Anesthesiologist Paul White's testimony for the defense resumes - Day 20 -
Anesthesiologist Paul White resumed his testimony today on behalf of the defense.
White told jurors the amount of Propofol that Murray said he gave Michael Jackson was barely enough to reduce anxiety and cause a bit of sleepiness.
White challenged Dr. Shafer's conclusion that Murray gave Jackson at least nine 4 mg 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.
White said a more reasonable scenario would be: Michael Jackson took 8 pills of Lorazepam -- two or three at a time -- throughout the night.
He said the reason there were only traces of Lorazepam found in Michael Jackson's stomach, is because it's absorbed quickly by the digestive system. Had the Lorazepam been given IV -- as Shafer argued -- no Lorazepam would have been found in Jackson stomach.
White did his own Propofol demonstration, trying to show it was not only easy but "perfectly safe" to administer Propofol via injection.
White said if Murray had used an IV bag to administer Propofol, there would have been traces of the drug in the bags recovered in Michael's bedroom.
White said he believed Jackson gave himself a dose of Propofol around 11:30 am -- and that, combined with the Lorazepam and the 25 mg Murray gave him earlier, is what killed him.
“You think it was self-injection of propofol ... between 11:30 and 12 o’clock?” defense attorney Michael Flanagan asked.
“In my opinion, yes,” White said.
“The fact that there is even a tiny amount of free lorazepam in Jackson’s stomach is consistent with the theory that he took lorazepam orally,” White said.
White's explanations are in sharp contrast with the testimony of the Los Angeles Coroner, Dr. Christopher Rogers, who performed the autopsy and ruled the death as a homicide, in which he stated that Michael Jackson received a massive dosage of Propofol combined with Lorazepam, which was administered by IV and that interacted with Propofol causing death.
Also, during the trial emerged that Michael Jackson's fingerprints were not found on any syringes, drug bottles or medical equipment.
The concession suggested Murray’s defense planned on admitting the doctor made missteps, but that he did not directly cause death.
White offered no defense to what several medical experts called by prosecutors have told jurors -- that even if Jackson gave himself the drug, Murray was still responsible for the singer’s death for leaving him unattended. At the beginning of his testimony Thursday, he acknowledged he could not explain away Murray’s conduct.
The judge apologized to jurors Friday for delays in the trial before releasing them for the weekend.
"We are past the date I told you your services would be over," Judge Michael Pastor said. "But I know all of you understand that things happen in cases... I recognize the sacrifices you're making. So please continue to hang in there and enjoy your weekend."
During a chambers meeting with lawyers on Thursday, prosecutor David Walgren asked the judge for more time to consider new evidence submitted by the defense. The evidence includes new simulations from defense expert Dr. Paul White, which show the possible effects of the drugs that were in Michael Jackson's system.
Walgren called the graphs of the new simulations, "hieroglyphics."
Judge Pastor acknowledged Walgren's concerns, but said he's worried about changing the schedule because the jurors have lives and commitments outside of the trial. Walgren said that losing jurors to scheduling conflicts is a risk the state is prepared to take.
Judge Pastor granted the state to begin their cross examination of Dr. White on Monday, giving them the weekend to examine the new defense evidence.
Deputy district attorney David Walgren will take the weekend to confer with Shafer before beginning his cross-examination of White on Monday morning.
Closing arguments could be heard as soon as Tuesday, depending on how long the prosecution takes with its questioning of White and if it chooses to recall Shafer in rebuttal.
But it's also possible that Tuesday could be a dark day, to give the attorneys time to prepare their closing arguments. If that happens, then closings would be delivered on Wednesday.
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