Dr. Conrad Murray's Preliminary Hearing -- Michael Jackson Manslaughter Trial
Prosecution Rests in Murray Case
The prosecution has ended its case in the Conrad Murray preliminary hearing after 6 days of testimony.
The defense filed a motion to dismiss, which is routine. It will almost certainly be denied.
Judge Michael Pastor has taken a recess. It's virtually certain that Dr. Murray will be ordered to stand trial.
The Deputy Attorney General who represents the Medical Board of California is in the courtroom. We're told he will ask the judge to suspend Murray's license to practice medicine.
Murray Commited Homicide Even If MJ Injected Himself
Updated 1/11/11 at 10:57am
A doctor for the L.A. County Coroner's Office just testified ... even if Michael Jackson injected himself with the fatal dose of Propofol, Dr. Murray is still guilty of homicide.
Dr. Christopher Rogers testified he believes Dr. Murray had no business administering Propofol outside a hospital setting, particularly without the appropriate medical equipment. Rogers said given Michael's dependence on Propofol and the fact that Murray left him alone in the room with access to the drug constitutes a homicide.
Coroner Doesn't Believe Dr. Murray's Story
Updated 1/11/11 at 10:26am
A doctor for the L.A. County Coroner's Office testified he doesn't believe Dr. Murray only gave Michael Jackson 25mg of Propofol.
Without saying Murray lied to cops during his interview two days after MJ died, Dr. Christopher Rogers testified if Murray were correct about the 25mg of Propofol, Jackson would have awakened after 3 to 5 minutes of sleep.
Rogers also testified he doesn't believe Jackson swallowed Propofol. The defense laid the groundwork for this theory yesterday, because small amounts of the drug were found in Jackson's stomach.
And Rogers said he believes it's inappropriate to use Propofol for insomnia and that Murray's care was "substandard."
Murray to Cops: Michael Begged Me For Propofol
Updated 1/10/11 at 4:55pm
In some of the most dramatic testimony to date, an LAPD detective testified Dr. Conrad Murray told him Michael Jackson "begged" him for Propofol shortly before he died.
LAPD Robbery Homicide Detective Orlando Martinez testified about an interview he conducted with Dr. Murray two days after MJ died. Martinez said Murray told him the night before Jackson died he was having trouble sleeping. Murray said he was trying to ween Jackson off of Propofol -- a drug he was giving MJ almost every night for two months.
Murray told Martinez he was giving Jackson a variety of other drugs, beginning sometime after 1AM, to no avail. Jackson then said if he didn't get to sleep he would cancel rehearsal.
Murray said he was feeling "pressure" from MJ to give him something to help him sleep, and Jackson was begging for Propofol. Murray claims he gave him a reduced dose, with Michael's help. As TMZ has reported many times before, Murray said MJ liked to "push in the Propofol himself and that other doctors let him do it."
Murray went to the bathroom for 2 minutes, came back and claims he saw MJ wasn't breathing.
Defense: Michael Jackson Drank Propofol
Updated 1/10/11 at 2:53pm
Michael Jackson may have drank himself to death by consuming a juice box laced with Propofol -- at least that's what Conrad Murray's defense team suggested in court today.
Murray's attorney, J. Michael Flanagan, was questioning a Senior Criminalist from the L.A. County Coroner's Office about the 70 grams of fluid found in MJ's stomach at the time of the autopsy ... fluid that tested positive for traces of Propofol.
Flanagan noted the presence of a juice box on MJ's nightstand ... and asked if it had been tested for Propofol ... raising the possibility that MJ was sippin' on the anesthetic shortly before he died.
The criminalist testified he had not tested the juice box.
So what's Flanagan's point? He might be suggesting that MJ was secretly self-administering his Propofol ... which would support Murray's defense theory that MJ accidentally caused his own overdose.
Dr. Murray Ordered a Boatload of Propofol for MJ
Updated 1/10/11 at 12:05pm
A pharmacist Dr. Murray used to order Propofol just testified the doctor ordered box after box of the drug in the two months before Michael Jackson's death.
Tim Lopez, a pharmacist at Applied Pharmacy Services in Las Vegas, said beginning on April 6, 2009, Dr. Murray began ordering large quantities of Propofol. On that date, he ordered 10 single dose vials.
Murray, who had the drugs sent to his girlfriend's Santa Monica home where he was living, also ordered boxes of the drug on April 28 -- 4 boxes and each of the boxes had 10 100ml vials.
Later that month, Murray ordered 20 vials of midazolam and 20 vials of lorazepam.
On May 12, Murray ordered 4 boxes of Propofol, along with 2 trays of midazolam.
On June 10, Murray ordered 4 boxes of Propofol, and 2 20ml Propofol.
In all, Murray ordered 255 vials of Propofol in the two months -- including 130 vials of Propofol in 100ml doses and another 125 vials of Propofol in 20ml vials.
Judge: Murray's iPhone Admissible as Evidence
Updated 1/10/11 at 10:35am
Judge Michael Pastor ruled this morning that recently obtained data from Dr. Conrad Murray's iPhone is admissible as evidence.
Murray's attorney, Ed Chernoff, referenced the items in question ... a few voicemails and 12screenshots. He was not more specific.
The prosecution has used phone records to create a timeline showing what Murray did the day Michael Jackson died.