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Prosecution At The Conrad Murray Trial; Presidential Politics
Aired September 27, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DAVID WALGREN, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: What the medical experts will tell you is this is a device to collect urine when you're knocked unconscious for surgical procedures. This is what he sees on the body of Michael Jackson when he comes into the room and sees what he appears to be, to him, a dead Michael Jackson.
Conrad Murray begins instructing Alberto Alvarez immediately upon his entry into the room and tells him, grab a bag, and Conrad Murray grabs a bottle of vials from the nightstand and drops them in the bag. He also tells Alberto Alvarez to grab the saline bag -- the bag hanging from the IV stand in the room. Alberto Alvarez does so. And Alberto Alvarez notes that it was actually a bag that appeared to be clear in nature and it had a bottle inside of it, a bottle that we later learned to be a Propofol bottle.
Alvarez complies with the request of Dr. Murray, and what we know is subsequently this is corroborated by law enforcement because when they go back to search the house on June 29th, they find a bag, and inside that bag is an empty saline bag, which you'll see in court that it's slit open from top to bottom. And inside that bag, you'll hear from the coroner investigator, they found this 100 milliliter bottle of Propofol inside the bag. And you will hear testimony about the significance of that when the medical experts come in and explain it to you.
Following the commands of Conrad Murray, Alvarez is then told to call 911 and he immediately does so. And what you'll learn is that 911 call was made at 12:20 p.m. What you'll also learn from the evidence is that phone call was not made at 11:56 or thereabouts when Sade Anding had heard the phone go dead and heard commotion in the background. That 911 call was not made at 12:12 p.m. when the defendant called Michael Amir Williams to say there had been a problem. That 911 call was not made at 12:15 when Michael Amir Williams returned the call and spoke to Conrad Murray who only relayed to him that he needed to get there right away. The 911 call was instructed to be made by Conrad Murray at 12:20 p.m.
Now, emergency response was on the scene immediately. However, it was all together too late because Michael was already dead. But the paramedics did respond to the scene and they took every effort they could to revive Mr. Jackson. You'll learn that they got on scene on top of the patient at 12:26 p.m. His pupils -- Mr. Jackson's pupils were fixed and dilated. There was no pulse noted by any of the paramedics on scene. Murray had indicated he felt that Jackson had been down only a minute -- I was just talking to him. Although no one felt a pulse, Murray claimed he did. This was not felt by any of the emergency medical personnel on scene. And when specifically asked, what have been giving him? What has he taken? The paramedics were told Lorazepam -- specifically asked what had been administered, they were told Lorazepam and Conrad Murray never once mentioned the administration of Propofol during his entire dealings with these emergency medical personnel.
UCLA was on the phone with the paramedics and they pronounced Michael dead. Conrad Murray indicated he wanted to take over responsibility and that he would accompany Mr. Jackson in the paramedics rig and that was agreed upon. So, they transported Michael Jackson to UCLA -- in this photo here is the paramedics arrival to UCLA -- this is actually Conrad Murray here in these loose pants and the white t-shirt. Nearby, I believe is some security, Faheem Mohamed, and Alvarez and Michael Amir Williams. And this is them entering UCLA -- the emergency room area.
When they enter into the emergency room area, obviously the emergency room doctors now want to know what transpired. So, they inquire, both Dr. Cooper and Dr. Nguyen specifically ask Conrad Murray, what has he been taking, what have you given him? He indicated he had been taking Flomax, and he had some valium, the only agent he gave them was Lorazepam. And never once mentions to these medical emergency room doctors that are trying valiantly to save Michael Jackson's life, never once mentions that he had administered any Propofol whatsoever.
