Defence drops claim Jackson swallowed fatal dose
Published:Thursday | October 13, 2011 | 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP):
An attorney for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death yesterday dropped the defence claim that the superstar swallowed a fatal dose of the anaesthetic propofol while the doctor wasn't looking.
The defence claim had been a key tactic in the case of Dr Conrad Murray.
Attorney J. Michael Flanagan told the judge that he had commissioned a study about the effects of propofol if swallowed. Flanagan said the studies showed that any effect from swallowing propofol would be "trivial."
"We are not going to assert at any time during this trial that Michael Jackson orally administered propofol," Flanagan said.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren and Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor appeared surprised by the disclosure, which was not made in front of jurors.
Lead defence attorney Ed Chernoff said during opening statements on September 27 that his team would try to show that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a charge for which he would lose his medical licence and face the possibility of four years behind bars.