Jury Hears Murray's Police Interview

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright October 7, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           Dr. Conrad Murray’s defense team, led by chief defense counsel Ed Chernoff, hammered away at the prosecution case, attacking evidence collected at the crime scene by Los Angeles County Coroner Elissa Fleak.  Discrepancies in Fleak’s description includes differing stories about the presence of milky-colored propofol in an IV bag she said was removed from the late pop singer Michael Jackson’s bedroom.  “You made substantial number of mistakes in your investigation of the case,” said Chernoff, to which Fleak responded, “No.”  Fleak testified Wednesday that she saw the milky-looking drug propofol in the IV bag.  Today’s testimony appeared to contradict her original statement saying she actually didn’t see the milky drug in the bag.  Fleak also referred in her original report to a syringe, when, in fact, it was a catheter, causing a vexing inconsistency to jurors.

            Chernoff can’t have it both ways:  Blaming Jackson’s death on his own overdose and, at the same time, minimizing Murray’s role in administering what amounted to a lethal propofol overdose.  “Michael Jackson swallowed up to eight pills on his own, without telling his doctor.  Michael Jackson administered an additional dose of propofol,” said Chernoff in his opening statement Sept. 27.  Murray told the LAPD two days after Jackson’s June 25, 2009 death that he was unaware that Michael had any other doctors.  “He never disclosed that to me, but because he moved around so much, I would assume that there was,” said Murray in his LAPD interview.  Murray’s own defense counsel has pointed out that Jackson received Demerol [synthetic morphine] from his dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein—something that could have inadvertently caused his death.  Denying it in his interview raised eyebrows.

            Testimony by a Los Angeles County toxicologist Dan Anderson revealed that, contrary to defense reports, Jackson had very little propfol or other drugs in his stomach.  Finding only trace amounts or .13 milligrams of propofol in his indicates that Jackson did not ingest additional drugs the day he died.  Jackson’s bloods samples, on the other hand, showed 4.2 milligrams of propofol, far greater than the trace amounts found in his stomach.  Adding to the confusion, Murray’s defense team discovered unknown fingerprints on the IV bag and propofol bottle.  Raising doubts about the defense theory, Jackson’s fingerprints were not found on the syringe used to supply Jackson’s IV port.  On the other hand, the defense raised doubts about a mystery set of fingerprints found on the cut IV bag and propofol bottle raise the nefarious possibility that somebody was involved in foul play.

            So far, prosecutors seem focused on Murray acts of omission and commission on the day of Jackson’s death.  Whether waiting to call paramedics or not, Jackson received a lethal overdose of propofol by Murray’s self-concocted anesthesia machine.  Blaming his death at his own hands, Chernoff tried to shift the blame away from Murray.  “Fingerprint evidence can be confusing because on the one hand, if you find someone’s fingerprints, it’s significant . . . If you don’t find someone’s fingerprints, it doesn’t necessarily mean someone wasn’t there,” said ABC’s legal analyst Dan Abrams.  Chernoff hopes finding an unknown set of fingerprints raises enough reasonable doubt to hang the jury.  Leaping from unknown fingerprints to the possibility that someone else gave Jackson propofol is a real stretch.  Murray’s defense team knows that getting to one juror is all the counts.

            Hammering on Los Angeles Coroner investigator Fleak leaves jurors with the impression that something went terribly wrong.  “You made substantial number of mistakes,” said Chernoff to Fleak. While Fleak denied it, the mere asking raises the kind of doubts the defense team wants.  Catching Fleak in inconsistent testimony from Wednesday to Thursday doesn’t sit well with jurors.  One Wednesday Fleak recalled seeing the milky propofol in an IV bag yet on Thursday she said she failed to see it.    Any inconsistencies from government witnesses raise doubts in jurors’ minds.  “I think they [the defense] made a little bit of headway.  I don’t think this is the strongest part of their defense . . . that the investigation was sloppy,” said Abrams.  More inconsistencies in witnesses leave jurors unwilling to convict.  Rehabbing the inconsistencies lends credibility to witnesses.

            Picking at the margins, prosecutors haven’t yet made a compelling case for why Murray deserves conviction for involuntary manslaughter.  Instead of looking at timelines or Murray’s acts of omission or commission, chief prosecutor David Walgren needs to stay focused on how Murray crossed the line from malpractice into criminal behavior.   Telling jurors that Murray lacked proper monitoring equipment for a propofol drip or that he used his cell phone when he should have engaged in life-saving CPR won’t lead to Murray’s conviction.  Prosecutors need to demonstrate that Murray’s macabre insomnia machine crossed the line to criminal negligence.  All the talk of timelines, improper equipment and incompetence makes a strong case for medical malpractice, not involuntary manslaughter.  Staying focused on Murray’s madman insomnia machine should get back on track.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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