Dr. Murray’s team tries to show reasonable doubt
January 11, 2011 by admin
Filed under Manslaughter Trial
After Dr. Conrad Murray was ordered to stand trial for manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson and had his california medical license suspended until trial completion, news coverage has begun to speculate how reasonable doubt may be raised during the trial.
Several Jackson’s family members sat through the six-day preliminary hearing for Murray, but they would not talk about the ruling as they left court Tuesday.
The lawyer for Michael Jackson’s estate issued a statement on behalf of the co-executors.
“The judge’s ruling ordering Dr. Murray to stand trial for the death of Michael Jackson is perfectly appropriate given the testimony in this case,” Howard Weitzman said.
Murray’s lawyers appeared satisfied with the results of the preliminary hearing indicating to some that the testimony they got from prosecution witnesses might help raise reasonable doubt about Murray’s guilt at trial.
“I think the prosecution is going to change their tactics in this case,” defense lawyer J. Michael Flanigan said after court. “It’s not the same as what they gave in opening statements.”
So how was reasonable doubt raised. On Tuesday, the prosecution’s expert witness in the case admitted he made a math mistake and that the recalculation supports the defense theory that Michael Jackson may have given himself the fatal dose of propofol.
Dr. Richard Ruffalo, an anesthesiologist hired by the prosecution, was the last witness to take the stand.
“I actually made a mistake on that,” Ruffalo said during cross-examination, referring to his calculation of the levels of propofol in Jackson’s stomach fluid. Gasps could be heard from Jackson family members sitting in court.
Murray’s lawyers suggest a frustrated and sleepless Jackson may have poured the surgical anesthetic propofol into his juice bottle while the doctor was out of his bedroom.
“Now it doesn’t make sense unless he ingested it orally in a huge amount,” Ruffalo testified.
But he said Murray would still be at fault, because he left dangerous drugs near a patient who was addicted.
“It’s like leaving a syringe next to a heroin addict,” Ruffalo said. “If he’s not getting what he wants, when you leave the room he might reach for it himself.”
“Either way, it doesn’t matter,” he testified. “He abandoned his patient and didn’t resuscitate appropriately.”
Murray should have anticipated that Jackson, who had previously asked to inject himself, might do this, Ruffalo said.
“He gets upset if he doesn’t get his milk,” he said, referring to Jackson’s habit of referring to propofol as his “milk.”
La Toya Jackson was clearly upset hearing a prosecution witness vilify her brother as an addict.
The pathologist who conducted Jackson’s autopsy acknowledged earlier Tuesday it was possible, although improbable, that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of the propofol.
Doctor Murray looked very glassy-eyed when the news first came on T.V. as if he had fallen asleep or he looked high himself, I am surprised that no one considers that instead of going to the bathroom, as the doctor says, that maybe he fell asleep and was not monitoring the drip, when he awoke he panicked!! That is why he did not even have the sense to put Michael on the darn floor to do CPR! He panicked and started calling around to find out how to counter-act the overdose. In the autopsy results, it stated there were also three shots given directly into the heart, which went through the heart all three times, and one attempt even nicked a rib. This doctor is a quack, pure and simple! Who ever hired him should be held responsible as well. Saying the fatal dose was self-induced, suggests people in general before an operation can just put themselves under without the need for an anesthesiologist. Michael loved his children, leaving them fatherless was not his plan! I miss Michael with all my heart. People say, get over it, he’s gone, but I can’t, and I never will. Michael can’t speak for himself, so that doctor Murray is shifting the blame on to him, that’s the slithering low life that he is. I hope he gets his in prison, if you know what I mean…A Fan… With love-L.O.V.E.