Name	People v. Murray
Court	Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Full name	People of the State of California v. Conrad Robert Murray
Date decided	November 7, 2011
Judges	Michael E. Pastor
Opinions	Defendant found guilty of involuntary manslaughter
Italic title	no }}

The trial of Conrad Robert Murray (''People of the State of California v. Conrad Robert Murray'') was the American criminal trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, born February 19, 1953 in St. Andrews, Grenada, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter of Jackson. The trial, which started on September 27, 2011, was held in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, California, before Judge Michael Pastor.

The prosecutors in the case were David Walgren and Deborah Brazil, both Los Angeles deputy district attorneys, who, in their opening statement, told jurors that "misplaced trust in the hands of Murray cost Jackson his life". Murray's defense counsel (Edward Chernoff, Matthew Alford, J. Michael Flanagan and Nareg Gourjian) claimed Jackson, who was tired and under pressure from rehearsing, took eight tablets of lorazepam, a sedative. "When Dr. Murray left the room, Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that, with the lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body that killed him instantly. The whole thing is tragic, but the evidence is not that Dr. Murray did it," Chernoff said. Testimony during the trial showed that Murray had stayed with Jackson at least six nights a week and was regularly asked—and sometimes begged—by the insomniac singer to give him drugs powerful enough to put him to sleep. Jackson, Murray told authorities, was especially eager to be administered propofol, a surgical anesthetic that put him to sleep when other powerful sedatives could not. Testimony indicated that propofol, in conjunction with other drugs in Jackson's system, had played the key role in his death on June 25, 2009. In November 2011, the jury found Murray guilty after about eight hours of deliberation, and he was sentenced to four years in prison.

Timeline of prosecution case[link]

September 27, 2011: Day 1 Both sides made opening statements. The jury viewed a photograph of Jackson lying on a gurney, taken minutes after he was declared dead. The jury also heard a tape of Jackson's slurred speech near the end of his life. Murray's attorney told the court that Murray is not to blame for Jackson's death, that Jackson gave himself a dose of drugs that killed him so quickly Jackson "didn't even have time to close his eyes". "What happened during that time frame is that the acts and omissions of Michael Jackson's personal doctor Conrad Murray directly led to his premature death at age 50," prosecutor Walgren said. "That misplaced trust in Conrad Murray cost Michael Jackson his life." The first witness, Kenny Ortega, was called to testify.

September 28, 2011: Day 2 Michael Amir Williams, known as Jackson's personal assistant, testified.

September 29, 2011: Day 3 Two former members of Jackson's staff, bodyguard Alberto Alvarez and Chef Kai Chase, took the stand. Alvarez was the first person into Jackson's bedroom after Murray raised the alarm. He indicated that Murray asked him to place vials from Jackson's bedside cabinet in a bag and remove an IV drip from its stand (an IV drip containing saline solution and what appeared to be a propofol bottle, according to Alvarez), before he asked him to phone 911.

September 30, 2011: Day 4 Bob Johnson, an executive from Nonin Medical, a company that manufactures pulse oximeters, testified first. The next witness was a former patient of Murray, Robert Russell from Las Vegas. The third witness was the first paramedic to enter Jackson's house and bedroom, Richard Senneff. The fourth witness was paramedic Martin Blount. Dr. Richelle Cooper, an emergency room physician at UCLA Medical Center, testified fifth. Although not pronounced dead until sometime after reaching the hospital (2:26 pm), the paramedics never saw any signs of life from when they first entered Jackson's bedroom (12:26 pm).

October 3, 2011: Day 5 Cooper continued testifying. According to Cooper, drugs including intravenous sodium bicarbonate, vasopressin, epinephrine, atropine and dopamine were used during the attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation of Jackson's body in the trauma bay of UCLA Medical Center. From the time Jackson's body was under the care of Cooper until his death was pronounced, there were continuous chest compressions and 'bagging' via an endotracheal tube. Cooper testified that Jackson was clinically dead upon arriving at the hospital. Cooper testified that Murray had told her that he had given Jackson 2 mg of lorazepam (a benzodiazepine) sometime earlier that day, then another 2 mg, which caused the cardiac arrest. During cross-examination, Cooper was asked about the effect of propofol as a sedative. She said about a "milligram per kilogram" would be the starting dose on a patient and would be administered into the patient's arm through an injection port. The administration would happen over a period of "a minute to a minute and a half" and the patient would be constantly monitored by a number of personnel. She said that sedation would expect to last 10 minutes. When asked what effect "25 mg over 3–5 minutes" would have on a patient, she responded that she would not expect that to have any effect. When asked about administering propofol through an IV drip, she said that only occurs if the patient is intubated and the desired effect is deep sedation.

