DAVID WALGREN OPENING STATEMENT (Full transcript) ~Conrad Murray Trial

Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence in this case will show that Michael Jackson literally put his life in the hands of Conrad Murray. The evidence in this case will show that Michael Jackson trusted his life to the medical skills of Conrad Murray. The evidence will further show equivocally that that misplaced trust had far too high of a price to pay. That misplaced trust in the hands of Conrad Murray cost Michael Jackson his life.

On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead. He was just 50 years old. He died alone, in his bed, on the second floor of his Holmby Hills mansion. In the house at the time were the defendant, Conrad Murray and Michael’s three young children and some staff that help run the home. 

Because there was no immediate obvious cause of death, the coroner’s office soon took a very active role in the investigation. Not only performing an autopsy but doing detailed toxicology analysis to determine what caused the death of Mr. Jackson at 50 years of age.

And what we learn through that investigation is that Propofol, Lidocaine, Diazepam, a metabolite of Diazepam called Nordiazepam, Lorazepam and Midazolam all testing positive in the heart blood, all administered by Conrad Murray on June 25, 2009

Further investigation by the coroner’s office thru statements, thru interviews, thru the autopsy, thru the toxicology findings led to the conclusion that the levels of Propofol found in Mr. Jackson’s body were at levels similar to general anesthesia when someone is put under for a surgical procedure.

The coroner also found that the levels of Lorazepam were pharmacologically significant and that they played a contributing role in the death of Mr. Jackson because these benzodiazepines work in conjunction with the Propofol to heighten the effects that each drug has.

Following these findings, the coroner’s office concluded this was in fact a homicide, that Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide and more specifically the coroner’s office concluded that the cause of death was acute Propofol intoxication coupled with the contributory factor of the additional benzodiazepines in his system.

Upon discovering and ruling and determining this to be a homicide, the investigation continued. And the investigation centered on the dates preceding his death, the investigation centered on the events of June 24 and June 25, 2009. And the question became what occurred between June 24, 2009 when Michael Jackson shown in this picture, performing at Staples Center singing Earth song, what happened between that time and approximately 12 hours later when Michael Jackson is dead on June 25, 2009.

What you will learn through the evidence is that what happened during that time frame is that the acts and the omissions of Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray directly led to his premature death at the age of 50.

Ladies and gentlemen as the judge indicated, this part of the Trial was referred to as the opening statement. And it is in fact an opportunity to give an outline of what we expect the evidence to show, to give you, as the court said, a road map.

Often times in Trials witnesses are called out of order due to scheduling and things of that nature. They may not always come in and testify in a chronological order. So this is an opportunity for both parties to present to you, and hopefully in a logical fashion what we expect the evidence to show. And as I indicated, what we expect the evidence to show is that Conrad Murray repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied appropriate care to his patient Michael Jackson. And that it was Dr. Murray’s repeated incompetent and unskilled acts that led to Mr. Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009.

To give you some background as to what was going on at this time in Mr. Jackson’s life, what was going on in Dr Murray’s life, I wanna take you thru some of the evidence that you will hear in this case.

At this time, Mr. Jackson was preparing for probably one of the biggest Tours of his life, entitled This Is It. It was going to start at the O2 arena, in London. It was going to be Mr. Jackson’s comeback Tour. And Mr. Jackson indicated one of the reasons this Tour was so important to him was that he wanted his children to have the opportunity to see him perform on stage, in front of a large crowd. And they’d never had the opportunity and he wanted to give them that chance to see him perform in such a manner.

The concert, the Tour was scheduled to begin at the O2 arena and  it was expected to last approximately 11 months. It would then continue in the months and years ahead but at that point, it was for the approximately for 11 months to take place at the O2 arena in London England. What started as a 10 day Tour soon grew to 31 dates, when those tickets quickly sold out, it grew again to 50 dates. Those dates too all sold out.

Now in preparation for what was going to a massive production and a massive Tour obviously rehearsals had to take place and the rehearsal were taking place in Los Angeles Beginning in May of 2009. They started in small scale at Center Staging in Burbank, where basic production and rehearsals were taking place with the various members of the production team. When the production and the growth and the scale of the rehearsals outgrew that location, they moved to the Forum in Englewood. They remained at the Forum for approximately just about the entire month of June. And then just days before Michael Jackson’s death, they moved to a larger scale arena the Staples Center so that they could more accurately replicate what the actual Tour is going to be. At the time of Michael’s death, the rehearsals were taking place at the Staples Center

Now during this time, Michael Jackson was living at 100 N Carolwood in Holmby Hills. It is just off of Sunset boulevard, what you are viewing here is an arial photo where I’m pointing down below would be the front door to 2 story mansion, large yard, pool, lots of privacy. Mr. Jackson lived there with his family, his three young children, Prince, his young Daughter Paris and his youngest son, Blanket. It was Michael and his 3 children that lived there on a permanent basis. He had staff, he had security, he had a nanny, he had a chef but it was Michael and his children that lived at 100 N Carolwood which came to be where Michael would die.

What do we know about Conrad Murray at this time? Well we know Conrad Murray was a medical doctor. He was not an anesthesiologist, he was not board certified in cardiology. In fact at the time of Michael Jackson’s death, Conrad Murray wasn’t board certified in any medical specialty.

