Witness: Murray's Call Interrupted on Day MJ Died
A female acquaintance of Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray testified Tuesday that a telephone conversation she had with Murray on the day the pop icon died was suddenly interrupted and she continued to hear voices and coughing on the line.
Sade Anding told jurors in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial that the doctor telephoned her at 11:15 a.m. on June 25, 2009, but about five or six minutes into the call he stopped paying attention and it sounded like his cell phone was in his pocket. "There was a pause," Anding said. "That's when I realized he was no longer on the phone." But she said she continued to hear voices, coughing and mumbling on Murray's end of the line.
Murray's girlfriend, Nicole Alvarez, testified Tuesday about her relationship with the doctor and admitted receiving shipments for him at her Santa Monica apartment. She said that she never opened the shipments, which prosecutors allege contained the powerful anesthetic propofol. Phone records displayed in court showed that Murray also called Alvarez four times the afternoon of Jacksons' death, including once while he was in the ambulance with Jackson's lifeless body on the way to the hospital.
MORE: ER Doc: Michael Jackson Was Clinically D.O.A
Also during testimony Tuesday, pharmacy owner Tim Lopez told jurors that Murray first contacted him about obtaining a skin lightening cream used to treat the condition vitiligo, a pigment condition Jackson suffered from. But Lopez testified that by early 2009 Murray was inquiring about propofol.
The Las Vegas-based pharmacist said he shipped large amounts of propofol to Murray in the months leading up to Jackson's death. He testified that Murray told him the propofol was intended for a number of patients at a clinic he claimed to be running in Los Angeles.
MORE: Paramedic: Murray Never Mentioned Use of Propofol
Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter. The prosecution contends the doctor was treating Jackson at home and gave the pop star a lethal dose of propofol, a strong drug typically used in surgical procedures in hospitals. The defense alleges that Jackson self-administered the lethal dose. If convicted, the 58-year-old Murray faces a maximum of four years in jail and the loss of his medical license.
Stay tuned to ET for continuing coverage of the Jackson death trial.