Conrad Murray Appeals

Dr Conrad Murray, who has been sentenced to four years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of Michale Jackson, has filed an appeal against the sentence.

He has filed "pro Per" (ie he represents himself), but the filing does not indicate the basis of his appeal.

Conrad Murray Sentenced

Dr Conrad Murray was sentenced to four years in country jail (not state prison) yesterday, for the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson.

On passing sentence Judge Michael Pastor said:

"Of everything I heard and saw during the course of the trial, one aspect of the evidence stands out the most, and that is the surreptitious recording of Michael Jackson by his trusted doctor.

I find that Dr Murray abandoned his patient who was trusting him; his patient was vulnerable under those circumstances, having been administrated potentially dangerous drugs by his medical provider.

Dr Murray's course of conduct extended over a period of time, he repeatedly lied and engaged in deceitful misconduct and endeavoured to cover up his transgressions.


He violated the trust of the medical community, of his colleagues and of his patient and he has absolutely no sense of remorse, absolutely no sense of fault and remains dangerous.

It's easy to say, 'Oh well, Dr Murray is a medical doctor, he's a smart sophisticated man, he doesn't have a criminal history, he may not be licensed to practise medicine in the future - although that has nothing to do with me, I have no authority over that.

The fact remains, Dr Murray is offended by that patient dying and I don't have any idea what will prompt Dr Murray to do or not do something in the future that may be dangerous to a patient if he does practise medicine in the United States or even elsewhere."

It is likely, because of overcrowding, that Dr Murray will not serve the full term.

Prosecution Press For Maximum Term and $100M Fine

Dr Conrad Murray will be sentenced next week, having been found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson.

The prosecution have filed a sentencing memo asking for Dr Murray to be sentenced to the maximum of four years in jail, together with a request that he be forced to pay Jackson's children over $100M in compensation for Jackson's loss of income.

Given that Dr Murray has lost his licence, it is unlikely that he will ever be able to pay that debt. However, if he were fined $100M it would ensure that he would never personally profit from any future media deals; as the monies earned would have to be used to pay down the debt.

Documentary

It appears that Dr Conrad Murray has, for the last two years been co-operating with a documentary team (October Films) on a film about Michael Jackson.

He was paid a nominal sum of $1.

However, I dare say (had Jackson not died, and Dr Murray not been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter) there would have been other media deals in the pipeline.

In an extract from the forthcoming documentary, Dr Murray says:

"He was pleading and begging to please please let him have some milk because that was the only thing that would work."

Doubtless though, Dr Murray will now find time to write a book about it.

Dr Conrad Murray Found Guilty

Dr Conrad Murray has been found guilty, by a unanimous verdict, of the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson.

He faces up to four years in jail, and will lose his medical licence.

He is currently being held in custody on suicide watch, whilst he awaits hi sentence.

The fans of Michael Jackson, who were camped outside the courthouse. expressed satisfaction with the verdict. Whatever the verdict, and sentence, they should temper their jubilation and bear in mind that it will not bring Jackson back.

Jury's Out

The jury in the trial of Dr Conrad Murray is now considering its verdict.

Dr Conrad Murray Will Not Testify

Dr Conrad Murray finally came to a decision about whether he will take the witness stand or not in his trial.

He told the judge, whilst the jury was out of the room, that he would not testify.

At which point the defence rested its case and the prosecution, after presenting brief rebuttal testimony, closed its presentation of evidence.

Defence and prosecution will now prepare and present their closing arguments.

Doctors Disagree

Dr Paul White continued his testimony at the trail of Dr Conrad Murray, and told the court that he believed that Michael Jackson took the anaesthetic Propofol by rapidly injecting it.

Dr White thought it was possible that Jackson had got out of bed, even though he was attached to a saline IV and a urine collection device, found a syringe with 25mg of Propofol in it, got back in to bed, and administered it to himself.

Dr Shafer, his friend and colleague, dismissed the theory as a "crazy scenario", noting that Jackson would have to have injected himself several times to achieve such high levels of propofol in his body.

Dr White, for his part, said that he would not have accepted a job that involved administering Propofol in a non medical setting.

Dr Murray is considering whether he will take the stand himself.

The trial continues.

Jackson Self Administered Drug

Dr Paul White, an anaesthesiologist, gave testimony at the trial of Dr Conrad Murray yesterday. He stated that, in his opinion, Michael Jackson injected himself with a dose of propofol after an initial dose provided by Dr Murray had worn off.

He also stated that Jackson had self administered a dose of lorazepam (a tranquilliser).

The combination of the two drugs had lethal consequences.

Dr White gave a demonstration of how propofol could have entered Jackson's veins, in the small dose (25mg) that Dr Murray claimed that he had given Jackson. Such a dosage, according to Dr White, would have only had an effect on Jackson for around 10-15 minutes. Hence Jackson's "need/desire" to administer another dose.


The trial continues.

Compassion

Ruby Mosley, a former patient of Dr Conrad Murray, brought Dr Murray to tears as she testified on his behalf at his trial yesterday.

She and four other former patients gave testimony about Dr Murray's medical skills, and described him as a kind and generous physician.

Ms Mosley (she met Dr Murray when he opened his clinic in Acres Home, where most residents were elderly and on fixed incomes) said of Dr Murray:


"If this man was greedy he never would have come to the community."

Another former patient, Gerry Causey, said:

"The reason I came here to help Dr Murray is I know his love, his compassion, his feeling for his patients, every one of them and I just don't think he did what he's accused of doing."

Andrew Guest testified:

"I'm alive today because of that man. That man sitting there is the best doctor I've ever seen."


The trial continues.

