Michael caused his own death claims defense key witness – Day 19 – 20

According to the defense’s star witness, Michael Jackson must have caused his own death by self injecting a fatal dose of Propofol.

Defense expert Paul White directly challenged the theory put forth by the government’s main medical witness, Dr. Steven Shafer.

It seems the two experts are at odds to what killed the King of Pop. Dr. Shafer testified that Dr. Conrad Murray had left a large intravenous drip of the anesthetic propofol running into the singer’s bloodstreams for three hours, even after he stopped breathing.

According to White, Shafer’s theory was ruled out by the level of the drug found in Jackson’s urine at autopsy. Given the urine levels and evidence at the scene, White told the jury that the more likely explanation was that the singer gave himself the drug.

“You think it was self-injection of propofol … between 11:30 and 12 o’clock?” defense attorney Michael Flanagan asked.

“In my opinion, yes,” White said.

The defense has been stating from the onset that they believed Michael Jackson administered the lethal dose.

Shafer testified that blood levels of the drug found at autopsy did not support self-injection — something he said was a “crazy scenario.”

White offered no defense to what several medical experts called by prosecutors have told jurors — that even if Jackson gave himself the drug, Murray was still responsible for the singer’s death for leaving him unattended. At the beginning of his testimony Thursday, he acknowledged he could not explain away Murray’s conduct.

The anesthesiologist’s testimony also supported a second defense contention: that the singer swallowed several tablets the sedative lorazepam. That drug, combined with the propofol they say Jackson gave himself, caused a “perfect storm” that killed the star instantly, they have told jurors.

“The fact that there is even a tiny amount of free lorazepam [in Jackson’s stomach] is consistent with the theory that he took lorazepam orally,” White said.

Cross examination is expected on Monday.

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