Girlfriend of Jackson’s physician quizzed over his schedule that day
Nicole Alvarez told jurors during the manslaughter trial of Dr Conrad Murray that the doctor had first told her that he was Jackson’s personal physician for a year before the singer’s June 2009 death.
Alvarez beamed as she described meeting Jackson for the first time in Las Vegas, where Murray has a medical practice.
“I was speechless,” she said. “I couldn’t believe I was meeting Michael Jackson.”
Alvarez said she and Murray met Jackson several other times, including after the birth of the couple’s young son.
She said after April 2009, Murray would frequently leave her apartment at night and return early the next day. She said she knew that Murray was working as Jackson’s personal doctor while the singer was preparing for a series of comeback concerts.
Phone records displayed in court on Monday showed Murray called Alvarez four times on the afternoon of Jackson’s death in 2009, including once while he was in the ambulance with Jackson’s lifeless body on the way to the hospital.
Murray has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors are keeping jurors focused on the doctor’s phone records from the day Jackson died, trying to show that Murray was trying to juggle his medical practice, personal life and superstar patient all at the same time.
Authorities contend he gave the singer a lethal dose of the anaesthetic propofol and other sedatives. Murray’s lawyers claim Jackson gave himself the fatal dose. If convicted, Murray faces four years behind bars and the loss of his medical licence.
Testimony on Monday was heavily centred on Murray’s calls on the day Jackson died, with witnesses including patients, a doctor seeking advice and a woman who had dated Murray.
To this point, witnesses have been brief, filling in prosecutors’ timeline of the hours leading up to Jackson’s death.
The phone records have revealed the special relationship Murray kept with his patients.
Houston-based Dr Joanne Prashad said she called Murray on the morning of Jackson’s death to inquire whether it would be safe to operate on a patient whom Murray had treated.
Dr Prashad said she was surprised that Murray remembered the patient and the dosage of medicine that he was taking.
Murray’s lead defence lawyer Ed Chernoff asked Dr Prashad whether this was unusual for a doctor.
She said yes. “I was impressed,” Dr Prashad said.
The records overall reveal a doctor who was on his phone a lot in the hours before Jackson’s death.
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