Conrad Murray never took the stand in his manslaughter trial for Michael Jackson’s death, but he did get grilled by TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie.
Speaking to TODAY.com for the new “Behind the Interview” series, Guthrie, NBC News’ Chief Legal Correspondent, revealed she felt more like a prosecutor than a reporter during her exclusive sit-down with the King of Pop’s doctor in the fall of 2011.
Their interview occurred in the waning days of the case, which sought to determine whether Jackson's personal physician had a hand in the singer’s death from a powerful dose of an anesthetic on June 25, 2009.
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It was rare for a high-profile defendant to speak to the media while a jury was deciding his fate.
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“I think it’s probably one of my most memorable interviews because it was such an unusual experience to get to actually sit down with the defendant in the middle of this trial,” Guthrie recalls.
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During the chat, the anchor pressed Murray over sketchy details about the night Jackson died, including that he waited 20 minutes to call 911, didn’t tell emergency room doctors about propofol, the anesthetic the singer was on, and was observed by a bodyguard ordering people to clean up the drug vials.
“I don’t think he expected that I would have studied as hard or known the detailed facts of the case as well as I tried to do, and so I think he was a little taken aback at how detailed the questioning got,” Guthrie says.