Court will hear first evidence in the trial of Jackson’s doctor

Opening statements are expected to explore who administered a fatal dose of propofol, the powerful anaesthetic upon which a sleep-deprived Jackson had become dependent.

Lawyers for defendant Dr Conrad Murray are set to claim that the singer swallowed the drug without the physician’s knowledge, shortly before going into cardiac arrest.

However, prosecutors maintain that the star’s $150,000-a-month personal doctor injected Jackson with the final dose, and then negligently left the star alone as he died from its effects.

The trial’s opening follows a protracted jury selection process. Some 370 potential jurors were asked to complete a 31-page questionnaire covering everything from their familiarity of the star’s work to their knowledge of certain pharmaceuticals.

A jury of seven men and five women was finalised on Friday for the trial, which is expected to last five weeks and will be televised throughout.

Jackson died aged 50 at his rented Beverly Hills mansion shortly before he was due to embark on a comeback tour.

Murray was with him at the singer’s home at the time of his death on June 25, 2009.

The singer had been suffering from insomnia and had started taking propofol in a desperate attempt to induce sleep.

Jackson was so reliant on the drug that he would refer to it as his “milk”.

Murray’s lawyers are expected to argue that the doctor was trying to wean Jackson off propofol at the time of his death.

The doctor told police that after being instructed by his employer to inject the drug, he gave a minimal dosage before leaving the room for five minutes.

Mobile phone records suggest that Murray was away from Jackson’s bedside for far longer.

He returned to find Jackson not breathing, leading to a series of attempts to revive the star.

Murray’s actions on finding the unconscious singer and the length of time it took for him to contact emergency services will be scrutinised in the courtroom.

But the trial is likely to hinge on testimony over his administration of propofol.

Prosecutors claim that Murray acted in a grossly negligent way by injecting the drug without having proper lifesaving equipment on hand and then leaving the room.

The defence team is expected to counter that the fatal dose was taken by Jackson himself, who ingested the drug in a desperate attempt to induce sleep.

Traces of propofol were found in Jackson’s stomach. Taking the drug orally does not work as a way of anaesthetising a patient, and would result in chronic diarrhoea, experts have said.

Coroners said Jackson died of “acute propofol poisoning”.