Michael is eventually pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. on June 25, 2009. Following this is a search at the house at 100 North Carolwood. Propofol bottle was found lying on the floor. Various prescription medicines are found on the night stand, the majority of which are prescribed by Conrad Murray, although some were prescribed by other doctors. An Ambu bag is found on the floor which I'll talk about briefly in a moment. This syringe is found on the night stand. And this syringe tested positive for Propofol and Lidocaine. Also, this IV stand with a saline bag and the attached IV tubing and syringe was observed in --
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye, live in Los Angeles. You are watching the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, that is Michael Jackson's physician. We are going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with more of these opening statements.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: And welcome back, everyone, to CNN's live coverage of the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. We want to return you now to opening statements where the prosecutor is discussing a meeting between the doctor and detectives just two days after Michael Jackson's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CONRAD MURRAY: Thirty days a month, roughly, every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALGREN: Thirty days a month, roughly every day for the over two months of his care that he was administering to Michael Jackson. Conrad Murray then proceeded to give a time line of events of that night and he states that he first put an IV leg -- IV in Michael Jackson's leg to hydrate him. That he started with valium at 1:30 a.m. At 2:00 a.m., he switched to Lorazepam, but Michael remained awake, this is all according to Conrad Murray. At 3:00 a.m., he switches to Midazolam. At 3:20 a.m. until 4:30, Michael is still awake according to Conrad Murray. At that point again, according to Conrad Murray --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CONRAD MURRAY, ON TRIAL FOR DEATH OF MICHAEL JACKSON: He was awake, and it was 4:30 in the morning and he was wide awake, and then he complained. I got to sleep, Dr. Conrad. I have these rehearsals to perform, I must be ready for the show in England. And tomorrow I will have to cancel my performance -- I will have to cancel my trip, because you know I cannot function if I don't get the sleep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALGREN: Following that statement, according to Conrad Murray, at 5:00 a.m., he gave another round of Lorazepam, followed by another round of Midazolam. At 10:00 a.m., according to Conrad Murray, Mr. Jackson requested Propofol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: I said, if you got Propofol now, which of course he referred to as the milk, how much time, how much sleep you expect to have? You know, you're going to be need to be up no later than noon. And he said, just make me sleep, doesn't matter what time I get up. I said what will happen to your rehearsal it's already scheduled for today. He said, I can't function if I don't sleep. They'll have to cancel it, and I don't want to cancel it, but they will have to cancel it. So, I agreed at that time that I would switch the (INAUDIBLE) to the Propofol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALGREN: So, the evidence will reveal, according to Conrad Murray's words, that once Michael Jackson indicated or he desired to cancel the rehearsal, Conrad Murray decided to give Propofol. Once he knew that he did not need to get up at noon, Conrad Murray decided to give Propofol. Now, what Conrad Murray indicates is that he gave just 25 milligrams of Propofol diluted with Lidocaine. Whether or not this was followed with a continuous drip will be for to you decide, but the amount he specifies is 25 milligrams of Propofol. This according to the experts, this would have put Michael to sleep for minutes -- five, 10 minutes depending on the person. When you know from Conrad Murray's own words, Michael Jackson just said, cancel the rehearsal, I need to sleep. The evidence will reveal that much more than 25 milligrams of Propofol was given in order to put Michael Jackson to sleep.
According to Conrad Murray it was slowly infused over three to five minutes and he went to sleep. To give you an idea of what a miniscule amount of Propofol we're talking about, 25 milligrams equals 2.5 CCs or 2.5 milliliters. In your standard 10 CC syringe, this is how much Propofol Conrad Murray is admitting to giving on June 25th. But the evidence also shows, as already discussed, that from the time of April 6, 2009 to Michael's death, over 155,000 milligrams of Propofol had been shipped to Nicole Alvarez's apartment. But according to Conrad Murray, he gave just 25 milligrams that night.
Following the administration of Propofol, Conrad Murray indicates --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MURRAY: I monitored him, I sat there and watched him for a long period that I felt comfortable. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. So, I go up, went to the bathroom to relief myself of urine, and also consider getting rid of some of his urination that he had put in the jugs overnight. Then I came back to his bedside and was stunned in the sense that he wasn't breathing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALGREN: The medical experts will tell you, that is called abandonment. To take a patient with Valium, Lorazepam, Midazolam, and Propofol and to leave them unattended in that state is medical abandonment. But according to Conrad Murray, he was gone for about two minutes.
KAYE: We will continue to follow these opening statements here as they take place in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, here in Los Angeles. I'm Randi Kaye covering the trial from Los Angeles. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Hello, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye, in Los Angeles. We will continue to watch the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. But in the meantime, we would like to give you some other news of the day happening today that you may be interested in.
The government may not shut down this weekend after all. In a rare display of bipartisanship, the Senate has approved a funding bill to keep the government running into mid-November. Senators were able to side-step a disagreement over extra funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency after FEMA officials concluded that the agency has enough money to get through the rest of fiscal 2011, which ends on Friday. The House is out of session, but a special vote is expected later this week on a temporary extension and the full measure will go before the House next week.
