LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Michael Jackson could have swallowed an additional eight pills of the sedative lorazepam on the morning he died in 2009, an expert defense witness testified on Friday.
Dr. Paul White, expected to be the last defense witness in the involuntary manslaughter trial of the singer's physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, also criticized prosecution theories about what happened in the hours before Jackson was found lifeless in his bed.
Authorities ruled that Jackson died on June 25, 2009, of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, with lorazepam playing a contributing role.
Murray has admitted to giving Jackson propofol and two shots of two milligrams each of lorazepam to help him sleep. But an autopsy found blood levels of lorazepam in Jackson's system be far higher.
White, using mathematical models on the effects of different doses of drugs, said Jackson could have swallowed another eight lorazepam tablets during a long sleepless night, bringing his blood levels of those found at autopsy.
"The fact that there is even a tiny amount of free lorazepam (in the stomach) is consistent with the theory that he took lorazepam orally," White said.
White slammed a scenario presented by a prosecution expert last week that Murray could have given Jackson many more injections of the sedative than he admitted to police. White said such high doses would result in a patient quickly losing consciousness.
"I can't imagine anyone sitting at a bedside just repeatedly injecting a large ... dose of lorazepam," White said.
White was expected later on Friday to address the central claim of Murray's attorneys: that Jackson somehow self-administered an extra, fatal dose of propofol without Murray's knowledge.
White told the jury on Thursday that it seemed unusual that Jackson would have died from the relatively small dose of 25 milligrams of propofol that Murray told police he injected into the pop star.
Murray denies involuntary manslaughter but could face up to four years prison if convicted.
The defense is expected to wrap up its case early next week, without Murray taking the witness stand.
(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)
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