that, dr. white says, combined with lorazepam jackson is believed to have taken earlier could have had potentially lethal consequences. >> i understood that there was propofol found in the distal part of the line. >> so that would be consistent with the propofol being delivered by use of a syringe? >> correct. >> reporter: but the prosecution says the bottom line is this. even if michael jackson did give himself the fatal dose of propofol, it was conrad murray who agreed to use the surgical anesthetic in jackson's home, outside a hospital setting, without the necessary precautions. the state argues that makes conrad murray criminally reckless. randi kaye, cnn, los angeles. >> so how much doubt did the defense's anesthesiologist cast on the prosecution's case? criminal defense attorney mark geragos joins me now. mark, for weeks now, you have been saying wait till the testimony of dr. white, the testimony of dr. white is going to be critical. how important do you think it was today? >> it was devastati

that, dr. whiteieved to have taken earlier could have had potentially lethal consequences. >> i understood that there was propofol found in the distal part of the line. >> so that would be consistent with the propofol being delivered by use of a syringe? >> correct. >> reporter: but the prosecution says the bottom line is this. even if michael jackson did give himself the fatal dose of propofol, it was conrad murray who agreed to use the surgical anesthetic in jackson's home, outside a hospital setting, without the necessary precautions. the state argues that makes conrad murray criminally reckless. randi kaye, cnn, los angeles. >> so how much doubt did the defense's anesthesiologist cast on the prosecution's case? criminal defense attorney mark geragos joins me now. mark, for weeks now you have been saying wait till the testimony of dr. white, the testimony of dr. white is going to be critical. how important do you think it was today? >> it was devastating to the prosecution today. but you have to r

>> no, i have not. >> reporter: dr. white was grilled on murray's lack of monitoring equipment and that dr. murray did not immediately call 911 when he found michael jackson unresponsive. >> are you saying he was not capable of pushing 911? >> reporter: murray also did not tell emergency personnel about the propofol. >> is that your testimony, that it was a detail that was overlookd? >> it was obviously overlooked, he didn't... >> not obviously. it could also be a lie, correct? >> correct. >> that's another option. >> if you say so, i guess, yeah. >> reporter: white says the amount of propofol murray claim he is gave jackson was not enough to kill the singer, yet he could not vouch for dr. murray's actions. >> if michael jackson had come to you, dr. white, and indicated he would like to hire you to administer propofol to him to put him to sleep each night in his bedroom, would you do it? >> absolutely not. that would be a job that i would never consider. >> reporter: now dr. white was nearly held in contempt of court today by

dr. white believes jackson swallowed lorazepam, anti-anxiety pill, then injected himself with a final dose of propofol so he could sleep. a killer combination. >> well, i believe it potentially could have lethal consequences. >> reporter: the theory contradicts the prosecution's expert, dr. steven schafer. >> people just don't wake up from anesthesia like that. >> reporter: he listed 17 cases of care. they painted him as a greedy star struck doctor had a would do anything to help jackson sleep. >> at the end of the day, you have a dr. white versus a dr. schafer. however, the prosecution is going to still argue that there was gross negligence, even if you don't consider propofol at all. >> reporter: prosecution witnesses have testified that propofol should never be given in a home. that murray should have never left his patient's side, and that he didn't have the proper medical equipment to revive michael jackson. for weeks, prosecutors slammed jackson's doctor, but last friday he flashed his fi

dr. paul white and he is an anesthesiologist but an expert on propofol. eeded to do was to dispute the testimony from the prosecution's expert anesthesiologist, dr. steven schaefer. he said that the only scenario that fits is that michael jackson was on an iv propofol drip for more than three hours before dr. conrad murray even knew that he had stopped breathing. dr. paul white doesn't buy that at all saying that dr. murray never abandoned his patient. listen to what he said in court. >> this deal immediately with the elephant in the room here. >> elephant in the room. okay. >> the elephant in the room being, conrad murray has been accused of infusing a dose of propofol and leaving this patient. can you justify that? >> absolutely not. >> now, this witness really could make or break the case for dr. murray. i mean, the defense really put him on the stand to prove that michael jackson was an experienced drug user who may have even known how to use a syringe and may have injected himself, may have overdosed on his own by accident. he was also there, really,

