Sunday, August 30, 2009

Media Rich


Michael Jackson

(CNN) -- The Los Angeles coroner has concluded preliminarily that singer Michael Jackson died of an overdose of propofol, a powerful sedative he was given to help him sleep, according to court documents released Monday.

Los Angeles coroner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reached that preliminary conclusion after reviewing toxicology results carried out on Jackson's blood, according to a search warrant and affidavit unsealed in Houston, Texas.

The affidavit, used to outline probable cause for search warrants of the offices of doctors who are believed to have treated Jackson, disclosed many details of drugs given to Jackson in the weeks before his death.

Jackson family lawyer Londell McMillan said the report "reaffirms the very sad reality that there was a tragic and gross violation of duty and care for Michael Jackson."

The publicist for Jackson's family said the "family looks forward to the day that justice can be served."

"The Jackson family has full confidence in the legal process, and commends the ongoing efforts of the L.A. County Coroner, the L.A. District Attorney and the L.A. Police Department," the statement said.

The Associated Press is quoting a single law enforcement official, who said the L.A. County Coroner ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office told CNN they had "no comment" on the report. An LAPD spokesman said the story did not come from their department.

"We will not comment on the "anonymous" law enforcement source that claims that Michael Jackson's death will be ruled a homicide," Murray's lawyer Ed Chernoff said in a statement on his firm's Web site. "Most of the reports by "anonymous" sources have been proven wrong. We will be happy to address the Coroner's report when it is officially released."

The 32-page warrant said Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, told a detective that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for six weeks. Murray said each night he gave Jackson 50 mg of propofol, also known as Diprivan, diluted with the anesthetic lidocaine via an intravenous drip.
. Watch what court documents show about Jackson's last hours »

Worried that Jackson may have been becoming addicted to the drug, the Houston cardiologist said he attempted to wean him from it, putting together combinations of other drugs that succeeded in helping Jackson sleep during the two nights prior to his death.

On June 22 Murray said he gave Jackson a cocktail of drugs similar to what he gave him on the day he died, June 25 -- propofol, Ativan and Versed, which helped the star fall asleep, according to the documents. On June 23 he gave Jackson only the Ativan and Versed, which helped him sleep.

But on June 25, other drugs failed to do the job, as Murray recounted to detectives in an hour-by-hour account detailed by detective Orlando Martinez of the Los Angeles Police Department:

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