Defense Begins Its Case In Conrad Murray Trial

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray began their case Monday morning after they finished grilling a key prosecution expert.

Defense attorneys called Beverly Hills Police Department Communications and Property & Evidence Unit Manager, Dona Norris, to the stand as their first witness just before 11:30 a.m.

Norris told the jury she initially received the 911 call at 12:20 p.m. on June 25, 2009, the day Jackson died.  She said the call was transferred within 32 seconds to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The defense's second witness, Los Angeles Police Department employee Alexander Supall, testified that he was called out to Jackson's rented Holmby Hills residence on June 25, 2009, to retrieve surveillance video from the
property that included the time period when Jackson got home early that morning.

Defense Attorney Steve Meister Weighs in on KNX 1070

Earlier Monday, the defense finalized their cross examination of propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer. The Columbia University researcher has testified that he believes Murray committed more than a dozen medical violations and is solely to blame for Jackson's death by giving him the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.

"I'm familiar with forms of addiciton, signs of addiction but I don't consider myself to be an addiction specialist by any means," Shafer testified Monday.

Murray's defense team expects to call 15 witnesses, but has not said whether the Houston-based cardiologist will testify. The defense could wrap up testimony as early as Thursday.

Murray, 58, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of Michael Jackson.