An unusual sight today high above the nation's capital. A special team is getting ready to repel down the sides of the Washington Monument to look for damage caused by last month's East Coast earthquake. A repelling team from Denali National Park in Alaska is joining a team of engineers for the inspection. The 555-foot high monument has been closed since the earthquake struck on August 23rd. Inspectors have already concluded that the interior is structurally sound, but they need to get a close-up look at the exterior before they can give it a clean bill of health.
President Obama finishes his western tour with a visit to Denver today. He's expected to push for passage of his American jobs act during a speech at Abraham Lincoln High School. In California yesterday, he made stops in Mountain View, San Diego and Los Angeles. One thousand supporters joined the president for a fundraiser at the House of Blues nightclub. That's in west Hollywood.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is still passing the hat. He was in Berlin today seeing more Germans to help avoid bankruptcy. He says Greece will fight its way back to financial stability. But back at home, his austerity measures are meeting strong opposition. There were strikes and demonstrations in Athens today protesting a proposed property tax. The Greek parliament was scheduled to vote on that tax later today.
All right, we will take a quick break here and we'll be right back with much more news and more coverage of Dr. Conrad Murray's trial right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. Glad you're with us. I'm Randi Kaye, reporting live from Los Angeles this week. And we're looking at the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. That's what we're focusing on right now. Opening statements have gotten underway this morning here in Los Angeles.
I'm joined now by well-known California defense attorney Michael Cardoza.
I want to talk to you about -- you've been listening to the opening statements there --
MICHAEL CARDOZA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I have.
KAYE: Along with me, by the prosecutor. What do you make of it? What stands out to you so far?
CARDOZA: Well, he's doing an awfully good job. The one thing that jumped out at me is, this is called opening statement. A lot of people call it opening argument, which it's not. But good attorneys argue their case in opening. And that's one of the things that jumped out at me, he's arguing his case. Dr. Murray didn't say this. Dr. Murray didn't say that. That's really partially an argument. So I do like that.
He's laying the facts out to the jury and he's pushing emotional buttons. And that's the amount of Propofol that the doctor bought. And, believe me, jurors tuned in on that one.
KAYE: That's what I was going to say, because obviously that is the drug at the heart of this case. That is the drug that they believe did kill Michael Jackson. CARDOZA: Right.
KAYE: Whether or not it came from Dr. Murray directly or whether or not as the defense, we believe will say, that Michael Jackson may have ingested even more on his own when Dr. Murray left the room. But they are so focused on the amount of Propofol that was not only present in the home --
CARDOZA: Right.
KAYE: But also that Dr. Murray had apparently been ordering and storing at his girlfriend's house.
CARDOZA: Well, what the defense has to do is keep reminding the jury, Propofol is not against the law. He can buy as much as he wants. That's why I think, in this trial, he's got to take the stand. I know a lot of defense attorneys say, no, don't put him on the stand. But this jury is going to want a lot of explanations about why didn't you tell them about the Propofol?
Because, remember, when the medics came, or the emergency techs came, they said, what did you give him? He left out the Propofol. That's interesting. (INAUDIBLE) What did you give him? Again, he leaves out the Propofol. What's that, a guilty state of mind? That's why, to my mind, he's got to get on that stand and explain that, whether he wants to or not. Get up there.
KAYE: Not only did he leave it out, but he also, apparently, according to the opening statements at least, he asked Michael Jackson's security and his bodyguard to get rid of a lot of what could have been evidence that was in the house.
CARDOZA: Right. And that you have to explain. Why would you do that? And I guarantee you the district attorney is going to talk about a guilty conscious. Why would you do that? Why would you not concentrate on saving Michael's life? Even if you think he's dead at that time, you keep trying. He didn't do that. His first thought, let's get rid of all this evidence. That's not going to play well with the jury.
KAYE: What does the defense need to do in its opening statement here today?
CARDOZA: Well, the defense needs to layout, number one, as I said, Propofol is legal. That Michael Jackson was suffering. I mean he was an addict by all proportions. So you have to lay that out.
