Prosecutors Commence Opening Statement With Photo of A Dead Michael Jackson

Screenshot/The Smoking Gun

The Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial began today, and L.A. prosecutors are pulling out all the stops to prove Murray's guilt in the death of Michael Jackson.

During the prosecution's opening statement, they protected a photograph of the deceased Jackson lying on a hospital gurney. The photo was taken shortly after Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.

The Smoking Gun posted the photograph on its website this morning, which has since garnered a mixture of sensitive and mocking comments from readers.

Daneen Covino-Rogers wrote, "Is that tape holding his nose together?"

"Looks like the alien from a bad alien autopsy video from the 90s," written by Jordan Laesch, received several likes plus a comment noting his insensitivity.

"He has always been ahead of the culture...he was just doing an early version of "planking," joked Neal Eger.

Mary-Lynn Gregory wrote, "Heartbreaking to see this."

Dr. Conrad Murray is accused of administering a fatal dose of propofol - a powerful anesthetic - to Jackson. The trial is slated to continue for the next five weeks.

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By Lauren Lloyd in News on September 27, 2011 12:40 PM

Comments [rss]

PicoPhreako69

While things don't look too good for this man (i.e., the doc) due to his arrogance and general caving-in to his former patient's every whim, the crux of the case will hinge on the 'reasonable doubt' aspect: whether or not it would have been possible for MJ to actually do what Murray says he did, i.e., actually self-administer the fatal overdose of propofol. In his desperation to get some sleep, he very well could have.

Fact is, by the time he'd reached the final week of his life, MJ was an addict who had so messed-up his body that he (like Judy Garland and others) needed drugs to wake himself up, and then drugs to put him back to sleep. This was a disaster most could see coming from a long way off - yet nobody could bring themselves to stop it.

A real lose/lose situation.