Witness Testimonies: Week 2: Day 5
Monday, October 3, 2011
, Posted by KizzDaLipz at 1:38 PM
Monday's courtroom activity commenced with testimony by Dr. Richelle Cooper, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center emergency room doctor who pronounced Jackson dead.
Cooper told the jury on Friday that Jackson appeared to be "clinically dead" when he arrived at the hospital. She also said she had been in contact with a nurse who had spoken to the paramedics who treated Jackson at his home. The two EMTS, Richard Senneff and Martin Blout, said that the singer was in cardiac arrest when they arrived at his home at 12:26 p.m. and showed no signs of life.
"I did not personally ever confirm a pulse. "Mr. Jackson had already been dead for some time when he became my patient," Dr. Richelle Cooper said Monday under cross-examination from the defense.
"Mr. Jackson was my patient and I didn't really have an explanation for why he was dead," Cooper said "In my mind it was a coroner's case."
Cooper also said Murray told her Jackson's cardiac arrest began after Murray gave him two doses of the sedative lorazepam, but Murray did not mention Jackson's use of propofol.
"I did go to check on the children at that time" Cooper stated, when asked what the children were doing at that time, cooper responded "they were crying, fairly hysterical being comforted by someone referred to as their nurse."
Representatives from two cell phone companies confirmed that calls and data were made and sent from Murray's cell phone during the hour before emergency services were summoned to Jackson's home.
The Next Witness to take the stand is Edward Dixon, Senior network engineer at AT&T.
Dixon reviewed mobile phone records belonging to Dr. Conrad Murray. Dixon testified that the uniformity of the timestamps of Murray''s phone records shows that Murray was constantly receiving Pull data notifications( messages sent automatically to his phone at regular intervals) from some web source directly to his phone.
Dixon also stated that looking at various records he could tell whether a particular call was answered, whether it went to voice mail and whether or not the voice mail was answered; however, while he could would be able to identify whether or not a text message was sent, he would not be able to tell whether or not the text message was viewed.
Dixon confirmed that Murray was his phone for 32 minutes on The Day Michael Jackson lost his life. The call that began at 11:18, the critical time when Jackson went into distress.
Dixon reviewed mobile phone records belonging to Dr. Conrad Murray. Dixon testified that the uniformity of the timestamps of Murray''s phone records shows that Murray was constantly receiving Pull data notifications( messages sent automatically to his phone at regular intervals) from some web source directly to his phone.
Dixon also stated that looking at various records he could tell whether a particular call was answered, whether it went to voice mail and whether or not the voice mail was answered; however, while he could would be able to identify whether or not a text message was sent, he would not be able to tell whether or not the text message was viewed.
Dixon confirmed that Murray was his phone for 32 minutes on The Day Michael Jackson lost his life. The call that began at 11:18, the critical time when Jackson went into distress.
Jeff Strohm, custodian of records for Sprint takes the stand.
Strohm verified that the subcriber of the Sprint cell phone number ending in '3747' was Conrad Murray,confirming the fact that Murray had two mobile phone which he used on June 25, 2009, the last day of the singer's life.
When questioned as to whether or not Murray answered a particular call(lasting 7 seconds) or the call went to voicemail, Strohm replied that he can tell if the call went to voicemail, which it did not in this case, but he would not be ableto verify whether or not the call was answered or the phone just rang for 7 seconds.
Next witness to take the stand was Dr. Thao Nguyen, Cardiologist/scientist in the cardiac critical care unit at UCLA medical center.
Nguyen testified that the ER team used a balloon pump to try to restart Jackson's heart, and that Murray "appeared devastated" when ER staff couldn't revive the singer.
After Jackson was brought into the emergency room, doctors in the emergency room tried to resuscitate him and restart his heart with a balloon pump, after discussing the procedure with Murray. Nguyen called this procedure a "desperate" but "futile" last attempt to revive the singer.
"Dr. Murray did ask me one thing ... that we not give up easily, and try to save Mr. Michael Jackson's life," Nguyen said. "It was not too little too late," she said. "It was a case of too late. I feared that time was not on Mr. Jackson's side. "It seems like a case of too late because Dr. Murray was not able to give me the time, or the time interval. What I feared was that time was not on Mr Jackson's side, that we were running too late."
"Even before the balloon pump placement, we made an agreement with Dr. Murray that this would be the last attemped procedure on Mr. Jackson," Nguyen added. "We'd like to prepare Dr. Murray mentally to accept the fact that Mr. Jackson could not be rescued and would allow Mr. Jackson to depart in peace and with dignity. So we proposed that if this would not work, we would call it stop. We would not try other procedures."
