LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A sleep medicine expert testified on Thursday that Michael Jackson’s reliance on the painkiller Demerol could have led to insomnia, but said the singer’s doctor still erred by giving him propofol to sleep.

Dr Conrad Murray is on trial for involuntary manslaughter in the “Thriller” singer’s 2009 death from an overdose of sedatives and the anesthetic propofol.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Dr Conrad Murray’s defense in the death of Michael Jackson suffered major blows on Wednesday when his attorneys dropped a claim that the singer swallowed a fatal dose of an anesthetic, and two doctors slammed his treatment standards.

As the prosecution neared the end of its case in the third week of the involuntary manslaughter trial, the two doctors testified that even if Jackson gave himself propofol, Murray would still be responsible for his death.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A cardiologist testified on Wednesday that Michael Jackson’s physician made major mistakes in giving the singer the anesthetic propofol to help him sleep and the doctor’s lawyers made an adjustment in their strategy .

Attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray told the judge in his manslaughter trial that they were dropping their claim that Jackson swallowed propofol when Murray was out of the room. The defense still is arguing that the singer could have injected himself with an extra, fatal dose on June 25, 2009.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Michael Jackson could not
have given himself the powerful anesthetic propofol that caused
his death in 2009, the doctor who performed the singer’s
autopsy testified on Tuesday.

Dr. Christopher Rogers told jurors in the manslaughter
trial of Dr. Conrad Murray that he determined Jackson’s death
was a homicide.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s mother broke down in tears when she was told that her pop star son had died, and the singer’s daughter Paris said she did not want to be an orphan, a Los Angeles court heard on Tuesday.

Katherine Jackson wept again in the courtroom as the manslaughter trial of “Thriller” singer’s physician, Dr Conrad Murray, entered its third week.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – In the final weeks of his life, Michael Jackson slept with a toy doll on his bed, was so heavily drugged that he sometimes slurred his speech and his big comeback tour was plagued with problems.

That was the picture that has emerged of the King of Pop’s private life during the first two weeks of the manslaughter trial of Jackson’s in-house physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s doctor told police he left the “Thriller” singer for about two minutes after giving him the anesthetic propofol for sleep and returned to find Jackson no longer breathing.

In a dramatic audio recording of Dr. Conrad Murray’s police interview two days after Jackson’s June 25, 2009 death, the Grenada-born physician calmly describes how the pop star enlisted Murray to help him sleep with propofol on a regular basis and says Jackson called the anesthetic his “milk.”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An attorney for Michael Jackson’s in-house doctor challenged a crime scene investigator on Thursday and suggested she conducted a shoddy examination of the bedroom where the “Thriller” singer stopped breathing in 2009.

Jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray also heard from a toxicologist, who said he found the anesthetic propofol in Jackson’s blood, liver, urine and stomach. The sedative lorazepam and other medications were also found in his body.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An attorney for Michael Jackson’s in-house doctor challenged a crime scene investigator on Thursday and suggested she conducted a shoddy examination of the bedroom where the “Thriller” singer stopped breathing in 2009.

The testimony of coroner’s investigator Elissa Fleak came midway through prosecutors’ presentation of their case in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Disturbing sounds and images from Michael Jackson’s life and death played a key role on Wednesday in the manslaughter trial of his doctor, with jurors hearing a recording of the self-styled King of Pop speaking in a slurred voice and viewing a photo of his dead body.

Prosecutors also showed pictures of a jug of urine found by Jackson’s bed after his June 25, 2009 death, and a coroner’s investigator testified she found a large collection of sedatives and painkillers in the “Thriller” singer’s room.