Jackson’s Doctor Ready To Surrender To Authorities
LOS ANGELES -A lawyer for Michael Jackson’s personal physician said in remarks reported today that the Houston-based doctor is in Los Angeles and prepared to surrender if authorities file charges against him over the death of the pop star.
“I don’t have any specific information that leads me to believe he is going to be charged this week,” lawyer Ed Chernoff told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday, “but if he is, we’ve made it clear he’s available to turn himself in.”
The arrival from Houston of Dr. Conrad Murray and Chernoff, his lead attorney, set off a new round of speculation that authorities — mulling a manslaughter case against the doctor since last summer — were about to file charges.
But a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office declined to say whether prosecutors planned to file a case against Murray, The Times reported.
Chernoff told the newspaper that Murray was visiting Los Angeles on personal matters — he has an infant son in Santa Monica — and that he planned to discuss strategy with his attorneys, two of whom are based in the Southland.
Murray acknowledged administering the anesthetic propofol to Jackson shortly before his death June 25, according to police affidavits, but he has denied doing anything wrong. The Los Angeles County’s coroner’s office has blamed Jackson’s death on “acute propofol intoxication.”
An attorney says Michael Jackson’s family believes an involuntary manslaughter charge against the singer’s doctor would be “a slap on the wrist, and a slap in the face.”
Brian Oxman told CBS’ “The Early Show” that Dr. Conrad Murray displayed recklessness in dispensing powerful drugs to help Jackson sleep. Oxman says that warrants a second-degree murder charge.
