LOS ANGELES — Jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson’s personal physician saw a nude autopsy photo of the late singer as a medical examiner testified Tuesday that Dr. Conrad Murray’s account of events surrounding Jackson’s death was unlikely.
Murray, 58, is on trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court for allegedly giving Jackson a lethal dose of the surgical anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009.
Dr. Conrad Murray sits in court during his involuntary manslaughter trial last week. (Getty Images)
He has pleaded not guilty and says Jackson gave himself the fatal dose while Murray was not observing the singer.
Dr. Christopher Rogers testified Tuesday that if Murray had only left Jackson alone for two minutes — as he told Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers — the star would likely have been too sedated to administer propofol to himself, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Murray’s defense team has suggested that Jackson may have drank the drug, but Rogers said he did not observe any residue resembling propofol in the 50-year-old’s mouth, esophagus or stomach.
Rogers said Murray’s scenario was “less reasonable” than the possibility that Murray accidentally gave Jackson too large of a dose of propofol.
“We did not find any type of precision dosing device, which means the doctor would be estimating how much propofol he was giving,” he said. “I think it would be easy in those circumstances for the doctor to estimate wrong and give too much propofol.”
Jurors also heard the remainder of the audio recording of Murray’s interview with LAPD officers two days after Jackson’s death.
He recounted telling Jackson’s children of their father’s death.
“I know you tried your best, but I’m really sad,” Murray recalled Jackson’s daughter Paris saying. “You know, I will wake up in the morning, and I won’t be able to see my daddy.”
The first portion of the audio recording was played for jurors Friday. Murray said he did not know if he was the only doctor attending to the singer, according to Sky News, and said Jackson had no obvious health issues apart from a hip problem, but that he was very thin.
If convicted, Murray faces up to four years in prison and the permanent loss of his medical license.