofol delivered to her Santa Monica home. Alvarez stated that she did not know what was contained in the packages.

Alvarez was also asked about knowing about Murray's salary. Alvarez stated she knew the amount of $150,000 a month. Alvarez had earlier testified she didn't know about Murray’s salary. When Brazil (prosecution lawyer) grilled her over her changing statement Alvarez became flustered and said she was unsure.

Alvarez also said she met Jackson on a few occasions and introduced her and Murray's child to Jackson.

Alvarez testified that she was on the phone to Murray when he was in the ambulance with Jackson. Murray called her to tell her to not worry, everything was fine but she would probably hear about the story on the news. Murray then went on to call her four more times throughout the afternoon.

Apparently the LAPD have stated they believe Alvarez knows a lot more about what happened on that day than what she has stated to protect her child's father.

Sade Anding

Sade Anding, a girlfriend of Murray, was on the phone to Murray when Jackson reportedly got into medical trouble. Anding said she heard a commotion and then got cut off and couldn't get back in touch. This call was at 11.51AM. The ambulance wasn't called until 12.21PM, 30 minutes later. This fact does show that Murray did not act appropriately to the situation. If someone is to stop breathing every minute counts. After 30 minutes without breathing or pulse there is very little that could be done to save someone life.

In total Murray was on the phone for 46 minutes out of the hour before Michael Jackson reportedly stopped breathing. This strongly supports the prosecution’s claim that Murray was negligent and this negligence lead to Michael dying.

Tim Lopez

The final testimony of the day came from Tim Lopez, a pharmacist. In the lead up to the trial there was some worry about Lopez as he left the country (against orders) and disappeared to Thailand. Luckily he return to the US to testify.

Lopez testified that he sent large quantities of Propofol to Murray. Lopez first met Murray in 2008 when Murray asked for a skin whitening cream for African-American patients that suffer from Vitiligo (a disease Jackson suffered from).

Lopez went on to say in April 2009 Murray ordered 35 vials of Propofol. Murray kept some of the vials and sent the rest to a Santa Monica address (reportedly Nicole Alvarez's address). Between April - June 2009 Murray then kept ordering lots more Propofol.

The jury were showed receipts of the large amounts of Propofol that Murray purchased.

In total 225 vials of Propofol, 20 vials of Lorazepam and 60 vials of Midazolam (another treatment for insomnia and sedation) were purchased by Murray. This is an incredible, and unreasonably, large amount of drugs. Even to someone who is not an expert this seems absurdly excessive. This fact will be key to the trial.

The court was then adjourned early due to a possible weather condition.

A fair trial?

Outside of the courtroom the trial is also getting much discussion - and mainly down to Murray and the defence team! There have been reports that Murray was discussing the case with his barber over the weekend. As previously mentioned a gagging order has been put in place by the judge after the defence had been speaking to the media about the case last week. I think it is extraordinary that the defendant and his team are openly discussing the case outside the courtroom.

I think this shows the big difference between US and UK law. Under no circumstances in the UK can a case be discussed outside the courtroom and it cannot be televised.

Also last week LaToya Jackson had been tweeting live from the courtroom. In the UK people have gone to prison for doing this.

I really don't see how the jury are expected to cut themselves off from hearing about the case when everyone involved in the case is openly discussing it with the world. It also shows how cases in the US can be more trialled in public and press than in the courtroom. The recent Casey Anthony case was plastered all over the US media and anyone who had read or heard anything about that case had made their mind up about the verdict. And the majority thought Anthony was guilty.

When the verdict was reached and Anthony was found not guilty there was a huge public backlash against the jury. One juror came forward and said they just could not give a guilty verdict without having enough evidence. It seems the hype and reportage in the press whipped up a frenzy that convicted Anthony in the public’s eyes. Although the facts in the trial were very condemning it came down to the fact of was there enough evidence to prove guilt? The jury did not think this was the case. This does seem vital as Casey Anthony was possibly facing the death penalty.

There have been discussions in the media that the jury in this case may feel under pressure to give a guilty verdict to Murray even if they are not 100% certain from the evidence they have witnessed to avoid a public backlash, such as what happened to the jurors in the Casey Anthony case.

The trial continues.

Sophie Dewing (@sophiedewing)

http://exploredreamdiscoverblog.blogspot.com/

People vs Conrad Murray - Week 1

Tuesday 27th September was the first day of the People vs. Conrad Murray trial over the death of Michael Jackson. As I have mentioned in my previous post I thought I would only have a passing interest in trial and read updates on news websites.  But I have found myself unable to stop watching and have viewed the trial daily. Here is my summery of the events so far.


