Lawyers drop Jackson claim

Lawyers for the doctor charged over Michael Jackson’s death have dropped their claim that the pop star swallowed a fatal dose of the anaesthetic propofol while his physician was not looking.

Dr Conrad Murray’s lawyer J Michael Flanagan told the judge at the Los Angeles trial yesterday that he had commissioned a study about the effects of propofol if swallowed.

Findings showed any effect from swallowing propofol would be “trivial”, he said.

“We are not going to assert at any time during this trial that Michael Jackson orally administered propofol,” Mr Flanagan added.