It was something heard from Murray's defense team: Other doctors provided Jackson with powerful prescription drugs, and Murray was being blamed for Jackson's dependency to those other drugs.
Now Javon Beard and Bill Whitfield are saying the same thing.
"We know if he was alive, he would not want Dr. Conrad Murray to be on trial," Beard said. "There's no way in hell that he wanted to kill Michael Jackson. Why would he kill his paycheck?"
Jackson's former bodyguards shared new details about Jackson's relationship with Murray.
"The relationship that him and Mr. Conrad Murray had on our watch, they were more friends," Beard said.
Murray is on trial for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say his negligence caused Jackson's death, but Jackson's former bodyguards say the testimony has unfairly vilified Murray. "Seeing how only Dr. Murray is being pointed out, I look at the trial and see, you know, that courtroom would not be big enough to hold everyone in it that we feel would be accountable," Whitfield said.In an interview with an ABC reporter in Las Vegas, Beard and Whitfield both said they're convinced that someone other than Murray was medicating Jackson during the daytime to help him prepare for what was a demanding rehearsal schedule.
"Dr. Murray may have helped Mr. Jackson sleep. We certainly believe that there were certainly other doctors that helped him stay up," Whitfield said. "It's way bigger than Dr. Conrad Murray," Beard said. "That's no question in our minds."But Murray is the only man on trial, and as the jury decides on his guilt or innocence, Jackson's former bodyguards say they wish they had been there the morning the singer died.
Any verdict reached has to be unanimous. Murray, 58, has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison and lose his medical license.
View photos from the involuntary manslaughter trial of Conrad Murray.
