Nurse Practitioner Says Michael Jackson Asked Her For Propofol

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A nurse practitioner took the stand Tuesday for a second day in the Conrad Murray trial.

Cherilyn Lee testified that Michael Jackson repeatedly asked her for propofol to help him sleep, but she refused to give it to him.

Jackson said he had tried everything else, but propofol would allow him to quickly fall asleep, she testified.

"Did he seem to have a familiarity with it?" defense attorney Edward Chernoff asked.

"Yes," Lee responded.

Lee said she didn't know anything about the drug and contacted a doctor who explained that it was an anesthetic used for surgeries. The nurse practitioner -- who began treating Jackson in February 2009 -- said she advised him about the drug's potential side effects.

"He told me that doctors have told him that it's safe and that we would not have a problem," she said, adding that Jackson said he needed to be monitored during the process.

Jackson said he had been given the drug for surgery and wanted to have the experience again of having "fallen asleep so easily," Lee told the jury. "He said, `I know this will knock me out'."

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney David Walgren, Lee said she had advised Jackson that propofol was not a medication to be used to treat insomnia and it was not safe to be used at home. She said she never gave Jackson any propofol.

Lee said Jackson tried to assure her that the medication was safe as long as a doctor monitored him while he slept.

Walgren read Lee an excerpt from her notes about the meeting.

"And he responded again, `I will be OK. I only need someone to monitor me, with the equipment, while I sleep,"' Walgren read from the notes.

"Yes, that's exactly what he said," Lee said, wiping tears from her eyes and asking for a moment to compose herself as she recalled her final visit with Jackson.

Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter, is accused of administering a deadly dose of propofol to Jackson on June 25, 2009.

The defense took over Monday, claiming Jackson administered a deadly dose of propofol himself.