Next to the stand were employees from phone companies AT&T; and Sprint Nextel, who were asked to guide the jury through the meaning of various data on Murray's phone records from June 25, 2009.

Dr. Thao Nguyen, a cardiologist from UCLA Medical Center, testified that she was beeped on that day to help with the care of "a V.I.P patient, named Michael Jackson". She was under the impression the patient was "coding" meaning that resuscitation was partially successful. The court heard testimony that when Murray arrived at the hospital, he was "desperate and devastated" and that he told the staff "Do not give up easily, try to save his life". Nguyen's testimony then turned to the effects of Ativan (brand name of lorazepam), the drug that Murray claimed started Jackson's cardiac arrest. According to Nguyen, Ativan acts on the brain to "make[] you sleep" and can cause respiratory apnea ("not breathing"). She testified that "you do not typically use narcotics (such as ativan) to treat insomnia, they are used for sedation" but, when cross-examined, she admitted that it is one of its uses. Testimony then turned to the use of flumazenil (a benzodiazepine antagonist) as an antidote to Ativan. Ativan would cause the patient to have slurred speech but propofol would not, it is "quick onset, quick offset". Propofol is only to be used in a hospital, "not just any hospital room, but only in an intensive care unit or procedure room, by specialist personnel" (an anesthesiologist present throughout its use). Constant monitoring is required because [we] "wouldn't be sure of the patient's tolerance threshold" to the drug and there should be a crash cart to hand. Nguyen also testified that Murray never mentioned propofol.

October 4, 2011: Day 6 Stacey Ruggles, Michelle Bella and Sade Anding testified about their relationships with Murray. They were in contact with Murray on June 25, 2009. Anding, who is thought to be the person that Murray was speaking to when he noticed Jackson was not breathing, said she heard coughing and mumbling after Murray stopped speaking on the call, which lasted "three or four minutes".

Murray's girlfriend, Nicole Alvarez, is currently living with Murray in Santa Monica. She is the mother to Murray's son born in March 2009. They met in Las Vegas in 2005 where she was working in a strip club. She testified about visits to Jackson's home and her plans to travel to London with Murray for the concerts. She also told how she was accepting FedEx packages to her home in Murray's name. Prosecution provided FedEx receipts to the court and Alvarez testified that they were accurate and that her signature was on some of them. Alvarez was the person Murray called while he was in the ambulance with Jackson's body. He showed up to her apartment later that evening.

Tim Lopez, employed by Applied pharmacy services, liaised with Murray over purchases of propofol and Benoquin. He testified about orders Murray placed for Benoquin cream to use in the treatment of the disease vitiligo, and propofol over the time period April to June 2009 (225 vials in total). His orders of propofol were being routed through his Las Vegas office and then shipped to Alvarez's apartment in Los Angeles. He was also ordering increasing quantities of propofol as time went on.

October 5, 2011: Day 7 Sally Hirschberg, a customer service and sales employee of Seacoast Medical, a pharmaceutical distributor in Omaha, Nebraska, was first called to the stand. Testimony included details of Murray's dealing with the firm; account opened Dec 2006, various medical items ordered during April 2009 including 'safe site' IV set and a cancellation of an order for condom catheters on June 26, 2009. On cross-examination, Hirschberg testified that the items Murray was ordering were not unusual for a medical practice specializing in cardiovascular treatment.

Stephen Marx, a computer forensics examiner, working for the DEA in Virginia during June 2009, testified next. He performed an analysis of Murray's iPhone and extracted screenshots, emails and recordings from it. The emails pertained to medical handwritten notes for patients Omar Arnold and Paul Farance. One email asked Murray "Is that him too?". Emails pertaining to Jackson's insurance while in London were also shown. The insurance company confirmed that Murray was Jackson's only doctor since 2006 and that they wanted very thorough medical reports and records and a review of Jackson during rehearsals before agreeing to cover him. It was heard that Jackson refused authorization to release his medical records.

During the testimony, a recording of a conversation between Murray and Jackson was played from May 10, 2009. The recording featured Jackson talking about healing the world and helping children because he did not have a childhood, in slurred, almost incomprehensible speech. The recording ended with Murray asking "Are you OK?" and with Jackson replying "I am asleep."