You do have to attack Michael Jackson. I know a lot of people will not like that. A lot of people say, well, that doesn't work in a trial. But they have no choice in this case. Michael Jackson had to go on this tour for financial reasons and that's why the judge is keeping out the financial aspect of this is going to hurt the defense and they went away screaming that you've got to let it in, judge. But he's not going to let that in. I think that was important.
So what they have to do, as I say, is attack Jackson and at least create the possibility, a reasonable possibility, that he reached up, pushed that needle and put more Propofol into his system, so Michael Jackson was really to blame here.
KAYE: Right, because some of it was found in his stomach. A minute amount.
CARDOZA: I know. But from my understanding of that, what's found in the stomach really wouldn't kill him. So that's going to be a non issue in this case. I think the only thing the defense can go to is that Jackson must have reached up -- because when the doctor left the room, there was some Propofol in the needle. He didn't give it all to him.
KAYE: Right.
CARDOZA: And that Jackson must have reached up and pushed the needle and injected himself, because swallowing it, according to the experts, won't do anything to him.
KAYE: Yes. One other -- just quickly, one other thing. You mentioned that when he left the room, apparently he left the room -- I mean I know he had said that he left the room for a few minutes, but then there's this question of how long was he really out of the room, right? And that could be something else that the prosecution will jump on.
CARDOZA: Well, that's true. And I believe probably what will happen, thinking at it from a defense perspective, he will probably say, well, if he testifies, or the defense will get it in somehow, he was in the room, he was watching Jackson, he was on the phone making calls to people -- to his office, to his girlfriend -- and then at some point he left the room to go to the bathroom. But that was just for a few minutes. So the majority of that time he was actually watching Jackson. You have to convey that to the jury, too, that he was vigilant in his care and that he really cared about Michael Jackson when other doctors have walked away from him. He cared about him and he wanted to wean him off the Propofol. So he, in a sense, was being a good guy in that aspect. That's what you have to sell to this jury.
KAYE: Yes, a lot of selling is going to have to take place in that courtroom.
CARDOZA: On both sides, yes.
KAYE: Michael Cardoza, thank you so much.
CARDOZA: You're welcome.
KAYE: We are going to take a quick break and we'll return with much more from the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Keep it here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: It is half past the hour and here are some of the stories that you may have missed today. The government may not shut down this weekend after all, it turns out. In a rare display of bipartisanship, the Senate has approved a funding bill to keep the government running into mid-November. Senators were able to sidestep a disagreement over extra funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency after FEMA officials concluded that the agency has enough money to get through the rest of fiscal 2011, which ends on Friday.
The House is out of session, but a special vote is expected later this week on a temporary extension, and the full measure will go before the House next week.
In California, a bake sale planned today at U.C. Berkeley is being called racist. Campus Republicans are selling baked goods on a sliding scale based on race and gender, $2 if you're a white man, $1 if you're Latino, 75 cents if you're African-American, and women gets a 25-cent discount.
The group's president says he knows it's racist, and that is exactly the point. He says it's to get people thinking about affirmative action and to protest a state bill that would allow colleges to consider race and gender in the admissions process. Berkeley's student government says it condemns the use of discrimination by any student group.
In Afghanistan, an explosion kills 16 people, including 11 children and four women, after their bus ran over a land mine. The civilian minibus struck the mine in Herat Province. At least four people were wounded in that blast. The group was returning from a wedding party. Police say they believe Taliban militants planted that mine.
Joran van der Sloot confessing on tape to killing a young Peruvian woman. Listen to his confession when Peruvian police interrogated him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So it is true and I'm going to ask you this, and you can say yes or no. Did you kill Stephany Tatiana?
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, DEFENDANT (through translator): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You killed Stephany Tatiana Flores, right?
VAN DER SLOOT (through translator): Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Van der Sloot admitted that he hit and then strangled Flores last year in his hotel room after he found her reading news about him on his computer. He was arrested more than a year ago, but not formally charged with the killing until this month. He was previously arrested in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, who vanished while in Aruba, but he was never charged. Holloway's disappearance remains unsolved.
A bit of a you might call it a wardrobe malfunction on "Dancing With the Stars" last night. Uh-oh. At the end of her performance, Nancy Grace had a minor mishap with her dress. It was just a momentary flash. There it goes. ABC producers quickly cut to a shot of the crowd during the program.
Host Tom Bergeron tried to make light of the situation by saying in Europe it is perfectly fine. Nancy admitted there was a little bit of movement and handled it with grace.