Day One

On day one of the trial the prosecutor and defence read their opening statements. This is the guide to what they will be presenting and trying to prove throughout the trial. I really wasn't prepared for the shocking opening statement that the persecution had.

First of all I understand the prosecution wanted to make a strong first impression but I do think it was in poor taste and very shocking to have the slideshow background be an image of Michael Jackson's dead body. This certainly got the trial off to an explosive start but it did seem an exploitative attempt to jump start proceedings and it certainly started a media circus.

The prosecution's statement laid out the fact that Conrad Murray was negligent and abandoned Michael Jackson which led to his death.

The part of the prosecution's opening statement that had the biggest public reaction was the audio recording from May 2009 of Jackson barely coherent and slurring his words. This did send a strong message that MJ's drug use was a lot worse than had ever previously been stated. The prosecution then proceeded to note that the day afterwards Murray purchased 4000 litres of Propofol. Someone slurring in that state clearly does not need 4000 litres of Propofol.

It was always going to be interesting to see what the defence’s statement would be. It had been speculated that they would try and prove that Michael Jackson killed himself by drinking Propofol and the opening statement confirmed that this would be the case. I personally have always felt this was a very weak argument, especially in the method they stated. To my understanding drinking Propofol would not kill you instantly (as the defence have said is what happened to Jackson). If taken orally you would expel the drug as your body would reject it as poison. No evidence of vomiting or such like was present. Also there is a reason drugs are administered intravenously, to start working immediately as they enter directly into the bloodstream. Orally administered treatments take longer to start working therefore instantaneous death seems unlikely.

What quickly became apparent also was that Ed Chernoff was a very poor choice of defence lawyer. Chernoff is often muddled, questions around in circles and is having to be asked by the judge what he is actually trying to say. In fact during the opening statements Chernoff used a board with questions on which spelt Michael Jackson's name wrong! On more than one occasion this week the judge has even reprimanded Chernoff. It was clear from the off that Murray was going to have an uphill struggle as there seemed to be more evidence against him than for him. Combine that with a very weak defence team and it seems that unless the defence have something significant that they are yet to reveal it is very unlikely Murray will be found not guilty.

Day one also started the prosecution witness testimonies. I did not view the testimonies in full so I will not be discussing the AEG representatives. The second person to testify was Kenny Ortega. I didn't view the whole of Kenny Ortega's testimony so I cannot have a clear stand point on what he has said. From what I have seen it is clear that people working on the 'This Is It' production knew something was wrong with Michael, whether they thought it physical or mental. Ortega did state he was concerned with Michael and in fact sent him home from one rehearsal as Michael seemed to be unwell. Ortega also stated he had a heated discussion with Conrad Murray where he expressed to Murray he was concerned for MJ's health. Ortega testifies that Murray then told him that he was the doctor so Ortega should keep out of his business and that Jackson was in good health. Ortega then wrote an email to AEG voicing his concern and expressed that he would not continue to work on the production unless Michael's mental state was assessed to see if he was fit enough to undertake the 'This Is It' tour. This email was ignored.

Personally from hearing the audio recording of Michael's slurred speech and Ortega's acknowledgement of days when MJ seemed out of it or unable to perform it seems evident to me that 'This Is It' should never have been happening at all. Ever since watching the film in the cinema I thought it was obvious that in parts of the film MJ seemed high or not quite himself. He also looked extremely thin. The problem arises when you watch footage from 'This Is It' (as the jury did - the last performance Michael Jackson ever did of Earth Song on 24th June 2009), and Jackson performs well, in fact really well. To be singing and dancing to that level in a rehearsal is amazing. And it seems at odds with the audio recording from a little over a month earlier. There is no doubt Michael's performance was something very special and a glimpse that the Michael Jackson of old was set to make a return. What would have been interesting is the fact that Ortega does state there were days MJ couldn't perform and the fact that Sony refused unseen footage of 'This Is It' to be shown in court does seem to ask what are Sony trying to hide? As I stated before it is obvious people involved in the production knew something was not right with Michael. It seems to me that people were more concerned with getting their part of the production done than ensuring the health and wellbeing of Michael Jackson. As I mentioned in my previous post although Murray is on trial I feel a lot more people are culpable in this case but Murray is the fall guy. It would be interesting to see why Sony explicitly did not want footage of 'This Is It' to be viewed.


Day 2

On day two of the trial no new details emerged. All of the testimonies spoke of details that have been publicly spoken about over the past two years. Michael Amir testified about the panicked phone call he received from Murray, but Amir was only told MJ had a bad reaction and to send someone up to the bedroom. It is worth noting that Michael Amir received this phone call around 15 minutes after Michael apparently stopped breathing (by account from the time of the phone call to Murray's girlfriend where she heard a commotion and from paramedic evaluations of the condition Jackson was in by the time they arrived). Faheem Mohammad, one of Jackson's personal security team, also spoke on what he saw.

