Prosecution: Murray Ordered 255 Vials of Propofol [Updated]
Women romantically linked to Dr. Conrad Murray testified at his involuntary manslaughter trial today.
Phone records show that Murray was in contact with them the day pop superstar Michael Jackson died.
Sade Anding, a Texas cocktail waitress, testified she was on the phone with Murray as Jackson was dying. She was on the phone with Murray for 11 minutes, just before 11:51 a.m., when prosecutors say Murray realized Jackson wasn't breathing. Anding said Murray suddenly dropped the line. She later learned Jackson had died.
Anding testified Murray advised her to consult with his attorney before speaking to authorities who had contacted her for questioning.
The prosecution aimed to say that Murray was distracted by his personal affairs while Jackson lay dying.
The mother of one of Murray’s children, Nicole Alvarez, testified Fed-Ex regularly delivered packages to the couple’s Santa Monica apartment. She said she did not know what they contained. Prosecutors claim Murray had propofol, the drug supposedly responsible for Jackson's death, shipped to her apartment. Pharmaceutical records show that Murray ordered 255 vials of the surgical drug.
During her testimony, Alvarez recounted being introduced to Murray’s famous patient.
“I was speechless,” she said of meeting Jackson.
Alvarez testified she had planned to join Murray on Jackson’s “This Is It” tour. She denied knowing Murray was paid $150,000 each month to care for the singer.
Jurors also heard from a third woman, Michelle Bella. She testified she met Murray in a Las Vegas “social-type club” in 2008. Bella said Murray admitted to being Jackson’s personal physician, testifying that the doctor sent her a text message on the day of the singer’s death.
An emergency room doctor testified on Monday that Jackson was already dead by the time he was brought to the hospital as the trial of continues this week. Dr. Richelle Cooper from the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said she had authorized paramedics to pronounce Jackson dead at 12:57 p.m. when he was still at home on June 25, 2009.
However, Murray insisted that Jackson be taken to the hospital, according to earlier testimony from paramedics. When he arrived at the hospital at 1:13 p.m., Jackson had no pulse. Cooper said she believed any attempt at resuscitation would be unsuccessful. Paramedics tried for an hour and 13 minutes to revive Jackson anyway, without results.
Cooper said she never detected a pulse and that it was the first time a patient she had determined to be dead in the field had been brought in to be treated. Jackson was pronounced dead that day at 2:26 p.m.
On Friday, Cooper had testified that Murray claimed Jackson suffered cardiac arrest after receiving two small doses of the sedative lorazepam, not propofol. Murray, who was Jackson's personal physician, is on trial for involuntary manslaughter connected to the singer's death in 2009. He faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical license.
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