Murray, she said, "sounded desperate and he looked devastated." She said that Murray had told another doctor that he found a pulse on Jackson, but that the hospital physicians could not find one.
Nguyen also stated said that, when Jackson was brought into the hospital and she asked him what had occurred, he told her he gave Jackson two separate, two-milligram doses of Ativan -- also known as lorazepam -- via IV to help him sleep. Murray said that he momentarily left Jackson's bedroom, and discovered that the singer had stopped breathing.
However, Murray could not say when he administered the doses. Nor could he answer when he discovered that Jackson had stopped breathing, or how long it was between when Jackson went down and when the 911 call was placed.
"He said he did not have any concept of time. [that] he did not have a watch," Nguyen testified.
Nguyen also confirmed previous witness testimony that Murray never mentioned propofol to her.
Upon cross-examination, Nguyen stated she had no conversation with Richelle Cooper, the attending ER physician, other than to say Hi and to be introduced to Dr. Murray.
When asked why she did not talk to Cooper first, "I went to Murray because he was the primary source, the plan was to speak to Dr. Cooper next." Nguyen answered.
Nguyen also confirmed that she knew the patient was Michael Jackson because when she received the page summoning her to the trauma unit, it was for a VIP patient named Michael Jackson.
Nguyen testified that Murray told her " MR. Jackson was having difficulty sleeping, was tired from preparation, practice, rehearsal tour in england and asked for some sleeping aid to help him sleep.
"Dr. Murray answered negatively to my question as to whether there were any sedatives or narcotics involved." Nguyen added.
Flanagan asked whether 20 mg of Adivan would be enough of the drug to kill a person to which Nguyen responded "Adivan does not cause respiratory depression, it acts on the brain and makes u sleepy, the brain would be so sleepy that it would not tell the diaphragm to breath and that patient will go into sleep apnea."
SHe also testified that Murray was concerned for Jackson saying "Please do not give up easily, please try to save his life"
Nguyen testified that the ER team used a balloon pump to try to restart Jackson's heart, and that Murray "appeared devastated" when ER staff couldn't revive the singer.
After Jackson was brought into the emergency room, doctors in the emergency room tried to resuscitate him and restart his heart with a balloon pump, after discussing the procedure with Murray. Nguyen called this procedure a "desperate" but "futile" last attempt to revive the singer.
"Dr. Murray did ask me one thing ... that we not give up easily, and try to save Mr. Michael Jackson's life," Nguyen said. "It was not too little too late," she said. "It was a case of too late. I feared that time was not on Mr. Jackson's side. "It seems like a case of too late because Dr. Murray was not able to give me the time, or the time interval. What I feared was that time was not on Mr Jackson's side, that we were running too late."
"Even before the balloon pump placement, we made an agreement with Dr. Murray that this would be the last attemped procedure on Mr. Jackson," Nguyen added. "We'd like to prepare Dr. Murray mentally to accept the fact that Mr. Jackson could not be rescued and would allow Mr. Jackson to depart in peace and with dignity. So we proposed that if this would not work, we would call it stop. We would not try other procedures."
Murray, she said, "sounded desperate and he looked devastated." She said that Murray had told another doctor that he found a pulse on Jackson, but that the hospital physicians could not find one.
Nguyen also stated said that, when Jackson was brought into the hospital and she asked him what had occurred, he told her he gave Jackson two separate, two-milligram doses of Ativan -- also known as lorazepam -- via IV to help him sleep. Murray said that he momentarily left Jackson's bedroom, and discovered that the singer had stopped breathing.
However, Murray could not say when he administered the doses. Nor could he answer when he discovered that Jackson had stopped breathing, or how long it was between when Jackson went down and when the 911 call was placed.
"He said he did not have any concept of time. [that] he did not have a watch," Nguyen testified.
Nguyen also confirmed previous witness testimony that Murray never mentioned propofol to her.
Upon cross-examination, Nguyen stated she had no conversation with Richelle Cooper, the attending ER physician, other than to say Hi and to be introduced to Dr. Murray.
When asked why she did not talk to Cooper first, "I went to Murray because he was the primary source, the plan was to speak to Dr. Cooper next." Nguyen answered.
Nguyen also confirmed that she knew the patient was Michael Jackson because when she received the page summoning her to the trauma unit, it was for a VIP patient named Michael Jackson.
