Nurse: Jackson Asked For Propofol

Los Angeles - A nurse practitioner who treated Michael Jackson testified today the singer told her about two months before his death that a powerful anesthetic was the only medication that helped him fall asleep quickly and that doctors had told him it was safe as long as he was monitored.

Cherilyn Lee told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury hearing the involuntary manslaughter case against Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, that the entertainer requested Diprivan -- a brand name for propofol -- while she was at his rented Holmby Hills estate on April 19, 2009.

Jackson said he had tried everything else, but propofol would allow him to quickly fall asleep, she testified.

"Did he seem to have a familiarity with it?" defense attorney Edward Chernoff asked.

"Yes," Lee responded.

The nurse practitioner said she didn't know anything about the drug and contacted a doctor who explained that it was an anesthetic used for surgeries. Lee -- who began treating Jackson in February 2009 -- said she advised him about the drug's potential side effects.

"He told me that doctors have told him that it's safe and that we would not have a problem," she said, adding that Jackson said he needed to be monitored during the process.

Jackson said he had been given the drug for surgery and wanted to have the experience again of having "fallen asleep so easily," Lee told the seven-man, five-woman jury.

"He said, `I know this will knock me out,"' the defense's sixth witness testified.

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney David Walgren, Lee said she had advised Jackson that propofol was not a medication to be used to treat insomnia and it was not safe to be used at home. She said she never gave Jackson any propofol.

Lee said Jackson tried to assure her that the medication was safe as long as a doctor monitored him while he slept.

Walgren read Lee an excerpt from her notes about the meeting.

"And he responded again, `I will be OK. I only need someone to monitor me, with the equipment, while I sleep,"' Walgren read from the notes.

"Yes, that's exactly what he said," Lee said, wiping tears from her eyes and asking for a moment to compose herself as she recalled her final visit with Jackson.

Under questioning by Walgren, she confirmed that she told police in a July 2009 interview that she had informed Jackson that no one who cared or had his best interests at heart would give him the drug.

Jackson died June 25, 2009, from acute propofol intoxication.

Prosecutors allege that Murray, a 58-year-old cardiologist who was treating Jackson at his home, gave the singer a fatal, intravenous dose of the anesthetic, then spent about 45 minutes on the phone or sending emails, without properly monitoring him.

In his opening statement, Chernoff told jurors that the evidence would show that Jackson swallowed eight two-milligram tablets of the sedative lorazepam "when Dr. Murray was not around" and "self-administered a dose of propofol" after Murray left the room that "created a perfect storm" and "killed him instantly."

On Monday, Dr. Allan Metzger told jurors that Jackson had long experienced problems with sleeping and asked him about intravenous sleep medication on April 18, 2009 -- one day before Jackson requested propofol from Lee.

Metzger said he believed Jackson used the word "juice," but did not refer to a specific medication.

On cross-examination, Walgren asked Metzger if he had explained to Jackson that intravenous sleep medication was dangerous, life-threatening and should not be done outside of a hospital.

"That's correct," said Metzger, who had periodically treated Jackson for years and spoke with him when he visited the singer at his rented Holmby Hills home at Jackson's request.

Metzger said he "never" gave Jackson propofol and that no amount of money would have convinced him to give the powerful anesthetic to the singer, who was in Los Angeles rehearsing for a series of 50 concerts in London dubbed "This Is It."

Jurors also heard today from Brandon "Randy" Phillips, the president and chief executive officer of AEG Live, the company that was organizing Jackson's ill-fated concert series.

"It was apparent from his discussions with me that he was motivated and energized and receptive to the idea," Phillips said of Jackson's initial response to the concert dates.

He said Jackson "wanted to finally settle down and get a really good home for the kids ... so they weren't living like vagabonds." Phillips called Jackson a "genius" at one point and a "phenomenal father" at another.

Jackson initially wanted to do 31 shows so he would do 10 more than Prince had done, Phillips said. The singer then agreed to do 50 shows after it became obvious that they would "blow through" 31 shows in pre-sales before the tickets went on sale to the general public, he said.

Jackson agreed to do 50 shows on the conditions that he and his children stay at a 16-plus acre estate with running streams and horses and that the Guinness Book of World Records be on hand for his 50th show because he felt that no performer would be able to beat that number for a venue of that size, Phillips said.

Jackson was "very firm" that he wanted to have his own physician -- later determined to be Murray -- on call for him around the clock in London, rather than a doctor in London being called as needed, according to the AEG Live president.

Phillips said he was on hand for a meeting in early June 2009 that included Jackson, Murray and Jackson's manager over concerns that Jackson was not eating and was losing weight.

"He (Dr. Murray) said he's in great health," Phillips said. "It was very obvious that Michael had great trust in Dr. Murray ... I thought they had a close, personal relationship."

Phillips said he had informed Murray at one point that he believed Jackson was seeing Dr. Arnold Klein, a Beverly Hills dermatologist, for some kind of treatment in case Jackson hadn't told him. He noted that there had been a production meeting at which Jackson "was not as focused as he usually is" and that the singer's personal assistant told him afterward that Jackson had just come from Klein's office.

Phillips said he called another meeting at Jackson's home just five days before the singer's death because the show's director, Kenny Ortega, sent an email expressing his concern about Jackson and contemplating "pulling the plug" on the show.

"No one on our end was ever contemplating pulling the plug," the AEG Live president said.

He said Murray guaranteed at that meeting that "Michael would get into it," while Jackson himself was "very clear that he was ready."

"He said, `You build the house. I'll put on the door and paint it,"' Phillips said.

Outside the jury's presence, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor barred the defense from questioning Phillips about AEG Live's contract with Jackson. The judge said there was "complicated legal terminology" in the contract and it was "not relevant to the specific issues involved in Murray's case.

"This is not a contractual dispute. This is a homicide case," the judge said in denying the defense's request.

Also Tuesday, the defense called the technical operations officer of a laboratory that tested urine samples and stomach contents from Jackson.

Michael Henson testified that he initially tested the stomach contents for lorazepam and its metabolite without separating the two. He said he believed a later study that separated the two equated to about 1/333rd of a two-milligram tablet of the actual drug in the stomach contents, even lower than similar testing done by the coroner's office.

The defense is expected to call five character witnesses Wednesday on Murray's behalf. Jurors are also expected to hear -- likely Thursday -- from two expert witnesses, including the defense's expert on propofol.