An LA paramedic who tried to save the King of Pop from an overdose has told lawyers of Dr Conrad Murrays startling medical opinion.
The Mirror has seen a transcript of Richard Senneffs statement, which revealed the doctor stood in front of lifeless Jacko in the singers bedroom and claimed: He doesnt have a problem. He is fine.
He was practising all night. Im just treating him for dehydration.
Mr Senneff, first on the scene after a guard called 911 when Murray found his star patient out cold in June 2009, believed the doctor lied to him about what drugs he had given Jacko.
The paramedic will be a key player in next weeks LA Supreme Court trial, when Murray will fight charges of involuntary man-slaughter and medical negligence. Prosecutors believe his testimony will show the doctor tried to cover his tracks after giving Jacko the anaesthetic propofol.
When asked if Jacko was on medication, Murray replied: No, he is not taking anything. But seconds later, the panicking doc confessed he had given him the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam to help him sleep.
Earlier Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor had noted her role as “an advocate” in the justice system and asked if she could be impartial. She answered yes.
A panel of 12 is to be finalized Friday afternoon. Attorneys used their time questioning jurors as an opportunity to preview their case.
Murray, 58, stands accused of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s 2009 overdose on the surgical anesthetic propofol. He has pleaded not guilty.
The defense is expected to argue that Jackson was a desperate addict who begged Murray for propofol and gave himself the fatal dose.
Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff suggested negative information about Jackson may emerge during the trial. He asked panelists what they knew about the singer’s life and personality.
“I think of him as a child, his dancing, his music,” one woman queried replied.
Was he so childlike he was incapable of making decision, the attorney pressed. No, the woman answered.
Turning to the entire group, Chernoff asked if they believed “Michael Jackson should be held to a different standard of responsibility?” No hands were raised.
Walgren focused his questions on whether panelists could convict Murray if they found Jackson had contributed to his own death.
The prosecutor asked would-be jurors to consider a hypothetical situation where a reckless driver runs a red light and kills a pedestrian who was “also not being safe as he could be and steps out in front of a car.”
“You could say the driver is not 100% responsible, but he did play a substantial role,” Walgren said, echoing the wording of the involuntary manslaughter charge.
“Could you find him guilty?” he asked juror after juror.
All said they could, but one man asked if the pedestrian had used a crosswalk. Prosecutors later dismissed that juror.
Chernoff objected at two points to Walgren’s use of the term “victim” in his questioning.
“There is no proof of a ‘victim,’” Chernoff complained.
The judge ordered the prosecutor to use the phrase “alleged victim.”
If convicted, Murray faces a maximum of four years in prison and the likely loss of his medical license.
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