Michael Jackson's Doc Conrad Murray Says 'Truth Will Prevail' in First Public Statement

Aug. 18, 2009— -- "I have told the truth and the truth will prevail," said Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician and the focus of a manslaughter investigation, in his first public statement since Jackson died on June 25.

In a video statement posted to YouTube, Murray, who is believed to have injected Jackson with the powerful anesthetic propofol prior to his death and then left him unattended, thanked his friends and patients for their letters and messages of support.

"I want to thank all of my patients and friends who have sent such kind e-mails, letters and messages to let me know of your support and prayers for me and my family. Because of all that is going on, I am afraid to return phone calls or use my e-mail. Therefore I recorded this video to let all of you know that I have been receiving your messages. I have not been able to thank you personally, which as you know is not normal for me. Your messages give me strength and courage and keep me going. They mean the world to me," he said.

Murray, whose home and offices in Texas and Las Vegas were raided by local police and federal investigators last month, said he had "done all I could do" and hoped his honesty with investigators would "prevail."

"Please don't worry, as long as I keep God in my heart and you in my life I will be fine. I have done all I could do. I told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail. God bless you and thank you," he said in the one-minute video.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Jackson family said the singer will be buried on his birthday, Aug. 29, at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. The announcement that Jackson will finally be laid to rest ends weeks of speculation about when and where his funeral would be held.

But speculation continues to mount, about whether or not prosecutors will be able to build a successful case against Murray or Jackson's other physicians, who are alleged to have supplied the singer with a cocktail of drugs.

So-Called 'Doc Hollywoods' Can Act as Enablers

Dr. Murray remains at the center of the ongoing LAPD investigation into the death of Michael Jackson, an inquiry that appears to focus in part on alleged enabling doctors, who may have fed Jackson's desires for painkillers.

They're known as "Doc Hollywoods:" physicians who freely prescribe drugs to celebrities, only to find themselves and their patients in trouble.

"He was getting a number of different prescriptions under a number of different names," said Deepak Chopra, physician, author, and friend of Michael Jackson. "This is a common thing amongst celebrity addicts... because they demand what they want and there are certain kinds of doctors who will give it to them...and they did what he asked them to, what he demanded of them."

Michael Jackson's search for powerful drugs led him to ask Deepak Chopra for a prescription. Chopra says he turned him down flat. He also claims Jackson knew other ways to get the drugs he so desperately wanted.

"One way that these doctors are found is that they're concierge doctors in hotels," said Chopra, "so you can find them in hotels in New York, Las Vegas, and Miami and Los Angeles. He used to call them 'designer doctors'... Another way to find these doctors is through the rumor mill. Many celebrities are seeing the same people, so you know who it is."

As Los Angeles investigators wait to release the findings of a toxicology report that will conclusively determine what role drugs played in Jackson's death, police continue to investigate Murray, a Texas-based cardiologist with a history of money troubles.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times cited three unnamed sources who claimed 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 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 was 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.

Murray didn't set out to be a doctor to the stars. He was born on the Carribean island of Grenada in 1953. He was raised by his mother in neighboring Trinidad. She never married his father, Dr. Rawle Andrews, a renowned physician in Houston, Texas.

Murray was a customs clerk, a teacher and an insurance agent before beginning his studies at Texas Southern University at age 27. After graduating magna cum laude, he went on to medical school at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. He then did his residency at Loma Linda University, in California, before eventually opening a practice in Houston, serving the largely poor, African-American community, where his father had been a local hero.

Murray's Doctor Dad Had Medical License Suspended

But while he was revered by his patients, Andrews, who's now deceased, came under scrutiny late in his career, foreshadowing the problems currently plaguing his son. Andrews had his medical license restricted by the board in 1994 for prescribing "controlled substances and substances with addictive potential" to two patients for "extended periods of time without adequate indication," according to documents obtained by ABCNews.com.

Murray's attorney's spokeswoman, Miranda Sevcik, said that any wrongdoing on the part of Murray's father has nothing to do with the son's predicament.

"This is not relevant to Dr. Murray or the investigation into Michael's death," Sevcik said.

She added that Murray, in 20 years of practicing medicine, has never had his license suspended or a malpractice claim filed against him.

"To me, that's much more relevant than what his dead father may have been accused of 25 years ago," Sevcik said.

As part of the five-year restriction of his medical license, Andrews was required to complete two two-week courses on pain management and the prevention and treatment of drug abuse. He was also required to keep separate records on any controlled substances he prescribed, to make those records available to the board and to appear before the board once a year.

After he complied with all the provisions, the restrictions on Andrews' license were lifted completely in 1999. He continued his practice, the Andrews Medical Clinic, which he had opened in 1964, until two months before his death in 2001.

News of Andrews' misconduct came as a surprise to the Rev. F. N. Williams, one of his longtime patients who also conducted his funeral.

"I think he was picked out by God to be a doctor," Williams said. "He had a concern and a caring heart. He turned nobody away. His office stayed packed. He would go home, get a call and go, just like the old country doctors that would go to the houses. He stayed with my mother 'til she passed."

Williams said Andrews was widely respected in the community.

"Whenever his foot hit the hospital, they started jumping," he said. "They knew if he found anything out of order, he would go to the supervisor of the hospital and say, 'You've got to get this corrected now.'"

Andrews' practice was in the Acres Homes area, an impoverished African-American neighborhood in northwest Houston. There, he helped form the Acres Homes Citizen Council, which gave a voice to the community and provided scholarships for needy students.

"He was the great leader of the community," Williams said.

Five years after his father's death, Murray, who attended the same medical school as his father, opened his Houston practice, the Acres Home Heart and Vascular Institute, as something of a tribute to Andrews.

Williams credits Murray for saving his life. While on a trip to Las Vegas, Williams experienced chest pain. He said Murray performed surgery, putting several stents in arteries near his heart, and saved his life.

Williams had been equally surprised when he learned that Murray is at the center of the investigation into Jackson's death. While he first warned Murray not to take the job as Jackson's personal physician because he thought the singer was troubled, Williams gave his blessing when he thought about Murray's growing money problems. But he doesn't think Murray's need for money compromised his medical practices.

"Hell, he won't give me medicine," he said. "He doesn't believe in giving you a lot of pills. I don't believe he was raised to believe in that."

Williams said his community members are determined to stand by Murray. They refuse to abandon the man who left a humble Houston clinic to treat one of the world's biggest stars.

"I'm concerned," he said. "We love him, we're waiting on him."