To an outsider, it seemed like Michael Jackson was once again on top of the world. Although he had long been a fixture in the tabloids and his long-standing financial problems were well known, Jackson’s “This is It” comeback tour in London seemed perfectly set up to put the King of Pop back in the public eye for all of the right reasons — and earn him millions of dollars for the 50 sold-out concerts.
A June 24, 2009 rehearsal went well by all accounts, Jackson was energetic and focused. As his security team dropped him off at his rented mansion in the Hollywood Hills, Jackson seemed happy and healthy. However, at roughly noon on June 25, 2009, Jackson stopped breathing. A security guard called 911. Paramedics were on the scene in minutes and tried desperately to revive Jackson. Eventually, he was transported via ambulance to UCLA Medical Center, where further life-saving efforts proved fruitless. His personal doctor, Conrad Murray, had been with Jackson all night — treating the singer’s insomnia with a combination of drugs that police would conclude caused his tragic death.
Who is Conrad Murray?
Conrad Murray, a cardiologist with clinics in Las Vegas and Houston, ran a successful practice and was very popular with his patients. Outside of work, his actions were a little more suspect — although he was married, he visited strip clubs, carried on affairs, and fathered several out-of-wedlock children.
Since 2006 he served as Michael Jackson’s personal physician. He met Jackson when the singer was living in Vegas with his three children, Prince, Paris, and Blanket, and the entire family came down with a respiratory virus. A member of Jackson’s security team was a patient of Murray’s and referred him to the singer. Murray and Jackson hit it off, and Murray continued to treat Jackson over the ensuing years.
When Jackson signed on with the entertainment company AEG to do the long concert series in London, Jackson asked that Murray be brought on as his personal doctor for the tour. After some negotiation, Murray agreed to close his practice and take Jackson on as his sole patient — for the sum of $150,000 per month. Sadly for Murray, the contract had not been signed by all parties at the time of Jackson’s death. Murray, who had been living in Los Angeles and treating Michael Jackson since April 2009, never got paid.
Murray is Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter
a gurney
Jackson’s death was suspicious from the beginning — he was a fantastically wealthy and relatively healthy 50-year-old man. How he died so suddenly while under the care of a personal physician was a mystery. The coroner concluded that Jackson died from an overdose of propofol — a powerful anesthetic used in hospitals to sedate patients for surgery. This was not a drug that could be procured by the average person via prescription — it was only available to medical personnel.
When police sat down to speak with Conrad Murray two days after Jackson’s death, the personal physician admitted that he had given Jackson propofol to help with the singer’s insomnia. When the investigators found that Murray had ordered an incredible amount of propofol (over four gallons altogether) while caring for Jackson, and that Jackson had traces of two other sedatives in his blood stream, prosecutors deemed that Murray’s gross negligence was a direct cause of Jackson’s death. But because Murray had not intentionally caused the singer’s death, he was not charged with murder. Instead he was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter — a crime that could put the doctor behind bars for up to four years. And if convicted, he would surely lose his medical license and his livelihood.
On September 27, 2011, jurors began hearing the evidence against Conrad Murray. In his opening statement, prosecutor David Walgren told the jury that Murray was a money-hungry doctor who knocked Jackson out with propofol at the patient’s request, despite the fact that propofol was a highly-dangerous drug that should only be used in a hospital setting. Murray’s lead attorney Ed Chernoff responded by telling the court that the small amounts of sedatives Murray admitted to giving Jackson could not have killed him. Instead, Chernoff argued that Michael Jackson himself must have woken up when Murray had left the room to use the bathroom and self-administered fatal doses of propofol and a second sedative (lorazepam).
A Peek Into Jackson’s Life
Through testimony, courtwatchers were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the King of Pop’s troubles as he attempted to ready himself for his comeback tour.
Several members of Jackson’s security team testified about their elaborate procedure traveling for rehearsals: a convoy of three Escalades would drive Jackson back and forth to Staples Center, and the singer would roll down his windows to say hello to his fans.