Conrad Murray had met Michael Jackson previously in Las Vegas when Michael was living there in 2006. They had remained in contact. Dr Murray had treated the children while in Las Vegas for various minor ailments such as runny nose and things of that nature He had treated Michael for Various minor ailments over the period of time. But they maintained contact from that point of time in 2006 thru 2009 and what you will learn is that in March 2009 Michael requested that Conrad Murray accompany him on his O2 Tour, the This is It Tour. Conrad Murray readily agreed to participate and accompany Michael on this Tour.

What you learn is that Conrad Murray initially requested payment of $5 million for 1 year of medical service. This was quickly rejected and an offer of a $150,000 a month was put on the table. What you will learn is that soon a contract had been drafted. Dr. Murray was to be hired as an Independent contractor.

Part of the terms of the contract provided that Murray would provide general medical care that he would provide medical emergency care and that he would provide reasonably requested services. And this was all to be for the Tour in London, the This Is It Tour.

In exchange for what Dr. Murray was to provide for the terms of the contract, Dr. Murray was going to receive, as I indicated, $150,000 a month, airfare to and from London and housing in London for the duration of the Tour. Again the $5 request of Dr. Murray was rejected and the agreed upon amount was $150,000 a month.

What you will also learn is that this contract was never signed by the parties. What you will learn is that Conrad Murray both as an individual and as part of his medical practice signed the contract.  It’s dated June 24, 2009. No representatives from AEG the Tour promoter had signed it and Michael Jackson had not signed it.

Although it had not been signed Conrad Murray had made it very clear that he welcomed the opportunity to enter this lucrative agreement. In fact Conrad Murray made it so abundantly clear of his intention to enter into this lucrative agreement that he soon told his clients, his previous medical clients, to find another doctor. He sent out letters in June of 2009 advising his clients ‘Because of a once in a lifetime opportunity, I had to make a most difficult decision to cease practice medicine indefinitely’ So he was saying goodbye to his clients with the intention of signing on for this $150,000 lucrative agreement that he at least thru words had reached with Michael Jackson.

I told you a little bit about what Michael Jackson was doing at that time and I told you little bit what Conrad Murray was doing at the time. You also need to know a little bit about Propofol. And you will hear a great deal about propofol throughout this trial. What is Propofol?

Propofol is a general anesthetic agent. It is defined as an intravenous sedative hypnotic agent for use in the induction and maintenance of anesthesia or sedation. Put simply, it is what is used to put you under when you have to have forced mechanical ventilation, if you have to have surgical procedure. It is used in a hospital to put you under. It is not a sleep aid, it is not a sleep agent. It is a general anesthetic.

It has great strengths; It is a wonderful drug if used by someone who knows what they are doing, someone who respects the dangers as well as the benefits of the drug. Some of its favorable properties include the quick onset of sedation, it acts rapidly. Also at the end of it rapid return to consciousness. So it acts quickly and it also brings you back out rather quickly. Minimal post operative nausea or vomiting. You generally feel okay once you come back out of it.

However with every benefit comes a cost and there are unfavorable properties that must be respected by the doctor who is administering such a potentially dangerous drug. The unfavorable properties, it leads to respiratory and cardiovascular depression. There is a narrow margin between sedation and full general anesthesia. And what that means is that there is a continuum between a light or conscious sedation and full general sedation or anesthesia. And they need to be an expert in that field and knowledgeable to be able to track their continuum and have the safety measures and the precautions in place so that if the patient passes thru that continuum to a deeper level of sedation. You have to ensure as the doctor in charge, as the doctor with the legal duty of care that u can manage any consequences that come forward. Also it leads to the loss of ability to breathe and the ability to maintain your airway. And finally because of these properties things can go bad very quickly, very quickly. And if you are not knowledgeable and competent and prepared, it will lead to the death of your patient.

The package insert that comes with it, that every single person would see if they just open up the package in plain text indicates that continuous monitoring is essential. Facilities for maintenance of patent airway must be immediately available. This is in the package insert. Patients should be continuously monitored for early signs of hypotension, apnea, airway obstruction and/or oxygen de-saturation. Simple reading of the package inset would impress upon a competent medical doctor the precautions that need to be taken and the inherent dangers of using such and agent without the skills and the knowledge and resuscitate equipment to handle it appropriately.

In this case you will hear about Propofol, you will hear the science of propofol. You will hear about the concentrations of propofol. As it relates to this case, what you will hear there are two separate vial sizes. It comes in a 100ml vial. That is the large vial.  It additionally comes in a 20ml vial. Each of these vials has the same concentration and that is for each milliliter there are 10 milligrams of propofol for each milliliter. So for the 100ml vial it is 1000mg of propofol. For the 20ml vial, it is 200mg of Propofol.

Now how did Propofol come to play a role in this case?

What we know is that I indicated before that in March 2009, Michael had enlisted the services of Conrad Murray and Dr Murray quickly told his patients that he would be leaving medicine indefinitely. We also know that Conrad Murray then sought out a pharmacist. That Dr Murray made arrangements with that pharmacist to purchase very large quantities of Propofol on a regular basis.

What we learn is that Dr. Murray went to Applied Pharmacy in Las Vegas and met with pharmacist Tim Lopez. Conrad Murray was NOT honest with Tim Lopez and Conrad Murray indicated that he had a clinic in California when NO such clinic or medical office existed. Conrad Murray indicated he had a large client base in California and that he wanted to get…eventually made arrangements to get shipments of Propofol sent to what he characterized as his medical office in Santa Monica. What we know now to be what he characterized as his medical office was the apartment of his girlfriend and the mother of one of his children, Nicole Alvarez.