Now crime and consequence -- in another court case attracting international attention, defense lawyers began their closing statements today at the Amanda Knox appeal trial in Italy. The American college student and her former boyfriend are trying to overturn their convictions for the 2007 murder of Knox's roommate, Meredith Kercher.
The boyfriend's lawyer went first.
Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins us from Perugia, Italy.
I have to ask, Matthew, did the ex-boyfriend's lawyer really compare Amanda Knox to a cartoon character?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she did.
She said that Amanda Knox is more like Jessica Rabbit. She's not bad. She's just drawn that way. That was a line out of the movie which she appeared in. It was an attempt to try and explain to the jury that this characterization that the prosecution had made of Amanda, that she's some kind of she-devil, that she had this split personality between angelic on one side and satanic on the other, that she was just wild, loose woman, was just totally off the mark as far as she was concerned, that she said she was a woman in love with Raffaele at the time, she was very loyal.
And she was just trying to counter those kind of what she would say were false characterizations of Amanda Knox to the jury -- Randi.
KAYE: And what did the lawyers say about the evidence against the defendants?
CHANCE: Well, the defense lawyers have all along said that the evidence against both Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, her former boyfriend, has simply not been there.
The physical evidence that in the original trial linked Amanda and Raffaele to the place where the murder of Meredith Kercher took place, which was DNA evidence on a bra clasp and on a knife which was alleged to be the murder weapon, well, that's been essentially cast aside by the independent forensic experts that were brought in by this court to basically go through all the forensic details and to assess the police work that was done originally. And that's been the big boon for the defense in this appeal, that there is essentially this DNA evidence which was very important physical evidence has been criticized very severely, undermined by the independent experts that have been brought in.
What the defense lawyers are saying now is that you take away that DNA evidence, there's nothing linking Amanda or Raffaele to the crime scene.
KAYE: And when will we hear from Amanda Knox's lawyers?
CHANCE: Amanda Knox's lawyers will be speaking on Thursday. The court is now adjourned until then. It's obviously nighttime now and there's no hearings on Wednesday here in Perugia, so Thursday is when Amanda Knox's lawyers will put out their version of events as to what they think will happen.
And it's just been told to us as well by the court that actually we could have an end to this trial, a decision by the court as early as Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening. So they have brought that forward a few days as well. And so this might be coming to an end much sooner than we otherwise thought.
KAYE: Matthew Chance in Perugia, Italy, watching the Amanda Knox trial for us, Matthew, thank you.
A lot happening still at that trial and certainly a lot still happening in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's physician.
We will return you to that trial after this very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back to our live coverage here in Los Angeles. I'm Randi Kaye.
We have been watching the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray and the prosecution has now finished its opening statement for the day. They are in a short recess.
And so I'm joined once again here by well-known California defense attorney Michael Cardoza.
Thank you for joining us on this day.
MICHAEL CARDOZA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You're welcome.
KAYE: You and I have been watching the opening statements so far. What do you think the prosecution really had to do to get the jury's attention fast?
CARDOZA: Well, let me start by saying, in an opening statement, you want to begin to convince a jury that in the DA's case, that the facts will show the doctor guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I was always thought it's easier to convince somebody than to change their mind. So that's why it's important for the district attorney to make the first opening statement. He gets up. If he can convince them, then the defense has to change the minds of the juror. And that's hard to do.
The district attorney laid the case out, right, from A. to Z. He did it rather methodically, even though he interspersed it with some arguments. He pushed emotional buttons for the jury, the amount of propofol, and then he asked, bring back that guilty verdict for me because he is in fact guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in this case.
I thought he did a good job.
KAYE: He's charged with involuntary manslaughter.
CARDOZA: That's correct.
KAYE: Why would that be? How does that charge come through? Why would they have decided on that?
CARDOZA: Well, when I was a district attorney, what you do is you go through the elements of each. You look at a first-degree murder, which means the intent to kill. Well, obviously, he didn't have the intent to kill.
Second-degree murder has the same intent to kill, but you can get implied malice is what they call it for a second. Involuntary manslaughter, you didn't mean to kill anybody. Voluntary, you meant to kill. They go to involuntary manslaughter, thinking we have the best chance of proving this. I don't think a jury would convict the doctor of a second-degree murder, because most people know that's 15 to life.
KAYE: Yes.