Kai Chase, Jackson’s personal chef, gave an account of the typical foods she made for Jackson and his children. The family would eat a healthy breakfast of granola and almond milk and Jackson would snack on fruit smoothies throughout the day. The Jacksons would often eat lunch as a family. On June 25, 2009, Chase had prepared a lunch of spinach salad and organic turkey breast. Michael Jackson would not live to eat it.
Jackson Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances
Several witnesses were called to paint a picture of Jackson’s final day. Jackson returned from rehearsal at 1 a.m. on June 25, and went up to his bedroom where Conrad Murray was waiting — as he had been virtually every night for the past two months. Only that morning, Jackson didn’t wake up. Instead, Murray called Jackson’s security a little after noon to say that the singer had suffered a “bad reaction” and to come to the bedroom immediately.
Alberto Alvarez, a security guard, was the first to the room. Murray asked him to call 911. Alvarez said that Murray then made another request: he had him stash several medicine bottles and an IV bag he said contained a bottle of propofol in it.
Paramedic Richard Senneff said he arrived at the Jackson home just five minutes after getting the call. He said that Murray told him that he had given Jackson a few oral sedatives — but never mentioned giving him any propofol. After 40 minutes of resuscitation attempts, Jackson was ambulanced to UCLA Medical Center, where two doctors again asked Murray what he had administered to Jackson. Again, Murray did not tell them about propofol.
Murray’s Own Words
On June 27, 2009, Conrad Murray sat down for an interview with police. That conversation was taped and played for the jury. Murray said that he did not understand the extent of Jackson’s insomnia when he came to California to serve as personal physician. Murray said that Jackson insisted that he be given propofol — which he called “milk” for its white color. And for months, Murray gave Jackson what he wanted, until three days before the death when Murray tried to wean Jackson off the dangerous sedative.
For two nights, Murray recalled, Jackson slept without propofol. But in the wee hours of June 25, nothing seemed to be working. Murray said he gave Jackson a valium at 1 a.m., then two doses of two other sedatives (lorazepam and midazolam) later. By 10 a.m., Jackson had still not settled into a peaceful sleep. Murray said Jackson begged him for “milk”, saying that his rehearsals would be shot and the concerts put in jeopardy if the singer could not rest. Murray said he finally relented and gave a relatively small dose (25 mg) of propofol. Murray said he sat at Jackson’s bedside for 10-15 minutes to make sure there were no complications.
Once he believed Jackson had settled into a healthy sleep, he left the room to go to the bathroom. When he returned, he was shocked to find Jackson was not breathing.
Medical Evidence
Prosecutors called a string of medical experts to say that Conrad Murray acted more like an employee of Jackson than his doctor. By allowing the patient to dictate a dangerous treatment, Murray committed gross negligence and was thus a major contributor to Jackson’s death. Dr. Alon Steinberg analyzed the case for the California Medical Board and concluded that Murray was negligent in leaving Jackson unmonitored even to go to the bathroom. He likened the situation to leaving a sleeping baby on the kitchen counter — likely nothing would happen, but a responsible parent would never take that chance.
Dr. Steven Shafer, a prominent anesthesiologist, cited 17 separate egregious deviations, including: using propofol as a sleep medication without any emergency medical equipment or back-up personnel, and not keeping medical records. Dr. Shafer came up with his own theory of how Jackson died with such elevated levels of propofol in his system: he supposed that Murray had set up a continuous IV drip of propofol to keep Jackson sedated — and then didn’t realize his patient had lost consciousness. Even as Jackson stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating, the propofol was still flowing into his body.
After 33 witnesses over 16 days, the State rested its case-in-chief. Next it is the defense’s turn to convince the jury that Conrad Murray was an innocent man.
Murray’s lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff’s defense was simple: Michael Jackson was responsible for his own death. For years, Jackson had been beset by creditors, law enforcement, and critics in the media. He had not take the stage in 12 years, and while his best days creatively might have been behind him, the “This is It” tour in London represented a chance at redemption for the “King of Pop.” Although a ruling by Judge Michael Pastor prevented the defense from delving into Jackson’s finances (or his previous tangles with the law over alleged child molestation), when Chernoff called the 50-show tour Jackson’s “absolution”, the meaning was clear to all.
