Beyond propofol, did second drug lead to MJ's death?

Toxicologist Dan Anderson testified that it didn't take him long to conclude that the anesthetic propofol was the critical drug in the investigation of Michael Jackson’s death.

But what the defense wants to know is, did he rush to that conclusion and possibly overlook the role that the sedative lorazepam might have played?

The defense’s theory is that the combination of propofol and lorazepam - both ingested orally - is what killed Jackson, not just propofol.  The coroner ruled the cause of death was acute propofol intoxication.

Defense attorney Michael Flanagan asked Anderson why he didn’t think lorazepam was more significant.  Anderson replied, “It has its importance, but it’s not the red flag that caught my eye.”

Flanagan pointed out that Anderson conducted calculations on the lorazepam levels in Jackson’s system as recently as two weeks ago, implying that Anderson failed to see the importance of the drug in Jackson’s system at the time of his death.

Anderson said he conducted those calculations in response to the defense’s testing results of lorazepam in Jackson’s system, which did indicate the presence of the drug in Jackson’s stomach.

However,  Anderson said the amount of lorazepam in Jackson’s stomach was trivial.

Complete courtroom coverage of the Conrad Murray trial airs live on HLN from gavel to gavel. It’s also on In Session on truTV from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET every weekday.

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