Criminal Case Against Conrad Murray Could Be Imminent

Oct. 9, 2009— -- The Los Angeles Police Department plans to present its criminal case against Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, to the LA district attorney as early as Monday, a source told ABC News today.

Murray remains the focus of a manslaughter investigation into the pop star's death. Another source told ABC News that while the DA may be presented with the case imminently, it's likely to take another "several weeks" for the DA to decide whether to bring charges against Murray. If they bring a case, they'll most likely do it via grand jury, but they could also charge Murray through a criminal complaint.

That means any indictment wouldn't happen for at least another month, and any trial could be about six months away.

This latest twist comes on the heels of the news that Murray may face arrest and could lose his medical license for a completely different case -- missing a hearing to explain late child support payments. Murray owes $13,000 in unpaid child support to a California woman. According to Clark County District Attorney David Roger, a district judge could approve an arrest warrant for Murray that's recommended by a family court hearing master within 10 days.

Attempts by ABC News to contact Murray and his attorney were unsuccessful.

Murray and those around him have been embroiled in a legal mess since Jackson's June 25 death, which was ruled a homicide caused by drugs administered by Murray.

Last month, Murray's girlfriend, Nicole Alvarez, was ordered to appear before a grand jury in Los Angeles. She has been called as a witness "in an investigation pending before said grand jury," according to a subpoena obtained by ABC News.

A spokeswoman from the Los Angeles District Attorney's office declined to comment to ABC News about the subpoena but a law enforcement source confirmed that this subpoena is for an "investigative grand jury."

Alvarez is cooperating with law enforcement, said Joseph Low, her attorney. Low told ABC that the court refused to give him any information about what case Alvarez is supposed to testify about and what subjects might be covered. The court also refused to verify that the subpoena is even legitimate, given that it was unsigned and undated. "It's not usual for lawyers to have this much trouble getting information," he said. "They told me my client should just show up."

A search warrant obtained by ABC News states that on Aug. 13, 2009 police looked in Alvarez's home and a car registered to Murray's sister and retrieved a business card with Conrad Murray's name on it, a piece of paper, a receipt and a medical invoice.

Alvarez, who reportedly gave birth in March to Murray's seventh child, a baby boy they named Che Giovanni, is a resident of Santa Monica, Calif. She has reportedly been Murray's girlfriend since 2005 but is not clear from the documents how she plays into the manslaughter investigation into Murray.

More than three months have passed since Jackson's death. While no charges have been filed in the case, a manslaughter investigation is continuing and a preliminary report released by the coroner in August determined that the singer's death was caused by a lethal combination of prescription drugs.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office released a statement saying the late King of Pop died because of acute propofol intoxication. The office cited benzodiazepine effect as another condition contributing to his death.

Propofol and lorazepam were cited as the primary drugs responsible for Jackson's death. The statement noted that other drugs detected in his system were Midazolam, Diazepam, Lidocaine and Ephedrine.

The coroner ruled the manner of death a homicide.

The coroner's announcement followed search warrants showing that police found marijuana and numerous empty drug bottles at Jackson's home shortly after he died.

Two bags of marijuana, a bottle of the drug temazepam, which is used to treat sleeplessness, empty bottles of the sedatives lorzaepam and diazepam were discovered during the search. Police also uncovered four more empty pill bottles with no sign of what they may have contained.