Jackson’s trial: Game over for Murray

Michael Jackson’s doctor found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on November 7, over the King of Pop’s death in June 2009. Murray was handcuffed and placed in  police custody and will remain there until the hearing on November 29.

Cheers erupted outside and someone cried out in the courtroom, but a grim-faced Murray gave no reaction when the long-awaited verdict was announced after a six-week trial in Los Angeles.

Jackson’s family — led by his mother Katherine and father Joe — were in court to hear the verdict, having braved their way through a huge media and fan gathering outside the court.

Murray faces up to four years in jail and could be banned from practising medicine after his conviction in connection with Jackson’s death from an overdose of propofol on June 25, 2009. Since opening on September 27, the trial at Los Angeles Superior Court has heard from 49 witnesses — 33 for the prosecution and 16 for the defence.

Unfolding the case

In his closing arguments last week, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Murray caused the star’s death through negligence and greed, depriving Jackson’s children of their father and the world of a “genius”. Walgren, summing up an ‘overwhelming case’ against Murray, claimed the medic concocted lies to cover his tracks — specifically about the timeline on the day Jackson died, and not telling paramedics what drugs he had given. He alleged that Murray wanted to protect his $150,000 a month salary for looking after Jackson, describing how the doctor agreed to treat the star’s insomnia with the anaesthetic propofol against all medical advice.

“Murray, in multiple instances, deceived, lied, obscured, but more importantly acted with criminal negligence,” the prosecutor told the jury.

The other side

The defence, meanwhile, argued that Jackson was a desperate drug addict who caused his own death by taking more medicines while Murray was out of the room at the star’s rented mansion in Los Angeles. Defence attorney Ed Chernoff claimed that Murray was “a little fish in a big dirty pond”, alleging that key witnesses conspired to agree on a story after Jackson died.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s former dermatologist broke his silence to deny the singer was a drug addict, or that he had given him massive doses of painkillers in the months before his death. “Michael was not a drug addict. He did not have a problem with pain killers,” said Dr Arnold Klein, whose office Jackson visited several times a week in the months before his death.

He specifically denied having treated Jackson with large doses of the painkiller Demerol — 900 milligrams over three days in one case — during the month of May 2009, as suggested by records from his office shown in evidence in the last week of the trial. Klein said he was away in Paris for most of the month of May and other doctors worked from his office. “I would never give a person those doses attributed to me,” he said.

Murray to star in tell-all documentary

The doctor will star in a tell-all TV documentary airing this week. The 50-minute documentary about Murray will air in the US on MSNBC on Friday under the title Michael Jackson and the Doctor. The documentary explores the relationship between Jackson and his personal physician and was shot before Murray’s conviction. In it, the doctor reveals details of his time with Jackson.

Currently, Murray has been placed on suicide watch at the Los Angeles County Jail, reports dailymail.co.uk. The 58-year-old cardiologist has been assigned special protection by prison authorities to prevent him being attacked by other inmates, according to the Telegraph. He will have a single cell and an escort will go with him when he moves around inside the Los Angeles County jail.

(With additional information from AFP and Reuters)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2011.