Forensics in yesterday’s hearing: Murray is the killer

In yesterday’s hearing, Dr. Christopher Rogers—the forensic expert from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office who had first declared Michael’s death a homicide—insisted again on his statements. He said that even if the defense attorneys’ theory is true and Michael accidentally injected himself with propofol, Conrad Murray is still the killer. Because at the beginning, he obtained the propofol, did not inject and manage it properly, and left Michael alone in the room. In any case, he is a killer. Defense attorney, Michael Flanagan: "If the propofol doctor who led to death wasn’t put into Mr. Jackson’s body, then it isn’t considered murder, right?" Dr. Christopher Rogers: "Based on the quality of care, I still call it murder—even if the doctor didn’t put this substance into Mr. Jackson’s body! In the first place, because propofol was available there. This method for using propofol is not acceptable. If propofol was available, it was there to be injected into Mr. Jackson. And therefore the doctor should have been prepared for any incident and any reaction." Defense attorney: "Should Dr. Murray also have been prepared for Mr. Jackson’s self-treatment?" Rogers: "If that possibility existed, then he should have been prepared." The witness went on to say that forensic medical investigators, based on tests and evidence, believe Murray was the one who administered propofol to Michael. Dr. Rogers explained that he does not believe Conrad Murray’s claim that he injected only 25 milligrams of propofol into Michael. While he implicitly pointed to Murray’s alleged lying to the police, he did not use that word. He said that if Murray had injected 25 milligrams, Michael would have woken up after 3 to 5 minutes. He also said he doesn’t believe Michael swallowed the drug. This was a theory raised in the previous hearing by the defense attorneys. Rogers said that even if Michael injected or drank the drug himself, Murray is still the killer. Rogers described Michael’s health condition before his death as "excellent" for a middle-aged man and said his heart was completely healthy. He cited the lack of a standard of medical care as the cause of death. Rogers said that Dr. Murray violated medical rules by using propofol. "Many precautions were needed, but they were not taken." Rogers explained that this drug is not used to treat insomnia, and the condition for its use is constant, uninterrupted monitoring of the patient—something Murray did not do. He said: "Based on our notice, this doctor left Mr. Jackson while he was sedated—and that’s something that should not be done." Although an emergency doctor testified that Michael appeared to be underweight, Dr. Rogers stated that a weight of 136 pounds (61.7) for someone who is 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall and his age is normal. Another witness that day, an anesthesiologist and pharmacology specialist, Dr. Richard Raffaele, presented the judge with a comprehensive overview of the conditions for using propofol—one of which was the presence of a heart-rate monitoring device and monitoring of lung function, something that was not in Michael’s room. "If your patient wakes up earlier than expected, you need to know what you will do—you should expect it. Even if you use this drug for a short time, many unfortunate incidents can happen. Especially if other medications are also used on the patient along with it." In addition to propofol, over a span of several hours, Murray had injected Michael with many sedative drugs. At the end of the hearing, defense attorney Joseph Lo said the judge should dismiss the case because the prosecution had not proved how the defendant caused Michael Jackson’s death. He dismissed the forensic medical testimony as irrelevant and said that Michael’s poor health condition led to his death. He went further and said, "When your time comes to leave this world, there’s nothing anyone can do." After that statement, prosecutor Walgren became angry: "Contrary to what Mr. Lo said, let me tell you that Mr. Jackson’s time had not come. It was Dr. Murray’s actions that left Michael’s children without a father." Members of the Jackson family were also present in court today, as they had been in previous days. Latoya, Michael’s sister, said outside the courthouse that so far she is satisfied with how things are going. Randy, Michael’s brother, also thanked the prosecution. Source: eMJey / Reuters / Los Angeles Times