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Washington Monument Repair; Conrad Murray Trial

Aired September 27, 2011 - 13:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: We aren't going to get too far away from the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. The defense opening statements will start at any moment. But we do want to get you caught up on some other news of the day that we think is important that you know about.

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 sidestepped 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.

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 fund- raiser at the House of Blues nightclub. That's in West Hollywood.

An Italian court may announce its decision in the Amanda Knox case as early as Saturday. The American college student and her ex-boyfriend were convicted of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher. They're trying to get those convictions overturned, and the ex-boyfriend's lawyer began presenting closing arguments today. Knox's lawyers are expected to offer their arguments on Thursday.

And court officials tell CNN's Matthew Chance that a decision could come Saturday afternoon or evening.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is still passing the hat. He was in Berlin today seeking more German help to 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 today.

All right. Take a look at this, dramatic new video from inside the Washington Monument at the moment the East Coast earthquake struck last month.

A surveillance camera inside the observation deck shows the shaking -- you can see it there -- and the debris raining down. Visitors can be seen rushing down the stairs.

Later, an interior assessment found the monument structurally sound, so today the Park Service is checking the exterior. And you can see it live there. That's the folks who are brave enough to check the exterior of the Washington Monument.

Very brave engineers and a team from the Denali National Park in Alaska are repelling the 550-foot monument -- these are live pictures, by the way -- checking every nook and cranny for cracks and other exterior damage. National Park Service spokesman Bill Line told us why it's so necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL LINE, SPOKESPERSON, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: What we need to find out and still gather data, gather information, as to whether the earthquake on August 23rd resulted in any damage that we could not determine to the naked eye. We need to get up close and personal, so to speak, and to really see whether -- and visually inspect with the human eye at a close range whether there is any damage that could over the years accelerate into something greater.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Joining me now, Kevin Poulin, the former president of the Structural Engineers Association of New York.

Kevin, you have 20 years of experience designing and renovating buildings. What is it exactly that these engineers are looking for? These very brave engineers, I might add.

KEVIN POULIN, FMR. PRESIDENT, STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION: Well, they're looking for some up-close cracks, they're looking to evaluate the structure by mapping the cracks on the exterior and comparing to what they found on the interior.

KAYE: And so what if major damage is found? What do they do next?

POULIN: Well, if they find damage, then they have to assess, do an evaluation to figure out what was the cause of the damage. Was it primarily because of the shaking from the earthquake, or was it also made worse because of Hurricane Irene?

So, once they analyze it, then they'll have to figure out ways to repair it. They could be replacing some of the mortar. They may be replacing some of the bricks or some of the marble blocks that have potentially displaced or cracked during the shaking and the earthquake.

KAYE: All right. Kevin Poulin, thank you very much for coming in and sharing your expertise on that one.

We want to take you now back to the courthouse here in Los Angeles, where the defense has started its opening statement in the case of the death of Michael Jackson. Dr. Conrad Murray on trial for involuntary manslaughter. Let's listen here to the defense attorney, Ed Chernoff.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

ED CHERNOFF, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR CONRAD MURRAY: You will be asked to determine what was, who was the cause of Michael Jackson's death? The science in this case, the pure science, the evidence in this case we believe is going to show you this -- despite everything that had gone on in the past, despite anything that had gone on during that day, during the 10 hours on June 25, 2009, while Michael Jackson was frustrated because he could not sleep, frustrated because his doctor refused to give him a drug that he preferred, that he wanted, 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.

What we believe the evidence will show you is, during those 10 hours, the science will show you that Michael Jackson swallowed eight .2 milligram Lorazepam pills, pushing his blood concentration of Lorazepam to .169 micrograms per milliliter. And the experts will tell you that that's enough to put six of you to sleep. And he did this when Dr. Murray was not around.

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 that killed him instantly. When Dr. Murray came into the room and found Michael Jackson, there was no CPR, there was no doctor, no paramedic, no machine that was going to revive Michael Jackson. He died so rapidly, so instantly, he didn't even have time to close his eyes.