Next to testify was Elissa Fleak, a Los Angeles County coroner for the past eight years. Her duties include investigating deaths (natural/suicide/homicide) and working with medical examiners to determine the cause of death. Fleak went to UCLA Medical Center at 5:20 pm on June 25, 2009, to examine Jackson's body and get information surrounding his death. She examined the body in a private room through notes and photographs and looked for external wounds/injuries; any sign to signal the cause of death. None were found. She took four vials of Jackson's blood for toxicology testing and went to Jackson's house to perform a onsite investigation. While in Jackson's bedroom, she found an empty 20ml propofol bottle and an empty 5ml flumazenil bottle on the floor beside the bedside table. She also recovered other prescription drugs such as: diazepam, lorazepam and tamsulosin (Flomax). Also, one bottle prescribed to Mick Jackson's and some medicines prescribed by Alan Metzger. Other drugs found were Benoquin, hydroquinone, lidocaine and an oxygen tank beside the bed. Medical equipment recovered included alcohol prep pads, a 10cc syringe with the needle removed, an IV catheter on the floor under an Ambu bag, an aspirin bottle, a syringe box, catheters, a jug of urine, an IV pole with saline bag and tubing draped over it.

Three bags were recovered: a black bag, a blue Costco bag (found in the closet) and a light blue 'baby essentials' bag. Items in the black bag were: a Starline blood pressure cuff box and 3 bottles of lidocaine. The blue Costco bag contained "medical debris" including a pulse oximeter, a lanyard, vials, an empty 20ml propofol bottle, 2 bottles of midazolam, an opened IV administration set, a urinary leg bag, a wideband bag, 2 empty dressing bags, 2 empty catheter bags, opened alcohol prep pads, dressing backings, an empty syringe packet, 4 vial tops and a needle cap. Also the saline bag with a cut in it containing the "more or less empty" 100ml propofol bottle that Alvarez recalls removing from the IV stand. The light blue 'baby essentials' bag contained an array of bottles including 100ml propofol and 20ml propofol bottles (filled to various levels, some opened, some closed), lorazepam, flumazenil, lidocaine and Benoquin. Also found were Murray's business cards from his Houston practice.

October 6, 2011: Day 8 Fleak confirmed the presence of an IV stand, saline infusion set and depressed syringe in a y-port connected to the tubing beside Jackson's bed. The court heard that she issued a subpoena to Murray for Jackson's medical records. Only the records pre-2009 were submitted to her. During cross-examination, Chernoff asked Fleak about a number of "mistakes" during her examination, such as picking up a bottle from the floor before photographing it, ignoring the presence of the IV stand, not taking a picture of the propofol bottle inside the cut saline bag (she said she took it out to see what it was then photographed it), and destroying her handwritten notes from June 25, 2009. It was heard that Fleak did not mention the propofol bottle was inside the saline bag in writing until March 2011. (It was suggested by the defense that she changed her story to fall into line with other witness' stories regarding the bottle in the bag.)

Next called to testify was Dan Anderson, chief toxicologist at the coroner's office. He has 21 years experience in this field. He tested blood and urine taken from Jackson in UCLA and at autopsy on June 26, 2009. Blood taken from a femoral vein showed propofol (2.6 μg/ml), lidocaine (0.84 μg/ml) and lorazepam (0.169 μg/ml). Blood taken from Jackson's heart showed propofol (3.2 μg/ml), lidocaine (0.68 μg/ml), diazepam (<0.1 μg/ml), lorazepam (0.162 μg/ml), midazolam (4.6 μg/ml) and a hemoglobin percentage of 5.1%. Vials of blood taken from Jackson at UCLA were found to contain propofol (4.1 μg/ml). Other results included liver (lidocaine (0.45 μg/ml), propofol (6.2 μg/ml)), stomach (lidocaine (1.6 μg/ml), propofol (0.13 μg/ml)), urine (jug found in bedroom and more than 500ml collected at autopsy) (lorazepam, lidocaine, midazolam, propofol and ephedrine), vitreous humour (propofol (0.4 μg/ml)). Propofol was found in all 8 specimen samples. Also tested were the 10cc syringe and plunger, the syringe barrel, the fluid in the syringe and the IV tubing (propofol and lidocaine found). No alcohol, barbiturates, cocaine, sedative hypnotics, marijuana, methamphetamine, opiates, codeine, morphine, hydrocodone, Demerol were found in the samples.

