Prosecutors dispute Jackson doctor’s claims
LOS ANGELES — The doctor charged in the death of Michael Jackson tried to change his story about his actions involving the pop star, telling his own experts in the upcoming trial a different story than he told police, prosecutors said Monday.
Deputy District Attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil filed a motion asking a judge to bar new claims made by defendant Dr. Conrad Murray.
They said he made the new assertions in conversation with two doctors who will testify on his behalf in the case.
The accounts were revealed in letters from the experts, Dr. Paul White, an anesthesiologist, and Dr. Joseph Haraszti, a psychiatrist and hospital director.
Prosecutors think Murray spoke to the experts after a preliminary hearing in January that focused on his statements to police after Jackson’s death in June 2009.
The motion quoted Murray as telling the experts he left Jackson’s bedroom to make a phone call, though he initially said he left Jackson to go to the bathroom.
Experts said Murray claimed to have experience using propofol — the anesthetic that killed Jackson — as a sedative, though Murray didn’t make such a claim in police interviews.
The motion said Murray claims for the first time that Jackson took propofol in fruit juice while the doctor was not looking. The prosecutors said that was speculation.
J. Michael Flanagan, an attorney for Murray, was not available for comment on the motion.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. A coroner found that Jackson died of an overdose of propofol and other sedatives.
Prosecutors called the new statements about Murray’s actions “a backdoor attempt to introduce the defendant’s new, self-serving statements without being subject to cross-examination.”
The only way the statements would be admissible, prosecutors said, is if Murray testifies in his own defense and is subject to cross-examination.
A hearing on motions is scheduled for Thursday. Jury selection resumes on May 4.
