In glare of media, Jackson’s doctor faces the music

LOS ANGELES - Eight months after Michael Jackson died from a drug overdose, his personal doctor Conrad Murray was charged with his death.

Prosecutors allege that the cardiologist gave Jackson the surgical anaesthetic Propofol, along with assorted other drugs, that led to his June 25 death. Murray Monday pleaded not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of four years.

Murray faced the charges in a packed Los Angeles courtroom that for a few hours was the focus of huge media attention. Wearing a grey suit, he ran a gauntlet of hundreds of media and Jackson fans, some of whom shouted “Murderer, Murderer” as he entered the building.

Inside the courtroom, Jackson’s family were clearly thinking the same thing.

After the hearing, Jackson’s mother, Katherine, called Murray “a monster”, according to People.com.

The charges coincided with the release of the autopsy, which found that Jackson had an amount of anaesthesia in his body at a level equivalent with what would be used in a “major surgery”.

The report also wrote that the “standard of care for using Propofol was not met, with no equipment for patient monitoring, precision dosing and resuscitation”, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Murray, who was heavily in debt even prior to his recent legal trouble, was released on bail of $75,000. He was permitted by the judge to continue to practice medicine, though he is banned from administering anaesthetics.

The hearing kicked off what is likely to be the most closely watched case in the US since Jackson himself was acquitted of child sex charges in 2005.

Judicial experts jumped into action to explain to news channels and websites the intricacy of the legalities involved.

A former OJ Simpson lawyer predicted that Conrad “faces an uphill battle - a very difficult defence”.

“The issue will be whether or not administering the drugs he administered in the manner he did was likely to cause death or serious injury,” Chapman Holley told MTV.com.

Even if Murray is found guilty, that will not be enough for Jackson’s family, whose lawyer Monday repeated that the manslaughter charge was “a slap on the wrist” for Murray and “a slap in the face” to the family.

“There’s great disappointment here,” Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman said. “He should’ve been charged with a higher degree of responsibility. What he did was reckless. It was a disregard for human life.”

Jackson’s sister, LaToya, said: “Michael was murdered, and although he died at the hands of Dr Conrad Murray, I believe Dr Murray was a part of a much larger plan.”

Her accusations were levelled at Jackson’s concert promoter AEG, which hired Murray at Jackson’s request to enable him to perform through his planned 50-date comeback engagement in London.