Developments in the Michael Jackson`s Death Case
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nightmare began when 36-year-old Diane Schuler with five kids in her minivan mistakenly turned on to the Taconic Parkway`s exit ramp.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Schuler was apparently disoriented when she drove on to the Taconic Parkway. She had called her brother saying she didn`t feel right.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The minivan reportedly continued in the wrong direction on the parkway for 1.7 miles before it hit this SUV carrying three men who were killed on impact. The minivan with the kids then careened into a third car, rolled down this embankment and burst into flames.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Toxicology reports found Schuler was twice over the legal alcohol limit and showed evidence of marijuana use.</s>MARSHAL NEMARK, BASTARDI FAMILY`S ATTORNEY: It`s difficult for me to believe that nobody knew the propensity of this woman to drink and have drugs. I think it`s extremely unusual, extremely suspicious. I think that the family should have been immediately notified the state police to stop that vehicle. They knew the license plate, and not let her proceed. Yet they let her proceed.</s>DOMINIC BARBARA, SCHULER FAMILY ATTORNEY: The questions asked, did she have an alcohol problem? Did you know her to go to bars?</s>DANIEL SCHULER, DIANE SCHULER`S HUSBAND: Absolutely not.</s>BARBARA: Did you know her to get drunk and act.</s>SCHULER: I never saw her drunk since the day I met her. Sad. Very sad. Upset. Lost my daughter, I lost my wife. All I have is my son.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you angry at your wife?</s>SCHULER: No. I`m not angry at her.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Take us to that morning.</s>SCHULER: It was normal. She was fine. We had a cup of coffee in the morning, packed the cars up like we always do and headed out. It was just like every other weekend, or every weekend we go up there.</s>NANCY GRACE, HOST: And according to reports, Rupa Mikkilineni, one of the little children, the nieces try -- they knew something was wrong and they tried to call like there`s something is wrong with Aunt Diane. I mean, there they were helpless in that car, knowing that something was horribly wrong. Seeing cars whizzing past. God only knows what was going on in that car, and I think of the children strapped in. No way out. No way to save their own lives.</s>RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: That`s right, Nancy. And during the time period of that amazing ride, four hours, there were several phone calls made, and one of those phone calls was with one of the children on the phone, indicating fear, and you know, Aunt Diane is disoriented, doesn`t feel well. She didn`t use those words, but something was wrong. The children knew it.</s>GRACE: To Glynn Birch, former Mad Mothers against Drunk Drivers, and national president who lost his son to a drunk driver. He`s the vice president of Innocorp. Glynn, thank you for being with us. Weigh in.</s>GLYNN BIRCH, MADD FMR. NATIONAL PRESIDENT, LOST SON TO DRUNK DRIVER, VP OF INNOCORP: You know, he`s in denial, Nancy. You know, when you lose children and your loved ones in such a horrific crime, you`re in denial. You`re stretched into two different worlds. First, you have to face the fact that you have lost your loved ones. Secondly, you`re thrust into a criminal justice system, and he`s trying to have a defense for his wife. But you know, clearly, she doesn`t fit the typical picture we have of your drunk driver. She may be a soccer mom. However, her behavior, she clearly is a typical drunk driver. One who has a high BAC, you know, that`s the fact. And the second fact is, driving the wrong way. And these two factors trump the Anbesol. So clearly, we have to really take a look at who`s going to be the voice of the victims, those innocent children, who are no longer with us. You know, evidence is going to come out, but one day when it comes to the trial, let`s hope that the evidence speaks loud and clear of what really took place.</s>GRACE: Dr. Marty Makary, physician and professor of public health, Johns Hopkins. Dr. Makary, what do you make of all these shifting, changing claims that they are coming up with to explain what happened?</s>DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF. OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS: Well, to be honest with you, Nancy, the Anbesol and the transient ischemic attack or TIA arguments are the most common arguments used in DUI and alcohol- related crimes. That`s because they`re hard to trace. The problem with the Anbesol argument is that it increases your breathalyzer alcohol, but not your blood alcohol. So it may give you a false positive on the breathalyzer test, but this was a blood alcohol test, so that is going to be medically proven wrong, and that`s a fallacy of an argument. The transient ischemic attack, same thing. They`re hard to trace but it would almost be a case report, a first time in the medical literature, for a 36-year-old to have it.</s>GRACE: Everyone, we are shifting gears, going live to California. Take a listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Jackson`s life at the end was being controlled and manipulated.