Lawyers for Conrad Murray want test of propofol bottle that prosecutors had said contained the fatal dose of Propofol. If residue has no Lidocaine, which is a local anesthetic that would have been used to ease the sting cause by the drug entering the vein, it disproves prosecution theory, defense lawyers say. The defense theory is that a desperate Jackson self-injected the drug that killed him, in an attempt to get some much needed sleep. Murray is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for the involuntary manslaughter conviction.
Conrad Murray’s defense wants a key piece of evidence tested which his lawyers argue could prove Michael Jackson injected himself with the drug that killed him.Murray, who is serving a four-year prison sentence, is appealing last year’s involuntary manslaughter conviction in Jackson’s 2009 death.
A motion filed Monday by his lawyers asked an appeals court to order a test of the residue in a 100 milliliter bottle of Propofol in which the prosecution claimed was the container used to inject the fatal dose of surgical anesthetic.
If the bottle does contain 10% lidocaine, then it would support prosecution expert Dr. Steven Shafer’s theory that Murray rigged up an IV drip using the bottle and then left the room, Murray’s motion said. Shafer testified that Lidocaine, which was found in Jackson’s blood after his death, was mixed with propofol to ease the sting of the drug as it entered a vein in Jackson’s leg.
“However, if the residue is 100% propofol, it would absolutely refute Shafer’s final contention that was used to prove an IV Propofol infusion,” the motion said.The defense theory was that a desperate Jackson, fearing that his comeback concerts could be canceled unless he found elusive sleep, self-administered Propofol that Murray was trying to wean him off of. It contends that Jackson also swallowed eight Lorazepam tablets while Murray was not watching.
The motion, to request further testing of the bottle, asks the appeals court to order the Los Angeles County Coroner to either test the residue or hand it over to a private lab for testing.
