News Americas, LOS ANGELES, CA, Weds. Sept. 28, 2011: Michael Jackson’s Caribbean-born doctor wiped away tears yesterday as his defense attorney told jurors on the opening day of his trail that the pop star died of his own accord.
Grenada-born, Dr. Conrad Murray, who is charged in the death of Jackson, appeared to be crying and wiped his eyes with a tissue, during the opening statement of defense attorney, Ed Chernoff.
As the Jackson family, including his father Joseph, mother Katherine, sisters LaToya and Janet, and brothers Jermaine, Randy, and Tito, sat in the court room, Chernoff told jurors in his opening argument Tuesday that Murray was a good doctor and friend to the pop star and was trying to wean him off of propofol.
But he said Jackson self-ingested the anesthetic propofol, creating a “perfect storm in his body” that killed him instantly.
The defense’s remarks came after more than an hour of opening arguments by prosecutors who said the Houston-based cardiologist killed Jackson from an overdose of propofol on June 25, 2009.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and he and his attorneys have denied he gave Jackson anything that should have killed the pop superstar.
If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license.
