Criminalist Dan Anderson Resumes Testimony in Conrad Murray Trial

Los Angeles - A Los Angeles County coroner's office criminalist testified today that the powerful anesthetic propofol had been administered in an improper medical setting to singer Michael Jackson, who died from an overdose of the medication.

Testifying in the involuntary-manslaughter of Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, coroner's office criminalist Dan Anderson said under-cross examination that toxicology tests quickly raised red flags about propofol.

Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan asked Anderson, "You came to a quick judgment that propofol was the most important drug in this case?"

"Yes I did," Anderson answered.

"Did you think that (the medication) lorazepam was not significant in this matter?" Flanagan asked.

"I think it has its importance, but it's not the red flag that caught my eye," Anderson said.

Flanagan pressed Anderson, suggesting that there were high levels of lorazepam in Jackson's system.

"Actually, that's not what my testimony states," Anderson responded. "I said they're within therapeutic range."

"Well, the propofol is within therapeutic range also, isn't it?" Flanagan asked.

"That's not what I said either," Anderson said. "I said it's within a therapeutic range in a proper setting. This is not a proper setting."

Murray, 58, is accused of administering a large dose of propofol to Jackson at the singer's rented Holmby Hills estate on June 25, 2009, then leaving him unattended to make phone calls and send emails.

Murray found Jackson unresponsive around noon. The singer was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He died from acute propofol intoxication, according to the coroner's office.

Defense attorneys maintain that Murray was weaning Jackson off propofol -- which the singer used to help him sleep -- and gave him only a small amount of it but that Jackson "self-administered" a larger dose, killing himself instantly after the doctor left the room.

On the stand Thursday, Anderson told the seven-man, five-woman jury that toxicology tests detected seven drugs in Jackson's system, including propofol.

The other drugs were lidocaine, diazepam (Valium), nordiazepam (a metabolite of Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), midazolam (Versed) and ephedrine, he said.

Propofol and lidocaine were detected in a syringe collected from a table near Jackson's bed, while propofol, lidocaine and flumazenil were detected in another syringe and IV tubing collected from the singer's bedroom four days after his death, Anderson testified.

He said the coroner's office did not quantify the amount of propofol in the syringe and IV tubing, noting under cross-examination that he could not determine proportions of the propofol, lidocaine and flumazenil.

Propofol that was detected in a bottle of urine retrieved from Jackson's bedroom could have been recent or could have been from a couple days earlier, Anderson said, noting that he did not even know if it had been collected from Jackson. He said he also could not tell if the lorazepam had been injected or taken in a pill form and how long it had been taken before Jackson died.

Under questioning by the prosecutor, Anderson said there were no positive test results for Demerol in Jackson. In his opening statement last week, defense attorney Edward Chernoff told jurors that part of Jackson's inability to sleep could be blamed on Dr. Arnold Klein, a Beverly Hills dermatologist who regularly treated the entertainer and gave him shots of the pain killer Demerol, to which the singer became addicted -- something Murray had not known.

Murray faces up to four years in state prison if convicted of the felony count.

At the time of Jackson's death, the cardiologist was working for him at the rented mansion in Holmby Hills, where the pop star was staying while rehearsing for his 50 sold-out concerts in London dubbed "This Is It."

Also Thursday, attorneys from both sides stipulated that a left index fingerprint on a 100-milliliter vial of propofol that prosecutors contend was found inside an IV bag that was in another bag in Jackson's bedroom closet was matched to Murray.

Fingerprints were found on that IV bag, another IV bag and one of the 20-milliliter vials of propofol, but no identification of the prints was made, according to the stipulation read by the prosecutor.

Fingerprints from Murray and Jackson were among those "manually compared and eliminated" involving the saline bag that the prosecution contends contained a 100-milliliter vial of propofol, and a 20-milliliter bottle of propofol found on the floor, along with another 20-milliliter vial of propofol found in a Costco bag and an IV bag and tubing that were collected four days after Jackson's death, according to the stipulation.