>> tonight dr. sanjay gupta, michael's lifelong friend kathy hilton. the trial of conrad murray. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. an extraordinary first day in the trial of dr. conrad murray today. michael jackson's parents, his brothers tito, jer maine and randy joined janet and la toya and rooeby there. it wasn't because it was right but because he was making $150,000 a month off the singer. he charged the doctor with gross negligence towards his patient. mr. chernoff called it a perfect storm that killed him instantly. murray wiped away tears during his lawyer's statement. but the most extraordinary statement of all came from michael jackson himself in a rambling recording played in court today. ted rowlands has that and more. a dramatic day in many ways, finally laying bare, really, all the rumors and whispers that we've been hearing about this trial. i suppose one of the most dramatic moments of all came right at the top when the jury were shown a photo, which we can see now of michael jkson dead. i mean, a bizarre thing to do. what was their thinking? >> well, you know what? it was right off the bat, piers, when the prosecution began the opening statements. the lead prosecutors within a few minutes, he showed this photo of michael jackson. boy, if the jurors weren't fixated to begin with, they sure were at that point. of course, family -- it was a very emotional moment for the family in the courtroom as well and for everybody to see that image of michael jackson. obviously, what they're trying to hammer home here, what they were early on in the opening was that this was the victim. he was an international star. and every one of those jurors, they know it, has an opinion and lass some connection to michael jackson. they knew that in voir dire. they threw that picture out and they established that connection searly. >> the perhaps even more extraordinary moment i felt came when david walgren played this recording from murray's iphone this which you hear a sedated michael jackson. i'll play that to you. then we'll discuss it afterwards. >> ted, that was one of the most sort of pathetic and pitiful things i think i've ever heard from a celebrity. never heard michael jackson talking like this. what i found curious -- i'm interested in your take on this -- was, a, the reaction of his family when this was played in the courtroom. but b, really who came out of this better, the prosecution or the defense? because you can argue it's either way, can't you, on this? >> absolutely. because the defense is going to argue that michael jackson came to dr. murray, if you will, already an addict who had some major, major problems. and this audio tape absolutely reinforces that. when they played this tape, boy, you could see obviously the family had a very visual reaction. imagine listening to that and that's your son talking. katherine jackson was very emotional, joe jackson and michael's brothers and sisters. everybody who listened to that, i would challenge anybody whatever you think of michael jackson, when you first hear that tape, that's a lot of empathy when you go through you. because that's clearly a drug addict in a horrible, horrible state. >> i interviewed jermaine jackson, it was one of his fears that michael would be exposed by the prosecution as some kind of addict in all this by the defense. as some kind of -- no, i suppose by the prosecution. i mean, talk me through the defense and prosecution played out today. who had the better day, do you think? >> well, you know, that's tough to say. to be an objective observer, both of them scored points for sure. the prosecution's opening was clean. it was very succinct. and they were very clear on harping on a few points. they painted murray as being greedy, as being ill qualified to serve as michael jackson's doctor, then they really hammered home a couple points which resonated. one, the amount of propofol that they purchased. they used calendars to use hundreds of bottles of propofol that he was purchasing for murray to deflect that he was weaning him off of it. sure looked like he was buying a lot of it. the other thing that could be damning, when jackson was struggling for his life, when the emts showed up, what did you give this person, this patient, he mentions other things but never mentions propofol. the emergency room doctors ask the same thing. again, no mention of propofol. the prosecution made a huge point of that. putting it up on a screen. i think that resonated with jurors. >> clearly just to finish with you, ted, for now. we'll come back to you later, but the defense strategy was to portray michael jackson as this drug addict who had a persistent problem and that conrad murray was trying to help him wean off this stuff. and the prosecution will be saying, no, no, that's not what happened. conrad murray was willfully allowing him to have way too much and indeed that's what caused his death. is that really the crux of this court case? >> yeah, the defense is a little bit multilayered saying that jackson had a horrible insomnia problem and he used propofol to get over it and murray when he came on board used this with the anticipation of weaning him off of it. they're layering in the role of other doctors, specifically arnold kline. they mention him in the opening. then when kenny ortega, first witness was up there, there's a question about arnold kline. they're going to plant the seed in the jury that it wasn't just propofol, it was demerol and plastic surgery and this other doctor who is not here. y they can point some of the blame that way. watch for that to be a constant theme. >> ted, thank you. we'll talk to you later now i want to bring this his longtime friend kathy hilton. a very, very difficult day, i would imagine, for you as his friend and for the family to see these pictures of michael lying dead. i found quite shocking. and the audio tape of him in an almost zombie-like condition perhaps even more so. what was your reaction to those two things? >> i saw that this morning, and when i heard the tape, i could not believe what i was hearing. i was -- i had never heard anything like that before with anyone. i mean, if that doesn't show you, don't you think that was enough? >> yeah, what does it show you, though, given that it was taken -- the recording was made in may before he died, two months or so before he died. what does that tell you? >> that's what i was wondering, a, why, michael would never let anyone tape him. and he obviously was very sedated. or he would not let anybody hold anything up like that. not his mother, no one. so i'm sure that -- i don't know how long the doctor was there before -- >> did you find it suspicious? >> i thought it was very suspicious. and i thought it was very strange. i mean, not normal. >> i mean, none of this seems overtly normal, i must say. >> wouldn't he have called somebody right away? you know, a manager or a family member and said, you need to get over here and see this? i'm not a legal person. >> the real issue, i guess, and you can give us an insight into this is how much of a drug addict was michael, do you think, before conrad murray ever came on the scene? the clear suspicion from his defense counsel is that for years he had become dependent on a number of drugs. and i guess that, although this tape has come out and possibly helps the prosecution, you could argue it helps the defense. it shows that michael was a habitual user of these drugs. >> well, i could just say that i have spent time with him up until four or five months leading up to all of this on june 25th, and let me just say one thing. i want to make it very clear that i was very apprehensive, as you know, piers, about doing this interview. >> yeah. >> and i did speak to mrs. jackson. and i got her blessing. michael was a very, very private person. and -- but i do want to share with the public the michael that i know and that i love. and i can tell you that when he was living at the bel-air hotel for, i would say, a good three months, and he had visited before and he went back to las vegas, then he came in to l.a., never ever exhibited any of that kind of behavior. the most attentive, wonderful father. there was no nanny there. he was in charge and taking care of three children. blow drying their hair, making sure they had their coat. those children loved him. they were his life. and he was their life. the most well behaved, beautiful, lovely little angels. and i think that everybody could see that at the memorial. >> do you worry, kathy, did you worry, if i can jump in there, that we're going to see a systematic character assassination of michael jackson? >> oh, are you kidding? people have been doing this to him for many years. and it pained him so much and his entire family. this is a family that i've known since i'm 13 years old. and this is the most lovely, beautiful, kind, humble, thoughtful. when those parents would say, we need you home for a meeting or we're having a lunch or a dinner, i don't care what else was going on. and all of them were very respectful. when you think of all those children that mr. and mrs. jackson have, we've never had any issues with any problems with any drugs with anything. so all i can say is as far as i'm concerned and when i've been around him, when i saw this today, this was criminal. >> in what way do you think it was criminal? >> well, hello? seeing anybody and to see my friend and to have his parents and his brothers and his sisters and his children to see something like this, and this started back two months before? where -- why didn't anybody get in touch with somebody? i'm sorry. >> no, i can completely understand, kathy. you went to high school with michael. you knew him from when you were 13, he was 14. i think you went to the hospital the night that he died. >> no, i went to the hospital that afternoon. and i didn't believe it. until i saw. >> did you see conrad murray at all that day? >> i saw him standing outside of the room where mrs. jackson and the family and the cousins were and the children just crying and not understanding what was going on. >> jermaine said to me that when he saw conrad murray that night, he found his behavior suspicious. we're hearing today from the prosecution that he didn't tell anybody that he had administered propofol at all to michael. so he was hiding the fact that he had been giving these drugs to him that night, which again if that is true, would lend itself to a suspicious sequence of events here. what do you think the family believe really happened? >> to tell you the truth, i think that they have all been in such pain, we don't really sit there and discuss what we think or who -- i mean, i think there are a lot of people in the past that have taken advantage, certainly not like that, but people have taken advantage. michael, in a lot of ways, was very trusting. and i believe that he really trusted that this doctor would be there to be helpful and on call and -- i say that again. >> no, kathy, i know this is a very difficult thing to discuss and i do appreciate you coming on today. i think clearly there will be lots of twists and turns in this court case. i hope we can talk to you again as it unravels because you have such a unique perspective as somebody who has known him so long and is close to the family. i'm just sorry that you've had to experience what the family has today. it must be incredibly difficult for all of you. >> i don't understand. here is somebody who is doing so -- upbeat, happy, you know, just feeling great, i mean every single night i never talked to him ever after 10:30 at night. rick, my husband, would see him at the hotel on his way to the gym. he'd see michael and the children playing at the garden at the bel-air hotel. why wasn't he in that state months before? was my question in my head. >> yeah. >> how do you get up at 7:30 and be out playing ball and be out running around with kids and taking them trick-or-treating. in fact, i heard somebody today saying something about that he was very depressed or upset on halloween. on halloween 2009, i got a basket the size of this table arc big treasured chest filled with candy and halloween things and everything. i talked to him a couple times that day. he was all excited. oh, did you like that or whatever. and rick bumped into them. he was coming in from golf and mike was out with a guard to take the kids trick-or-treating and the guards saw rick coming up and almost pounced on rick. so michael called me from the car laughing. he said, oh, you should see what just happened. i guess rick had his golf hat on or something. he seemed to be in very good spirits. >> well -- >> and as i said i would see when the lights go out, this did not seem like somebody -- because i could see right into the apartment where his room was, where the living room, i was there, you know, we'd go in and order room service and the children would like take the little pad and take our orders. oh, i want a hamburger, i want this, i want that, they'd write it all down. he was such a responsible and so like very, very hands on, a very hands-on father. >> kathy, i'm going to have to leave it there. we have to go to break. i want to thank you again for