Michael Jackson likely killed himself: expert witness
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Xinhua, October 29, 2011
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U.S. pop star Michael Jackson performs "We are the World" during the World Music Awards at Earl's Court in London Nov. 15, 2006. [Photo: Xinhua/Reuters] |
Michael Jackson had likely killed himself by injecting a fatal dose of Propofol by himself, a leading anesthesiologist testified on Friday at the trial of Conrad Murray, the singer's personal physician who is charged with involuntary manslaughter for his role in the high-publicity case.
Paul White, who took the stand as the defense team's final witness, disputed the findings of a key prosecution witness, Steven Shafer, who said he believed that Jackson died while being given a "drip" of Propofol.
White told the seven-man, five-woman jury that he believed, based on the evidence on the scene and in Murray's police interview, that Jackson gave himself the final and fatal dose, or 25 milligrams of the powerful anesthetic drug less than an hour after Murray had given him a small, non-fatal injection.
"You think it was a self-injection of Propofol between 11:30 and 12?" defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan asked.
"In my opinion, yes," the defense expert responded.
White, one of the first U.S. researchers to study Propofol, disputed Shafer's conclusion that Murray gave Jackson at least nine 4-milligram injections of Lorazepam throughout the morning of June 25, saying those amounts are "enormous" and would have put anyone to sleep or even killed them.
He put forward a likely more "reasonable" scenario: the pop superstar took 8 2-milligram pills, two or three at a time, in the night before his death.
White demonstrated his own version of Propofol simulation, insisting that it is easy and safe for Jackson to administer the potent drug via injection by himself.
The expert told the Los Angeles Superior Court panel that he believed his own simulation "makes more sense," telling jurors that there may have been a time lag between some of the pills being taken.
White did not dispute what Shafer, as well as a number of medical experts called by prosecution, had told the court that, even if the pop icon gave himself Propofol, Murray was still responsible for his death for leaving him unattended.
White's testimony suggested that Murray's defense team planned to admit that Murray was not immediately responsible for Jackson's death, although he did make missteps.
White is due back on the stand for cross-examination Monday.
Prosecutors seek to prove Murray, 58, had failed to properly monitor Jackson after giving him a lethal dose of Propofol. They contended that the cardiologist "repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied appropriate care to his patient, Michael Jackson, and that it was Dr. Murray's repeated incompetence and unskilled acts that led to Mr. Jackson's death on June 25, 2009."
Defense attorneys argued Murray was weaning Jackson off the medication. The cardiologist was hired by Jackson to care for him two months before his death.
Murray, who is set free on a bail of 75,000 U.S. dollars, faces up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted of the felony charge.
