The trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor accused in Michael Jackson’s death, finished closing arguments Thursday.
Defense attorney Ed Chernoff argued that Murray, who has pleaded not guilty, shouldn’t be convicted of killing the King of Pop because the singer caused his own death by administering his own overdose of the anesthetic propofol. Chernoff questioned why no propofol was found in the IV bag by Jackson’s bed and proposed that Jackson’s fame was the reason Murray was on trial for involuntary manslaughter.
“Somebody’s got to say it: If it were anybody else but Michael Jackson, if it were anybody else, would this doctor be here today?” said Chernoff. “They want you to convict Dr. Murray for the actions of Michael Jackson. … It’s not a reality show.”
Prosecutor David Walgren didn’t address Jackson’s fame, but instead focused on the emotional impact of the death on his children.
“For them, this case doesn’t end today or tomorrow or the next day,” Walgren told jurors. “For Michael’s children this case will go on forever because they do not have a father.”
The prosecutor said that any scientific evidence that the defense presented was “junk science” and that Murray had broken trust with Jackson by changing their doctor-patient relationship to one of “employer-employee” and that in exchange for $150,000 a month would perpetuate an “obscene experiment” in which he provided Jackson drugs in an unsafe manner.
Walgren asked the jury to find that Murray acted with “extreme, criminal, gross negligence” when he gave Jackson propofol.
The jury begins deliberations Friday.