coming on. there must have been a totally different side to all this, just the family were totally unaware of because jermaine knew nothing about this stuff either. >> i think it's hard as we all have heard to have gotten in touch at certain points. >> yeah. >> you know, the numbers are changed and people controlling and that's all i'll say. >> i understand. kathy, i mean, i have to -- >> my love to the family. >> i have to leave it there. thank you for coming on. i appreciate it. >> thank you, thank you. >> when we come back, dr. sanjay gupta weighs in about michael jackson's overuse of propofol. tom, check this out. good gravy, bill. our insurance company doesn't have anything like it. magnificent, isn't it? with progressive, it's easy to cover all of your favorite rides. progressive has truck insurance? number one in truck and motorcycle. is that a golf cart? yep. we also cover rvs, boats, atvs. anything else i can help you with? can i take a ride? you need a ticket -- i'm first! and that's by the water slide. okay. no running. oh, dear. save on all your rides. now, that's progressive. call or click today. in your standard 10 cc syringe, this is how much propofol conrad murray is admitted to giving. but as we've discussed from april 6, 2009, to michael's death over 155,000 milligram of propofol had been shipped to nicole alvarez's apartment. >> most of us never heard of propofol before michael jackson died. joining me now is sanjay gupta to explain what we heard today. i guess the crux of all this really comes down to this administering of propofol. i'm curious, is it actually lawful for any doctor to administer propofol in a private home in this manner? >> you know, it's interesting, piers, because the law's a little bit vague on this. it's so bizarre that i don't think anyone ever thought of it as a possibility, frankly. it is a drug that's used in hospitals, in icus and in operating rooms. and it's been a drug of abuse among certain health care personnel, again, in hospitals. but it's not a controlled substance. it wasn't at the time, still not. although people want to make it a controlled substance. so maybe not as much a legal issue as just an unethical, very poor judgment issue medically, piers. >> people are making a very big deal that he didn't when he got to the hospital tell people about the drugs that michael had taken. from a medical standpoint as a doctor, do you find that suspicious or do you think that someone who has just seen michael jackson die in his care has just freaked out a bit and maybe just wasn't thinking straight? >> no, i think it's suspicious. i think it's the first thing you said. any doctor who's familiar with this substance knows just how potentially dangerous it would be. conrad murray would say this is an extremely risky thing to be doing, giving this medication outside a hospital, outside a place where immediate intervenges could take place if needed. so i think maybe he was trying to cover that up. there's also this side issue that this is a medication that can disappear very quickly from the bloodstream. that's part of the attractiveness of this. it works very quickly but disappears very quickly. that's why doctors like to use it. maybe he was thinking that it would not be detected. obviously, it was detected. this just sounds suspicious. >> finally, sanjay, there's this whole suggestion from a defense attorney that michael jackson took a load of these drugs of his own accord without conrad murray knowing, lorazepam and propofol creating what he called a perfect storm in michael jackson's body. and specifically said that there was evidence of this propofol in michael jackson's stomach which could only have come from oral administration. does any of that sound credible to you? >> well, you know, at first -- i'll preface by saying the whole thing is so bizarre. i know i've said that three times now. looking into this after the first time i heard that, and it's plausible. propofol is one of these medications that someone goes to sleep quickly, but they wake up quickly as well. it's plausible that if it was sitting there mixed in with some juice or something else because it tastes awful, i understand. somebody might be able to take -- swig some of that down. but the problem, though, piers, where it doesn't make sense, falls apart is it takes a much longer time to get into the blood stream if you swallow it versus injecting it. it wouldn't have the quick impact that you see with the injengz. >> sanjay, it is, as you say, bizarre. thank you very much. >> thanks, piers. i want to bring in jury ext tert jo-ellan dimitrius to talk about the people chosen to decide conrad murray's face. incredible pressure on these jurors. we've seen many strange verdicts come in when you have any case involving a celebrity. what was your initial assessment of the behavioral pattern today? >> well, i think that it's going to be very important that the audience knows, piers, that seven of these jurors actually have drug or alcohol abuse in their immediate families. and clearly, both sides looked at these jurors as being people that would react, hopefully, to whichever way the evidence was going to come down. you know, what i heard today certainly is the fact that i think what the defense was looking for was much more intelligent jurors that are going to listen to the expert testimony, particularly dr. white, dr. white seems like he's going to be the guy for the defense to talk about propofol and what, in fact, happened and how these various drugs may have interacted in michael's system. so i think that these jurors do have a tremendous burden in front of them. but what's interesting about this, piers, is that the celebrity isn't the defendant. the celebrity is the victim. >> that's right, yeah. >> that's why i think this is going to be very different in terms of its outcome because of that fact. because the fact that, while conrad murray has become somewhat of a celebrity simply because of what happened, it is truly michael jackson that is the celebrity, the victim. >> quickly, if you don't mind, this csi effect people are talking about where jurors, like everybody who watches these kinds of shows may have led to believe, there has to be absolutely overwhelming concrete specific forensic evidence before they can convict anybody, how much does that come into play in a case like this, do you think? >> it's a tremendously important component for the prosecutors because prosecutors around the country are always worried that they have to step up to the plate and create situations such as "csi" does. they have to come up with mag