During cross-examination it was heard that post-mortem redistribution occurs in the blood stream, and hence different concentrations of drugs were found in different parts of the body. It was also heard that the jug of urine from the bedroom could be from days before and might not even be Jackson's urine. It was heard that the low amount of propofol in the vitreous humour was negligible. It was also heard that there was no propofol found on the IV pole. The only place it was found was in the lower portion of the tubing and the syringe and the drug proportions couldn't be ascertained.

October 7, 2011: Day 9 Dan Anderson continued to answer questions about the levels of drugs in Jackson's system and the substances found in the IV bag (no drugs), tubing and syringes (propofol and lidocaine found) found in Jackson's bedroom. It was heard that the level of lorazepam in Jackson's system (0.162 μg/ml) was within the therapeutic range(0.1–0.2 μg/ml), the level at which it has its desired effect. It was shown that the total amount of lorazepam in Jackson's stomach was 0.046599 mg; about 1/43 of a 2 mg tablet. It was noted that if there was a lot of a certain substance in the blood but not a lot in the urine then it was recently taken, the same can be said for the stomach (if there was a large amount then it was recently ingested).

Fleak was recalled to clarify some issues with photographs and the placement of items in the photographs that she testified to on October 6.

Next called to testify was Detective Scott Smith of the LAPD. With 24 years experience in the LAPD (20 years detective), he was working for the Robbery Homicide division during June 2009. On June 25, 2009 he entered the UCLA emergency room at 4:25 pm and stayed until 7 pm. In that time he did not see Murray, but collected CCTV footage of Murray leaving the ER at 4:38 pm and appearing in the west lobby at 5:02 pm. Before Smith left, he had brief interviews with Mohammed and Alvarez. Smith then went to the Carolwood residence to assist and support the coroner's investigators. It was heard that everyone left the house at 9:30 pm, and Jackson's security was left in charge of the house. On June 26, Smith attended the autopsy, which was deferred pending toxicology and then went back to the house to further investigate because the Jackson family had handed some items to the police (some rotten cannabis in a shaving kit, some lotion, paper, an envelope and other debris). Inside the shaving kit was a bottle of temazepam prescribed by Murray to Omar Arnold dated September 26, 2008. While at the house, Smith found some empty pill bottles in the master bathroom.

While Smith was on the stand, a two-hour police interview with Murray, taken 48 hours after Jackson's death, was played to the court. It was held in the Ritz Carlton hotel, and Orlando Martinez asked the questions; Chernoff was present. It was heard that Murray first met Jackson in 2006, a security guard (a patient's son) asked Murray to meet him, and first treated his children for the flu. Amir (Michael Amir Williams) told Murray that Michael Jackson would like him to be there for the concerts. He understood that he would be an employee of Jackson's but then discovered his salary would be from AEG Live. Murray said Jackson was not a person who ate well, he was probably seeing doctors for things he did not disclose to Murray. It was heard that Murray spent six nights a week at Jackson's house, only having Sundays off, and it was usually just Murray, Jackson, and his kids in the house.

Murray's claims in his taped statement to police:

Amir phoned to say Jackson was finished rehearsals at 12:10 am and to meet him at the house. Amir got there at 12.:0 am, Jackson arrived between 1:05 and 1:10 am.

Jackson showered, Murray put cream on his body because of dermatological issues.

Murray put an IV saline drip in his leg to treat for dehydration from dancing at rehearsals and gave the sedative Valium (10 mg, 1 tablet, orally taken) to help him sleep. He did not sleep.

At 2:00 am, Murray gave Jackson 2 mg of lorazepam diluted in saline and pushed slowly over 2–3 mins into the IV line. He observed Jackson stay wide awake for an hour. Jackson complained he could not sleep.

At 3:00 am, Murray gave Jackson 2 mg midazolam. Jackson was still awake. Murray tried to get Jackson to meditate and turned down the lights and music. His eyes closed and he fell asleep between 3:20 and 3:30 am. 10–12 minutes later he was awake again.

At 4:30 am, Jackson was still awake and complaining, "need to sleep, must be ready for the concerts, would have to cancel the trip because I cannot function if I don't get sleep". "The medicine doesn't work".

At 5:00 am, Murray gave Jackson 2 mg lorazepam. Still awake and complaining about canceling rehearsals, not satisfying fans and there being lots of pressure.

At 6:00–6:30 am, Jackson was still awake and still talking.