One of the prosecution -- the judge has told you that we do not have -- the defense does not have the requirement to put on any evidence. We will. We will provide you the science to show you what happened. But we intend to, in this case, provide to you answers to two questions.

First, how did Michael Jackson get to this point, this desperate point? And, second, what happened when Dr. Murray was out of the room?

One of the things Mr. Walgren told you in his opening was that Michael Jackson was preparing for a concert at the O2 Arena. And he was, but he undersold it just a little bit, because what Michael Jackson was really preparing to do, what he was actually going to do at the O2 Arena with "This is It" was create history not just for us, for himself.

You will hear from Randy Phillips, who is the president of AEG Live. You will hear from Kenny Ortega, who was a co-choreographer of the rehearsal of the "This is It" production. You will hear from Paul Gongaware, who was part of the production team for "This is It."

And what they will tell you is that Michael Jackson had not performed for 10 years. And this particular series of concerts, these shows, were going to be his absolution. He needed to do these shows.

They're going to tell you that he was intimately involved in every aspect of the production. I don't know what impression you came in with about Michael Jackson. He wasn't just brilliant artistically, he was a smart man.

He was involved in every aspect of that production -- the dance, the music. He chose the songs. He wrote the songs. And the 3-D effects in this show, the movie clips, these were his -- this was his show. This was how Michael Jackson was going to be remembered.

It doesn't matter what happened in the past. This was going to be his memory. He needed to do these shows.

Randy Phillips will tell you that it was not just going to end with "This is It." The contract provided that, if he were to complete these shows, if he were to do what he set out to do, he would have the ability to pack it all up for a world tour. There would be four, I believe Randy Phillips will tell you, four segments of a world tour that he could attend, that he could perform at. And it wouldn't end at that.

Randy Phillips will tell you that -- and you will see in Michael Jackson's own handwriting his plans for four to five movies, including a 3-D version of "Thriller." Randy Phillips will tell you that this equated for Michael Jackson, at the age of 50, hundreds of millions of dollars.

Randy Phillips will tell you that with the world tour, there would not even be a close second of what he could earn. And all he had to do, you will hear, all he had to do was the O2 show to set this in motion. All he had to do was complete the show.

The problem was, he was never going to be able to do these shows because Michael Jackson had a problem. He had a problem that no amount of determination, no dedication, no talent would ever overcome. And he knew that he needed help. And in the spring of 2009, Michael Jackson went out looking for that help.

In the summer of 2008, you'll hear from Randy Phillips, he'll tell you in that in that summer, there was the initial negotiations for "This is It." He will tell you that on October 31, 2008, he met with Michael Jackson at the Bel-Air Hotel, along with his financial adviser, along with two bodyguards, Alberto Alvarez and Michael Amir Williams. You'll meet all of those people in this trial.

And the parameters of the show were set out. Randy Phillips will tell you that during that meeting, Michael Jackson cried. He said, "I'm tired of being a vagabond. I just want a house for me and my kids."

In January, 2009, Michael Jackson met with Randy Phillips again, this time to sign the contract. Paul Gongaware was there. You'll meet Paul Gongaware.

They met at Michael Jackson's residence. At that residence, they signed the contract. Michael Jackson signed in his name, and he signed as president of Michael Jackson Company.

Randy Phillips will tell you that Michael Jackson was nervous. The contract read for up to 31 shows. Michael Jackson was -- Michael Jackson, of all people, was afraid he wouldn't sell the tickets.

You will learn that it sold so quick, the ticket sales were so fast, that a mere week after pre-sales -- these are not the real sales, these are pre-sales -- they had to increase the shows to 50. And Michael Jackson said he would do it, he would increase those shows to 50 on two conditions. One, that he had a house for him and his children with 16 acres and horses they could play at, and, two, that the "Guinness Book of World Records" would be there to record what was a historical event.