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a personal doctor here with him, sir. 911</s>OPERATOR: Oh, there`s a doctor there?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have executed a search warrant at a Las Vegas pharmacy in connection with Jackson`s death. More than a dozen law enforcement officers, federal drug agents, all inside the Applied Pharmacy in Las Vegas.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This search was specific in that it was a follow-up on information that they were able to get out of Murray`s clinic and home when that search about a week and a half ago in Vegas. They used that information, which now has basically taken them to the pharmacy. And then you could take from that that they are looking for the origin of specific prescriptions that had to do with this case.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We learned the toxicology report is complete, but the cause of death still top-secret.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there is a single drug in his system, and a single obvious cause of death, maybe the case gets a little easier. But if there are other drugs in his system, if he has a history of use of other drugs, it does seem like a very hard case.</s>JOE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON`S FATHER: You don`t seek a doctor, and stick him in the room, and the doctor gives him something to make him rest, and then he don`t wake up no more? Something is wrong there.</s>GRACE: Tonight we learn of allegations against Michael Jackson`s live-in doctor. Reportedly, he shoots Jackson up with propofol, a highly powerful intravenous drug, and then leaves the room to make private cell calls? Leaving Jackson there alone to die? To our chief editorial producer, Ellie Jostad. What about it, Ellie, what do we know?</s>ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, Nancy, the "Los Angeles Times" is reporting from three different sources that cardiologist Doctor Murray claims that he spoke to investigators. He told them that he had been regularly administering propofol, that powerful anesthetic, to Jackson to help him sleep. Now that night in question, Jackson was under the influence of propofol. This doctor reportedly told investigators in an interview that because there had never been problems in the past, he felt he could leave the room and make several phone calls. When he returned, Jackson was not breathing. Now we spoke to the spokesperson for the doctor, they wouldn`t -- or the doctor`s attorney, rather. They wouldn`t confirm all of the articles, details, but they would confirm the comments that the attorney made. He said he was not going to dispute what these investigators said. But he says they are not telling the whole story.</s>GRACE: But that doesn`t jive, Allen Duke, entertainment editor with the CNN Wire, with the earlier story that Jackson fell dramatically. Fell down, cardiac arrest, in front of his son, Prince, Michael Jackson. And the boy thought that his dad was kidding. That doesn`t jive. Those two stories don`t match.</s>ALLEN DUKE, ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, CNN WIRE: No, I guess they wouldn`t. But what we`re hearing today from -- about the phone calls, we`re hearing from his attorney, the spokesman for Dr. Murray`s attorney, acknowledging that he made some phone calls to family and relatives before finding Jackson in distress in a bedroom. But we`re not hearing that part of the story from, of course, the lawyer.</s>GRACE: Ellie Jostad, the two versions of what happened don`t match.</s>JOSTAD: Right, Nancy. Well, the version where the children saw Michael Jackson collapse comes from a "New York Post" story originally, I believe, with Stacey Brown, the Jackson biographer. Other reports have said that rather Dr. Murray found Jackson in a bedroom, he started calling for other people in the house. He said, get Prince, but it`s not clear that Jackson actually fell down in the presence of the children.</s>GRACE: To Dr. Marty Makary, again, joining us from Johns Hopkins. Dr. Makary, propofol, how it works to make you sleep, don`t you shoot it up intravenously, and you have to lay there with the needle in your arm the whole time you`re asleep? I mean when you take it out, you wake up.</s>MAKARY: That`s exactly right. The second you stop giving it is the second you wake up. And it`s basically you only use for general anesthesia. I can understand how he may have gotten comfortable and left the room, but when you get a dose that`s a little bit higher than the effective dose, it`s very easy to stop breathing.</s>GRACE: Everybody, we`re taking your calls live. Breaking news in the Michael Jackson investigation. The verdict is in. Tonight`s winner of our show`s number one fan contest is Lagrange, North Carolina friend, Gwendolyn Wall. She came close to leaving studies at Kaplan University after becoming extremely ill. But she says our show inspired her to keep working. And now she is only a few months away from graduating with a degree in paralegal science. She is not only one of our new fans, but she dedicates her life to supporting our troops. Her favorite job, taking care of husband Chuck and 14-year-old daughter Shelby. Congratulations, Gwendolyn, you get that signed copy of the new thriller, out in bookstores now, "Eleventh Victim." Thank you, friend.