So these arrangements were made between Conrad Murray and Tim Lopez. And the shipments began taking place from Applied Pharmacy in Las Vegas to the apartment of Nicole Alvarez, Conrad Murray’s girlfriend. There was no medical practices, as I indicated and the shipments began on April 6, 2009.

On April 6 2009 We know there was a shipment of propofol to Nicole Alvarez’s address. In that shipment were the 10 bottles of the large 100ml bottles, 1000mg of propofol each. There were also 25 of the 20 ml bottles in this first shipment of April 6, 2009. This first shipment, Conrad Murray’s first order of business resulted in a shipment of 15,000mg of Propofol to the apartment of Nicole Alvarez. But the shipments didn’t end with that first shipment.

On April 28, there was another shipment of Propofol to the apartment of Nicole Alvarez. This shipment was larger. 40 of the large 100ml bottles accompanied by 25 of the 20ml bottles. This shipment accounted for 45,000 additional mg of Propofol.

Following the April 28 shipment, we had a shipment of Midazolam and Lorazepam, sedative agents that Conrad Murray also admits to having administered to Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009. And this shipment contained 10 vials of lorazepam as well as 20 vials of Midazolam. And that was on April 30, 2009. The shipments continued.

But interesting to note as it relates to Conrad Murray’s knowledge of what these drugs were doing and his willingness to proceed with this manner of care in this fashion. We learn that on May 10, 2009 Conrad Murray made a voice recording on his I phone. His I phone had an application called I talk and although an application on I phone is just like any other digital voice recorder. Forensic computer specialists analyzed that I phone and found this voice recording. They were able to Time stamp it and date stamp it. The recording was made on May 10, 2009 at 9: 05am

On that recording you will hear Michael’s voice; on that recording you will hear the voice of Conrad Murray. The evidence will reveal that this voice recording documents Michael Jackson highly under the influence of unknown agents with Dr. Murray evidently sitting near by evidently observing maybe listening but recording on his I phone. What this evidence will reveal to you is Conrad Murray’s knowledge of Michael’s state on May 10, 2009. What this evidence will reveal to you is Conrad Murray’s knowledge of what he is doing to Michael Jackson on May 10, 2009. Over a month and a half before Michael Jackson dies as a result of this very treatment. You will hear the whole recording during this trial but I will play a clip now so you can have a taste of what Conrad Murray knew on May 10, 2009.

That is what Conrad Murray is seeing and observing on May 10, 2009. And what does he do with that knowledge? And what does he do with that information?

On May 12, he orders another shipment of Propofol and Midazolam. Again, he orders 40 of the 100ml bottles of propofol just 2 days after that recording was made accompanying those 40 100ml bottles were 25 20ml bottles. For again, a total of an additional 45,000mg of Propofol.

The next shipment occurs on June 10 at which point Conrad Murray orders again 40 100ml bottles and now 50 of the 20ml bottles, totaling in this shipment alone 50,000 additional mg of Propofol.

That is then followed on June 15 by an order of Midazolam and lorazepam, again 10 vials of lorazepam and 20 vials of Midazolam.

And we learn from these shipments that from April 6 and the shipment of June 10, Conrad Murray ordered 255 separate vials of propofol  totaling 155,000mg of Propofol equivalent to 15.5 liters or 4.09 gallon of this general anesthetic agent.

Just based on the orders alone, if you calculate from April 6 to the time of Michael’s death on June 25^th, in those 80 days, based on the orders, what was being shipped was 1,937mg propofol a day and keep that number in mind when you hear the statements of Conrad Murray in regard to how much he administered on June 25, 2009.

I wanted to talk about what the evidence will show in regard to Michael’s final days.

What you will learn is that on June 19, 2009 Michael showed up for his rehearsal and he was not in a good shape, he was not in good shape at all. He had chills, he was trembling, he was cold, he was rambling. And Kenny Ortega, co director, co chorographer of the production from whom you will be hearing directly was concerned. He had never seen Mr. Jackson in that state previously. He will tell you that Michael did not rehearse that day, that he sat. He will tell you that Michael was cold. He put a blanket around him. He provided him some chicken to eat. He massaged his feet to try to warm him. Michael ended up going home early that evening and not rehearsing because of the physical state he was in.

You will also hear about the next day, June 20^th 2009 ad what you will hear is that there was a meeting called at Michael’s house at 100 N Carolwood. And at this meeting were Conrad Murray the defendant, Michael, Kenny Ortega, Randy Phillips and a discussion was had at that meeting about Michael’s health, more specifically about what had transpired the night before on June 19th.

And what you will hear from Kenny Ortega is that Conrad Murray took a very hostile tone he scolded Kenny Ortega for meddling in what evidently was Conrad Murray’s area of expertise. He said things to Kenny Ortega when concerns were expressed, he said things such as I am the doctor not you. You direct the show and leave Michael’s health to me. He said Michael was physically and emotionally fine. Don’t let it be your concern. I am the doctor.

Following this meeting of June 20^th rehearsals did not take place that day the 21^st or 22^nd but they did resume on June 23, 2009. And you will see footage of Michael performing on June 23, 2009 and by all counts it was a successful rehearsal at the Staples Center. Michael appeared strong, he was optimistic and he was looking to the future. And he was looking to get the Tour off the ground and head out to London.