Furthermore, the defense maintained in its opening statement, Michael Jackson had a secret medical history that Conrad Murray was not aware of when he accepted the position of personal physician to the pop star — Jackson’s frequent visits to dermatologist Arnold Klein had left Jackson dependent on the powerful narcotic Demerol. A common symptom of Demerol withdrawal is powerful insomnia — a complaint of Jackson’s for many years. And in fact, Murray found that the bulk of his work for Jackson consisted of spending nights by his side, giving him sedatives to help him sleep. What Murray did not realize, according to the defense, was that this was not ordinary insomnia — and that he could not have anticipated how the Demerol dependence and anxiety over “This is It” would drive Jackson to endanger his life in pursuit of healthy sleep.
In the early morning hours of June 25, 2009, the defense theorized, Michael Jackson found himself unable to sleep and worrying about the toll of a sleepless night on the next day’s rehearsal and the future of the concert tour itself. After hours of pleading with his doctor for “milk” (the powerful anesthetic, propofol, which has a milky color), Dr. Murray finally relented and gave Jackson a small 25 mg dose to help him sleep. However, Chernoff said, when Murray stepped away Jackson swallowed eight tablets of the sedative Lorazepam and then self-administered a dose of propofol. That combination of drugs killed him instantly, and left Murray confused about how the small doses of sleeping drugs he gave Jackson that night could possibly have killed him. The answer, the defense would try to prove, is that Murray’s medical care was not the cause of death.
Murray: a Victim of Conspiracy?
The most damning witness at the scene was Jackson security guard Alberto Alvarez, who told jurors that Murray had told him to stash a bottle of propofol and a cut-open saline bag even before they called 911. The defense attacked Alvarez’ credibility by calling LAPD detective Orlando Martinez, who said that Alvarez did not tell police about Murray’s directive to stash medical items until two months after Jackson’s death. Furthermore, fingerprint analysts could not find any Alvarez prints on the evidence at issue. Murray’s defense attorneys accused Alvarez of creating the story to implicate Murray.
In fact, Alvarez interviewed in the same lawyer’s office on the same day (at different times, of course) as Jackson employees Michael Amir Williams and Faheem Muhammad. All three men had critical things to say about Murray’s actions on June 25 — Williams said Murray called him first, but never told him to call 911; Muhammad recalled that Murray wanted to be taken from UCLA Hospital to Jackson’s mansion shortly after Jackson died. Prosecutors implied this was because Murray wanted to conceal evidence, but the defense countered that all three men had tailored their stories to make Murray look guilty.
What Kind of Doctor was Conrad Murray?
While the prosecution portrayed Conrad Murray as a corner-cutting money-grubbing doctor who would risk his famous patient’s life to keep secure his $150,000 per month salary, the defense called a series of Murray’s patients from Houston and Las Vegas to testify about their doctor’s good character. Gerry Causey, a patient of Murray’s from Las Vegas, recalled that Murray implanted stents in Causey’s arteries after a heart-attack, calling the defendant “the best doctor I’ve ever been to.” He added that Murray didn’t even make Causey pay his insurance deductible.
Other patients extolled Murray’s compassion and generosity, and they said he took the time to explain complex medical procedures. Eighty-two-year-old Ruby Mosley of Houston was the most charming of the patients. She told the court in no uncertain terms that Murray was not a greedy man — that he had opened a clinic in Mosley’s neighborhood to replace the one his father ran until his death. Murray knew full well that 75% of people in the are were on welfare and Social Security, but treated them anyway even though it was not lucrative to do so.
Dr. Klein: The Dermatologist with Demerol
In a pre-trial hearing, Judge Michael Pastor ruled that Dr. Arnold Klein would not be allowed to take the stand because his role was too far removed from the circumstances surrounding Michael Jackson’s death. But that didn’t stop Murray’s defense team from portraying Klein as a shadowy figure providing Demerol on demand to feed Jackson’s habit.
The defense asked several witnesses about Dr. Klein’s effect on Michael Jackson, including Randy Phillips, the CEO of AEG Live, who was promoting the “This is It” tour. Phillips recalled a meeting in which Jackson was less focused than normal. Phillips said he asked Jackson’s personal assistant Michael Amir Williams what was wrong, and that Williams just shrugged and said Jackson had been to see Dr. Klein. Although Phillips never admitted knowing about the Demerol causing Jackson’s drugged state, he said he made a point to mention Klein appointments to Murray. As Jackson’s physician, Phillips just thought Murray should know.