This was the first time in court that it was mentioned that Michael's children saw the resuscitation attempt on their father. This was a very poignant point.


Day 3

Day three was always going to be an interesting day as a key witness, Alberto Alverez, (another of MJ's personal security team), was due to testify. Alverez's account has been known publicly for some time but it is still shocking to hear his version of events.

Alverez states he received a call from Michael Amir telling him to go to the bedroom as he had received a phone call from Conrad Murray. When Alverez arrived he saw Michael on the bed and claims Michael looked dead to him. When he arrived Murray was giving one handed chest compression to Michael. Murray then started handing Alverez vials of Propofol and told Alverez to put them in a bag. Murray also requested that an IV bag also be put into the bag. In court they showed the IV bag which Alverez stated contained an empty vial of Propofol. It was actually quite shocking to see this evidence.

When asked why he would hide the vials Alverez stated that as Murray was a doctor he took everything at face value and assumed Murray had everything under control. At the time there was no reason to assume anything other than a bad reaction had occurred.

Alverez said after packing the bags he then called 911 and at the request of the emergency services Murray and himself moved MJ to the floor where Alverez started chest compression and Murray performed mouth to mouth. Alverez stated that Murray said he had never performed CPS before (as a cardiologist, or even a medical practitioner, this is quite extraordinary) and that he wouldn't usually give mouth to mouth but as MJ was a friend he had to do it. I thought it was usually known as the Hippocratic Oath and as a doctor he had to react to the situation, especially a life threatening one, regardless.

Alverez also spoke about trying to usher the children away as they were watching the resuscitation attempt. Alverez got emotional when speaking about Paris' reaction and listening to 911 call.

The defence were grilling as if Alverez was on trial. I was impressed at howAlverez kept cool. Chernoff repeatedly asked if Alverez was sure his memory was correct and he hadn't misremembered that he called 911 after Murray asked him to hid vials and the IV bag. Alverez repeatedly stated that Murray asked him to hide the vials of Propofol before he was asked to call 911.

The second testimony of the day was Kai Chase, MJ's personal chef. Chase stated on the 25th she performed her duties as usual. Between 12.05PM and 12.10PM Murray ran down the stairs in a frantic and panicked manner. She said by his manner she thought something was wrong with Michael. Murray asked her to 'get help, get security, get Prince'. Chase told how she went and got Prince and then returned to her duties. The defence argued that if Murray was in a panic and asked for help, security and Prince did Chase only get Prince? I do think this is a valid point. Chase answered that she was just doing what she was told.

A point I thought the defence would pick out was the fact that Chase stated that she had earned money off of interviews conducted after MJ's death. I believe they didn't grill her as much as I expected over this.

The defence were really tough on Chase but she didn't stand for it and stood her ground and gave answers back. I am baffled as to why Murray would ask for Prince as he knew MJ was not breathing so why make his child witness that? (I assume so that he could state that someone in the Jackson family saw him try to revive MJ). I am also confused as to why if Chase though MJ might be in danger that she would send Prince off with Murray. But I do appreciate that in an unexpected situation you act differently to what is obvious in hindsight.

In my opinion it doesn't matter what anyone’s actions were at this stage because Michael Jackson was already dead. And possibly for up to 15 minutes before anyone apart from Murray was notified. The trial is about what caused that death. The testimonies from the people who were present are just to discover if Murray incriminated himself in any way after the death.

On day three it also became highlighted just how bad a lawyer Ed Chernoff seems to be. It is interesting to view how many times Judge Pastor has scolded Chernoff for his questioning and aggressive tone. Also the number of objections by the prosecution that have been sustained is extraordinary.

Although he is not involved in this case Michael Jackson's lawyer from the second allegations made against him, Tom Mesereau, gave a statement saying [Conrad Murray] "violated every ethical obligation he had as a doctor". Mesereau continued by saying Murray should be found guilty and go to prison. I do have to say that at this juncture I tend to agree with this.


Day 4

On day four of the trial they started rattling through testimonies.

First up was Bob Johnson from a pulse oximeter company. His testimony only took 30 minutes. Johnson plainly stated that the pulse oximeter Murray was using was for spot checks only. When questioned by the defence he admitted that the pulse oximeter does give continuous readings but you must constantly monitor it as there is no alarm. This played into the prosecutor’s hands as the monitor was not constantly monitored as Murray left the room to conduct phone calls and there was no alarm. The defence tried to argue that although they recommend the device is only for spot checks it can be used constantly. Johnson then explicitly, and strongly, denied that this was an appropriate way to use the device. I felt this was a key moment.