CARDOZA: And that's not going to happen in a case like this. The most that can happen here if he gets convicted is four years.
KAYE: How critical is negligence in a case like this and proving negligence? Because we even heard in the opening statement this morning and we have heard it before, that Conrad Murray, here he is, he's a physician, was apparently according to at least one witness doing CPR on Michael Jackson with one hand on Michael and one hand on the bed.
Shouldn't he have been on the floor? And how critical is something like that?
CARDOZA: Well, he should have been on the floor. All CPR books, the CPR for us simple people, put them on the floor, put them on a hard surface. But in an emergency situation, he's hooked up to the I.V., do you really pull him off the bed and maybe disconnect everything or do you take the circumstances as you find them?
And that's what you do in a case like this. And that's what the defense has to explain. It was chaotic in there. They were trying to save Michael's life. The DA will try to prove the exact opposite. Oh, no, it was very calculated. After it happened, he starts to hide evidence.
So that's getting back to my theory that he's got to testify in this case, like it or not.
KAYE: All right, well, day one right now, so we have a little time on that one.
CARDOZA: Day one. Yes, we do.
KAYE: All right, Michael Cardoza, stick around for us, if you don't mind.
We will take a quick break and we will be right back with much more here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back.
Let's see what's happening in the world of politics.
And for that, we turn to our Peter Hamby, who is at the political desk in Washington.
Peter, so, let's talk about Rick Perry. He disappointed in Florida. What does he need to do to change this and turn things around?
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, Randi, he's certainly doing some damage control after a disappointing debate performance last week, where conservative -- his conservative opponents really raised some questions about his record on immigration in Texas.
Last night -- we put the story up online -- sources in South Carolina and Iowa told me that the Perry campaign organized what's called a tell a town hall, where they kind of called into thousands of households across both states and he talked to Republican activists and conservatives in those states to reassure them and explain to them his positions on these matters. Now, one source on the call said it sounded like Perry was very much on defense trying to explain some of these issues. So they are certainly trying to move past that disappointing debate performance and re-shore up some of their support among Republican primary voters, Randi.
KAYE: And what's happening with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie? Is he in? Is he out? Do we have any idea if he's going to actually enter the GOP field?
HAMBY: Yes, this drama has been incredible. I mean there's been three or four Christie boomlets over the last three months. And, again, after Perry's debate the other night, those Republicans who are looking for somebody other than Mitt Romney to run for the Republican nomination, you know, they don't quite trust Rick Perry. So they -- you know, a lot of donor types, some people from the ex-Bush administration have been calling Christie relentlessly trying to get him into the race.
I've talked to three different advisers around Christie who all say nothing has changed. He's flattered by, you know, all the input and all the attention and he's really listening to them. And, you know, human nature at some point kicks in and you have to kind of, you know, at least listen to them. But, you know, at the end of the day, Christie's people, at least from what I'm hearing, are saying nothing has changed. Christie's not going to run for president.
But he is speaking in California this evening at the Reagan Library. It's a speech, that I'm told, he wrote most of it by himself and he's going to talk about America's role in the world. So, you know, amid all this buzz, I guarantee you that speech is going to get a lot of attention tonight, Randi.
KAYE: Oh, yes, a lot of attention. I'm sure the speculation will continue.
Peter, thank you for the update.
And we'll be right back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: A dangerous drug, a dependent patient and allegedly reckless physician. A formula for trouble in any case. But this case centers on the death of Michael Jackson, the king of pop. And so the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, on a single count of involuntary manslaughter, is a made for Hollywood spectacle.
As you may have seen live right here on CNN or our sister network HLN, opening statements are well underway. They come more than two years after Jackson went into fatal cardiac arrest while Dr. Murray was treating his chronic insomnia with a surgical anesthetic called Propofol. You'll be hearing that word a lot. At issue is whether Murray should have or could have prevented Jackson's overdose.
Lead prosecutor David Walgren for an hour and 15 minutes. But the most powerful 53 seconds may have come from Michael Jackson himself. I want to play you an audio clip that Walgren played for the jury today. It was recorded on Conrad Murray's cell phone weeks before Jackson died. It's Michael Jackson like you've never heard him before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL JACKSON (voice-over): We have to be phenomenal. When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing. He's the greatest entertainer in the world. I'm talking that money, a million children, children's hospital, the biggest in the world, Michael Jackson's Children's Hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: Michael Jackson's own words.