You see, 50 shows with a 50-year-old man in one arena that seats 25,000 people, over a million people would have come to see Michael Jackson. That has never been done before, and Michael Jackson knew it.

This was it for him, and he named the tour himself, "This is It." And for him it was.

In March of 2009, he made the announcement --

KAYE: You've been listening there to defense attorney Ed Chernoff, the defense attorney for Dr. Conrad Murray in his involuntary manslaughter case. He's there beginning his opening statements.

We do have to take just a very quick break.

I'm Randi Kaye, in Los Angeles. We'll be right back with much more from this trial in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone, to our live coverage of the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.

I want to return you now to opening statements by the defense.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CHERNOFF: -- Community Development Association for 40 years, and she will tell you that she met Dr. Murray's at his father's funeral. You see, his doctor, Dr. Andrews, was the only doctor that Acres Homes had. Acres Homes is the poorest section, poorest community in my hometown. Paved roads came in the '70s.

And Dr. Murray -- when Dr. Andrews, his father, died, Dr. Murray vowed to open up a cardiologist practice in Acres Homes because of the vacuum of care that had been created when his father died. And Ruby Mosley will tell you, you know, people say things all the time about Acres Homes, but Dr. Murray, two weeks later, came in, built a cardiology practice, and started treating patients.

And Ruby Mosley will tell you -- Ladies and Gentlemen, she will tell you, there's no money to be made in Acres Homes. The odds of anybody in that community seeing a cardiologist was about as likely as going to the moon.

Ruby Mosley and other patients will tell you that when they came to see Dr. Murray, nobody asked how you're going to pay. If you couldn't pay, Dr. Murray wouldn't charge you. If you had Medicare, he wouldn't charge you any extra than what Medicare would pay. He would buy prescriptions for these patients if they couldn't afford to do it.

Look, I'm not telling you that this information, this evidence, is provided to you because we're going to ask you to do one free (ph) one, the guys who acquit him. We won't have to do that.

I'm telling you this because you need -- if the prosecution is going to get up here and tell you he's greedy and callous and reckless, you need to hear the full story about him. And we'll provide you that information.

Now, what you'll learn about Dr. Murray is, as Mr. Walgren pointed out, he met Michael Jackson in 2006. It's the only celebrity he's ever known. And he met Michael Jackson because one of Michael Jackson's bodyguards while he was in Vegas knew Dr. Murray because he had saved or helped his father. And one of Michael Jackson's children was sick, and Dr. Murray was called out to the hotel. That's how he met Michael Jackson, fortuitously.

You will learn in the statements that he made to the police -- please understand that what was played you is only part of that conversation. You will get to hear all of it.

But in the statement that he made to police, he explained that Michael Jackson and him became friends. Friends first.

Michael Jackson would share with him things about his childhood, about his family, about his life, his dreams, his hopes. They were friends first.

You will learn through medical records that will be provided to you by us that between 2006 to 2008, Dr. Murray did treat Michael Jackson. He did. He treated him for things like toe fungus, for supplication of the hip, treated him for a broken foot, tested his heart to see if that was OK, did blood tests to see if his liver was OK.

On two occasions, Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray, "I have anxiety and I have trouble sleeping." Two occasions. And Dr. Murray, who knew nothing about the real problem that Michael Jackson had, prescribed (INAUDIBLE), which you will learn from Michael Jackson was about as effective as water.

Now, I don't recall if Mr. Walgren told you this. He may have in his opening statement. But what you will learn in the evidence in this case is that Michael Jackson, he didn't have insomnia.

Insomnia is a medical condition or a symptom. You won't learn that he had insomnia. He didn't have trouble going to sleep. He didn't wake up in the middle of the night, watch TV, have a bad day the next day. Michael Jackson had an absolute, total, and thorough inability to sleep, not for minutes, not for hours, but for days.

On June 27, 2009 -- and Mr. Walgren mentioned this. I want to be a little more specific about what happened on that day.