While other witnesses hinted around the negative effects of Jackson’s Demerol use, the defense’s addiction medicine specialist Dr. Robert Waldman addressed the issue head-on. Citing extensive medical records from Jackson’s visits to Dr. Klein, Waldman showed that in the months before Jackson’s death, the singer was visiting his dermatologist every week, often several times a week — and always received large doses of Demerol.
The medical records showed that Michael Jackson received as much as 375 mg of Demerol in a single appointment, and there were weeks where he received over 1000 mg of the drug — Dr. Waldman said a normal dose was 50 mg. Dr. Waldman’s opinion was that Jackson was physically dependent on Demerol at the time of his death — and that he may well have been suffering withdrawal symptoms, including crippling insomnia, on the night he died.
An Alternate Theory of Propofol Administration
The defense’s star medical expert was retired anesthesiologist Dr. Paul White — who some called the “Father of propofol” for his early studies of the drug. Dr. White studied the toxicology reports from autopsy and the police statement by Conrad Murray and came up with a new theory of Jackson’s death that labeled the singer as the cause of his own death.
First, Dr. White addressed the elevated levels of Lorazepam in Jackson’s system. Murray admitted giving Jackson only a few pills’ worth of the drug in IV form, but the autopsy results suggested that Jackson took eight more pills — so Dr. White suggested that Jackson must have taken the pills without Murray’s knowledge. Similarly, because Jackson died with high blood levels of propofol and Murray had only admitted giving 25 mg, Dr. White surmised that Jackson could have injected himself with another 25 mg dose when Murray was in the bathroom. That dose, in conjunction with the other drugs in his system could have killed him quickly, which would explain the high levels in Jackson’s blood and the relatively low levels of propofol in Jackson’s urine — Dr. White concluded that Jackson died too quickly for the drug to work its way through his system.
Will he Murray Take the Stand?
With the defense’s theories firmly established, there was only one question remaining, and it was one that had been speculated about since the trial began: Would Conrad Murray take the stand and address the jury in his own defense.
Judge Pastor excused the jurors and addressed Dr. Murray directly — informing him that it is a defendant’s right to testify in his own defense, and that the decision was his alone. News reports explained that Murray’s defense team was split on the issue; one side thought he could convince the jury of his innocence, while another faction thought he would hurt his own case under withering cross examination. After a dramatic pause during which Murray turned to face all of his attorneys with their conflicting advice, he finally addressed the court: “My decision is that I will not testify in this matter.” “You are making this decision of your own free will?” asked Judge Pastor. “Yes,” Murray said. And with that, the defense ended its presentation of evidence.
On November 1, 2011, after seven days of testimony from 16 witnesses, the defense rested its case. On November 3rd, jurors would hear closing arguments from both sides before settling into the deliberation room to decide Conrad Murray’s fate.
After almost nine hours of deliberations over two days, the jury room buzzer rang three times — signifying that the seven man/five woman jury had reached a unanimous decision in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.
The jury found Dr. Conrad Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Murray betrayed no sentiment as his fate was read, but the courtroom was emotional. Despite Judge Michael Pastor’s prior warning to the gallery to keep their feelings in check when the verdict was announced, an audible gasp was heard after the announcement of “guilty” — it was Michael’s sister Latoya Jackson. Walking out of court later, LaToya would tell news cameras that justice had been done and that Michael was “looking over” the courtroom from the afterlife.
The Jackson family’s happiness at walking out of court was in stark contrast to the defendant who would not walk out at all. Murray continued to betray little emotion even when Judge Michael Pastor remanded Murray to jail pending sentencing, citing the need to protect the public” This is a crime where the end result was the death of a human being, Pastor announced, “That factor demands rather dramatically that the public should be protected.” Deputy Jason Jones handcuffed Murray’s hands behind his back and led him out of the courtroom en route to the jail cell he will call home until his sentencing hearing.