dr. white basically saying he doesn't think dr. murray is at fault. even if the jury believes dr. believe that dr. murray leaving the room for two minutes as dr. murray says of did, if they believe that's abandonment they can find dr. murray guilty of this charge. so sit comes down to those two witnesses and the possibility ofeth whether he abandoned michael jackson during this care. the judge is trying to move this thing along. he wants to make sure the jury stays engaged. they wanted to start closing arguments monday. now that won't happen until mid-week because you have got to gift prosecution a weekend to prepare for the cross-examination their star with itness. megyn: he was convicted of mishandling a drug smuggler caught crossing our border. in a few minutes the wife of jesus diaz joins us live. and retired police officer passes away. family members start going through his stuff. but wait until you find out why they needed help from a bomb squad. >> it's concerning knowing the neighbors have bombs and grenades. >> i had no idea that was right count street from my house. >> i

he hammered dr. white left, he hammered dr. white right. he the judge getting upset dr. wouldn't answer the question even finding him $1,000 to do that the prosecutor kept pushing and at one point got the star witness to admit there is a chance dr. conrad murray may have lied. take a listen. >> is it your testimony that conrad murray's failure to inform the pair ned dicks that he had administered propofol is simply a detail that he had overlooked. is that your testimony? >> i think it was something that he overlooked. >> was it still another detail that he overlooked at ucla when the emergency room doctor specifically asked him what had taken place? is that your testimony that that, again, was a detail that was overlooked. >> it was obviously overlooked. he didn't tell them. >> not obviously, it could also be a lie, correct? correct? that's another option? >> if you say so, i guess, yeah. >> that testimony, shepard, could potentially force conrad murray to testify. the judge has just asked him, i'm told, whether he will testify in his own defense he says he hasn't yet mad

dr. paul white.ted to continue to show how jackson was responsible for his own death by injecting himself with propofol according to the defense. in side bar discussions yesterday, the judge expressed, quote, great concern of delaying the case so the prosecutors could review new evidence by the defense. the judge went on to say he's worried jurors might start leaving. also yesterday the defense tried to paint jackson as a drug addict. >> court instruct the witness to answer the very simple question. doctor, would you diagnose michael jackson as addicted to demerol rp based strictly on these documents in my hand, yes or no? >> probably not. >> ricky cleman, let's talk about it. let's start with this glitch. first of all, why would the judge even give the jury a fixed end date? >> judges like to let jurors know what to expect and he'd always said the trial would last a certain number of weeks and hoped it would be done by october 28, which was today. having covered cases in california for many, many ye

but instead, dr. white and the defense say it makes much more sense that jackson woke up while dr. murray was out of the room and used a syringe to push propofol into the iv line directly, while taking eight lorazapam pills, a powerful sedative that combined to kill him. >> so, you think it was a self-injection of propofol between 11:30 and 12:00 that did it? >> in my opinion, yes. >> reporter: court ended early today when prosecutors asked for more time to prepare for its cross examination of dr. white, much to the dismay of jurors, one of whom could be seen mouthing "we just want this to be over with." they should get the case next week. diane? >> thanks so much, jim avila. >>> and now, one all-american woman is celebrating a very big birthday tonight. 125 years ago, lady liberty became the official symbol of the golden door of america. and today, another grand ceremony, complete with a 21st century touch. there were web cams, live from inside her torch. but a heads up to everyone. she will now be closed for renovations over the next year, so that the 3.5 million a year visitors

dr. white, who is the prosecution's professor, is going to come in and point out mistakes with dr. shaffer's testimony, that he didn't really know the drug, he didn't know the literature, and that he was making all the assumptions just of an opinion against dr. murray. >> reporter: there is no love lost between the experts. dr. white has been seen rolling his eyes in court, and faces a hearing for calling shaffer or the prosecutor a scumbag in front of reporters. but as the trial now moves towards its end, the verdict may indeed come down to these two experts, and which one the jury believes. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, los angeles. >>> when "nbc nightly news" continues on this sunday, what is behind the soaring use of antidepressants, especially among women? >>> and how a man with pumpkin despair is making a big difference. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you wan

his counterpart, dr. white, disagreed. >> have you ever seen this? >> no, i have not. >> have you ever heard about it? >> i heard about it in court last week. but that's the first time. >> reporter: the defense expert said the amount dr. murray told police he gave michael jackson, 25 milligrams, was not enough to kill him. >> would this present a danger situation here? >> not at all. giving small doses has very transient effects. the dose of propofol that we're talking about here, 25 milligrams. that is a dose that might be used to produce a little bit of anxiety relief. a little bit of sleepiness. >> reporter: prosecutors asked for the weekend to prepare for its cross-examination of dr. white, much to the dismay of jurors. they should get the case by the end of the week. jim avila, abc news, los angeles. >>> time, now, to look at the morning headlines with ron claiborne. >> hi, again, dan. good morning, everyone. occupy wall street protesters are digging in for cold weather across the nation. meanwhile, some police are cracking down on protesters in

