Dad Joe Jackson: 'We Have Sole Authority'

Michael Jackson's father declared Sunday before the BET Awards that he and his wife have sole authority over their late son's affairs.

Joe Jackson said in a statement read on the red carpet that he and his wife Katherine have the "personal and legal authority to act, and have authority for our son and his children."

Funeral arrangements are still being worked out.

Separately, despite statements from the LAPD on Friday, there is an ongoing criminal investigation into the death of Michael Jackson, an insider close to the family told TheWrap. That was confirmed Sunday morning by Matt Alford, attorney for Jackson doctor Conrad Murray.

Alford told MSNBC Sunday morning that Jackson owed Murray -- who reportedly gave up his practice to follow the pop star on the London tour -- $300,000.

Murray was at the singer’s side when he went into cardiac arrest. It has been reported that the physician who is licensed to practice medicine in several states including California, administered the Demerol, a powerful painkiller, shortly before Jackson began to have trouble breathing. (Photo of Jackson in ambulance from ETOnline.)

Police on Friday impounded his BMW, which was parked at Jackson’s rented Bel Air estate. It was suspected the vehicle might contain potential forensic evidence.

Murray, who met on Friday and Saturday with LAPD investigators, has been the subject of criticism from the Jackson family. On Saturday, at the behest of his parents, Jackson underwent a second autopsy by an independent forensics expert to gain more details about his death.

The results of this autopsy are not immediately known, but the family insider told TheWrap it was in likelihood performed at an undisclosed funeral home where the singer’s remains were taken after his body was released to his parents
 
The Rev. Jesse Jackson told "Good Morning America" on Saturday that family had numerous questions about the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death and the possibility he had been injected with Demerol, to ease the pain caused by rehearsals for his upcoming 50-concert London tour.

"When did the doctor come? What did he do? Did he inject him? If so, with what?" Jackson said. "Was he on the scene twice? Did he use the Demerol? It's a very powerful drug. Was he injected once? Was he injected twice?"

The criminal investigation is only one of the latest developments in the already chaotic world that Michael Jackson has in the wake of his death on Thursday. A major custody battle of Jackson's children also looms.

Jackson’s first wife, Debbie Rowe is the leading contender to gain guardianship of the two children the couple had, Paris and Prince Michael I, but a child welfare expert said Rowe would have to be investigated thoroughly before the kids would be turned over to her.
 
“This is the protocol,” a senior official at the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services told TheWrap.

 

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