Attorneys for Jackson doctor hint at a defense

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES | Fri Jan 7, 2011 9:34pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An attorney for Michael Jackson's doctor on Friday hinted that the pop star may have killed himself with the drug propofol, even as prosecutors tried to bolster their claim the singer's physician committed manslaughter.

On the fourth day of a hearing to decide if Dr. Conrad Murray will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in the singer's sudden death, prosecutors called a woman with whom Murray had an affair to testify about receiving packages from a pharmacy that court records show supplied him with propofol.

Coroner's investigator Elissa Fleak also testified to finding at Jackson's home 12 bottles of the powerful anesthetic -- typically used in hospitals but which Jackson used as a sleep aid -- including several in a bag marked "baby essentials."

Fleak said she found most it four days after Jackson died on June 25, 2009 of a drug overdose, and that near his bed were an open box of hypodermic needles and one empty bottle of propofol.

Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan seized on her testimony to ask if a man Jackson's size, from his bed, could reach the needles.

"If a person about 136 pounds and 5'9" was on the bed, they should be able to reach them, right?" Flanagan asked.

Prosecutors quickly objected and a judge agreed the question was speculation. Still, it pointed to a claim made one week ago in court by prosecutors who warned the defense would offer up a theory Jackson killed himself.

At the time, Flanagan declined to disclose what the defense's strategy may be, and outside the courtroom on Friday, he told Reuters the defense strategy was still developing.

THE DOCTOR'S GIRLFRIEND

Elsewhere Nicole Alvarez, 29, who said she met Murray in 2005 at a Las Vegas strip club where she worked, testified to receiving at least half a dozen packages from Applied Pharmacy Services, the Las Vegas-based business that, according to court records, sold Murray propofol.

She could not say if the packages she received contained the powerful anesthetic because she had not looked.

"Dr. Murray and I were on a need-to-know basis," she said. "I just know my place and my position in his life, and that was just not my duty to know the details of his business."

Propofol is an anesthetic often used in hospitals for surgery, but Murray gave it to Jackson at home to help him sleep. Murray, who had offices in Houston and Las Vegas, had been hired to care for Jackson ahead of a series of concerts.

Murray has admitted giving Jackson propofol, which coroners determined was the principal cause of his death, but Murray has pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.

At the time he died, Jackson also had several other drugs in his system including the sedative lorazepam.

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"Fighter" Mark Wahlberg weighs in on Afghanistan

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES | Fri Jan 7, 2011 4:12pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. presidents aren't the only ones who make surprise visits to troops in Afghanistan. "The Fighter" Mark Wahlberg made his own trek to the war-torn country in December, but with little media attention that typically follows dignitaries and Hollywood stars.

Dressed in jeans, leather jacket, bullet-proof vest and battle-ready helmet, Wahlberg stepped off military transport and into the former home of a Taliban drug lord who had been ousted by troops. There was no Hollywood-style shootout, although he says he might have felt better with a gun in his hand.

The 36-hour visit days before Christmas was made without much fan fare because, he said, he didn't want any publicity.

"That's not why I was going," he told Reuters in an exclusive interview this week. "I just wanted to go over there and spend some time with them and know that we do appreciate what they're doing, and bring well wishes and love and support from home. That's all I wanted to do.

He said he wanted to see for himself the conditions under which the troops and the Afghani people were living. "It was something that I was very excited about doing, and I'm very glad that I made the journey."

Wahlberg, 39, rose to fame as a young rapper and later became a movie actor and producer of hit HBO show "Entourage," which is based on his own life as an up-and-coming star.

He even portrayed an ex-military marksman in "Shooter," and said that when he was young and in legal trouble he considered joining the Marines. His trip to Afghanistan was the first time, he said, he had a chance to visit troops.

The quick in-and-out was arranged by Bill White, ex-head of New York's Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum, who met Wahlberg through a friend. Wahlberg told White he'd like to go to Afghanistan. White said he would see if he could arrange it.

WAHLBERG SHIPS OUT

Wahlberg, a married man with four kids, said traveling into a war zone before Christmas was not an easy decision, but his family understood.

"I've been in a lot of hairy situations in the past, and I felt like, you know, we were going to be traveling with the military, so it can't get much safer than that."