Those spectators outside of the court who have expressed vitriol towards Dr Murray would do well to remember that (whether he is found guilty or not of the charges made against him) those who show compassion deserve to be treated with compassion when they face tribulations.

Jackson Asked For Drug

Cherilyn Lee, a nurse, gave testimony at the trial of Dr Conrad Murray.

She tearfully stated that she had warned Michael Jackson against using propofol.

"He was sitting very close to me.

He looked at me and said, 'I have a lot of difficulty sleeping. I've tried a lot of things and I need something that will make me fall asleep right away. 

I need Dipravan."

The trial continues.

Prosecution Rests

The prosecution in the trial of Dr Conrad Murray is now resting. Dr Murray's defence team are now in the "driving seat".

Yesterday Dr Murray's lawyer, Ed Chernoff, challenged Dr Steven  Shafer's theory that there was no way that Michael Jackson could have killed himself by self administering Lorazepam and propofol.

Dr Shafer stuck to his guns, and reittereated that in his view it was not possible that Jackson killed himself.

Alex Supall, who visited Jackson's home the evening after his death, discussed the security and surveillance systems set up at Jackson's home. The defence asked Mr Supall why he had only submitted a few minutes of footage to the investigation. The rationale apparently being that Mr Supall had copied Jackson's arrival in order to establish a timeline for his return home.


The trial continues.

Defence Question Dr Shafer

Dr Conrad Murray's defence lawyer, Ed Chernoff, cross-examined Dr Steven Shafer in court.

Mr Chernoff questioned Dr Shafer's contention that Michael Jackson had been hooked up to an IV drip of the anesthetic propofol, and was then left alone by Dr Conrad Murray.

"That's a bold claim, isn't it?" Mr Chernoff asked.

Dr Shafer replied:

"It's an honest statement."

Mr Chernoff went on to suggest that Dr Shafer had drawn conclusions that were not necessarily supported by the evidence. Mr Chernoff said the type of IV line that Dr Shafer used in a demonstration for the jury was never found at Jackson's house.

Crazy!

Dr Steven Shafer continued to give evidence at the trail of Dr Conrad Muraay yesterday.

"Clueless" in "Never-Never Land"

The trial of Dr Conrad Murray has resumed, and Dr Steven Shafer has returned to the witness box.

In Dr Shafer's view Dr Murray made 17 flagrant violations when administering propofol to Michael Jackson. Dr Shafer told the court that the drug should never be used to treat insomnia, and Dr Conrad Murray's negligence was directly responsible for Jackson's death.

He went on to castigate Dr Murray as being "clueless" about the drug.

Dr Shafer sated that Dr Murray did not know how to respond when Jackson stopped breathing, and was dumbfounded by the delay in calling 911:

"I almost don't know what to say. That is so completely and utterly inexcusable."

Wrt using propofol as a sleeping aid, Dr Shafer said caustically:

"We are in pharmacological never-never land here, something that was done to Michael Jackson and no one else in history to my knowledge..

A competent doctor would know you do not do this."


The trial continues.

Further Delay To Trial

The trial of Dr Conrad Murray has been put on hold at least until Wednesday, in order to give defence council the time to study new lab test results wrt the contents of Michael Jackson's stomach.

The prosecution contends that the results show that that Jackson did not orally ingest a fatal overdose of lorazepam (a sedative).

The Los Angeles County coroner tested Jackson's stomach contents for lorazepam last Wednesday, at the request of the prosecution.

The defence have contended that Jackson orally ingested 8 tablets on the day he died.

The trial will resume, at the earliest on Wednesday.

Trial Put On Hold

The trial of Dr Conrad Murray has been temporarily put on hold, following the death of a member of the family of Dr Stevan Shafer (a witness for the prosecution).

Judge Michael Pastor will meet with prosecutors and defence lawyers today, to discuss when to resume the trial.

Recipe For Disaster

Dr Nader Kamangar, an intensive care doctor, has given testimony at the trial of Dr Conrad Murray. He stated that in his view Michael Jackson was receiving:

"very inappropriate therapy in the home setting, inappropriate sedatives...without appropriate monitoring by Dr Murray. 

Ultimately this cocktail was a recipe for disaster in a patient that had underlying dehydration."

Dr Murray's defence lawyer, J Michael Flanagan, retorted that just because there was no record of Dr Murray charting Jackson's vital signs, that did not necessarily mean that Dr Murray did not obtain the information.

However, as Dr Kamangar noted:

"In medicine, it is essential, we cannot take care of patients if we store it in our minds, we have to document things. It allows us to take better care of patients."

The trial continues.

Six Extreme Deviations

Dr Alon Steinberg, a cardiologist, has given testimony at the trial of Dr Conrad Murray in which he claimed that Michael Jackson could still be alive if six 'extreme deviations' in his treatment had been avoided.

He went on to list six flaws in Conrad Murray's treatment.

Dr Murray, according to Dr Steinberg:

1 Should not have used Propofol.

2 Should not have given Jackson Propofol in a home without proper equipment, medical personnel or back-up.

3 Did not make sufficient preparations in case of an emergency.

4 Botched Jackson's care after his breathing stopped, 'inexcusably' giving CPR with one hand on a bed.

5 Took too long to call 911.

6 Failed to keep any medical records on Jackson to help treat him in an emergency.

The trial continues.

Jackson Healthier Than The Average Person

Dr Christopher Rogers, who conducted the autopsy on Michael Jackson, told the court hearing the trail of Dr Conrad Murray that Jackson was "healthier than the average person his age."

Dr Rogers was of the view that it was unreasonable that Jackson could have given himself a fatal dose of  propofol. He went on to state that, in his view, Dr Murray overdosed Jackson when he incorrectly estimated how much of the drug he was giving him to induce sleep to fight insomnia.


The trial continues.