Resumption of Jackson trial pushed back a day

LOS ANGELES: The resumption of the trial of Conrad Murray, the doctor of late pop star Michael Jackson, has been pushed back a day until Tuesday over a witness scheduling issue, the Los Angeles court has said.

Prosecution witness Steven Shafer, an anesthesiologist and expert on propofol - the powerful sedative which caused Jackson's June 2009 death - was "not available" to testify as scheduled, a court spokeswoman said.

Shafer, the last witness on the prosecution's list, had testified on Thursday and was due to return to the stand on Monday, but the death of his father last week changed those plans.

"The judge will get more information from the prosecution team as to when he can be back to take the stand," the spokeswoman, Mary Hearn, said Sunday.

Murray, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, is accused of giving Jackson an overdose of propofol while trying to help him sleep. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.

Murray's decision to give Jackson propofol on top of two other sedatives, along with other failings, produced a "perfect storm" that led to his death at age 50, critical care specialist Nader Kamangar told the court on Thursday.

Murray's defense lawyers have claimed that Jackson was a desperate addict who could have given himself an extra dose of propofol while the doctor was out of the room.

In a surprise move, the defense has dropped its claim that Jackson could have drunk the propofol, while leaving open the possibility he could have injected it via an intravenous tube inserted into his leg.

The trial in Los Angeles Superior Court is expected to last five weeks, until the end of October. (AFP)