The following night, the rehearsals resumed again. That is June 24, 2009 and again the rehearsal went well, Michael was engaged, he was optimistic in fact you will hear from Kenny Ortega that Michael was excited because the next day they were going to be performing an illusion that was going to be part of the tour. Michael always loved that type of magical illusion aspect of these shows. So Kenny had told him that tomorrow we are gonna do the illusion and Michael was looking forward to coming back that next day to participate in that illusion. As you now know he never returned to Staples Center.

Following that rehearsal the night of June 24, 2009, Michael was taken home and he arrived home at about 1 o’clock in the morning which will be the morning of June 25 2009. What you will learn is that it was customary that Conrad Murray would spend the night at the house every night, sometimes only six nights a week but nearly every night for at least two months, two and a half months. In his own words, his purpose for being there was to put Michael to sleep with Propofol.

So when Michael and his security staff arrived at the house from the Staples Center during the early morning hours of June 25^th at around 1 o’clock in the morning Conrad Murray’s BMW was already parked in the driveway. Michael was brought into the house. security was debriefed, the customary routine was followed, again the house at 100 N Carolwood, the front door that faces out to the front courtyard diagram which is Difficult to see from this perspective but a diagram of the entry way where I am pointing down below would be where the front door is located. You come into this front foyer area as to the relevant location of where Michael died. You would go to the left of these stairs, and you would go into this foyer where I am pointing here into the bedroom where Conrad Murray would do his nightly infusions of propofol to Michael Jackson.

You will learn that this room on the far left was actually Michael Jackson’s personal bedroom (master bedroom) but that the Propofol administrations occurred in this room (Bedroom 2). From the foyer, it goes into the bedroom through a very large closet, the size of the typical bedroom and into the restroom.

This view here is looking through the front glass doors into that foyer area with the stairs, leading upto this landing (see diagram above)

This is a picture depicting the bedroom where Michael Jackson died, he died in that bed.

This picture is the closet I showed you on the diagram and it is a vantage point of the closet looking into the bathroom that I had described.

And into the bathroom depicting what is shown there (door in above picture leads into the bathroom), the clothes in fact the jacket that Michael was wearing at his last performance that night on June 24, 2009

As I indicated earlier the question becomes what transpired then from 1 o’clock in the morning to Michael’s death the next day. Before I relay to you some of the words of Conrad Murray as to his story of what transpired I wanna share with you what the independent investigation by law enforcement revealed after Conrad Murray statements.

What you will learn through phone records is that Conrad Murray was very busy on the phone that night. There is screenshots from the I-Phone showing him receiving/reading various emails there is text message, there is different screen shots showing various activities of Conrad Murray on his phone, there is a very relevant email that Conrad Murray receives. It is sent at 5:54am. Conrad Murray responds to it at 11:17am on that day and that time will be very relevant. But it is not just relevant for the time it is relative for the substance. Because this email is an email from an insurance broker in London that is trying to collect medical records so they can have the Tour properly insured. Conrad Murray was asked specific questions about press reports relating to Michael Jackson health and that it is required in order to get the insurance. Conrad Murray responds by his own email on June 25^th at 11:17am and what he says is that ‘as far as his health published by the Press, let me say they are all fallacious to the best of my knowledge.’ This is on June 25, 2009 just days after the meeting, month and a half after the May 10 recording. And Conrad Murray represents to the insurance broker that all concerns of press reports about Michael’s health are fallacious.

We also know thru the phone records what was taking place that night. And we have the early morning phone calls which will be described to you thru witness testimony and evidence during this Trial but as we get closer to the time when Conrad Murray indicates he provided Propofol we have a 10:14am phone call, a 10:20 phone call, a 10:34 phone call, a 11:07 phone call, We then go to 11:18 32 minute phone call to Conrad Murray’s business in Las Vegas followed by a brief message to one of his female friends Bridgette Morgan at 11:26 A call with Robert Russell at 11:49  And then a call at 11:51 with another female friend, Sade Anding who lived in Houston, Texas and you are going to hear from Sade Anding and what she is going to tell you she was working  as a cocktail waitress in Houston. She met Conrad Murray. They exchanged numbers. And that Conrad Murray referred to her as his girlfriend. What you will learn from the nature of this 11:51 phone call is that this is likely the time when Conrad Murray first noticed Michael Jackson’s lifeless body. It won’t reveal to you the time of Michael Jackson’s death. But it may reveal to you when Conrad Murray first noticed MJ had died.

Because what Sade Anding tells us is that when this 11:51 phone call took place that she was speaking on the phone when she realized there was no response on the other end Conrad Murray was not communicating, was not participating in the conversation.  Sounded as though the phone had been put down she heard a commotion she eventually hung up, she tried to get back in touch with Conrad Murray but was not successful. She indicated that this occurred about 5 minutes into the 11:51 phone call so about 11:56 11:57am is when the phone goes dead and she no longer is able to communicate with Conrad Murray.

At 12:12 we have a phone call from Conrad Murray to Michael Williams and a return phone call from Michael Williams at 11:15. Who is Michael Williams? Michael Williams is the personal assistant to Michael Jackson. He was not at the house on that day, he was actually in his own house in downtown Los Angeles. But he receives his call, I believe he is in the shower at 12:12pm, you will hear the recording that Conrad Murray leaves Michael Amir Williams at that time.

"Call me right away, please. Please call me right away. Thank you"

Getting this message that shows up at his phone at 12:13, Michael Amir Williams calls Conrad Murray back immediately and is told to get here right away, Mr. Jackson had a bad reaction. He is not told to call 911 he is simply told to get there right away from downtown Los Angeles to 100 North Carolwoodd in the Holmby Hills area. Michael Amir Williams makes a number of phone calls and eventually gets a hold of Alberto Alvarez who is at the location.

