Earlier today, Michael Jackson’s doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter in a Los Angeles court room.
After an eight-month investigation, prosecutors said, in charging Murray that, “he unlawfully and without malice killed Michael Jackson”. Murray through his attorney, Ed Chernoff, pleaded not guilty in a brief court room hearing.
Murray’s bail was set at $75,000. Although three times higher than in similar cases, prosecutors were requesting that bail be put at $300,000.
Many of the Jackson clan turned out for the brief court proceedings, including father Joe, mother, Katherine, LaToya, Jermaine, Tito, Jackie and Randy.
The Jackson family have felt all along that Murray should have been charged with murder. Jermaine was heard saying, “It’s not enough”, to the charges of involuntary manslaughter with which Murray is charged.
In a press conference following the hearing, Chernoff said in responsing to a question that, he hadn’t seen the evidence which the prosecution planned to present and that not even drug levels had been contained in the packet that was received.
The prosecution’s case rests largely on the powerful anesthetic, propofol, which Dr. Murray admitted he had injected to assist Jackson with sleep. So powerful is propofol that medical experts say it is usually administered in a hospital setting and not in the home. Two other sedatives were also given to the King of Pop hours before he died.
If convicted, Murray would face 4 years behind bars.
