LOS ANGELES — A defense expert witness in the Conrad Murray trial testified Thursday that Michael Jackson was likely addicted to the painkiller Demerol in the months before his death, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Defense attorneys for Murray called Dr. Robert Waldman in an attempt to establish that the King of Pop was suffering from insomnia in the days leading up to his death on June 25, 2009.
Insomnia is a common symptom of addicts of Demerol suffering from withdrawal.
No Demerol was discovered in Jackson’s system at the time of his death, which the defense says is evidence that Jackson was undergoing withdrawal from the powerful drug.
The defense claims an insomnia-suffering Jackson fatally injected himself with an overdose of the anesthetic propofol in an attempt to sleep at night while rehearsing for his upcoming world tour.
The prosecution, however, insists that Murray is guilty of involuntary manslaughter for giving into the demands of his famous patient and negligently administering the overdose of propofol himself.
Jackson obtained the Demerol from his longtime dermatologist Arnold Klein, who is not accused of wrongdoing.
On cross-examination, the prosecution also used Waldman to push its theory that Murray unethically gave into the demands of his patient to inject him with dangerous amounts of propofol to maintain his $150,000-a-month salary as his personal physician.
“If a patient asks you to administer a dangerous drug, a drug that could be harmful … would you refuse to administer that drug to the patient?” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Walgren asked.
“Absolutely,” Waldman replied.
Dr. Paul White, the defense’s expert witness on propofol, was on the stand Thursday afternoon as the trial continued.
White was expected to counter many of the claims by the prosecution’s propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer.
Shafer previously testified that it was nearly impossible for Jackson to have injected himself with the amount of propofol that killed him on June 25, 2009.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said earlier this week that he would ask Murray if he would like to testify on his own behalf after White’s testimony.
If convicted, Murray faces up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license, which has been suspended pending the trial’s outcome.