MJ’s Dr. Charged w/ Involuntary Manslaughter
Dr. Conrad Murray, the late Michael Jackson’s personal physician, has been officially charged with a single count of involuntary manslaughter.
According to reports, a criminal complaint alleged that Murray “did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson”. In a brief statement posted on his website Monday, Murray’s lead attorney said his client was prepared to surrender at the courthouse adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport at 1:30PM Pacific. A surrender, in which a defendant turns himself in at a police station for booking, would allow the doctor to avoid being seen in public, handcuffed and escorted by police.
But of course, in anticipation of his arrival, TV news vans and satellite trucks filled the courthouse parking lot before dawn.
Murray has been the focal point of a police investigation since the 50-year-old Jackson died under his care on June 25th, 2009. Murray acknowledged that he administered the hospital anesthetic Propofol and other sedatives as Jackson, a chronic insomniac, struggled to sleep.
“
We’ll make bail, we’ll plead not guilty and we’ll fight like hell.
”
Ed Chernoff
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled Jackson’s death a homicide, resulting from a combination of drugs, primarily Propofol and Lorazepam. Murray’s lead defense lawyer, Ed Chernoff, has said the doctor is prepared for the legal battle ahead, stating, “We’ll make bail, we’ll plead not guilty and we’ll fight like hell”.
UPDATE:
Dr. Conrad Murray arrived at the courthouse adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport right around 1:30PM Pacific. Dr. Murray pleaded not guilty during a brief hearing before Judge Keith L. Schwartz. Bail was set at 75-thousand dollars, despite arguments from prosecutor David Walgren that Murray is a flight risk. The judge refused to suspend Murray’s medical license as a term of his bond, but he did order him not to use any anesthesia on patients.
Jackson’s family – including his parents, three of his brothers and one sister – filled the first two rows of the small courtroom. The involuntary manslaughter charge means that Murray caused Jackson’s death by acting “without due caution and circumspection”. If convicted, Murray would face a maximum four-year prison sentence, according to prosecutors.
