Jackson ‘injected fatal drug himself’

MICHAEL Jackson caused his own death by injecting himself with a fatal dose of anaesthetic, according to a medical expert at the trial of the singer’s personal physician Dr Conrad Murray.

Defence lawyers had been hinting they might make such a claim for months.

Expert witness Dr Paul White, said Jackson injected himself with a dose of the sedative propofol after an initial dose, administered by Murray, had worn off.

White also calculated that Jackson, 50, gave himself another sedative, lorazepam, by taking pills after an infusion of that drug and others by Murray failed to make him sleep.

That combination could have had “lethal consequences”, White said. He added that he saw no evidence supporting the notion that Murray had injected Jackson with propofol.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter over Jackson’s death in June 2009. White showed jurors at Los Angeles Superior Court a series of charts and simulations to support the defence theory that Jackson administered the fatal dose himself.

He said he accepted Murray’s statement to police that he administered only 25 milligrams of propofol after a night-long struggle to get Jackson to sleep with infusions of other sedatives.

“How long would that [propofol] have had an effect on Mr Jackson?” asked defence lawyer Michael Flanagan. White replied: “If you’re talking effect on the central nervous system, ten to 15 minutes max.”

He then said Jackson could have injected himself with another 25mgs during the time Murray has said he left the room.

“So you think it was self-injected propofol between 11:30 and 12?” asked Flanagan.

“In my opinion, yes,” White answered.

The witness, an early researchers on the anaesthetic, contradicted evidence by Dr Steven Shafer, his collaborator. Shafer earlier said Jackson would have been groggy from all the medication and could not have given himself the drug in the two minutes Murray was gone from the room.