The second testimony came from a patient of Conrad Murray's who stated Murray revealed he would be treating Michael Jackson so would cease his duties at his medical practices. First of all I believe this breaks patient confidentiality (although this was not mentioned). The patient did say that until Murray took the contract with Jackson, Murray had gone well above and beyond his duties as a doctor and Murray's care had been first class. Once Murray took the Jackson offer the patient felt abandoned as Murray took little to no interest for the patients care. It is worth noting the patient stated he felt abandoned. This is a word the prosecutors have used repeatedly in their argument.

The testimonies then moved to the medical personnel that attended to Michel Jackson on 25th June. These testimonies are key to the trial. First up was firefighter and paramedic Richard Senneff. His testimony was shocking and very damning for Murray.

Senneff states that when he arrived Murray was in the bedroom with Michael on his own. Michael was still lying on the bed and Murray was not administering CPR. In fact Murray was walking around the room with a plastic bag. Senneff states when he walked into the room Murray looked like a 'deer in headlights'. This is very damaging to Murray (and sound very suspicious). It also calls into question the validity of Alberto Alverez's testimony as he clearly stated Murray and himself moved Jackson to the floor when Alverez was on the phone to 911 before the paramedics arrived to continue CPR. According to the paramedics this was not the case.

Senneff states that Murray didn't really answer any of his medical questions when Senneff arrived.  Murray said there were no medical problems but Senneff thought this did not add up as he could see an IV hooked up to Michael Jackson's leg.  Senneff also stated that Jackson was underweight and looked like he had a chronic illness. When asked when Jackson stopped breathing Murray replied 'it happened right when I called you'. Senneff then said the paramedics thought they could save Michael because if it happened only a few minutes before there was a good chance of restarting the heart. This is such a key and vital testimony as it states if Murray has reacted accordingly to the situation Michael Jackson may well have been alive today. This is shocking and big news. And very condemning evidence against Murray.

In actual fact between Murray noticing Michael wasn't breathing to the paramedics being called and arriving was a 20 minute delay. Murray had also lied to paramedics by not telling them he had administer Propofol. Eventually Murray admitted he had given MJ Lorazepam and a saline drip from the IV bag for dehydration.

Another shocking statement that Senneff claimed was that during paramedic resuscitation efforts Murray knocked out the IV which was administering heart starting drugs to Michael. Listening to this testimony was just unbelievable. The amount of errors and information that Murray hid is extraordinary and does prove his guilt for this charge.

The 4th testimony came from Martin Blount, another paramedic. Blount stated that Murray said MJ was healthy and didn't state he had given Propofol. Murray only stated the IV bag that was attached to MJ contained saline as MJ was dehydrated after rehearsal. This then lead the paramedics to use the same IV bag to administer heart starting drugs (although this was soon knocked out by Murray.)

A key point was when Blount said Lidocaine vials were on the floor yet paramedics do not carry this. Murray never admitted he gave Jackson Lidocaine. Blount continued by saying Murray proceeded to collect the vials of Lidocaine and put them into bags whilst the paramedics were in the room. This is incredible.

The 5th testimony came from Dr Richelle Cooper, the doctor who worked on Jackson at the hospital. Cooper stated Murray only said Jackson was dehydrated. He gave no further details. This was obviously very misleading and could have hindered any attempts to save Michael's life.

The evidence in this section is more condemning as it is from medical professionals.

Day 5's testimonies are highly damaging to Murray's case. Unless the defence bring something unexpected a guilty verdict is almost guaranteed.

It is also worth noting is a gag order has been placed on lawyers after a defence lawyer gave a TV interview.


Summery

So far the testimonies seem to point towards a guilty verdict at this juncture. We must remember that currently it is the prosecution witness testimonies so the witnesses would have been selected to give most sway to the prosecution's argument. But there is no doubt that it is very hard to explain away a lot of the statements that have been made.

All the witnesses at the moment are only being questioned to see how Murray, if at all, incriminated himself afterwards. From their testimonies it seems Murray repeatedly incriminated himself by not responding appropriately, withholding information and hiding evidence.

It should be interesting to see how the trial develops once medical professionals such as the coroner testify and also the see what witnesses the defence call forward.

As I have mentioned unless the defence are withholding a substantial piece of evidence that proves Murray's innocence's it seems unlikely that it would be reasonable to give a non guilty verdict.

The trial continues today.

Sophie Dewing (@sophiedewing)

http://exploredreamdiscoverblog.blogspot.com/