Alberto Alvarez is a security guard, he his part of Michael Jackson’s personal security. They actually were housed in this trailer to the side of the house. Alberto Alvarez being on site is told to go into the house and that there had been some kind of a problem and that Michael Jackson had a bad reaction according to Conrad Murray. Alberto Alvarez goes into the house and eventually goes upstairs, he goes up these stairs, gets up to the landing, proceeds into the bedroom where he sees what appears to him to be Michael Jackson’s lifeless body on the bed. Conrad Murray is giving CPR with one hand while Michael lay in the bed.

Alberto Alvarez observes a condom catheter. He didn’t know it was called a condom catheter but he observes a device and tubing coming from the penis of Michael Jackson. What the medical experts will tell you is that this is a device to collect urine when you are literally knocked unconscious for surgical procedures. This is what he sees on the body of Michael Jackson when he comes into the room, and he sees what he appears to him a dead Michael Jackson.

Conrad Murray begins instructing Alberto Alvarez immediately upon his entering into the room and tells him ‘grab a bag’ and Conrad Murray grabs a handful of vials from the night stand and drops them into the bag. He also tells Alberto Alvarez to grab the saline bag with the bag hanging from the IV stand in the room and Alberto Alvarez does so.

Alberto Alvarez notes that it was actually a bag that appeared to be clear in nature and it had a bottle inside of it. A bottle that we later learn to be a propofol bottle. Alvarez complies with the requests of Dr. Murray and what we know is subsequently this is corroborated by law enforcement because when they go back to search the house on June 29^th they find the bag  and inside that bag is an empty saline bag which you will see in court but it is slit open from top to bottom and inside that bag, you will hear from the coroner’s investigator they found this 100ml bottle of Propofol inside the bag and you will hear testimony about the significance of that when the medical experts come in and explain it to you.

Following the commands of Conrad Murray Alvarez is then told to call 911. And he immediately does so. What you will learn is that the 911 call was made at 12:20pm. What you will also learn from the evidence is that that phone calls Call was not made at 11:56 or thereabouts when Sade Anding had heard the phone go dead and heard commotion in the background. That 911 call was not made at 12:12 pm when the defendant called Michael Amir Williams to say that there had been a problem, that 911 call was not made at 12:15 when Michael Amir Williams returned the call and spoke to Conrad Murray who only relate to him that he needed to get there right away. The 911 call was instructed to be made by Conrad Murray at 12:20pm.

Now Emergency response was on the scene immediately however it was all together too late because Michael was already dead but the paramedics did respond to the scene and they took every effort they could to revive Mr. Jackson. You will learn that they got on scene on top of the patient at 12:26pm His Pupils, Mr. Jackson’s pupils were fixed and dilated, there was no pulse noted by any of the paramedics on scene, Murray had indicated that Jackson had been down only a minute, ‘I was just talking to him’. Although noone felt a pulse Murray claimed that he did. This was not felt by any of the emergency medical personnel on scene. And when specifically asked what have you been giving him, what has he taken, the paramedics were told Lorazepam specifically asked what had been administered they were told Lorazepam, Conrad Murray never once mentioned the administration of Propofol during his entire dealings with these emergency medical personnel.

UCLA was on the phone with the paramedics and they pronounce Michael dead. Conrad Murray indicated he wanted to take over responsibility and that he would accompany Mr.  Jackson in the paramedics’ rig. And that was agreed upon. So they transported MJ to UCLA in this photo here is the paramedics’ arrival to UCLA This is actually Conrad Murray here in this loose pants and a white tshirt, nearby some security I believe Faheem Muhammad, Alberto Alvarez, Michael Amir Williams and this is them entering UCLA the Emergency Room Area.

When they enter into the emergency area obviously the emergency room doctors now wanna know what transpired so they inquired. Both doctor cooper and doctor Nguyen specifically asked Conrad Murray what has he been taking what have you been giving him He indicates he had been taking Flomax and he had some Valium the only agent that he gave him was Lorazepam. Never once mentions to these medical emergency room doctors that are trying valiantly to try to save Michael Jackson’s life never once mentions that he had administered any propofol whatsoever.

Michael was eventually pronounced dead at 2:26pm on June 25 2009 Following this is a search at the house at 100 North Carolwood Propofol bottles were found lying on the floor. Various prescription medicines were found on the nightstand the majority of which were prescribed by Conrad Murray, although some are prescribed by other doctors.

And ambu bag was found on the floor which I will talk about briefly in a moment. This syringe in found on the night stand and this syringe tests positive for both Propofol and Lidocaine.

Also this IV stand with a saline bag and a detached IV tubing and syringe was observed and was collected on the subsequent day and syringe but that syringe tested positive for Propofol, Lidocaine and Flumanezil

They observed on this table nearby where Conrad Murray would evidently sit a cardiology board review book designed to help someone take and pass cardiology board exam. They found a jug of urine seated on the chair likely emptied into by use of the condom catheter that had been observed on Michael and again they saw the clothing the jacket and the pants worn by Michael Jackson at his last performance on June 24, 2009

Now that is some of the evidence that was collected independent of Conrad Murray M the phone records depicting what he was doing because you must recall there are only 2 people in this room and Michael being one of these two people is dead. So detectives did what they could to piece together the activities in that room thru forensics thru phone records to determine what were the  actions of Conrad Murray while Michael laid there dying.

