If one were to hear several years ago that a doctor faced charges for crimes against Michael Jackson, one would rightly assume that it would be his plastic surgeon and not, in fact, a man held responsible for his drug-induced death.

1. The Conrad Murray Trial: How the Trial of Michael Jackson’s Doctor just
might become the Greatest Show on Earth
If one were to hear several years ago that a doctor faced charges for crimes against Michael Jackson,
one would rightly assume that it would be his plastic surgeon and not, in fact, a man held responsible
for his drug-induced death. Yet, if the history of Michael Jackson teaches us anything, it is that
anything regarding the late singer will be more bizarre and sordid than anyone would initially suspect.
The doctor in question is Conrad Murray, charged with involuntary manslaughter for administering the
drug Propofol that caused the death of Michael Jackson two years ago.
The charges of involuntary manslaughter should be easy for the prosecution to prove given the
circumstances of Michael Jackson’s death. In California, involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful
killing of another person during the commission of a lawful act that carries a high risk of death or bodily
harm that is committed without due caution or circumspection. Prosecutors will likely be able to prove
that Dr. Murray injected Michael Jackson with the Propofol that caused his death, and that since
Propofol is administered almost solely in a hospital setting for sedation, Dr. Murray’s actions were so
reckless that he should be held responsible for Michael Jackson’s death.
However, because the case involves Michael Jackson, whose eccentricities have been recounted
numerous times over the past several decades, it would be foolish to believe that this case will end
simply with an easy conviction for Jackson’s doctor. One of the witnesses who testified at the
preliminary hearing against Dr. Murray went mysteriously missing, claiming to have escaped to
Thailand. He was only tracked down several days ago, just as the trial is set to begin. Additionally,
the defense may claim that the lethal dose of Propofol was not injected by Dr. Murray, since a massive
amount of the drug was found in his stomach, while Dr. Murray was alleged to have administered it
through injection. After allegations that Michael Jackson gave children he intended to seduce wine that
he called “Jesus Juice,” it would be ironic if the defense proved that the singer died from drinking
something he really should not have.
However, even if the defense successfully makes the claim that Jackson’s death was caused by Jackson
drinking Propofol, this still may not absolve Conrad Murray of the charges. The very circumstances of
Dr. Murray’s employment for Jackson may constitute enough of a breach of a duty to Jackson to ensure
his conviction. Although Murray was employed as Jackson’s personal doctor, his real purpose was to
be nothing more than Jackson’s drug dealer, supplying him with narcotics and administering them to
him when the singer so desired. For all the allegations of massive drug use by Charlie Sheen and Amy
Winehouse, neither of them had a full time drug dealer on staff and the highly-paid Sheen could have
certainly afforded one if he wanted one.
Despite the medical certification, what Conrad Murray did was act less as a doctor and more as a drug
dealer. Michael Jackson’s medical problems may have been numerous and largely self-inflicted, but a
person healthy enough to perform a series of physically taxing performances in front of audiences of
thousands hardly needs a full-time doctor on staff to cater to his needs. There was only one reason
why Jackson hired Dr. Murray, and that was to supply him with a continuous supply of extremely heavy
narcotics, thus making his job description one that Michael Jackson never should have demanded and
Conrad Murray never should have accepted. Jackson paid the price with his life, and Conrad Murray
may pay the prize with his freedom.

2. This, of course, assumes that the trial proceeds orderly and without major bombshells, interruptions or
unexpected events that derail it. Judge Michael Pastor, who presides over the case, has thus far kept
the defense on a tight leash, ruling that details involving Jackson’s molestation of young boys cannot
be introduced at trial. The judge further ruled that outtakes from “This is It,” the raw footage of
Jackson rehearsing for the trial, cannot be shown to prove Jackson’s health in the weeks before his
death. The prosecution may have to settle for a coroner’s report that showed Michael Jackson was in
fine health at the time of his death. Since the L.A. coroner’s office also made the same judgment
about actor Corey Haim at the time of his death, this raises two questions: Just how reliable is the L.A.
coroner if they can find Michael Jackson and Corey Haim to be in good health during an autopsy? And,
in just how bad condition must one be for the L.A. coroner to find one in poor health, if a one-hundred
pound, fifty year old man made of more plastic than the average Barbie doll is considered a fine
physical specimen? By the standards of the L.A. coroner’s office, Stephen Hawking might be cleared to
compete in a triathlon.
And, if any case since the O.J. Simpson trial called out for cameras to be banned from the courtroom, it
is this one, yet Judge Pastor decided to allow cameras to record the trial. This virtually guarantees that
the trial, no matter how tightly Judge Pastor tries to control it, will descend into a gaudy sideshow, with
Pastor as its carnival barker. If there is one Jackson family addiction stronger than Propofol, it is to
publicity, and this will only encourage others in the courtroom to match their desperate cries for
attention. If the trial includes a special appearances by Bubbles the chimp and a defense allegation
that Michael Jackson faked his own death and has been living as his sister LaToya for the past several
years, it will only match the insanity of the courtroom spectators.
If the prosecution follows through with what it proved during the preliminary hearing, Dr. Murray may
get what he deserves for recklessly causing Michael Jackson’s death. And if the presence of cameras in
the courtroom leads to a spectacle that mocks the very court system that brought Dr. Murray to trial,
so too will the audience get what it deserves.
The author brings some tricky situations to think over about the much talked case in world involving
sex crimes lawyer. Conrad Murray may just be in need of a domestic violence attorney who would
be his defendant in the upcoming trial.
- By Drug lawyers Los Angeles