Nguyen testified that Murray told her " MR. Jackson was having difficulty sleeping, was tired from preparation, practice, rehearsal tour in england and asked for some sleeping aid to help him sleep.
"Dr. Murray answered negatively to my question as to whether there were any sedatives or narcotics involved." Nguyen added.
Flanagan asked whether 20 mg of Adivan would be enough of the drug to kill a person to which Nguyen responded "Adivan does not cause respiratory depression, it acts on the brain and makes u sleepy, the brain would be so sleepy that it would not tell the diaphragm to breath and that patient will go into sleep apnea."
SHe also testified that Murray was concerned for Jackson saying "Please do not give up easily, please try to save his life"
Houston-based doctor, Joanne Bednarz-Prashad testified that she consulted with Murray over the treatment of one of his former patients by phone on June 25, 2009, the day Michael Jackson died while under his care.
Prashad told jurors she called Murray the morning of Jackson's death to inquire whether it would be safe to operate on a patient whom Murray had treated. Prashad said she was surprised that Murray remembered the patient and the exact dosage of medicine that he was taking.
Murray's lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff asked Prashad whether Murray's recall was unusual for a doctor. She said yes. "He seemed to know exactly who I was speaking of"
Prashad went on to say that most Doctors say they don't have the patient's files in front of them and will give you a call when they get back to the office or they haven't reviewed the patient's files in a while. She stated some are even unable to remember the patient at all.
"When I called Dr. Murray he made it vey clear that the patient should continue taking the medication[Plavix]as he hadn't finished the 6 months yet and the surgery should be postponed."
"I was impressed," Prashad said.
Former patient of Dr. Conrad Murray, Antionette Gill takes the stand
Gill, a self-employed cosmetologist residing in Las Vegas Nevada, testified that she first came to know Dr. Murray after being referred to him by a client of hers.
Gill recalled that she called Murray's mobile phone on June 25,2009 after having received a letter stating that he would be closing his practice.
Gill recalled that while she was able to reach Dr. Murray, she does not remember what they conversed about. Gill did, however, remember that it was a "normal" conversation.
Consuelo Ng, who volunteered at Murray's Office in Las Vegas, was next to take the stand.
Ng,who came to know Dr. Murray when he saved her grandmother's life, testified that she wanted to know what it was like to work as a medical assistant so she asked Murray if she could volunteer in his office and he agreed.
When asked why she chose Dr. Murray, Ng stated "I saw how he was with my grandmother, he was always nice and helpful, he would visit my grandmother and talk to her, I was the translator"
Ng further testified, that she along with 2 other assistants were responsible for handling the day to day activities of Murray's office.
After stating the layout of Murray's office, she was then asked if any of the assistants were licensed to which Ng replied "no."
Ng stated that Murray usually worked alternating weeks at his Las Vegas and Houston offices and usually set aside one day per week to perform procedures.
Ng testified that in Murray's absence, the office remained open with the assistants performing minor procedures such as echo cardiogams and ECP tests.
When asked who performed these procedures, Ng responded that an echo technician would come to the office and perform the echo cardiogram while she, or one of the other assistants would perform the ECt test which consisted of attatching electroded to the patient and the hooking them up to a machine. Ng noted that all of the assistants were cross-trained to perform most of the duties of the office.
Ng testified that Murray informed them that he would be leaving to become Michael Jackson's personal physician.
The office would remain open during Murray's absence and she, as well as the other assistants, would consider working. NG said Murray told them he would hire a competent physician to take on his patients while he was away. She also noted that he said he would probably return at the end of the year.
When asked whether the office had a physician in place, Ng responded "not yet".
Ng said Murray would often call the office when he was absent. On the morning of June 25, 2009, Ng said she did not speak with Murray but it was possible that one of the other office assistants could have spoken with him.
Ng testified that she was aware of the trouble with Jackson and was infomed of Jackson's death by one of their billers.
The last witness to take the stand today is Bridgette Morgan, ex-girlfriend of Dr. Conrad Murray.
Morgan testified that she met Murray in a social setting in 2003 and formed a relationship with him lasting until 2009.
Morgan recalls phoning Murray on the morning of June 25th, 30 minutes before Jackson's arrest, but she was unable to reach him.
Testimony will resume tomorrow with the remaining ladies in Conrad Murray's life scheduled to take the stand.
Although the way Murray met the ladies he was involvement will not be mentioned, they will play an important part in backing up the prosecutions claim that Murray was on the phone when Mr jackson went into destress.
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