The defense statement is just about to start, but right now let me bring in CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. He is watching this trail, along with us, from New York.
Jeff, what do you make -- what was that Jackson clip really meant to prove? I mean what do you think the motive was there?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the intent there was to show that Michael Jackson was deeply troubled and not -- and someone who was not getting the medical attention he need.
But I'll tell you, as dramatic as that was, there was another moment in that opening statement which I thought was the most devastating of all because, first of all, Conrad Murray delays and delays calling 911 while he talks to his girlfriends. But then, when the EMTs finally arrive, what does Conrad Murray do, according to prosecution? He lies about what kind of drugs Michael Jackson is getting. Think about that. The EMTs are trying to help him. They need to know what drugs he's taken. But Conrad Murray knows that he shouldn't be giving him Propofol and lies about what drug he's giving him. I thought that was absolutely devastating evidence, if it turns out to be borne out by the actual evidence.
KAYE: So how critical -- of course. But, I mean, not only did they lay that out, but they also showed that he was apparently trying to get Michael Jackson's bodyguard, once he came to the house in the midst of this emergency, to do away with some of the medications and the vials that were in the bedroom, including some that was Propofol. I mean, so how critical is it to sort of paint him as this untrustworthy sort of guy? Because you know that the defense is going to come out and try and paint him as this angel who was really trying to wean Michael Jackson off Propofol, which is what they'll say.
TOOBIN: Right. And that's why I think the lying is so important because if Conrad Murray was simply acting in good faith and trying to deal with a very sick, very drug-addicted man, then, you know, that is a fairly sympathetic posture. But that certainly wouldn't explain why Murray would lie to the doctors and the EMTs who were trying to save Michael Jackson's life. That's why I think the lying, if it's borne out by the evidence, will just show consciousness of guilt, show that Conrad Murray knew he was doing something wrong. And, you know, I think that's going to be very hard for him to overcome.
KAYE: And, to some extent, do you expect that the defense will, in a way, put Michael Jackson on trial here, even though he's gone?
TOOBIN: Absolutely. I think that's their only alternative. I mean basically what the defense has to do here is say, you can't look at this one night in isolation. You have to look at the way Michael Jackson had been living for the past several years. You have to look at this stew of drugs he had been taking. You have to look at all the enablers around him. And only then can you understand how Conrad Murray dealt in this very difficult circumstance. I mean I'm not sure that's a winning defense given the facts as we know them, but I think that's pretty much the only option available to the defense given the facts as we know them.
KAYE: And looking at this just in legal terms, how does this differ, really, from a malpractice case?
TOOBIN: Well, I mean, it's similar to a malpractice case, but I think the burden on the prosecution is just much higher. First of all, it's a criminal case, so there's proof beyond a reasonable doubt, not the civil case standard of simply preponderance of the evidence. But, you know, more importantly, the degree of negligence, the degree of bad behavior that the prosecution is going to have to show is, you know, in laymen's terms, just egregious negligence. Not just, you know, violating the standard of care, they have to show a degree of recklessness, of really awful behavior by Conrad Murray in order to win a criminal case. But if the evidence bears out what David Walgren, the prosecutor's opening statement said, they may have a very good chance of doing that.
KAYE: What would Dr. Murray have to say on that stand?
TOOBIN: Well, there's a lot he's going to have to answer for. I mean fortunately for him, his lawyer will have a chance to, you know, put his best foot forward. But he is going to have to explain why he gave him all these dangerous drugs, why he did it not under the supervision of a hospital, which is where Propofol is supposed to bed administered. And, most importantly, I think to me, is why didn't he tell the EMTs and doctors who came on the emergency call, why didn't he tell them the truth about what Michael Jackson had been taking because that's the only way you can get proper medical help to someone is if the treating doctors know what he's been taking in the first place.
KAYE: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, fascinating conversation, fascinating trial, really, and it's already, what, just a couple of hours into it. So we will continue --
TOOBIN: It's really awfully interesting, yes.
KAYE: Yes, it sure is. We'll continue to watch it, along with you. We'll check back in with you a little bit later on. Jeffrey, thank you.
We'll take a quick break here. The defense is supposed to make its opening statements in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Just minutes away from that. We'll bring it to you when it happens. Keep it here.
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