Yesterday (September 27), on the first day of the manslaughter trial of pop star Michael Jackson’s personal physican, Dr. Conrad Murray, the prosecution presented the jury with a shocking image of the lifeless body of the singer, and a voice recording of the slurred words of the singer under the influence of drugs, reports the NY Daily News.
The prosecution projected the photograph in the courtroom, showing Michael Jackson’s lifeless body lying on a hospital gurney, with the headline, ‘Homicide.’
The almost incoherent recording from Dr. Conrad Murray’s cell phone occurred on May 10, 2009, approximately one month before Jackson’s death from an overdose of a powerful anesthetic called propofol.
“This voice recording documents Michael Jackson highly under the influence of unknown agents," prosecutor David Walgren said in his opening statement.
The prosecution accuses Dr. Murray of injecting Michael Jackson with large doses of drugs, including propofol, on the morning of his death, June 25, 2009, and then leaving him alone while the doctor checked his e-mails and returned phone calls.
The defense, however, will try to prove that Jackson self-administered the drugs and was responsible for his own death.
Dr. Murray, 58, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and, if convicted, faces up to four years in prison and a likely loss of his medical license.