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| Dr. Conrad Murray on the Opening Day of His Trial |
Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician, faces involuntary manslaughter charges in Jackson's death June 25, 2009. We live in a country where defendants are innocent until proven guilty, and the defense team has suggested that Jackson injected himself with the fatal dose of propofol when Murray left the room. Ham on Wry asks readers to study his face in the picture above and see what the jurors saw yesterday as the trial began.
The prosecution displayed a picture of Michael Jackson on a hospital gurney already dead in their opening statement. Even more startling, they played a recording of Michael Jackson Murray had recorded on his cell phone, his words slurred and almost unintelligible. Prosecutors placed his words on a screen while the recording played so that juros could understand what Jackson was saying. It sounded as though his tongue was so swollen that he couldn't articulate his words, and he spoke as though his mouth were moving in slow motions. Ham on Wry suggests that readers use a search engine or access video sites to hear it for themselves, because no written translation can convey how he sounded.
On the second day of the trial, Attorney Kathy Jorrie testified about her role in negotiating Murray's contract, which neither Jackson nor his promoters ever signed. Drafted just days before Jackson's death, Murray signed it the day before Jackson died. Jorrie said that she asked Murray why he would need the CPR machine he requested because the O2 Arena where Jackson would perform his "This is It" tour likely had one. Murray replied that he didn't want to take any chances and repeatedly told her that Jackson was in excellent health.
Paul Gongaware, an AEG Live promoter who helped sponsor "This is It" testified that Jackson had insisted on hiring Murray as his personal physician, although the promoters stated their preference for an English doctor, since the concert venue was in London. Murray initially demanded $5 million, which the promoters summarily rejected. Murray was set to decline the next offer of $150,000 a month, until he was informed that Jackson had dictated that amount. Not bad for someone who had never earned that kind of money before. Gongaware also presented testimony that he had seen Jackson a little slow with slurred speech in the early stages of rehearsing for the tour.
This photo is purported to be the last one of Michael Jackson alive. Ham on Wry will not include the death photo in this post because it could alarm some readers. Those who want to view it can use any search engine to find it because it proliferates on the internet. The photo below shows Jackson in rehearsal for his tour, a fitting way to end today's post.
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