dr. white, the man whose studies popularized propofol in the operating room, took the stand late this afternoon and immediately said the prosecution premise is scientifically impossible. >> doelss that he described, i would not have expected michael jackson to have died. >> reporter: and that is the crux of the defense case as outlined by dr. white. dr. murray made mistakes but he did not give michael jackson enough propofol to kill him. george? >> okay, jim, thank you. >>> and still ahead on wnlt wpt, the discovery that reveals why it's so hard to keep weight off, and what you can do to fight back. >>> and, after a tornado destroyed everything, the company vowed to rebuild, not only saving jobs, but adding them. they're bringing america back. ♪ [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree will see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help

. >> reporter: dr. white says for almost all of our existence on earth we have been hunters and gatherers. >> our biology is still basically the same biology that we had as hunters and gatherers 100,000 years ago in africa. >> reporter: all that activity kept our ancestors muscular and fit. they ate lean wild animals and plants. today our food is highly processed and easily accessible. >> we don't center to pound it. we don't have to cut it. we don't have to break into the bones. we just consumer. there is very little energy that goes into that consumption. >> reporter: today, we eat less protein, fiber and potassium. more saturated fat, carbs, salt and sugar. and we don't burn it off. >> we're paying an enormous health cost for that. >> reporter: obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer. would returning to the stone age diet improve our health? dr. white could not say. but the scientists at ucsf have an idea. >> it really does work. >> reporter: she and her team tested a modern-day versi

and when that was done they made their strongest point toward the end, as their star witness, dr. whiteest experts in the country on propofol dismantled the star witness, dr. shafer, considered one of the best propofol experts in the country. >> dr. shafer's scenario reconcile with the facts if this case, with dr. conrad murray's statement? answer: no. question: with the physical evidence found at the scene? answer: no. question: does it reconcile with the urine concentration found at open? answer: no. >>reporter: that was the direct examination by the defense team of their star witness, dr. white, the strongest point they made all day. >>shepard: this is winding up, is that true? >>reporter: the judge has been frustrated and shown that in the courtroom in the last couple of days, and he apologized to the jury saying i said this would be done by now and i'm sorry, and i appreciate you staying with me on this, and it could wrap up, the jury could get this case by the middle of next week, cross-examination of white will begin on monday and a couple of rebuttal witnesses and they could get

dr. paul white about the care dr.gave his superstar patient. >> have you ever administered propofol in someone's bedroom? >> no, i have not. >> have you ever heard of anyone doing that prior to this case? >> no, i have not. >> would you walk out of the room and leave them alone with no personnel and no monitoring if you're of the opinion they like to push propofol themselves, would you walk out of the room in that situation, yes or no? ? y no, i -- >> no. i would not leave the room. >> thank you. >> reporter: jackson's doctor is accused of an overdose to jackson. dr. white believes jackson injected himself with the fatal dose. but the prosecution has its own propofol expert who had said the defense's theory that jackson could have given himself the drug is, quote, a crazy scenario. >> reporter: dr. schaefer testified that jackson would have been too groggy to give himself more. prosecutors claim jackson gave himself more. and that his recklessness and negligence directly led to jackson's detect. murray is charged with

they have to sort of set the table, they have their own expert coming up, dr. white. they have too show dr. shafev and dr. white are on equal footing. if that's the case all ties go to the defense and that's reasonable doubt if experts are balanced against each other. >> they have a bit of a contentious relationship. there's a past between the two. >> well, and it's getting to be more of a past and a future right now. i think chernoff is trying to set up dr. shafer as being antagonistic toward dr. white and vice versa and that may amplify or embellish his testimony because of the personal vendetta against him. >> the defense has a lot of work ahead of them. >> sure. >> they have to backtrack and basically go into damage control mode. where should they start? >> well, i think they've got to do three things. one, they've got to have three experts to counteract the prosecution experts, once again, all ties go to the defendant. if they have experts who say there prnt egregious deviations from the accepted standarded of care, didn't rise to the level of criminal, secondly t

