Michael Jackson Phone Recording: "I Had No Childhood"

After bringing a succession of Dr. Conrad Murray's girlfriends to the witness stand, on Wednesday (October 5, 2011), prosecutors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician focused on the kinds and amounts of drugs Murray ordered in the months leading up to the pop star's death at age 50 on June 25, 2009.
The most anticipated moment of the day was the promise of the full recording of a slurred-sounding Jackson recorded on Murray's phone in the weeks before the "Thriller" singer's death. Bits of the tape were played during the prosecution's opening statements.

Among the testimony Wednesday:

In the much-hyped phone recording, Jackson talks to Murray about his grand plans for the "This Is It" shows, including raising enough money to start the Michael Jackson Children's Hospital. "I love them because I didn't have a childhood", he says of why kids are his primary cause. "I had no childhood. I feel their pain. I feel their hurt." When Jackson goes silent for 13 seconds, Murray asks, "Are you OK?" Jackson's response: "I am asleep."
Medical-supply rep Sally Hirschberg testified that Murray put in drug orders that were a bit unusual for a Cardiology clinic, including ones for Lidocaine and IV bags. The former is typically used as a local anesthetic to relieve skin irritation from the injection of anesthetics such as Propofol, the surgical anesthetic Murray administered to Jackson on the night of his death.