On June 27, 2009, two days after the death of Michael Jackson, Dr. Murray and myself and Michael Pena, sitting over there, from Houston, who knew Dr. Murray, we met with police detectives at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey. The only thing that we chose was the location, because we were staying there and the time because we had to fly in.

But you will learn that everything else at that meeting was decided by the police, Detective Martinez and Detective Smith. You will learn that prior to that meeting, a phone call was made to Dr. Murray, and Michael Pena returned it immediately and said, yes, of course we will come and talk.

And you will learn that it wasn't just Dr. Murray that had a lawyer in this case. Nine of the people's witnesses also had a lawyer in this case. It was just that type of case.

Now, prior to meeting with Dr. Murray -- and by the way, we scheduled the meeting for 2:00, you'll hear. They rescheduled it for 4:00. We were ready to go.

KAYE: You've been listening there to the defense attorney make his case, make his opening statements in the trial of his client, Dr. Conrad Murray.

We'll have much more from that trial in just a moment after we take a very quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. We are reporting live from Los Angeles.

We want to return you now to the defense opening statements in the trial of Dr. Conrad many Murray.

ED CHERNOFF, ATTORNEY FOR CONRAD MURRAY: Dr. Murray told investigators this took him back. This didn't make any sense to him.

And Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray how propofol was applied and told Dr. Murray that it needed to be used with lidocaine. He told Dr. Murray that he had a nickname for propofol. He called it his milk.

And when you see propofol in person, you will understand why he called it milk. Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray that the lidocaine that was provided, you had to give it with lidocaine. Otherwise, it would burn.

And he called this lidocaine, a nickname for lidocaine was anti-burn. Dr. Murray told police investigators he was surprised that he knew so much about propofol. He was concerned when with Michael Jackson said he was going to use propofol irrespective of Dr. Murray.

And so Dr. Murray told investigators that, yes, he agreed. He agreed to help Michael Jackson sleep. He agreed to provide propofol. And Mr. Walgren pointed out that they are going to have experts say that the mere act of providing propofol for sleep is negligent.

He spent a long time in his opening statement talking about that. What you will learn from the evidence, though, is this. Dr. Murray provided propofol for sleep for two months for Michael Jackson, for two months. For those two months that he provided propofol to Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson slept, he woke up, and he lived his life.

He went to work, and he continued with what he needed to do, what he felt he needed to do. The evidence is not going to show you that Michael Jackson died when Dr. Murray gave him propofol for sleep. What the evidence is going to show you is that Michael Jackson died when Dr. Murray stopped.

What Mr. Walgren did not tell you in opening statement, but what you will learn in this case, what you will learn in this trial is the agreement between, as he told police, the agreement between himself and Michael Jackson to provide propofol for sleep was satisfied for Michael Jackson as long as he continued to provide propofol.

But what Dr. Murray told police investigators is that he believed his role in this partnership was to find a way, a way to help Michael Jackson sleep normally.

Now, he had always told Michael Jackson, you can't keep using this. What happens when your tour is over? Why can't you sleep normally? Why won't you let me work with other sedatives, something else that will help you to sleep?

You will see in these applied pharmacy records not just the propofol that was ordered -- and, by the way, the amount of propofol that was ordered was exactly the amount that Dr. Murray, as you will see, our experts will show you, is exactly the amount that was necessary to do exactly what he said he did and no more.

But you will see in those applied pharmacy records Dr. Murray also ordering midazolam and lorazepam because he hoped that he could switch to those sedatives to wean Michael Jackson off, off of propofol, so he could sleep naturally.

What he told police investigators and was left out in the opening statement was that on the day that Michael Jackson died, this was the third day of a weaning process. You see, on June 22, on June 22, three days before Michael Jackson died, Michael Jackson finally agreed to let Dr. Murray try to cooperate with him to try to get him off this propofol.

