LOS ANGELES (AP) — The jury in the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson’s personal doctor heard the conclusion Tuesday of the police interview with Dr. Conrad Murray that occurred two days after the singer’s death.
In the 40 minutes of tape played in court, Murray described telling the singer’s mother and children about the pop superstar’s death.
“After they cried and cried and cried, then his daughter uttered a lot of words of unhappiness,” Murray told detectives.
He said Paris Jackson was afraid of being alone after her father’s death.
”’I know you tried your best, but I’m really sad,’” he continued, recounting her words. ”’I will wake up in the morning, and I won’t be able to see my daddy.’”
Murray is heard saying that he held hands with Jackson’s mother and his sister LaToya at the hospital where the singer was pronounced dead June 25, 2009.
“I cared about him,” Murray told the detectives at one point. “I tried to help him.”
Authorities contend Murray gave Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol and other sedatives while trying to help the singer sleep. Murray’s attorneys say Jackson gave himself the fatal dose when the doctor left Jackson’s bedroom. Murray has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, Murray faces up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license.
In the more than two-hour interview, Murray revealed where to find three bags in Jackson’s bedroom closet that contained syringes, vials of the anesthetic propofol and other medical equipment.
Detectives wouldn’t find the items until two days after the interview.
Los Angeles Police Detective Scott Smith testified Tuesday that Murray had a startled expression when he learned that detectives hadn’t yet recovered the bags.
“He seemed very surprised,” Smith said.
Smith said he and his partner sat down with Murray and his attorney without knowing much about Jackson’s death.
“At this time, we didn’t have any answers,” Smith said. “It definitely wasn’t an interrogation.”
The doctor told police that he had only left Jackson alone for a couple of minutes to use the restroom before returning to find the entertainer unresponsive. But phone records presented during the trial, now entering its third week, show that Murray made multiple phone calls before realizing Jackson had stopped breathing — including a 32-minute call to one of his medical clinics and another call to a girlfriend.
Murray made no mention of the calls during his police interview.
He told the detectives, who at that point hadn’t yet ruled Jackson’s death a homicide, that he thought the singer was becoming addicted to propofol after nightly treatments of the medication by Murray for roughly two months. He said he was trying to wean him off when things went wrong.
Prosecutors are expected to call a leading expert on propofol to explain the drug’s effects and dangers to the panel.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.