UPDATE 4:10 p.m.: Court adjourned for the day and will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m.
UPDATE 3:50 p.m.: Nurse practitioner Cherilyn Lee testified about making house calls to Jackson in February 2011, during which she would administer a "Myers cocktail" to the singer containing vitamins C and D, magnesium and calcium. Lee initially said that Jackson never made any comments to her about having trouble sleeping back in February, saying that complaint came much later, but the defense showed her a transcript of an earlier interview in which she did recall Jackson mentioning the problem. In addition to laying off of caffeinated beverages like Red Bull, she recommended different teas and would prepare them for him herself.
UPDATE 2:17 p.m.: The defense also called LAPD detectives Dan Myers and Orlando Martinez to the stand.
UPDATE 12:00 p.m.: This may not take as long as we thought. In less than half an hour, the defense has blown through its first two witnesses, Dona Norris, a communications and evidence unit manager for the Beverly Hills Police Department, and LAPD surveillance expert Alex Suphaul. Norris testified that 911 received a call from Jackson's home at 12:20 p.m. and it took 32 seconds for the operator to transfer the call to the L.A. Fire Department. Suphaul testified as to the video surveillance footage outside Jackson's home from the morning of his death, and said it showed cars entering his driveway after midnight, likely the group coming home from rehearsals at the Staples Center. The prosecution did not cross-examinate either witness, and court has broken for lunch.
UPDATE 11:20 a.m.: Rebbie and Randy Jackson represent for the family in the courtroom as the midmorning session continues. Under questioning by the D.A., Shafer said he does not have an agenda in the case and simply "just goes with the science," and, like so many witnesses before him, said that he found many things about Murray's treatment of Jackson to be "unusual." He also noted that he was unable to find any scenario in his research that supported the defense's theory that Jackson self-administered propofol. After his testimony concluded, the prosecution rested its case.
UPDATE 9:55 a.m.: Dr. Shafer was once again pressed on the dosages found in Jackson's system, specifically the half-life of lorazepam, but held fast to the findings from his simulations stipulating that he did not believe Jackson could have self-administered a fatal dose of the drug in the four hours before he died. Murray's lawyer Ed Chernoff nevertheless asked Shafer why he would "venture an opinion about Jackson's demerol use in his report anyway" if he wasn't an addiction expert.
The cross-examination has already proven much tamer than last week, after Judge Michael Pastor told both sides they needed to "tone it down." After the midmorning break, testimony will resume at 10:10 a.m.
Welcome to the home stretch.
In what could be (fingers crossed) the start of the final week of Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial, the defense is expected to begin calling their witnesses—15 in all, though whether or not the doctor will be one of them remains to be seen—to the stand following the conclusion of anesthesiologist Steven Shafer's dramatic testimony.
Meanwhile, Michael Jackson's family is expected to be back in full force today in the courtroom. Incidentally, over the weekend, Janet Jackson rescheduled part of her Australian tour, originally scheduled to take place in Melbourne over three days this week, in order to be in Los Angeles for the conclusion of the trial. She said in a statement that when she booked the gigs, the court schedule was different and she hadn't expected the trial to conflict with the dates. Instead, she'll perform a makeup date on Nov. 3.
As for today's proceedings, E! Online will be streaming inside the courtroom all day long, starting at 8:45 a.m. PT.
(Originally published on Oct. 24, 2011 at 8:40 a.m. PT)