Dr. Conrad Murray's Criminal Conviction

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright November 8, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

     In a rare act of the redemption, the Los Angeles District Attorney finally tasted sweet success winning a hard-fought conviction in the involuntary manslaughter trial of pop singer legend Michael Jackson.  Jackson was found lifeless in the morning of June 25, 2009 by his personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray.  When the police arrived at the scene of Jackson’s Holmby Hills rented mansion, they found an interesting setup in the bedroom:  Intravenous equipment with numerous vials of the operating room anesthetic trade-named Diprivan or generic propofol.  Murray set his own precedent creating an insomnia machine, without proper training in anesthesia or sleep management.  When the Los Angeles County Coroner determined Aug. 24, 2009 that Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication, Murray defense team went into overdrive, blaming the overdose on Jackson.

             Murray’s defense team, led by Houston-based criminal defense attorney Ed Chernoff, insisted Jackson administered a lethal dose to himself when Murray was the one giving Jackson regular doses of propofol.  Chernoff never argued that Murray successfully treated Jackson’s insomnia but the patient died.  Before the trial began Sept. 27, the American Medical Assn. weighed in saying they believed it was inappropriate to prosecute physicians for criminal acts.  Murray’s trial began a test case for when medical malpractice crosses the line into criminal negligence.  If there were ever a definition of criminal negligence it was Murray’s use of propofol to treat Jackson’s insomnia.  While the trial went into various aspects of Murray’ incompetence, the DA only had to prove that he crossed the line by treating insomnia with a powerful and dangerous operating room anesthetic.

                Chernoff did his best to confuse jurors, including putting propfol expert Dr. Paul White on the stand to tell jurors he believed Jackson injected himself.  He told jurors his conclusion was based not on a crystal ball but on Dr. Conrad Murray’s testimony that he only gave Jackson 25 mg, a fraction of the lethal concentration of 1,000 mg found in Jackson’s bloodstream by the Los Angeles County Cornoer.  When cross examined by Deputy DA David Walgren, White admitted that he would have never treated Jackson with propofol in his own home.   Walgren also asked White whether or not it was possible that Murray was lying.  White conceded it was a possibility.  Whatever jurors heard, they got the distinct message that using propofol to treat insomnia was the definition of “reckless negligence,” enough to convict Murray of involuntary manslaughter, perhaps even more.

               Murray’s defense team did a good job of diverting jurors attention on extraneous matters, including the unproven theory that Jackson inadvertently committed suicide by a lethal self-administered dose of propofol.  Chernoff spent too much time on Jackson’s other possible prescription drug abuse, including the trace amounts of diazepam [Valium] and lorazepam [Ativan] found in Jackson’s system.   Chernoff had White play coroner, including suggesting that Demerol withdrawal symptoms could produce the insomnia that created Jackson’s desperate acts.  Only one small problem:  The Coroner found no Demerol in Jackson’s bloodstream, shooting down another defense theory that the synergistic drug effects caused Jackson’s respiratory failure.  When that theory didn’t fly, Chernoff went back to the farfetched notion that Jackson injected himself with the lethal propofol dose.

            When the American Medical Assn. came out two weeks before the trial saying that physicians should be criminally prosecuted when their patients die, Judge Michael Pastor’s courtroom became a test case for how and when the line is crossed from civil malpractice to a criminal case.  When Murray was handcuffed and remanded into Sheriff’s custody following the guilty verdict, it remined the medical community that no one is potentially immune to criminal negligence.  If there were ever a perfect definition of medical criminal negligence, Murray’s misconduct fit the bill.  Concocting an insomnia machine with an operating room anesthetic went over the top.  One of the world’s most gifted entertainers was snuffed out at the hands of a doctor engaged in reckless negligence.  Doctors around the country—indeed the world—can no longer get away with murder.

            Convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a unanimous Los Angeles jury, justice is finally served in the death of pop singing legend Michael Jackson.  Jackson’s unceremonious end at age 50 speaks to the fragility of life.  Moon-walking and performing at the highest levels the night before at Staples Center, Jackson was found lifeless the morning after by his 57-year-old personal physician.  When the sheriff slapped cuffs on the dapper Murray shortly after being pronounced guilty, Judge Pastor refused to let Murray go free before his sentencing hearing Nov. 29.  Once the verdict was read, Murray became a convicted felon, an appropriate ending to his reckless medical negligence.  While no one knows how long Murray will serve in prison, it warns physicians going forward that no one is immune to criminal prosecution.  Jackson’s death has already saved lives.

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.

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