Conrad Murray Trial, Day 6: Did Murray's Relationships Factor Into MJ's Care? (Live Feed)
Day six of Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial gets underway today in Los Angeles, with Dr. Murray's former girlfriends on the list of potential witnesses.
CNN.com reports that, despite Judge Michael Pastor's insistence that neither Michael Jackson nor Conrad Murray's personal lives should take center stage, the prosecution will call three of Murray's girlfriends to the witness stand.
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Prosecutors reportedly believe the womens' testimonies are key to proving their assertion that Murray did not provide the kind of attentive care a patient requires when using a powerful drug like propofol, which killed Jackson.
Bridgette Morgan, one of Murray's female friends, was the last witness on the stand yesterday, and is expected to begin proceedings today. She testified in a January preliminary hearing that she spoke to Murray on the phone about 30 minutes before Michael Jackson's medical emergency began on June 25, 2009.
Meanwhile, Nicole Alvarez, the mother of Murray's youngest child, is expected to testify that her Santa Monica address was used to receive shipments of propofol Murray had ordered for Jackson. Houston cocktail waitress Sade Anding is expected to testify she was on a phone call with Murray shortly before Jackson died.
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Anding testified during a preliminary hearing in January that she had been talking to Murray when he suddenly stopped responding to her. I didn't hear him on the phone anymore, Anding said. I heard commotion as if the phone was in a pocket and I heard coughing, and I heard a mumbling of voices.
Prosecutors believe this may have been the moment when Murray first realized Jackson had stopped breathing, and it fits into their timeline of how Jackson's death unfolded.
The coroner ruled Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication, and that sedatives were also a factor. Prosecutors contend Murray is criminally liable for Jackson's death because he recklessly administered the propofol and was negligent in properly monitoring Jackson during his use of the surgical anesthetic.
In courtroom testimony on Monday, emergency room doctor Richelle Cooper, who officially pronounced Jackson dead, said Murray had not informed her that Jackson was taking propofol.
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But she also said the information wouldn't have changed the outcome, because Jackson had died long before arriving at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on June 25, 2009.
Her ER colleague, Dr. Thao Nguyen, testified that Murray had pleaded with the ER staff not to give up on trying to resuscitate Jackson. The doctors placed a balloon pump in Jackson's aorta, but were unable to restart his heart.
It's not a case of too little, too late, but a case of too late, Nguyen said.
The trial is expected to last at least four more weeks.
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