And you will learn that on that day, Dr. Murray gave half the propofol he would normally give. Normally, he would give 50 milligrams in an injection and then a drip to keep the blood levels up. That would be his normal process for the two months prior. But on the 22nd, he gave half of each and gave lorazepam and midazolam. And Michael Jackson slept. He slept. And the next day, he got up and he went to work. On the 23rd -- and it's 23rd/24th, because the evening goes into the morning, but the next day -- Dr. Murray provided Michael Jackson no propofol at all.

It was the first night in two months that he slept without propofol. And he used only midazolam and lorazepam. On the night, the day that he died, the plan was not to give propofol. The plan was to go to the midazolam, the lorazepam.

That's why you hear this recording, "Please give me the propofol," because for 10 hours on the 25th, the morning of the 25th, for 10 hours, Dr. Murray refused, instead giving him midazolam and lorazepam.

Dr. Murray told police investigators that as 10:00 approached, Dr. Murray -- Michael Jackson started begging for propofol. He was confused. He told police investigators he didn't understand why he wasn't sleeping. Why wasn't he sleeping? He had slept the night before.

He told investigators that he was so confused, he literally reached under the bed sheets to see if maybe the medicine that he was giving him was leaking onto the bed, just wasn't getting into Michael Jackson. He didn't know what was happening. He didn't understand.

One of the things that you're going to -- one of the things that the evidence is going to show you in this case, that you're going to learn in this case, you're going to learn about certain personality traits that Michael Jackson had, not bad traits, but personality traits.

What you're going to learn about Michael Jackson is that he had the habit of compartmentalizing relationships, packaging relationships,. like spokes in a wheel. The wheel in his life turned, but the people that he associated with, the groups of people were like spokes.

KAYE: Defense attorney Ed Chernoff will continue his opening statement, but we will have to take a very quick break.

And we will be right back to talk with Jeffrey Toobin and Michael Cardoza about both the prosecutor and defense opening statements today in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.

You're watching live coverage right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Let's return you now to live coverage of the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray here in Los Angeles.

CHERNOFF: ... Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey.

What he will tell you is that, looking at these medical records -- and we will show you these medical records, we will graph them out for you -- that Michael Jackson, he believed -- or, rather, let me just say this. Dr. Arnold Klein addicted Michael Jackson to Demerol. And he will tell you that one of the insidious effects, the most difficult things about Demerol, addiction and its withdrawal, is an inability to sleep. And for some patients, it's an absolute inability to sleep.

When Dr. Murray was reaching under the bed sheets trying to figure out where all the medicine was going, why this man didn't sleep, Dr. Murray was not part of that package. He did not know that Michael Jackson was receiving this Demerol.

And you will hear the conversation that he had with police at the Marina del Rey Ritz-Carlton, where they asked him, did you know about the Demerol? And Dr. Murray said, what Demerol? I just saw that on TV. What was that about?

You're going to -- Dr. Waldman (ph) will talk about the events that occurred. And you heard some of it from Mr. Walgren today, the events that occurred the week before Michael Jackson's death. And you will learn that Michael Jackson received a shot of Demerol on June 16, 2009. He had rehearsal scheduled that day.

He attended that rehearsal. You will learn that he attended the next rehearsal on the 17th, but he missed on the 18th, just didn't show up. And on the 19th, as Mr. Walgren told you, he was absolutely unable to perform. He had chills. He was in pain. He was sick.

And Dr. Waldman is going to explain to you what he believes was happening during that week. And he's going to explain to you what he believed was happening thereafter as we got to the 25th of June, 24th/25th of June.

And what he's going to tell you is that Michael Jackson was suffering from the Demerol withdrawal, that his insomnia was as a result, partly at least as a result.

Now, Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray that his insomnia was a result of his mind always racing, always moving, always producing. He just couldn't keep still. It was the genius in him. And perhaps partly that was true. We know about people like that. But Dr. Waldman will tell you it was also the Demerol.

Dr. Murray explained in much greater detail about what happened when he eventually agreed on the 24th to give 25 milligrams of propofol. He explained not just what you heard. You're going to hear and you're going to see a lot more than that. You're going to see the -- what transpired between Dr. Murray and Michael Jackson during that period of time.

