LAPD Search Home & Office of Jackson’s Doctor, Manslaughter Charges Pending
July 28, 2009 by Amber
Filed under Celebrity, Michael Jackson, News
Dr. Conrad Murray is now likely to be convicted in the death of Michael Jackson, as Dea agents, LAPD and Las Vegas police descend on his Las Vegas home and office, armed with more search warrants.
A law enforcement official told FOXNews.com that the gated community of Jackson’s personal physician, and his office Global Cardiovascular Associates, were searched early Tuesday morning in the hopes of finding the evidence needed to formally charge him with manslaughter.
The day before, another law enforcement official told the news network that investigators in the case believed Murray was the one who had given Jackson the fatal dose of Propofol, just hours before his cardiac arrest on June 25. It is this dose the powerful sedative that is thought to have been the primary cause of death, which means that Murray, being the doctor who prescribed and administered it, would be liable for a manslaughter charge.
Murray’s lawyer, however, has said that the doctor “didn’t prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson.” When asked about the LAPD’s anonymous statements to the contrary, lawyer Edward Chernoff added: “We will not be commenting on rumours, innuendo or unnamed sources.”
However, while Chernoff remains adamant that his client isn’t any more of a suspect in the death of Michael Jackson than any of the doctors the late singer had in his service over the years, the lawyer did confirm that there had been multiple searches carried out by both police and agents alike at the doctor’s home and office.
“The search warrant authorized investigators to look for medical records relating to Michael Jackson and all of his reported aliases,” Chernoff’s statement read. “Dr. Murray was present during the search of his home and assisted the officers. Investigators left Dr. Murray’s home around 12 noon, seizing cell phones and a computer hard drive.”
Murray’s office in Houston was searched prior to his home in Las Vegas, with the search warrant stating that authorities on the scene were to look for “property or items constituting evidence of the offense of manslaughter that tend to show that Dr. Conrad Murray committed the said criminal offense.”
Both warrants were said to have been granted based on the preliminary toxicology reports, which at this stage have pinpointed Propofol as a contributing factor in Jackson’s death.
While the official toxicology findings are still days – maybe weeks – away, investigators are “working under the theory” that the sedative caused Jackson’s heart to stop, a source revealed. At this stage, law enforcement officials have been able to determine that the King of Pop had been using the powerful drug – hospital grade, and never intended for home use – for about two years. Since Dr. Murray only cam into Jackson’s service in May of this year, investigators are busily trying to find out how many other doctors illegally prescribed and administered the drug to the singer.
From the court documents, which label Dr. Conrad Murray as the prime suspect in the manslaughter investigation, Jackson “relied on Propofol like an alarm clock,” and would have the drug administered in an IV drip by a physician when he went to sleep. The IV drip would be stopped when it was time for the singer to wake up.
On the day of Jackson’s death, Dr. Murray was staying in singer’s Los Angeles mansion and “happened to find” an unconscious Jackson in his bedroom. Chernoff, Murray’s lawyer, said the doctor “tried to revive” the pop star by “compressing his chest” with one hand while supporting his back with the other.
His revival attempts were in vain, and Jackson died of a drug-assisted cardiac arrest on June 25.
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