But they did speak to Conrad Murray. Conrad Murray‘s attorneys, Mr. Pena who is in court today and Mr. Chernoff responded the phone calls of the detectives and an agreement was reached where they would meet at the Ritz Carlton on June 27, 2009 in Marina Del Rey. And Mr. Pena and Mr. Chernoff showed up with their client Conrad Murray detective Smith and Detective Martinez showed up and the detectives were largely in the dark at this point as to what had caused the death, they did not have the toxicology results. There was no obvious sign of trauma indicating anything that they may be used to such as gun shot wounds or strangulation or knifing. So this was an opportunity for Conrad Murray in the presence of 2 of his attorneys to tell them everything that he knew about what transpired. The detectives largely allowed him to do just that, to tell a narrative about what he knew about what had transpired during the night and day of June 25, 2009. And what you will learn according to Conrad Murray, he was Michael’s personal physician. He was going to accompany him on the Tour he had been treating him a little over 2 months before Jackson’s death, he spent the night at Jackson’s home at least six nights a week and the purpose was to put Mr. Jackson to sleep…to sleep with the general anesthetic Propofol. For over 2 months, he was giving Jackson nightly doses of Propofol.

In this interview, 2 days after Michael’s death, this is the first time Conrad Murray mentioned the administration of Propofol. And what he says In his own words:

Detective: More than 10 times?

Murray: Yes

Detective: More than 30 times?

Murray: 30 days a month roughly everyday

30 days a month, roughly every day for over two months of his care that he was administering to Michael Jackson. Conrad Murray then proceeded to give a timeline of events of that night. And he states that he had put in an IV in Michael Jackson’s leg to hydrate him.

• That he started with the Valium at 1:30am
• At 2:00am he switched to Lorazepam, 2mg, but Michael remained awake. This is all according to Conrad Murray
• At 3:00am he switches to Midazolam, he says he slept for about 12 minutes
• At 3:20am until 4:30 Michael is still awake according to Conrad Murray
• At that point, again according to Conrad Murray:

"He was still awake. It was 4:30 in the morning and he was wide awake. And then he complained. I got to cleep, Dr. Conrad. I have these rehearsals to perform. I must be ready for the show in England. And tomorrow I will have to cancel my performance. I have to cancel my trip because you know I cannot function if I don't get the sleep"

• Following that statement according to Conrad Murray at 5:00am, he gave another round of Lorazepam
• followed by another round of Midazolam (at 7:30am)
• At 10:00am according to Conrad Murray, Mr. Jackson requested Propofol

"I said if you got Propofol now, which of course he referred to as the milk, how much time, how much sleep you expect to have, you know you are going to be needed up no later than noon. and he said just make me sleep. Doesn't matter what time I get up. I said what will happen to you? Your rehearsal is already scheduled for today. He said I can't function If I don't sleep. They'll have to cancel it and I don't want to cancel it but they will have to cancel it. and I agreed at that time that I would switch the...over to Propofol"

So the evidence will reveal according to Conrad Murray‘s words that once Michael Jackson indicated or he desired to cancel the rehearsal, Conrad Murray decided to give Propofol, once he knew that he did not have to get up at noon Conrad Murray’s decided to give Propofol. What Conrad Murray indicates that he only gave 25 mg Propofol diluted with Lidocaine whether or not this was followed up with a continuous drip will be for you to decide. But the amount he specifies is 25mg of propofol. According to experts this would have put Michael to sleep for minutes, 5 -10 minutes depending on the person. When you know from Conrad Murray’s own words Michael Jackson had just said ‘cancel the rehearsal, I need to sleep’ The evidence will reveal that much more than 25 mg of Propofol was given in order to put Michael Jackson to sleep.

According to Conrad Murray, it was slowly infused over 3-5 minutes and he went to sleep. To give you an idea of what a minuscule amount of propofol we are talking about.

25 mg equals to 2.5ccs or 2.5 milliliters. In your standard 10cc syringe this is how much propofol Conrad Murray is admitting to giving on June 25. But the evidence also shows that from the time from April 6, 2009 to Michael’s death over 155,000mg of propofol had been shipped to Nicole Alvarez’s apartment but according to Conrad Murray he gave just 25mg that nite.

Following the administration of Propofol, Conrad Murray indicates

"I monitored him. I sat there and watched him for long enough period that I felt comfortable. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. So I got up, went to the bathroom to release myself of urine and also consider getting rid of some of his urination that he had put i the jugs overnight. Then I came back to his bedside and was stunned in the sense that he wasn't breathing."

The medical experts will tell you that is called abandonment. To take a patient with valium, lorazepam, Midazolam, and propofol and to leave them unattended in that state is medical abandonment.

But according to Conrad Murray he was gone but for 2 minutes.

"I was gone, I would say about 2 minutes"

The evidence again as I already indicated shows phone records around this time, reflecting approximately 45 minutes worth of  phone calls, for some reason around this time Conrad Murray decides to start making phone calls and conversing with other people right at the time when he indicates he had given the Propofol at 10:45am

Back to the email at 11:17am it is at this time that Conrad Murray is responding the insurance broker while Michael lay in bed with all these drugs circulating thru his body, Conrad Murray is literally emailing the insurance broker, saying the reports about Michael’s health are fallacious.

Responding to the 911 call and the failure to call, you will hear from Conrad Murray himself that he doesn’t call 911

"To speak to a 911 operator would be to neglect him"

So why didn’t he have MWA call 911 when he called MAW at 12:12pm?

