Dr. Conrad Murray: Investigating Michael Jackson's Personal Doctor
Sources claim Dr. Conrad Murray drugged Jackson, left him to make phone calls.
Aug. 14, 2009— -- While it remains to be seen what role, if any, Dr. Conrad Murray played in the death of singer Michael Jackson, information continues to trickle out about the doctor who was with the pop icon in his final hours.
Thursday, the Los Angeles Times cited three unnamed sources claiming that Murray left Jackson alone and under the influence of propofol, a powerful anesthetic, to make telephone calls the morning the pop singer died. The sources added that Murray acknowledged obtaining and administering the medication in an interview with LAPD detectives two days after Jackson's death.
Investigators looking into Jackson's death have long held the belief that someone was intravenously administering propofol to Jackson at his home.
A spokeswoman for Murray and his attorney, Edward Chernoff, confirmed to ABC News Thursday that the doctor made phone calls before he discovered Jackson stricken in a bedroom June 25. She declined to comment on the claims of the unnamed sources cited in the Times.
Chernoff said he wouldn't dispute the claims made by the LAPD officers in the LA Times report.
"They were there at the interview and Dr. Murray did not lie to them," Chernoff said. "But they are not telling the whole story."
Investigators are still sifting through the evidence from raids on Murray's offices in Houston, Texas, and Las Vegas. Among the items seized from Murray's Texas office in July were a vial containing 27 tablets of the weight-loss drug phentermine, a vial containing a tablet of the muscle relaxant clonazepam, a photocopy picture of Murray, Rolodex cards, public storage receipts and a receipt for a "Cricket" phone, according to an inventory attached to the warrant.
In the warrant, police said they were investigating potential charges of manslaughter, excessive prescribing, prescribing to an addict and unprofessional conduct.
Propofol was not listed on the court documents among the items seized from Murray's property.
Other items seized from the Texas storage unit, according to the court records, included two computer hard drives and a "Texas Department of Public Safety controlled substance registration." Authorities also obtained a suspension notice from a Houston hospital.
In the wake of the investigation, a slew of liens and lawsuits against Murray has emerged. In the last three years, Murray has faced lawsuits for unpaid business bills totaling over $700,000, including rent on his medical offices. He also owes more than $13,000 in child support and $70,000 to a business partner with whom he launched an energy drink called Pitbull. Plus, he failed to pay more than $71,000 worth of student loans from medical school.
Murray was also charged with domestic violence in February 1994 while undergoing a cardiology fellowship at the University of Arizona at Tucson. He stood trial in July of that year and was ultimately acquitted.
Murray's lawyers have maintained for weeks that the doctor was simply a witness in Jackson's death and had nothing to do with it. Murray had known Jackson since late 2006, when the singer rented a mansion near offices Murray opened in Las Vegas and called on the doctor to treat one of his children for an undisclosed minor illness. Murray made such an impression on Jackson that the pop star offered the doctor $150,000 a month to be his personal physician during his London comeback series of concerts.
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