It wasn't just what you heard. That was bit and piece. You're going to hear it in context. And what Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray at around 10:50, while he had been -- he hadn't slept for 10 hours. He was up and around, he was in other rooms, he was lying down, but his eyes were always open, couldn't sleep.

And what he told Dr. Murray was, if I don't sleep, if I don't get some sleep, I can't complete my rehearsal. If I can't complete my rehearsal, I can't do my show, and I will disappoint my fans and I will fail if I don't get that propofol.

Now, these were not false words to Michael Jackson. They were not false words to Dr. Murray, because what you will learn is that the week prior, when Michael Jackson failed to show up for rehearsals on the 18th, when he was unable to perform on the 19th, as they moved this entire production to the Staples Center, the meeting that was held on June 20 was not for Michael Jackson's benefit. It was an emergency meeting.

This is the -- this would have been the third meeting that they would have had to have, and you will see an e-mail between Kenny Ortega and Randy Phillips where the conversation was about pulling the plug.

After the emergency meeting on June 20, Michael Jackson's performance was much better on the 23rd and the 24th. You will see video of that. What you will not see is video of the other rehearsals. So, when Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray, I have to sleep, I have to get some sleep, they will cancel my rehearsals, I will lose this performance, he meant it. Dr. Murray knew he meant it.

On -- at 10:40, while Michael Jackson was saying this and Dr. Murray...

KAYE: And you have been listening there to Dr. Murray's defense attorney, Ed Chernoff, making his opening statement there to the jury.

I want to bring in our Michael Cardoza, who's here with us, a criminal defense attorney.

What struck you? Were you moved at all by Conrad Murray's apparent tears there as his lawyer made his opening statements?

MICHAEL CARDOZA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I was a little bit. He is certainly humanizing him.

He's telling the jury they're going to bring his patients in, people that know him. So, he's beginning the humanization process, that Murray's not the big devil that the district attorney talked about in their opening statement.

And then he got into Michael Jackson, and, as we all know he's going to have to go after Michael Jackson. If you noticed, in the district attorney's opening, they used a tape of Michael Jackson where he was apparently more than intoxicated. Why did the DA do that?

It was to lessen the sting of the defense from doing that. Otherwise, you would have seen that in the defense's opening statement, because that's exactly what the defense wants to show, is that Michael Jackson is a drug abuser and he begged for these drugs. And as the defense attorney said, he needed them to go on tour. Without it, he couldn't go on tour, bad timing when Dr. Murray tries to wean him off the Diprivan. And then one of the other interesting things that I heard was the Demerol.

And Dr. Murray said, what Demerol? I have not heard about that.

KAYE: He didn't even know he was taking Demerol, according to his attorney.

CARDOZA: Exactly. And Demerol does cause insomnia. So you have a doctor treating a patient with having the full panoply of what he's ingesting. So that makes for an interesting nugget for the jury to deal with.

KAYE: Yes. Of course one of the main things and really one of the key things I think he said was that Michael Jackson caused his own death. That is really going to be and has to be the defense platform here.

CARDOZA: Well, it does.

But keep in mind the defense doesn't have to prove anything. It's not that they have to prove Michael Jackson caused his own death, just raise a reasonable doubt about how this happened. So there's a jury instruction in California that talks about circumstantial evidence.

If circumstantial evidence is susceptible to two reasonable interpretations, one of which points to guilt, one of which points to innocence, you as a juror must go with the one that points to innocence, in other words, not guilty.

So they will show there are other reasonable explanations for how Michael Jackson met his death, and perchance he was the cause. Therefore, how can you convict the doctor beyond a reasonable doubt when you don't know beyond that doubt what caused his death?

KAYE: What do we make of this? The defense attorney said that the evidence is not going to show that Michael Jackson died because Conrad Murray gave him propofol, but he died when Conrad Murray tried to actually stop giving him the drug and to wean him off it.

