LOS ANGELES (AP) - October 24, 2011
One of the first defense witnesses was Dr. Allan Metzger, who
testified that Jackson asked him about intravenous sleep
medications roughly two months before the singer's death.
Metzger told jurors that he warned the superstar of the risks.
Metzger also said he had known for at least 15 years that
Jackson had trouble sleeping. When he made a house call to the
singer's home in April 2009, Metzger said the singer asked him
about intravenous sleep medications and anesthetics. The singer
never mentioned a specific drug that he wanted, Metzger said.
"I think he used the word juice," Metzger said. The physician
prescribed two oral medications, although he said the singer told
him that he did not believe any oral medication would work.
The doctor said Jackson mentioned he wanted an anesthetic.
Prosecutors were quick to exploit the testimony to show that
another doctor had rejected any suggestion by the singer that he
receive anesthetics as a sleep aid.
"You explained to him that it was dangerous, life-threatening
and should not be done outside a hospital, correct?" prosecutor
David Walgren asked on cross-examination.
"That's correct," the doctor replied.
Metzger added that there was no amount of money that would have
prompted him to give Jackson the anesthetic propofol, which he said
the singer didn't mention by name during their visit.
The doctor was called by attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray, who
has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Authorities
contend Murray gave Jackson a lethal dose of propofol as a sleep
aid.
Metzger was one of several hostile witnesses that defense
attorneys plan to call during their case, which began with brief
testimony from a 911 records custodian, a police surveillance
specialist and two detectives who investigated Murray.
They also called Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who has
previously said Jackson asked her for propofol but she refused to
provide it.
The detectives, Dan Myers and Orlando Martinez, were both asked
about statements given by Jackson's bodyguard Alberto Alvarez, who
previously testified that Murray told him to place some medical
equipment and vials in a bag before calling 911.
The defense has contended that Alvarez may have changed his
story to fit details released by coroner's officials.
The lawyers also noted previously that the bodyguard did not
mention that Murray told him to place the items in a bag until more
than two months after Jackson's death.
The defense case began after a judge rejected their routine
motion for a directed verdict of acquittal for Murray during a
sidebar conference. Defense attorneys did not argue the motion, and
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said he would allow the jury to
decide the case.
Defense lawyers have said they will have 15 witnesses but have
not publicly revealed whether they will call Murray to testify.
Jurors have heard from the doctor through a more than two-hour
interview with police, and it seems unlikely his attorneys would
subject their client to what would be blistering questioning from
prosecutors.
Prosecutors rested their case earlier in the day after four
weeks of testimony from 33 witnesses.
The defense then began its effort to counter damaging testimony
that cast Murray as an opportunistic doctor who broke legal,
ethical and professional guidelines to satisfy a patient who was
paying him $150,000 a month.
Dr. Steven Shafer, an expert on the anesthetic propofol who wove
a net of scientific evidence around Murray, was the final
prosecution witness. The defense has said it will present testimony
from its own propofol expert to counter Shafer's opinions.
Shafer previously testified that he thinks a propofol overdose
killed Jackson. But he said Murray kept no records about how much
of the drug he gave the singer.
Under defense cross-examination, Shafer remained steadfast in
his position that that Murray was solely responsible for Jackson's
death. He portrayed the doctor as grossly negligent and
"clueless" in what to do when his famous patient stopped
breathing.
In his last minutes on the stand, Shafer, who had testified for
nearly five days, was challenged by defense attorney Ed Chernoff on
whether the mathematical models on which he based his conclusions
actually applied to the doses of propofol given to Jackson by
Murray.
Shafer said his mathematical simulations were difficult because
Murray kept no records.
He based his reconstruction on Murray's police interview in
which he said he had been dosing Jackson with the drug nightly for
six weeks.
"There is almost no precedent for this amount of propofol
exposure," Shafer said under questioning.
---
AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this
report.
