Dr. Murray's Defense

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 7, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

                Dr. Conrad Murray returned to Los Angeles Superior Court April 5 to face charges of involuntary manslaughter in the June 25, 2009 death of Michael Jackson, ruled a Propofol overdose Feb. 28 by the Los Angeles County Coroner.  California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, a recently announced Democratic gubernatorial candidate, asked the California Medical Board to immediately suspend Murray’s medical license.  Murray “demonstrated a serious lack of judgment that should prohibit him from practicing medicine,” said Brown, asking the court to make Murray’s license suspension contingent on posting a bond for involuntary manslaughter.  Saying the suspension would “accomplish public protection quickly, efficiently and economically,” Brown argued that Murray represented a danger to public safety.  Murray denied that he caused Jackson’s untimely death.

            Nearly eight months after Jackson’s death, Los Angeles Connty District Atty. Steve Cooley charged Murray Feb. 28 with one count of involuntary manslaughter.  Cooley decided that the doctor’s actions constituted the kind of accidental negligence seen in drunk driving accidents.  Before his death, Jackson hired Murray as his personal physician to travel with his road-show for a new year-long British tour.  Unlike the negligence found in involuntary manslaughter, Murray concocted, under his own free will, a dangerous, unproven method to treat Jackson’s insomnia.  His method of administering a short-acting anesthetic to induce sleep, without proper training or monitoring equipment, goes far beyond accidental negligence.  Murray’s actions constitute gross negligence and beneath-the-standard-of-care, warranting immediate suspension of his medical license.

            Cooley’s Feb 28. decision to try Murray for a single count of involuntary manslaughter ignored the egregious malpractice rising to the level of at least voluntary manslaughter for the deliberate, planned and carefully executed act that killed the 50-year-old pop music legend.  At the April 5 hearing, Murray’s attorney indicated that he only administered 25 mg of a 20 ml or about 200 mg bottle.  Murray claims the Propofol he administered was far less than the coroner found in Jackson’s system, implying Jackson administered the lethal overdose to himself.  Jackson’s old family doctor Arnold Klein refuted the defense theory, claiming Michael was needle-phobic and would have never injected himself.  But quite apart from the defense theory that Jackson injected himself with the fatal dose of Propofol, Murray should have never used Propofol to treat Jackson’s insomnia.

            Before the April 5 hearing, it was assumed that the defense would claim that the synergistic effect of multiple drugs in Jackson’s system, including unknown quantities of Ativan and Verced, both anti-anxiety benzodiazapine drugs, contributed to Jackson’s overdose.  Insisting that Jackson injected himself will be difficult to prove since there’s no evidence that it happened other than Murray’s word  that he only injected Jackson with 25 mg of Popofol or one-eighth of a bottle.  Insisting that Jackson injected himself adds a convoluted twist to a defense theory with already tortured logic.  Murray will have to answer whether his Propofol-based-anesthesia-insomnia treatment was concocted by himself or a usual-and-customary medical treatment.  If not a tried-and-true medical treatment, then Murray will have to answer whether practicing anesthesia was outside his scope of practice.

            Murray’s attorney, Ed Chernoff, will have to convince a jury that Jackson woke up on his own when Murray wasn’t looking and injected himself with the lethal dose of Propofol.  Chernoff will still have to explain Murray’s report that he injected him with 25 mg of Popofol at 10:40 am, returned at 10:50 am to find Jackson not breathing, eyes open and pupils dilated and then performed CPR, eventually having Jackson employee Alberto Alvarez call 911 at 12:21 pm.  Murray claimed that didn’t call 911 sooner because he didn’t know the street address but somehow waited nearly an hour-and-a-half before seeking help.  No matter which way the defense goes, they’ve got a lot of explaining to do to convince a jury that Murray wasn’t responsible for Jackson’s death.  It’s no wonder that so many of Jackson’s fans believe that he was murdered by the Las Vegas and Houston-based cardiologist.   

            Dr. Conrad Murray’s going to have a difficult time convincing a jury that he’s not responsible for Jackson’s death.  LA County District Atty. Steve Cooley deliberately charged Murray with involuntary manslaughter to keep the burden of proof more doable.  When you look at the facts, Cooley should have charged Murray at least voluntary manslaughter because Murray’s gross negligence goes beyond accidental death.  Cooley was concerned he couldn’t establish Murray’s “intent” to murder, necessary for manslaughter, first and second-degree murder.  But Murray engaged in “reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life,” a needed condition to establish malice aforethought or “intent.”  Murray knew that administering a Popofol drip to treat insomnia without precedent, proper training or monitoring equipment recklessly endangered his patient’s life.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.