Michael Jackson shopped for sleep in last months, witnesses say
By Alan Duke, CNN
October 25, 2011 -- Updated 0930 GMT (1730 HKT)
Original anzeigen (0,2 MB)VIDEO im Bericht STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* After bedtime tea, vitamin didn't put Jackson to sleep, he asked for propofol, nurse says
* A Los Angeles doctor says he refused Jackson's request for propofol two months before he died
* Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyers have about 10 more witnesses to call in his defense
* Testimony in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial could end this week
Story Highlights
* Später zur Schlafenszeit Tee, Vitamine haben Jackson nicht einschlafen lassen, er fragte nach Propofol, sagte Krankenschwester
* Ein Arzt aus Los Angeles sagt, dass er Jacksons Bitte nach Propofol 2 Monate bevor er (MJ) starb, verweigerte
* Dr. Conrad Murrays Anwälte haben mehr als 10 weitere Zeugen zu seiner Verteidigung aufzurufen
* Zeugenaussagen in Murrays Klage wegen fahrlässiger Tötung, könnten diese Woche beendet sein Los Angeles (CNN) -- A nurse who says Michael Jackson asked her to give him propofol to help him sleep returns to the witness stand Tuesday morning for the second day of Dr. Conrad Murray's defense presentation.
Cherilyn Lee, who first treated Jackson with IV drips loaded with vitamins, is expected to describe how two months before the pop icon's death, she warned him it wouldn't be safe to give him anesthesia in his home.
A Los Angeles doctor testified for the defense Monday that Jackson asked him for "intravenous sleep medicine" the same weekend he made the request from Lee.
Jackson's meetings with the doctor and nurse came after Murray had already placed his first order for propofol supplies that he soon started administering to Jackson on a nightly basis leading up to his death two months later.
Prosecutors rested their case in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial Monday morning after 33 witnesses testified over 16 days.
Testimony could end this week after the defense calls about 10 more witnesses, including the head of the company that promoted Jackson's comeback concerts, several Murray heart patients and a defense anesthesiology expert.
A major part of Murray's defense strategy is to convince jurors that Jackson was responsible for his own death through his aggressive search for propofol, the surgical anesthetic the coroner ruled killed him.
The prosecution contends Murray's reckless use of propofol in Jackson's bedroom, without proper precautions, made him criminally responsible for his June 25, 2009 death.
Dr. Allan Metzger, who treated Jackson off and on for two decades for "his profound sleep disorder," testified as a defense witness Monday that Jackson called him to his home on April 18, 2009, to ask for help.
Jackson asked for "intravenous sleep medicine," but he did not specifically name a drug, Metzger testified Monday. "I think he used the word juice," he said.
Jackson wanted the anesthetic delivered by IV because "he did not believe any oral medicine would be helpful," Metzger said.
Metzger declined Jackson's request, instead giving him prescriptions for two oral sedatives to help him sleep.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren used the defense witness to make the prosecution's point that using propofol outside a clinical setting is unacceptable.
"Is there any amount of money that would have convinced you to give him intravenous propofol in his house?" Walgren asked Metzger.
"Absolutely not," Metzger answered.
The defense then called Lee, a nurse who practices nutrition and natural remedies. Lee worked with Jackson to help his fatigue and insomnia from February through April of 2009, she said.
After two months of using IV infusions of vitamins, "sophisticated" vitamin smoothies and bedtime teas, Jackson began asking for more help, Lee testified.
"His complaint was 'I have a problem sleeping and all the natural remedies and everything you're doing is not working,'" she said. "When I need sleep, I need to go to sleep right away."
The court session ended before defense lawyer Ed Chernoff could ask Lee to describe what kind of help Jackson was asking for, but the nurse previously told CNN that he requested propofol.
"I told him this medication is not safe," Lee told CNN on June 30, 2009. "He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.'"
Four police officers were also called as defense witnesses Monday morning, but their testimonies were brief.
A Beverly Hills police officer testified that a 911 call routed through her department at 12:20 p.m. on June 25, 2009, asked for help at Jackson's Holmby Hills estate.
A Los Angeles police officer testified next about retrieving seven minutes of video from a security camera at Jackson's home. The video, shown to the jury, captured Jackson's arrival home from his last rehearsal just before 1 a.m. on the morning he died.
Michael Jackson fans sitting in court appeared to become emotional as they viewed the last video ever recorded of the pop icon alive, grainy security camera video of Jackson arriving home from his last rehearsal.
Two LAPD investigators were called to the stand by the defense Monday and testified briefly.
Randy Phillips, the head of AEG Live, is expected to be called by the defense this week.
Murray's lawyers have argued that Jackson was pressured by Phillips, whose company was promoting his comeback concerts in London, to show up healthy and on time for rehearsals or else the tour might be canceled.
Murray, in a police interview, said he was using sedatives to wean Jackson from propofol, which he had used almost every night for two months to fight his insomnia. But after a long, restless night and morning, the lorazepam and midazolam had no effect, Murray said.
"I've got to sleep, Dr. Conrad," Murray said Jackson pleaded to him. "I have these rehearsals to perform. I must be ready for the show in England. Tomorrow, I will have to cancel my performance, because you know I cannot function if I don't get to sleep."
Murray said he gave in to Jackson's pleas and gave him an injection of 25 milligrams of propofol around 10:40 a.m.
The testimony of anesthesiologist expert Dr. Steven Shafer, concluded Monday morning, 11 days after he took the stand as the prosecution's 33rd, but perhaps most important, witness.
Shafer testified last week that there was no way Jackson got only the amount of propofol Murray said he did, based on the high level of the drug found in blood taken during his autopsy.
The "only scenario" to explain Jackson's death was that he overdosed on propofol infused through an IV drip set up by Murray, Shafer said.
The defense contends Jackson self-administered the fatal dose, along with sedatives, without Murray knowing.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/25/justice/california-conrad-murray-trial/
