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Michael Jackson caused his own death: Defence
27 Sep 2011 at 22:55hrs | Views
Los Angeles - Pop icon Michael Jackson caused his own death by taking drugs while his doctor was out of the room, medic Conrad Murray's defence lawyer said on Tuesday.
"He did an act without his doctor's knowledge, without his doctor's permission, against his orders, he did an act that caused his own death," said Ed Chernoff, in his opening statement at Murray's manslaughter trial.
He said Jackson swallowed eight 2mg lorazepam pills, pushing his blood concentration of lorazepam to 0.169 micrograms per milliliter, enough to put six people to sleep.
Jackson "did this when Dr Murray was not around", he said, claiming that the 50-year-old singer also gave himself an extra dose of powerful sedative propofol, which he was using to fight his insomnia.
"We believe the evidence will show you the scientific evidence will show you that when Dr Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that, with the lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body."
The combination "killed him instantly" on June 25 2009, he said.
When Murray entered the room, "there was no CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment], there was no doctor, no paramedic, no machine that was going to revive Michael Jackson", the lawyer said.
"He died so rapidly, so instantly, he didn't even have time to close his eyes."
"He did an act without his doctor's knowledge, without his doctor's permission, against his orders, he did an act that caused his own death," said Ed Chernoff, in his opening statement at Murray's manslaughter trial.
He said Jackson swallowed eight 2mg lorazepam pills, pushing his blood concentration of lorazepam to 0.169 micrograms per milliliter, enough to put six people to sleep.
Jackson "did this when Dr Murray was not around", he said, claiming that the 50-year-old singer also gave himself an extra dose of powerful sedative propofol, which he was using to fight his insomnia.
"We believe the evidence will show you the scientific evidence will show you that when Dr Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that, with the lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body."
The combination "killed him instantly" on June 25 2009, he said.
When Murray entered the room, "there was no CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment], there was no doctor, no paramedic, no machine that was going to revive Michael Jackson", the lawyer said.
"He died so rapidly, so instantly, he didn't even have time to close his eyes."
Source - AFP