At 7:30 am, Murray gave Jackson 2 mg midazolam. It had no effect, and he wondered why Jackson was not responding.

At 10:00 am, Jackson was still awake. He said he wanted "milk" (propofol) so he could sleep, saying. "I know it works".

At 10:40 am, Jackson said "Just make me sleep, no matter what", "can't function without sleep", "have to cancel concerts". Murray said he felt under a lot of pressure, so he switched to propofol.

At 10:50 am, Murray gave Jackson 25 mg propofol diluted with Lidocaine slowly infused over 3–5 minutes. Lidocaine was used because the propofol could burn the vessels. It had a very quick effect.

Because of the other drugs in his system, Murray gave 25 mg (the usual dose was 50 mg) before starting the drip to keep him asleep. Murray was asked how often had he gave Jackson the "milk", and he answered "2 months, every day". He was also asked "before you became his doctor did you know he was taking it?" Murray said he was surprised about how much Jackson knew about the drug. He knew it worked, he knew how much to put in, knew how to inject it, he said it was the only thing that worked, the lidocaine was needed with it to stop it burning (Jackson called it anti-burn, "anti-burn makes it comfortable"). Other doctors allowed Jackson to push it himself, and Murray "wouldn't allow it" because it made him sleep instantly. Murray kept telling Jackson that it was artificial sleep. Murray said that Jackson's veins were coarse, dried up and filled with clots caused by too much IV over time. He could not get an IV in his hands.

At 11.00 am, Jackson was asleep but not snoring. Usually he would be in a deep sleep and snoring, so Murray thought Jackson would wake up again. Murray watched Jackson. Oxygen saturation was 90, heart rate was 70. Murray felt comfortable, so he got up to go to the bathroom and took some of Jackson's urine with him. Murray said he was gone for two minutes. When Murray returned, Jackson was not breathing and his heart rate was 122. He felt a pulse in Jackson's femoral artery; his body was warm and had not changed color. Murray started CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Jackson's chest was rising and falling upon ventilation. Murray looked at the telephone then remembered none of them worked. He could not move Jackson off the bed to do CPR, so he placed his left hand under Jackson's body to continue chest compression. Murray said he did not call 911 because he did not know Jackson's zip code. He called Amir to tell security to come up. There was no pulse now, so he lifted his legs to try and get the blood flowing to his heart. He then infused 0.2 mg flumazenil into the IV to try and counteract the lorazepam. He went to the landing to meet Alvarez. Alvarez came in, and Murray told him to call 911 and to help move Jackson onto the floor, which he did. Murray was still giving CPR and mouth-to-mouth when the paramedics arrived and intubated him. They saw PEA (pulseless electrical activity, they could see a beat but there was no contraction) and administered atropine, epinephrine and sodium bicarbonate. After 20 minutes, the paramedics (while in contact with UCLA) wanted to call time of death. However, Murray got them to transfer care to him. Murray said "I didn't want to give up, I love Michael, he was my friend, I wanted to help, he was a single parent, thinking about the children, thinking about my own children". CPR continued down to the ambulance; once in the trauma bay, medical personnel tried for at least an hour, they "would have given up without me" said Murray. They pronounced him dead, but Murray would not sign the death certificate because he did not know the cause of death.

Chernoff prompted Murray to tell the police about the last 3 days. Murray said Jackson wanted nightly "milk" and he didn't want to do that because it was not natural sleep and could be a hazard. "I tried to wean him off it with his knowledge to have more natural sleep. I had never seen any study where someone had been addicted to propofol". Murray gave him lesser amounts (lower doses and lower drip rate) and gave lorazepam and midazolam as well. Jackson told Murray he wanted to "go all the way, other doctors would do it". Murray said the lorazepam and midazolam were not working. Jackson was suffering from withdrawal, and his mind was forcing him to stay awake. Murray said he "tried all night but nothing would work. Gave him propofol just so he would get a couple of hours of sleep" "I didn't want to hurt him, he was my friend, didn't want MJ to fail, I cared about his writing and his producing, I tried to wean him off, MJ was a bit restless but it was working".

