LOS ANGELES — The voice that echoed through the packed courtroom was low and woozy, but the ambition in the slurred words was vintage Michael Jackson.
“I want them to say, ‘I’ve never seen nothing like this in my life,’ ” he mumbled. ” ‘He’s the greatest entertainer of all time.’ “
The grand vision to entertain millions died six weeks later with the singer. But it was resurrected Tuesday for an audience of 12: the jury in the manslaughter trial of his personal physician. The recording was the emotional crescendo in the dramatic opening day of legal proceedings anticipated since the singer’s 2009 death.
Before the lunch hour, Dr. Conrad Murray had broken down at the defense table, Jackson’s mother was weeping in the spectators’ gallery and fans had convened a prayer circle on the courthouse grounds.
Images of Jackson were everywhere — from posters that Jackson supporters waved for a throng of news crews to a “King of Pop” impersonator lurking in the courthouse hallway to a crime-scene photo of the singer dead on a hospital gurney. Jurors even watched clips of Jackson singing and dancing in rehearsals two days before his death.
But it was in the recording that Jackson seemed most eerily present. Prosecutors, who accused Murray of killing Jackson by giving him a dangerous anesthetic, waited until opening statements to reveal the tape’s existence, and Jackson’s voice sent a shiver of excitement through the courtroom.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told jurors that forensic experts had recovered the audio file from Murray’s phone and that it showed the physician had taped his patient “highly under the influence of unknown agents.” In a clip the prosecutor said was “a taste” of the full recording jurors are to hear later, a barely comprehensible Jackson appeared to say he would benefit charity with the proceeds from his planned comeback concerts.
“I’m taking that money, a million children, children’s hospital. Biggest in the world. Mi chael Jackson’s Children’s Hospital,” he said.
As Jackson’s mother, Katherine, looked on tearfully, the prosecutor said the recording showed the doctor knew “Michael’s state” and continued procuring drugs for him.
“That is what Conrad Murray is seeing and observing on May 10, 2009, and what does he do with that knowledge and information? On May 12, he orders another shipment of propofol and Midazolam,” Walgren said.
Jackson died June 25, 2009, from an overdose of propofol. Midazolam and several other sedatives were also found in his system.
In his remarks to jurors, the prosecutor said Murray compromised his professional responsibility to keep his $150,000-a-month position as concert doctor. Walgren ran through a list of actions by Murray that he said violated the standard of medical care, including using a surgical anesthetic outside a hospital setting and failing to call 911 when he found Jackson stricken in bed.
“Michael Jackson literally put his life in the hands of Conrad Murray,” Walgren said, adding, “That misplaced trust cost Michael Jackson his life.”
In the defense opening statement, lawyer Ed Chernoff said scientific evidence would show Jackson took his own life. The lawyer said Jackson swallowed eight tablets of the sedative lorazepam — “enough to put six of you to sleep” — and then self-administered propofol. He said Murray was out of the room at the time. He called the combination of drugs “a perfect storm” and said no medical attention could have saved the singer.
“He died rapidly, so instantly, he didn’t even have time to close his eyes,” Chernoff said.
