It was an emotional first day Monday in the manslaughter trial of Michael
Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray. The defendant shed tears, and so did Jackson's
mother.
CBS News national correspondent Ben Tracy reports prosecutors began their
case by showing photos of Jackson's lifeless body on a gurney and the room in
which he died in June of 2009. Then they played an audio recording of Jackson,
said to be made by Murray.
Jackson is heard saying, "When people leave this show, I want them to say,
'I've never seen nothing like this in my life. I've never seen nothing like
this. Go. It's amazing, He's the greatest entertainer in the world.'"
The words are slurred and barely recognizable.
"Everybody was stunned in that courtroom," Jean Casarez, a correspondent for
"In Session" on TruTV who sat near the Jackson family as the audio was played,
tells "The Early Show".
"We had never heard a Michael Jackson like that. But the family was sitting
in front of me and there were nine of them altogether. They were very stoic,
paying attention to the prosecution's opening when this audio tape began to be
played. They started looking at each other, they were concerned. They were
shocked. They were stunned. You could tell they didn't know about this tape and
they didn't like what they were hearing."
"You know, you say to yourself, Michael Jackson is suddenly on trial, but
this is what the prosecution is trying to do. They are trying to show that
Conrad Murray, who they say recorded it on his own iPhone, saw Michael Jackson,
knew this was happening, but continued to buy propofol and other drugs for
Michael Jackson," adds Casarez. "They're going into the state of mind of Conrad
Murray to show the gross negligence, the deviation from a standard of care that
a doctor should have toward a patient."
Prosecutors say in the last two months of Jackson's life he was given
propofol on a daily basis by Murray, with the doctor ordering hundreds of vials
of the powerful drug.
But the defense says it was Jackson who ultimately killed himself while
Murray was in the bathroom.
"Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that with the lorazapam
created a perfect storm in his body that killed him instantly," argued Ed
Chernoff, Murray's attorney.
"It's hard to imagine two opening statements being more different," says CBS
News legal analyst Trent Copeland. "The prosecution's was slick, almost
perfectly choreographed. On the other hand, the defense seemed to be more
meandering."
But Murray became emotional as his lawyers talked of his friendship with the
singer.
Chernoff said "Jackson would share with (my client) things about his
childhood, his family, life, dreams and hopes. They were friends first."
Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of
his medical license if convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
When asked about the defense's strategy, Casarez said the focus is likely to
remain on Jackson's responsibility in his own death, and an effort to show
Murray as trying to wean the pop icon off propofol.
At the heart of the defense team's strategy, says Casarez, will be an
argument that, "when Conrad Murray walked out of the room to go to the restroom
that morning of June 25th, he never would have imagined that Michael Jackson
took eight pills of an anti-anxiety medication and then ingested the propofol,
and when he came back, he was dead. That's the defense theory right there."
Casarez says it's "very likely" Murry himself take the stand himself during
the course of the trial.
"Only two people in the bedroom, Conrad Murray and Michael Jackson. One is
deceased. The other one - Dr. Murray - can take the stand to talk about what
happened and to talk about how, in good faith, he was treating Michael Jackson
and did not violate that standard of care. The defense is going to say maybe
there was negligence here all the way but that is a medical malpractice claim
and that should not be in this criminal court."
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