Michael Jackson case: Doctor’s own words may come back to bite him
Dr. Conrad Murray (right) makes an appearance in court February 8, 2010 as he faces arraignment in the Los Angeles County Superior Airport Courthouse on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.
LOS ANGELES – On a Saturday evening last summer, Dr. Conrad Murray met with two police detectives at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey near the beach on L.A.’s Westside. Outside, the world was in shock over the death of Michael Jackson, and inside a room at the posh hotel, the investigators wanted answers from the last person to have seen him alive. With his lawyer by his side, Murray talked for more three hours. The interview ended with him a free man.
More than seven months later, Murray faces an involuntary manslaughter charge in a case that legal experts said may hinge on the physician’s own words.
In that June interview, Murray volunteered information expected to form the backbone of the prosecution’s case: That he gave Jackson the surgical anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid and left the singer alone and under the influence of the dangerously potent drug.
“If there had been no admissions, you would be left wondering what happened and the prosecution would have to come up with their own theory,” said Vesna Maras, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor who tried medical legal cases, including one involving a propofol death. “He’s the one who laid out exactly what happened. It doesn’t get better than that.”
On Monday, Murray pleaded not guilty. His lawyer said the doctor’s willingness to talk with police shows he had nothing to hide.
“In some respects, it’s vital to the defense,” attorney Ed Chernoff said. “If the first time Dr. Murray would’ve explained what happened in that room was to the jury, then… they would’ve said, ‘Why didn’t you tell this to the cops right away?’”
He added that the parts of the interview cited in public records were “cherry picked” by investigators and failed to give a complete picture of what the doctor told police.
When Murray sat down with detectives two days after Jackson died, the cause of the singer’s death remained unclear. Murray’s attorney said the doctor agreed to an interview because he was as baffled as the rest of the world as to what killed Jackson and wanted to help police.
But, Chernoff said, Murray, 56, would have become a suspect whether he talked to police or not. He had identified himself to paramedics as Jackson’s personal physician, and propofol bottles found in the singer’s bedroom could easily be traced to him.
“If he hadn’t spoken to them, the police would only be left with the impression that the doctor recklessly pumped a large amount of propofol into Jackson without any precaution, without any reason,” Chernoff said.
Murray told the officers he had given Jackson propofol nightly for six weeks, about the time he began working for the performer, according to police affidavits filed in court. He said Jackson told him that other doctors had been treating his chronic insomnia with propofol for years. Murray said he eventually became concerned that the singer was addicted and tried to wean him off the anesthetic.
According to the court records, Murray told police that on the day Jackson died he tried to get the performer to sleep using Valium and later two other sedatives. But Jackson remained awake, demanding propofol. The doctor said after nine hours, he finally relented and gave the singer 25 milligrams _ half the regular dose. He said he sat next to Jackson’s bed as the propofol took effect and after 10 minutes left to use the restroom. He said he was gone for no longer than two minutes and when he returned, Jackson was not breathing.
Paramedics were not summoned immediately. Murray’s attorney said it took nearly a half hour because of difficulties contacting security; the police affidavit suggests it was closer to an hour and 20 minutes. Cell phone records indicate Murray also talked on the phone for 47 minutes around the time he told police he was trying to revive the singer, according to the affidavit. His lawyer said police got the timeline wrong.
Prosecutors are likely to seize on differences between what Murray told police and what he told medical personnel trying to revive Jackson. According to the affidavits, Murray told paramedics and emergency room doctors he had given the singer one sedative, the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam, but never mentioned propofol.
“That’s a telling omission. He knows it’s wrong. He knows he is not supposed to be fooling around with propofol,” said Dr. Bryan A. Liang, a physician and California Western School of Law professor.
To prove involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must show that Murray killed Jackson in the commission of a crime “not amounting to a felony” or while acting “without due caution and circumspection.” Experts say prosecutors are likely to focus on medical protocols Murray, a cardiologist, allegedly ignored in his use of propofol as a sleep aid. The drug is so dangerous that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says only those trained in anesthesia should administer it.
“The concept of using propofol for insomnia is completely crazy,” said Maras, the former prosecutor. “It’s like trying to swat a fly with a bomb.”
Prosecutors also are expected to highlight Murray’s admission that he left Jackson alone. The doctor said he used a device to measure the singer’s heart and respiratory rate, but a coroner’s report concluded the set-up did not meet medical standards.
The defense may call in medical experts to portray Murray’s actions as reasonable given the health history of his famous client and the doctor’s professed attempts to wean him from the propofol. Ellyn Garofalo, a veteran defense attorney, said such experts might question whether the drug dosages he said he gave Jackson were enough on their own to kill the singer.
His previous use of the drug might also be an important factor for the defense, which could argue that the singer had built up a tolerance to propofol, she said.
“If you get a line of doctors to come in and say, ‘I gave him this amount and he was fine,’ then it’s good for Murray,” said Garofalo, who is representing a doctor charged with illegally furnishing prescription medication to the late model Anna Nicole Smith. “I think it’s going to be a fight.”
