In Yesterday’s Court Session: The Judge Accepted the Evidence

Yesterday, in the fifth decision-making session on whether holding a trial for the doctor accused of murder, Conrad Murray, has legal meaning, Judge Michael Pastor said that evidence obtained from the accused’s mobile phone is admissible in court. So far, 16 witnesses have been called to testify. The prosecution can now use the calls made from the accused’s mobile phone on the day Michael died as legal evidence for the timing of events related to the death of this music legend. In yesterday’s session, it was said that Murray made several phone calls and sent text messages before he realized Michael’s condition was worsening. In one of these messages, sent in the form of an email, he reassured a British insurance investigator that Michael’s physical condition—so he could perform on stage in London a few days later—was in good shape. Michael suffered respiratory arrest 40 minutes after sending this email. This email was sent from Murray’s personal iPhone at 11:17 a.m. on June 25, and it said: “The news that the media is publishing about his illness is entirely based on malice and hostility.” This insurance investigator had been considering canceling Michael’s concert insurance contract because of media reports. After sending this email and assuring Michael’s health, Murray did not put down his phones until 11:51 a.m., when he was talking with his former girlfriend, and a few minutes later he realized Michael was not breathing. It was also revealed yesterday that Dr. Murray had purchased 15 liters of propofol and 80 vials of intravenous sleeping medications from a pharmacy in Las Vegas during the three months before Michael’s death. These drugs were being sent to Murray’s apartment and to Nicole Alvarez’s apartment in Santa Monica, California. The most important event of yesterday’s session was the testimony of Orlando Martinez, the special homicide investigator for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. He had questioned Dr. Murray two days after Michael’s death. He testified that on that day, Murray told him that Michael had had trouble sleeping the night before he died. Murray, according to his statement, had tried to remove propofol from Michael’s medications. He had been injecting this drug into him every night for two months. Murray told the investigator that in the hours leading up to Michael’s death, he had injected him with a mixture of different drugs. This treatment began after 1:00 a.m. on June 25, but it had no positive effect on Michael. Then Michael told Murray that if he couldn’t sleep, he would have to cancel the rehearsal the next day. Murray said he felt pressure from Michael to inject propofol. Murray claimed that after injecting a small amount of the drug for two minutes, he went to the restroom, returned, and saw that Michael was not breathing. However, the prosecution says the accused’s statements about the timing of events do not match reality. Murray told Martinez that after 11:00, he realized Michael had suffered respiratory arrest. But the call to emergency services was not made until 12:21. Murray’s defense attorney, Michael Flanagan, claimed yesterday that the cause of Michael’s death was Michael drinking propofol. He asked a senior forensic crime expert from the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office whether the drink near Michael’s bed had been tested for traces of propofol. The answer was no. When the defense attorney asked the forensic expert about Michael’s self-treatment on the day he died, the judge ordered the witness to remain silent after the prosecutor objected. Yesterday, Michael’s parents, all three of his sisters, and his two brothers, Randy and Jackie, were present in court. Source: eMJey / CNN / AP