CARDOZA: Interesting. It's certainly a play on words.

Is he saying the propofol didn't kill him, the amount that I gave him didn't kill him, but he wanted it so badly, he needed it so badly that he ingested it himself by reaching up, because I know there's a needle up above, and pushing the needle to give him more propofol?

It could be a reasonable explanation as to what went on here. That's what the defense will pound at. And when you hear Michael Jackson, as intoxicated as he was, you think, boy, would he make any right decisions if he's half-asleep?

KAYE: Right.

CARDOZA: So, it's a possibility.

KAYE: But, given all that, no matter what, there's still the issue of negligence, when you think about the fact that Dr. Conrad Murray left Michael Jackson attached to an I.V. in his bedroom. There's no disputing that. The doctor has said that. It's a question of how long he might have left him.

CARDOZA: Well, there is disputing that on a certain level. Was he there in the room making phone calls? Did he watch over him during that time? Did he simply step out to take a restroom break?

Jurors can forgive that. I mean, come on. What is a doctor going to stay there, 20 hours without using the restroom? That is not going to happen. So if they can get the jury to believe he just left to take a bathroom break, I think they're in a good position.

But the DA has a very, very strong case here. And it all goes back, to me, hiding the propofol and all the things that happened after. But, most importantly, and I think Mr. Toobin spoke to this, is when he didn't tell the truth to the EMTs that came in. They're trying to save his life. Tell them what you gave him. He leaves that out. That needs an explanation.

Therefore, testify, Doctor. You better tell the jury why.

KAYE: And what does he need to say? Would you put him on the stand?

CARDOZA: You know, I would certainly lean toward that, and I would imagine, with Dr. Murray, from all I have seen, he would fight me on that. I don't want to get up there. A lot people are really afraid of the stand. So you would really have to take him through mock cross-examinations, bring other attorneys in to cross him, to see how he does, to see how he will stand up under a grueling cross- examination from Walgren, the district attorney.

How good a cross-examiner? That's one of the things I consider before I put one of my clients on the stand. How good is this DA? Is he just good at direct? Because, mostly, they do direct, because a lot of people don't put their clients on the stand. But how good is he on cross? I would want to find that out.

If he was an excellent cross-examiner, I would maybe rethink whether I would put him on or not. But my inclination in this case, put him on, prepare him, get him ready, and that may be your only chance in this case. It might be the only chance.

KAYE: Yes. We will see. We will see if he does that in the days and certainly the weeks ahead. Michael Cardoza, thank you so much.

CARDOZA: You're welcome.

KAYE: We're going to take a very quick break. But we will be right back with more live coverage from Los Angeles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Here is a look at the headlines and some other news that you may have missed today that we want you to know about.

Here in Los Angeles, opening statements in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. He was the physician treating Michael Jackson for chronic insomnia with the surgical anesthetic propofol. You have been watching the opening statements here.

Prosecutors say he was grossly negligent. The defense says Jackson caused his own death by taking more drugs than Dr. Murray gave him. Murray faces one count of involuntary manslaughter. He could face four years in prison if convicted.

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 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.

Here 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, well, they get a 25-cent discount. The group's president says he knows it's racist, and that's the point.

He says it's to get people thinking about affirmative action and to protest a state bill that 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.

The inventor of the popular snack Doritos has died. Arch West passed away last week of natural causes at age 97. And to honor his legacy, his daughter tells "The Dallas Morning News" that the family will toss Doritos into his grave before he's buried.

In case you didn't know it, Doritos hit the marketplace back in 1964. The name apparently came from the word doradito, which means "little golden" in Spanish.

Well, that will do it for me, but NEWSROOM does continue right now here on CNN with Drew Griffin, who is in for Brooke Baldwin.

Hi, Drew. I know you're a big fan of the Doritos. I'm sorry to see his passing.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: That guy has put so many pounds on me, I hate to say it.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: Randi, thank you so much. Great job out there.

KAYE: Thanks.