Prosecutor: Conrad Murray changed his story

Yesterday, the prosecutor in Michael Jackson’s murder case told Judge Michael Pastor that the accused Conrad Murray had told his defense lawyers a different story than the one he had told the police. In other words, he changed his story. David Walgren and Deborah Brazil, in a brief, asked Judge Michael Pastor to put an end to the formation of new theories about Michael Jackson’s death by Murray and his defense lawyers. The prosecution says Murray told a new story to two doctors who will appear as witnesses on behalf of the defense in court. The prosecution also says that these two witnesses—named Paul White, an anesthesiologist, and Joseph Harestay, a psychologist—should not be called to the stand before Conrad Murray. Among the contradictions in Conrad Murray’s statements is that he told the case experts that he had left Michael’s room to make a phone call, while he had told the police a few days after Michael’s death that he had left the room to go to the bathroom. Murray also told the experts that he had previously had experience injecting propofol into other people, but the statement police took from him does not contain such a claim. In the new brief, the prosecution also says that Murray claims that while he was out of the room, Michael drank the propofol medication from his juice. The prosecution calls this claim pure deception. Murray had not provided this information to police during questioning. Murray’s defense attorney, Michael Flanagan, says his client did not change his story, but instead remembered more details. The prosecution considers this a trick by the defense lawyers to introduce new theories without bothering or re-questioning the police. Steve Cooley, the prosecutor for the judicial district of Los Angeles County, believes that using claims newly raised by Murray in a situation where police investigators have not had the opportunity to examine them is far from judicial fairness—unless Murray makes himself available for questioning by police. The prosecution also says Murray’s claims are only acceptable if he appears as a witness and, during questioning with the prosecutor, confirms his statements. The prosecution says the information given to the two witness doctors conflicts with what police already knows about the case. The court will hold a hearing on this matter on Thursday. Source: eMJey.com / AP / CNN