Jurors and defense attorneys did not hold press conferences after the verdict, but prosecutor David Walgren made short remarks including a kind word for the Jackson family who had lost “not a pop icon, but a son and a brother.” Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley read a prepared statement extolling the work of his prosecutors, and thanking the courtroom personnel and the jury. Cooley said that due to jail overcrowding and California’s budget crisis “it will be very difficult… to achieve incarceration for Conrad Murray.”
Two days after the verdict, Juror number five Debbie Franklin — a 48-year-old paralegal appeared on ABC News to speak publicly about the previously-secret deliberations. Franklin was the juror tasked with pressing the deliberation room buzzer when a decision had been reached and recalled “our hearts were pounding” when they entered the courtroom to deliver their verdict. Franklin believed that Michael Jackson would still be alive if not for Murray’s improper use of propofol in the bedroom, even though she believed Jackson had hired Murray to do just that: “Conrad Murray agreed to be the one to go into the bedroom and do this… he [Jackson] was looking for somebody to say yes, and Conrad Murray said yes.” Franklin said the jury took an initial vote on their first day of deliberations (Friday, November 4), but could not reach unanimity so they took the weekend to mull it over. When they returned the following Monday, they reached consensus in just a few hours.
Conrad Murray will be sentenced on Tuesday, November 29, 2011. Judge Pastor has wide discretion in punishment — he can set Murray free on probation or sentence him to up to four years in prison.
On November 29, 2011, the parties reassembled in Department 107 for the sentencing of Conrad Murray. Prosecutors argued that Murray’s crime warranted the harshest sentence allowed: four years in state prison. Defense attorneys cited Murray’s humble beginning, generosity and good works in an attempt to convince Judge Michael Pastor to set Murray free on probation and make him do community service.
Although Michael Jackson’s family was well-represented in court (his mother Katherine and siblings LaToya, Rebbie, Katherine, Jermaine, and Randy took seats in the gallery), they did not address the judge directly. Instead, they collaborated on a letter that was read in open court by civil attorney Brian Panish. In that letter, Michael’s parents said his death went “against the natural order of things”; his siblings lamented they would never sing and dance with the pop star again; and his children would be forever deprived of the companionship of their “father, playmate and best friend.”
Conrad Murray was given the opportunity to address the court for leniency, but declined to make a statement on his own behalf.
In his lengthy remarks before passing sentence, Judge Michael Pastor excoriated the defendant calling his administration of propofol “medicine madness”, and declaring that Murray had violated his oath as a doctor for “money, fame, prestige.” Judge Pastor slapped Conrad Murray with the heftiest sentence he could hand down — four years in LA County Jail. Sheriff’s spokesperson Steve Whitmore clarified soon after that under a new state law, a non-violent offender’s jail time is automatically cut in half, so Murray will serve no more than two years in jail for his involuntary manslaughter conviction.
In addition to the jail sentence, Judge Pastor ordered that Murray pay $870 in fines and court fees. Prosecutors had requested that Conrad Murray be ordered to pay restitution to Jackson’s family for lost wages and funeral expenses — a total they estimated to be $101.8 million. Judge Pastor decided that he needed a more comprehensive accounting of those figures before ruling on that point. He set a hearing on the matter for January 23, 2012.
As Conrad Murray was taken into custody after sentencing, he blew a kiss toward his supporters in the gallery — his mother Milta Rush and his girlfriend Nicole Alvarez.
In post-hearing press conferences, both sides commented on the sentencing. Defense attorney Michael Flanagan complained that Judge Pastor was “openly hostile” throughout the trial and disputed the idea that Murray is a danger to society. Asked if Murray should have made a statement in court, Flanagan responded: “I think the judge probably wanted to hear from him too, but I think the Judge just would have belittled anything he had to say.”
Prosecutor David Walgren and Deborah Brazil agreed with Judge Pastor’s decision and professed happiness with the way the case went and with their interactions with the Jackson family, who mouthed “thank you” to the prosecutors as they left the courtroom. As Katherine Jackson walked out of the courthouse, she told reporters: “Four years is not enough for someone’s life. It won’t bring him back, but at least he got the maximum.”