Witness describes Michael Jackson's daughter's anguish
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/CRIME/01/05/california.conrad.murray.hearing/t1larg.conrad.murray.gi.jpg caption="Dr. Conrad Murray remains free on a $75,000 bond. A pretrial hearing is expected to last two or three weeks." width=300 height=169]
Alan Duke
CNN
Los Angeles (CNN) - Michael Jackson's two oldest children, Prince and Paris, watched from a bedroom doorway as Dr. Conrad Murray tried to revive their father, according to a security guard.
"Paris screamed 'Daddy!' and she started crying," Alberto Alvarez testified at a preliminary hearing for Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death in June 2009.
Michael Jackson's parents, three sisters, and brother Randy listened from the second row of the Los Angeles County courtroom as Alvarez, apparently near tears, described the scene.
"Dr. Murray then said 'Get them out, get them out. Don't let them see their father like this,'" Alvarez said. "I turned to the children and I told them 'Don't worry, children, we'll take care of it. Go outside please.'"
The Los Angeles Superior Court preliminary hearing, which began Tuesday, is expected to last two or three weeks, with 20 to 30 witnesses testifying. Judge Michael Pastor will determine whether there is probable cause to send Murray to trial.
On Tuesday, Jackson's former security chief testified that Murray seemed not to know how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he waited for paramedics to arrive at the singer's house.
Faheem Muhammed said he and Alvarez saw Murray crouched next to Jackson's bed "in a panicked state asking, 'Does anyone know CPR?'"
"I looked at Alberto because we knew Dr. Murray was a heart surgeon, so we were shocked," Muhammed said.
When defense lawyer Ed Chernoff asked if perhaps Murray was only asking for help because he was tired, Muhammed said, "The way that he asked it is as if he didn't know CPR."
Jackson appeared to be dead at that time, with his "eyes open and his mouth open, just laying there," Muhammed said.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Walgren earlier said that Murray used "ineffectual CPR with one hand while the patient was prone on a soft bed." Using two hands with the patient prone on a hard surface is the proper method, he said.
Muhammed, the third witness on the opening day of the hearing, said he never saw Murray performing CPR on Jackson before paramedics arrived and transported the singer to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • 360º Follow • Michael Jackson |
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Well looks like the Doctor tried to contain the situation without exposing Jackson to the public. Well Mr. Doctor, your effort was a dumb one and all what you leeches have been doing to him is now exposed in a bad way. Hope you get what you deserve. I'll let the judges decide that.
right thing for him would have been to hospitalize Mr Jackson, which Dr Murray failed to do.
SO he is guilty right from the outset!!
This trial has to be quite an ordeal for Jackson's family. To hear what the doctor did and didn't do according to eyewitnesses that were there sounds like the doctor was either in a panic or unpracticed at CPR which in a cardiologist should not be the case. While the doctor is not blameless in this death, the one the blame should really be on mostly is Jackson himself, who seems to have been very addicted and was getting drugs from a variety of doctors. Jackson's choices should not be white-washed or neglected; he should have asked for help rather than more drugs.
I really don't think that Murray is really a doctor if he did not know how to do CPR. This becomes even more strange the more details are coming out.