Michael Jackson knew, but downplayed the risks of the sedative propofol.

Michael Jackson

AFP - Michael Jackson knew the risks of use as a sleeping pill the anesthetic propofol, which caused his death, but minimized, ensuring that it was sufficient that a doctor is watching her sleep, said a witness Tuesday to trial of his doctor in Los Angeles. Cherilyn Lee, a nurse specializing in nutrition and alternative medicine, which had begun to treat the singer in February 2009, said that Michael Jackson had told him in April 2009 of his insomnia and his desire to be administration of Diprivan - the brand under which is marketed propofol.

"He told me: + I have problems sleeping. I have to sleep in the moment. And the only thing that can help me is the Diprivan '," she said. Michael Jackson died June 25, 2009 to a "serious poisoning" propofol, a powerful sedative that he used at home as a sleeping aid. His doctor, Conrad Murray, charged with manslaughter, admitted him to administer the morning of his death and the previous weeks. Cherilyn Lee, who appeared moved several times during his testimony - it had to leave shortly after his arrival in the courtroom due to a mild discomfort - said she did not know what the propofol when the singer told him about it.

She called a doctor, who explained that it was a sedative used in hospitals and informed Michael Jackson, during a visit at his home April 19, its use was dangerous to home. "He told me that the doctors had assured him that it was safe and that there would be no problem as long as he was being watched," she said. "He said he had known the propofol several years ago, during surgery. He told me: + I woke up and I did not even know I had slept so long. It was so easy ... I want to experience it again, '"said Ms. Lee. The nurse, who refuses to provide the sedative, then inform the singer of its many side effects.

"One of the symptoms was memory loss. I asked him: + What happens if you forget the words of your songs on stage? +. He told me he would never forget the lyrics of his songs, "she said. On the night of April 19, the nurse gives the singer a treatment alternative medicine, hoping to make him sleep. She stays with him and finds he wakes up to 3:00 in the morning. "It was not very happy," she said. Cherilyn Lee is leaving the mansion of the singer and never come back. In early May, a few days later, Dr. Murray became the official doctor of the star and, according to his statements to police, was about to administer propofol intravenously almost daily.
Defense witness, Cherilyn Lee has partly contributed to support the thesis of Dr. Murray's lawyers, who want to prove that Michael Jackson was addicted to propofol, and tried to get them in every way. 

According to them, the singer himself would have given an extra dose - and deadly - the anesthetic on the morning of his death. But the testimony of Ms. Lee also served as the floor, which accuses Dr. Murray of having "abandoned his patient" as he left the chamber of the star during injection of propofol on the morning of his death. Attorney David Walgren has asked Ms. Lee: "Did he say: + I just need someone to watch me with the material (adequate) + while I sleep?".

"That's exactly what he said," Ms. Lee said, in tears, before the serious face of Jackson, came in numbers Tuesday - the matriarch Katherine and siblings Janet, La Toya, Rebbie and Randy. If convicted, Dr. Murray faces up to four years in prison.