Day 8-Conrad Murray Trial

It was another growling day in court yesterday as prosecutors focused on the array of drugs found in Michaels home and tried to convince the jury that the doctor is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.  Prosecutors presented evidence that Michael's fingerprints were not on syringes or drug vials taken from his house following his death, discrediting the defense arguments that Michael gave himself the fatal dose of propofol.

Dr. Murrays defense team countered by suggesting that the coroner's investigator Elissa Fleak conducted a bad examination of the bedroom where Michael stopped breathing and made mistakes in her investigation.  Defense attorney Ed Chernoff grilled Mrs. Fleak about the examination of the crime scene in a very intense exchange.

"Would you agree with me that you made a substantial number of mistakes in your investigation?" Chernoff asked.

"No," Fleak said

"Mrs. Fleak, did you conduct a perfect investigation in this case?" he asked

"No," she said

"Have you ever conducted a perfect investigation?"he continued

"No," said the witness.

"Are there always things you would have done differently in hindsight?" he asked

"Yes," Fleak replied, saying she had tried to be as accurate and truthful as possible.

Mrs. Fleak was assinged to the investigation the day Michael died and went to his home to collect evidence.  Four days later, she returned to follow leads that Dr. Murray had provided, including a description of medications in a closet.  "Returning to the scene is not typical and there was a lot more medical evidence."

Wednesday, Deputy DA David Walgren covered a table with the drug vials and pill bottles taken in Fleak's searches.  Among the paraphernalia were 11 bottles of propofol, an oxygen tank and IVs.  By the end of the day, more than three dozen bottles of medicine were lined up in two gagged rows on the edge of the prosecution table, directly in front of jurors.