You’re fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight.
There’s no escapin the jaws of the alien this time –
This is the end of your life.
-- Michael Jackson, “Thriller”
This April, in what many predict will be the most watched criminal proceeding since O.J. Simpson’s, Dr. Conrad Murray will be tried for involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Meanwhile, the California Medical Board is filing a motion to revoke the cardiologist’s medical license
Thirty years ago, Dr. George Nichopolous, was tried on the same charges in the death of Jackson’s father-in-law, Elvis Presley. The Tennessee Medical Board also moved to pull his license. Nichopolous was acquitted of manslaughter charges, and the board suspended him for three months.
In spite of the acquittal, Vernon Presley insisted that Dr. Nick had murdered his son. In "The Death of Elvis," authors Thompson and Cole assert that the star’s father made an unsuccessful attempt to have the doctor assassinated at the Memphis Liberty Bowl.
The Jackson family has repeatedly stated its belief that Michael was murdered by Murray, in league with “a shadowy entourage.” Father Joe has denounced the manslaughter charge as inadequate, saying that Michael himself had predicted he might be murdered.
Should Murray, like Nichopolous, be acquitted, the Jacksons’ only remaining option may be in a Wrongful Death civil action, such as that the Goldmans filed against the acquitted O.J.
Meanwhile, in the next months Dr. Conrad’s defense team will be pouring over “thousands of pages of evidence,” according to litigator, Michael Flanagan. His colleague, Ed Chernoff, has pledged that they will “fight like hell.”
A former prosecutor, Chernoff is now a defense specialist who has lost only one felony jury trial out of 40. The third member of Murray’s team, Joseph Low, has never lost a murder case.
In spite of their collective talents comparable to O.J.’s Dream Team, the Murray team faces no easy task in proving to a jury that their client is not guilty of “gross negligence.”
In presenting evidence of this, the Prosecution will claim:
1. Murray left the room after giving Jackson the anesthetic, propofol.
2. He failed to intubate Jackson.
3. He improperly administered CPR.
4. He failed to immediately call 911.
The Defense will have difficulty disproving the first two allegations. It will challenge the third with Murray’s own sworn statement that he placed a hand under Jackson’s back while administering CPR. Lastly, it will try to make credible Murray’s claim that he had no immediate landline to call 911, and that he couldn’t remember his street address for a cell phone call.
Chernoff will likely assert that his client made diligent efforts to substitute propofol with less potent sedatives. Similarly, Dr. Nicholopous’ lawyers successfully persuaded the jury that he had tried to “wean” Elvis off narcotics by using placebos.
Though unable to make the same claim, Chernoff will stress that his client strenuously resisted Michael’s demands for “my milk” – his propofol.
Now Murray’s team will hammer on Jackson’s history of drug abuse and “doctor shopping.”