"I did not want him to...I couldn't him to call 911 because he would want to know what it was about and I have a patient that needs help and I'm trying to assist and I'm trying to do it the best I can and try to get help"

In this same interview, Conrad Murray indicates the location of his medical bags. And you will hear the interview. The evidence will show Conrad Murray sounds surprised that the medical bags are not already in the custody of the LAPD. He makes a comment ‘oh you don’t have them?’ He then tells them where the bags are and they are recovered on June 29, 2009. And where they are recovered, this is the bedroom where Michael died, this is the large closet (see diagram above) The items were actually recovered in this upper chamber of this closet.

There were 3 distinct bags there is a Blue Costco bag there is what’s been referred to as baby essentials, appears to be some kind of a diaper bag or something of that nature, blue and brown and then there is this small black bag but the items were recovered.

You will hear all about the medical evidence that was recovered, the Propofol bottles that are recovered, I’ll talk a bit about this pulse oxymeter that was recovered, again the saline bag with the bottle inside of it that Alberto Alvarez had mentioned was in fact recovered by the coroner investigator Elissa Fleak. Propofol bottles, Lorazepam bottles, Midazolam bottles, Lidocaine bottles, all recovered at that location.

Now the standard of care, ladies and gentlemen. The standard of care in a medical case such as this hinges on a number of factors. And medical experts will testify to the standard of care and the gross lack of any standard of care exhibited by Conrad Murray. They analyzed the affirmative actions and they analyzed the omissions by Conrad Murray. And they characterize it as a minor deviation from care or serious deviation from care or an extreme egregious deviation from care. Extreme deviation from care meaning that the doctor acted with gross negligence, gross negligence which is the element of involuntary manslaughter.

Involuntary manslaughter is not an intentional homicide. It is a homicide as a result of one’s gross negligence and essentially indifference

So I’ma take you thru some of the factors of analysis in the standard of care.

You will hear that the Propofol is a powerful anesthetic intended for use in highly monitored settings such as hospitals, operating rooms, intensive care units and surgical suites. Locations where they have advanced capabilities not only to treat the individual but to revive the individual should things go bad

This type of setting is where propofol is utilized

Trauma room Michael Jackson was brought into at UCLA

Not this type of setting

And you will hear from medical experts with unanimity that the improper setting represents an extreme violation of the standard of the care and it amounts to gross negligence on the part of Conrad Murray.

You will additionally hear that propofol is for the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia for mechanically ventilated patients and for procedural sedation, it is NOT indicated by any means for the treatment of insomnia. It is NOT an agent for the treatment of insomnia and to use it to put someone sleep in that manner is an extreme deviation from the standard of care and amounts to gross negligence.

You will also learn that propofol requires continuous medical monitoring. It requires an electro cardiogram, an ECG, So you monitor the heart, It requires automated blood pressure monitor, Pulse oxymeter with an alarm and a capnograhy and a capnograhy measures the CO2 exhalations of your body, Blood pressure the ECG measures the heart.

What did Conrad Murray have at scene? Well as I indicated, there was an ambu bag found on the floor. But Conrad Murray’s own tape-recorded interview, he makes no mention of using the ambu bag. In fact what you will learn from the coroner’s investigators is that when they recovered the oxygen tank near the bed and pulled it out of evidence after it had been booked into evidence, the oxygen tank was empty. Not only was the oxygen tank empty but Conrad Murray himself makes no mention of using this ambu bag which would have been hooked up to that oxygen tank.

There was no capnograhy monitoring equipment , There was no ECG. He did, in the house, a blood pressure cuff was recovered. The blood pressure cuff was recovered in the closet, inside of a zippered black bag, inside of this box, inside of this second black zippered bag and by all appearances; it appears to be pristine, if not unused. That was the blood pressure cuff that was found at the scene.

How about pulse oximety? Pulse oximety measures the oxygen saturation in your blood and it is absolutely a crucial component when administering agents such as this. However, as part of this absolute crucial component, it needs to have an audible alarm so when things go bad you know it. What Conrad Murray was using is this.

It is the least expensive pulse oxymeter probably on the market. It works just fine for particular needs and it is designed literally to be worn around a doctor’s neck as they make the rounds at a hospital. They clip it onto a patient’s finger and they spot check, they literally look at the reading on the monitor to get a reading of oxygen saturation levels. There is NO audible alarm on this pulse oxymeter if you are not literally staring at this tiny screen, this is utterly useless. And for hundreds of dollars more, Conrad Murray could have had a real pulse oxymeter with an alarm. It would not have justified him abandoning his patient but at least it would have been the security of an alarm when the oxygen saturation levels reach dangerous levels. This is what Conrad Murray characterize as the necessary safety measures.

Propofol requires immediate access to all standard resuscitation equipment and the drugs, this would include a crash cart, an automated defibrillator and emergency airway equipment such as endotracheal tubes so you can ventilate the patient get air into their system so you can bring them out of any dangerous situation. None of that was at the scene, none of them was recovered at the scene, nor does Conrad Murray mention of having any of that at the scene. This was another extreme deviation from the standard of care and amounts to a serious neglect and gross negligence 

Propofol requires continuous presence, visual monitoring and vigilance. And if you are the type that is willing to abandon your patient, then you need to make sure that there is another individual who is skilled in the area of resuscitation and medical care to monitor that patient with two eyes on the patient. It is absolutely critical when you are dealing with an agent such as Propofol but we know from Murray’s own words that he abandoned Michael Jackson. This including the abandonment, including the preoccupation with the email amounts to another extreme deviation gross negligence, gross medical care.

