Lawyers Open Trial in Case Against Michael Jackson's Doctor

Michael Jackson's personal physician acted with gross negligence and incompetence while caring for the singer, ignoring all standards of medical care while giving his patient heavy doses of a powerful sedative that killed him, a prosecutor told jurors today.

An attorney for Dr. Conrad Murray said the physician, who served his residency at Loma Linda University, was trying to wean the singer off the sedative propofol, and Jackson “self-administered” a large amount of the medication without the doctor's knowledge, killing himself instantly.

Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's June 25, 2009, death. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren opened the trial by telling jurors that Murray -- who initially sought $5 million to care for Jackson for a year -- was more interested in collecting the $150,000 a month salary than actually caring for his patient.

“The evidence in this case will show that Michael Jackson literally put his life in the hands of Conrad Murray,” Walgren told the jury. “The evidence in this case will show that Michael Jackson trusted his life to the medical skills of Conrad Murray.”

“That misplaced trust had far too high a price to pay. That misplaced trust in the hands of Conrad Murray cost Michael Jackson his life,” Walgren said.

Walgren told the seven-male, five-female jurors that the amount of propofol Murray administered to Jackson the day he died was equivalent to the amount used on a person under general anesthesia for surgery. The singer also had other drugs in his system, including one that contributed to his death.

He said the evidence would show that “Conrad Murray repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied care, 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.”

Jackson, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. that day at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The coroner's office determined that Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication and classified his death as a homicide.

Murray, 58, was charged in February 2010 with the felony count, which
could carry a maximum four-year state prison term. He has remained free on $75,000 bail since being charged.

Murray and his team of defense attorneys say it was Jackson who swallowed two Lorazepam pills and gave himself a larger, lethal dose of propofol while the doctor was out of the singer's bedroom.

“The science in this case, the pure science, the evidence in this case we believe is going to show you this ... during the 10 hours on June 25, 2009, when Michael Jackson was frustrated because he could not sleep, frustrated because his doctor refused to give him a drug he preferred – he wanted -- he did an act without his doctor's knowledge, without his doctor's permission ... he did an act that caused his own death,'' defense attorney Edward Chernoff said.

“The evidence will show you ... that when Dr. Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that, with the Lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body that killed him instantly,'' Chernoff said.

“When Dr. Murray came into the room and found Michael Jackson, there was no CPR, there was no doctor, no paramedic, no machine that was going to revive Michael Jackson. He died so rapidly, so instantly, he didn't even have time to close his eyes.”

The trial is expected to last four to five weeks.

City News Service writer Terri Vermeulen Keith contributed to this report.