dr. paul white, who says dr.y have just forgotten a detail when he did not tell emergency room doctors he was giving michael jackson propofol. >> it was obviously overlooked. he didn't -- >> well, not obviously, it could also be a lie, correct? correct? that's another option. >> if you say so, i guess, yeah. >> reporter: deputy d.a. walgren back on the attack over dr. murray's delay in dialing 911, because the jackson mansion had no land line. >> conrad murray had a cell phone in his hand by his own statement. are you saying he was not capable of pushing 911? >> reporter: in the end, the expert who helped dr. murray so much last week, explaining how jackson could have taken his own life, today conceded dr. murray should never have taken the job. >> it's something that no amount of money could convince me to accept or take on as a responsibility. >> reporter: it became so combative today the judge had to step in, fining dr. white $1,000 for not responding to the prosecutor's questions directly. >> and the judge di

dr. white's testimony?aise reasonable doubts about who actually administered the fatal dose of drugs to michael jackson? >> i thought last friday his testimony wasn't the best shot they had. he told this jury that the little bit of propofol i believe dr. murray gave him was not enough to kill him. it was all that lorazepam that michael jackson had in his system. murray didn't give it to him, so michael jackson, he said, i believe took it himself. >> but even if michael jackson did do that to himself in the 20 or 30 seconds that dr. white says it all went down, even if he gave himself the fatal overdose, doesn't exactly let conrad murray off the hook, does it? >> no. that's such a great question, randi. because why was that lorazepam in that home in the first place? why was the propofol there? and the midazolam, all of these drugs that conrad murray ordered. we saw the pharmacy statements on it from a pharmacy in las vegas. none of those drugs should have ever been in a private home in the first place and dr

dr. paul white is that he's accepting for purposes of his expert testimony the truth of dr.mony that he only administered 25 mls of propofol. the fact is that the other expert, steven segal, stalked about the fact that there were 17 errors. i'm not convinced that dr. white's testimony overcame that. again, the burden is on the prosecution, of course, freed reek ka, but at the end of the day i think this jury understands the case and will consider the expert testimony of dr. white. i just don't think the defendant's made their defense persuasive. >> are the jurors confused or do they understand the case? >> they're absolutely confused at this point in time. in summation the defense attorney will stand up and say if you don't know the exact amount of milligrams that were given, if you don't know the exact cause of death and confused and don't understand the science here, then you must acquit dr. murray because the burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. if you're confused, they failed. one other interesting point is there were remna

dr. paul white. the key to the defense case. >> dr. ite doesn't need to prove that michael jackson gave himself a shot of propofol. he only needs to lay out some plausible scenario how michael jackson could have done it. that may be enough to create the doubt the defense is looking for. >> reporter: now, will conrad murray take the stand? his attorneys say no. but yesterday in court, out of the jury's presence and away from cameras, the judge told him directly that you, conrad mur y murray, are the only one that can decide that. murray understood he knew his rights but gave no indication he would take the stand. >> we're going to talk to our legal analyst, dan abrams, about that. first of all, in jim's report, dr. white going to take the stand. supposed to be blockbuster. what's the testimony going to be? >> up to this point, we heard from the prosecution witnesses that dr. murray violated every standard of care. that he never should have been giving michael jackson propofol. that there's no chance, in effect, that michael jackson could

dr. paul white. he rejected the prosecution's theory on how jackson died. >> if, in fact, murray had administered the drugs that he described in his conversations with the police department and the doses that he described, i would not have expected michael jackson to have died. >> dr. white could conclude his testimony today, but the prosecution won't start its cross-examination until next week. >>> in health news this morning, millions of people take aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke and now british researchers have found it may have another big benefit. rita nissan reports from london. >> reporter: don maxton was with his mother when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. >> they checked her out right away and they could tell there was something, there was something wrong. of course, we suspected colon cancer at that point. >> reporter: his family history puts him at higher risk at getting the disease but now british scientists have found a very common drug may be able to cut that risk. >> w

. >> reporter: dr. white testified it's the prosecution contention that dr. murray used a jerry-rigged i.v. drip to continually infuse michael jackson with propofol for hours made no sense. the prosecution's star medical witness, dr. steven shafer showed jurors during his testimony, how he believes dr. murray put an open, large propofol bottle in an empty saline bag for the drip. dr. white disagreed. >> have you ever seen this? >> have you ever heard about it? >> i heard about it in court last week. but that's the first time. >> reporter: the amount he told police he gave michael jackson, 25 milligrams, was not enough to kill him. >> would this present a danger situation here? >> not at all. giving small doses has very transient effects. the dose of propofol that we're talking about here, 25 milligrams. that is a dose that might be used to produce a little bit of anxiety relief. a little bit of sleepiness. >> reporter: prosecutors asked for the weekend to prepare for its cross-examination of white, much to the dismay of jurors. they should get the case by the