The Benzodiazepines when combined with the Propofol in this type of setting, they contribute to the respiratory problems cardio vascular problems they heighten and exacerbate the dangers that already exist individually in each agent alone. So in this setting, without the necessary resuscitative equipment, this again is yet another extreme deviation that amounts to gross negligence

Written informed consent. This is a process by which doctors discuss the procedure, a serious procedure such as this with their patient, they discuss the dangers, the alternatives, the complications, the risks, the benefits it is crucial that a patient go in informed right that time, before the procedure, before the sedation, before the anesthetic agent is used and with written informed signed that they willingly acknowledge the dangers. No such document was found or created. This is an extreme violation of the standard of care and this alone amounts to gross negligence

Requires charting and documenting all vital signs and dosages at least for every 5 minutes. This is not only for the benefit of the doctor at scene so they could go back to their chart and realize what they gave at 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning so they don’t have to guess, it is also absolutely crucial in a setting such as this when emergency personnel responding and seeking out the truth and they can not find the truth. No medical documents were recovered and when they were subpoenaed and requested the only documents that were provided related to care months if not years before. No medical records documenting any of this care at 100 N Carolwood. This is an extreme egregious violation and it represents a gross negligence standing alone.

Basic common sense requires that 911 be called immediately. Basic Common sense and we know that that was not done. This is another extreme deviation from the standard of care and amounts to gross negligence.

Also note the relationship between the doctor and the patient. There was no doctor patient relationship; there was no relationship in which the doctor uses his medical judgment, his medical knowledge to advise the patient to refuse inappropriate care, to walk away if that is the only option. But to have a doctor patient relationship where the doctor is in charge of the care to be administered and if it is not an appropriate care then the doctor doesn’t provide it. No, what the evidence shows existed here was an Employer employee relationship where Conrad Murray was working NOT for the best interests of Michael Jackson. Not for the health of Michael Jackson. Dr Murray was working for $150,000 a month

He was an employee, he acted as an employee, he did not act as a medical professional using sound medical judgment. In an egregious and unethical violation of the standard of care, the evidence shows Conrad Murray deceived the paramedics. When specifically asked what agents had been given, he never once mentioned Propofol. As a team of paramedics worked to bring Michael back to life, Conrad Murray remained silent as to the propofol he had administered. This is an extreme unethical and unconscionable violation of the standard of care and is by itself a gross negligence.

But this was repeated once again upon his arrival to UCLA where he deceived the emergency room doctors. When specifically asked by Dr. Nguyen, when specifically asked by Dr. Cooper what had been administered, Conrad Murray mentioned Lorazepam; he made no mention of Propofol to these doctors trying to save Michael’s life.

You will hear from the doctors about these levels of gross negligence and you will hear their opinions in which they state that almost nothing that the defendant did reflects the actions of a trained physician. It instead represents the actions of an unskilled, non-medically trained individual. You will hear from an expert who will tell you the multiple breaches of the standard of care directly contributed to Michael Jackson’s untimely death.

You will hear from the experts that the defendant acted with gross negligence indicating a far greater concern for himself than his patient.

And you will hear that Murray’s primary use of his medical training and licensure was to give Jackson access to unlimited supplies of Propofol that he administered with complete disregard to Michael Jackson‘s safety and for Michael Jackson’s life.

And put simply you will hear that Conrad Murray acted with gross negligence and an extreme departure from the standard of care and was a cause of Michael Jackson’s death.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a summary of the evidence you will hear in this case. The defense will obviously have an opportunity to present evidence, they will have an opportunity to present an opening statement if they so desire. Regardless of what is presented by the defense in this case, there are certain facts that will be beyond dispute, there will be certain facts that will remain unchanged and unchallenged.

Conrad Murray as the doctor on scene had a Legal duty of care to use his best medical judgment to do no harm to Michael Jackson. Conrad Murray with his eyes on the anticipated $150,000 contract, instead agreed to provide Michael massive amounts of Propofol on a regular basis in Complete disregard of all acceptable medical care.

The evidence will also remain unchanged that Conrad Murray figuratively and literally abandoned Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009. He left this vulnerable man, filled with Valium, and Midazolam and Lorazepam and Propofol with NO medical monitoring equipment, NO necessary resuscitative equipment abandoned him to fend for himself. It violates not only every standard of care but decency from one human being to another. Michael was in that state, in that bed because of the drugs administered by Conrad Murray. That is why he was in that state, in that bed when Conrad Murray walked out of the room to make phone calls to go to the restroom or whatever he may have done.

Whatever theory the defense puts forward whatever evidence the defense puts forward, it will be clear that Conrad Murray abandoned Michael when he needed help, it was Conrad Murray’s gross negligence it was Conrad Murray’s unskilled hands and his desire to obtain this lucrative contract of $150,000 a month that led Dr Murray not only to abandon his patient but to abandon all principles of medical care.

Conrad Murray’s actions, Conrad Murray’s omissions to act directly caused the death of Michael Jackson

And at the close of all the evidence in this case, after you observed all the facts in this case, and after yabsorb the law in this case, The People will ask you, in no uncertain terms,  to return with a verdict of guilty for the solitary crime charged involuntary manslaughter, premised on the gross negligence of Conrad Murray.

Thank you.


Highlights from Prosecution Opening Statement