The prosecution’s case against Conrad Murray has hinged on sex, lies, video and audio tapes to prove that Conrad Murray killed Michael Jackson. It boils down to more lies, some sex or at least some baby mama drama and tapes. At this point, you need a chart to keep up with the lies and inconsistencies of Dr. Murray. And lies come in two forms, direct lies and his actions which show that he’s lying.
The prosecution paints a picture of Conrad Murray as being untruthful. And he’s certainly been helpful to them in this regard. The most damaging lie is that Dr. Murray only left Michael Jackson’s bedroom for 2 minutes to go to the bathroom after giving him the Propofol. Dr. Murray’s own E-mails and cell phone records to three persons including an ex-girlfriend who testified show he was gone for more than 30 minutes and most likely 45 minutes. According to the paramedics, Jackson’s body was cold to the touch when they arrived although Murray says he called them right away. And then Murray failed to tell the paramedics that he had given Jackson Propofol, stating that he only gave Jackson some sedatives. There was also “the deer caught in the headlight look” according to the paramedic, when the paramedic returned to Jackson’s bedroom to find Dr. Murray appearing to dispose of some items.
And then it appears that the most flagrant lie has been dropped by the defense. On Wednesday, October 12, the defense dropped the theory that Michael Jackson ingested the Propofol on his own, after learning that medical scientific evidence does not support his theory. They had advanced this theory for well over a year. From this former prosecutor’s viewpoint, it appears as if someone on the Murray team had not done their homework. A lawyer never wants to discuss theories in opening statements and then abandon them in the middle of the trial. Any statements about medicine should have been verified by Murray’s medical experts before advancing the theory.
And then there’s the baby mama drama. Dr. Murray has 7 children by 6 women. And why is his sex life important to the case against him? It shows he needed money to take care of his children and lifestyle. And to do that, he needed to be able to put Michael Jackson to sleep nightly by any means necessary. Remember Dr. Murray initially asked for $5 million a year to serve as Jackson’s private physician. Although a contract had not been signed, he was to have been paid $150,000 a month.
The most damaging testimony in the case is the audiotape statement of Conrad Murray. In his own words and voice, he contradicts himself and lies to the paramedics and investigators about the sequence of events, details, drugs and anything of significance. And the audio tape and words by Dr. Murray were used to show the 6 ways that he committed criminal recklessness. Those included waiting at least 20 minutes before calling 911, leaving the bedroom after administering Propofol, using Propofol as a sleep aid, and not getting other doctors’ history and records of Michael Jackson.
In the end, his own statements may very well convict him. This leads one to wonder why his attorneys allowed him to give a statement to detectives since presumably he was a potential suspect. A statement could not help and really looks like it hurt Murray. He had every right to decline questioning. One has to wonder what his attorneys were thinking.
The prosecution with the help of Dr. Murray has dug a hole that is quite deep for him to climb out. The defense starts its case soon and will have a tremendous amount of ground to make up. They are expected to call a medical witness to explain the uses of Propofol. I hope for their sake, they do not allow Dr. Murray to testify. He has already committed enough harm with his audio tape.
Debbie Hines is a lawyer, former prosecutor and political/legal commentator appearing in national and local media including CNN, the Michael Eric Dyson Show, XM Sirius radio, NBC , ABC and CBS -Washington, DC affiliates, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Black Enterprise among others. She founded LegalSpeaks, a progressive blog on women and race in law and politics. She also writes for the Huffington Post and Politic 365.
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