A criminal case against the doctor who prescribed the fatal drugs that killed pop icon Michael Jackson, Dr Conrad Murray, is expected to be filed today.
On Friday 5 February the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office issued a statement saying they would give details of their case today (which will be tonight in Australia, with LA’s time difference), after Murray’s attorney, Ed Chernoff, revealed the Houston cardiologist would surrender himself voluntarily if charged.
If he is deemed to face a court, Murray will likely be landed with a case of involuntary manslaughter, which could see him land in jail for up to four years if convicted with crime of “unlawfully killing another person without malice or intent.” Prosecutors in Los Angeles have been investigating the singer’s death for months, with rumours last week that there was plenty of quibbling between police and prosecutors over how to handle the arrest – police keen on having the doctor arrested and handcuffed in front of TV cameras.
“I think he [Murray] should be cuffed, he should be fingerprinted, he should have his mugshot just like they did my brother,” Jermaine Jackson told “Entertainment Tonight”. The singer was referring to the time Jackson was arrested on child molestation charges.
Murray has admitted to issuing a dose of the drug Propofol on the night of Jackson’s death. The coroner later found his death to be a homicide, with the anaesthetic and the sedative Lorazepam – plus a slew of other prescription drugs – as the main causes of his cardiac arrest.