When asked if he was scared, he smiled and said, "I probably would have felt a little safer had I had my own weapons ... but no, I'm a very spiritual guy and I get on my hands and my knees and ask God to protect me."

While at camps in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, the actor showed "The Fighter," an inspirational film about a boxing champion played by Wahlberg, to some 3,000 troops. He ate with them and visited them in hospitals. They asked questions, took pictures and collected autographs.

"They're still extremely positive and optimistic that they're doing a lot of good over there and helping a country that's really in need," Wahlberg said.

He said he was surprised to find that, not only did troops know him, but Afghani people and troops did, too.

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Harry Potter plagiarism case dismissed in U.S.

NEW YORK | Fri Jan 7, 2011 8:16am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit accusing "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling with copying the work of another author when writing "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

The estate of late author Adrian Jacobs had said that the plot of the book, the fourth of seven in the wildly successful series that has been turned into a multi-billion-dollar film franchise, copied parts of the plot of his book "Willy the Wizard," including a wizard contest, and that Rowling borrowed the idea of wizards traveling on trains.

Scholastic Corp, the U.S. publisher of the books, welcomed the move by judge Shira Scheindlin, quoting the judge as saying "...the contrast between the total concept and feel of the works is so stark that any serious comparison of the two strains credulity."

"The Court's swift dismissal supports our position that the case was completely without merit and that comparing Willy the Wizard to the Harry Potter series was absurd," the firm said in a statement.

In October, a judge overseeing a similar plagiarism case at London's High Court said that the claims made by Paul Allen, trustee of Jacobs's estate, were "improbable," though he turned down an application by lawyers for Rowling and her British publisher for an immediate judgment dismissing the case.

According to his estate Jacobs, who wrote "The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land" in 1987, had at one point sought the services of literary agent Christopher Little, who later became Rowling's agent. It added that Jacobs died "penniless" in a London hospice in 1997.

Bloomsbury said Rowling had never heard of Jacobs's book before the copyright claim was first made in 2004, almost seven years after the publication of the first book in the highly publicized Harry Potter series.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; editing by Daniel Magnowski)

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Michael Jackson doctor kept mum about propofol at hospital

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES | Thu Jan 6, 2011 9:38pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two hospital physicians testified on Thursday that Michael Jackson's doctor never admitted to giving him the powerful anesthetic propofol after the singer arrived at their emergency room in cardiac arrest.

The UCLA Medical Center doctors' testimony came on the third day of a preliminary hearing to determine if Dr. Conrad Murray should stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death because he was negligent in his care.

Prosecutors have accused Murray of giving Jackson too much propofol at the "Thriller" singer's Los Angeles mansion to help him sleep, leading to his June 25, 2009 death. And they say Murray tried to cover up his actions after he discovered Jackson had stopped breathing.

Dr. Richelle Cooper, the emergency room physician who pronounced Jackson dead at the hospital, and her colleague Dr. Thao Nguyen both testified that Murray never mentioned propofol when they asked what drugs the singer had received.

Propofol is an anesthetic typically used in a hospital setting such as surgery, but Jackson was asking for it to be given to him at home as a sleep aid.

"We will often use propofol for some kind of procedure -- to fix a broken bone or a dislocated joint." Cooper said, but added "I've never seen it used in a home setting."

The hospital doctors said Murray did admit giving Jackson the sedative lorazepam, but Nguyen said Murray could not say how much time passed from the singer taking the drug until he stopped breathing.

"He did not have a watch and he did not have any concept of time," Nguyen said, adding that those are the exact words Murray himself used when speaking to her that day.

Prosecutors also offered a timeline leading to Jackson's death in an attempt to show that before Murray realized the 50 year-old singer had stopped breathing in his bedroom, he was busy making phone calls instead of monitoring his patient.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told the judge earlier this week that Murray has admitted to giving Jackson propofol between 10:40 a.m. and 11 a.m. that day.

Phone company officials and a Los Angeles police detective testified that Murray, using his two cell phones, was on a series of calls after that time, ending at around 11:51 a.m..

Around noon, Murray discovered Jackson was not breathing, according to prosecutors. The doctor has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. His preliminary hearing, which began on Tuesday, is expected to last two weeks.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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