October 11, 2011: Day 10 The proceedings began with the conclusion of the recording of Murray's interview with the police from 48 hours after Jackson's death. Afterwards, Smith continued his testimony. Smith never mentioned in any notes referencing a propofol bottle being inside a saline bag during searches of Jackson's home in June 2009. He saw the propofol bottle beside a cut saline bag after Fleak had removed them from the Costco bag and it was the only saline bag found. Search warrants were executed of Murray's house in Las Vegas, offices in Las Vegas and Houston, his girlfriend's apartment, his warehouse and his car, and no propofol was found. During brief statements taken from Mohammed and Amir at the hospital on June 25, 2009, neither of them mentioned Murray asking to be brought back to the residence. Alvarez did not mention propofol in an IV bag or Murray asking him to put things in bags until after the cause of death was released on August 27, 2009.

Dr. Christopher Rogers, Chief of forensic pathology at the coroner's office, testified he had conducted the autopsy of Jackson on June 26, 2009. There was nothing obvious indicating the cause of death, and he was healthier than the average person of his age because there was no atherosclerosis on the walls of his coronary arteries. Jackson did not have heart disease, and there were no irregularities in his heart. There was no evidence of natural disease or trauma, his esophagus was intact with no milky fluid there or in the stomach. The stomach contained no pills or capsules. His mouth, upper airway and trachea were all intact with no foreign material present. Rogers took samples from each organ and sent them to the relevant experts for consults because he was not able to determine the cause of death and wanted a toxicological analysis. Rogers also requested Jackson's medical records from Murray but never received them.

After toxicological analysis, Rogers determined the cause of death to be acute propofol intoxication with contributing effects from benzodiazepines exacerbating respiratory and cardiovascular depression. When asked about the manner of death, he testified it was a homicide. Propofol was not necessary, it was outside of a hospital or clinic, and the proper equipment to be used with propofol was not there. Murray administered too much propofol. The "circumstances do not support self administration" because Jackson would have had to have woken up, self-administer the drugs, circulate to the brain, and then be found not breathing – all in the space of 2 minutes. Rogers said that was a "less likely scenario". The "more likely scenario" was that "Murray was estimating the doses" to give Jackson and that "Murray accidentally gave too much". There was a cut in the rubber stopper in the propofol inconsistent with a needle but a medical device called a spike, which is used to get the liquid to flow out, to "set up constant flow" of the drug.

During cross-examination, Rogers testified that the only evidence of propofol in the medical equipment was in the syringe, in the Y-connector and the tubing thereafter. None was found in the upper tubing or the IV saline bag. Defense council Flanagan asked "Would 25 mg propofol pushed over 3-5minutes make the patient sleep?, and Rogers said yes. Flanagan: "How long would they sleep for?" Rogers: "Approximately 5 minutes". Flanagan: "So a 25 mg dose of propofol at 10:50 am would have no effect after 11.05?" Rogers: "Correct". Flanagan: "After this you would assume the patient sleeping was cause by something else and not propofol wouldn't you?" Rogers: "Yes". The therapeutic range of propofol required for major surgery was 4 μg/ml, and for lesser operations it was 2 μg/ml. Jackson had 2.6 μg/ml in his femoral blood, which is used for post-mortem examination because as it is not located near any large organs and is less prone to redistribution after death. Rogers stated that a lethal level of propofol has been documented anywhere between 1 and 17 μg/ml. Jackson's stomach level of lorazepam was 0.64 μg/ml, and his femoral blood level was 0.169 μg/ml. It was hypothesized that Jackson must have ingested lorazepam fairly close to the time of death for it not to have been absorbed and distributed yet. Flanagan: "A 2 mg pill of lorazepam gets you to 0.018 μg/ml blood level?" Rogers: "Yes, in Shafer's literature". Flanagan:"If you pushed (all at once) a dose of lorazepam to get you to 0.169 μg/ml blood level, it would stop your heart, wouldn't it" Rogers: "Yes".

On redirect, Walgren asked if Jackson had self-administered the propofol or lorazepam, it would still be a homicide because of the negligence by Murray, and Rogers said, "Correct". Walgren asked whether the propofol found was the same as in major surgery" and Rogers said, "Yes". Walgren: "Would 25 mg over 3–5 minutes get you to 2.6 g/ml blood level?" Rogers: "No".

October 12, 2011: Day 11 Dr. Alon Steinberg, a cardiologist for 13 years and board-certified in cardiovascular diseases, Cardiac CT and Nuclear Cardiology, testified that he was not an expert in anaesthesia or pharmacology and that Murray was not board-certified in June 2009. Of the three degrees of breaching the standard of care (no deviation, mild deviation, extreme deviation), this case was the first time Steinberg has seen extreme deviations from the standard of care. Steinberg testified that propofol is only used in cases of needing deep sedation when the patient will go through a significantly painful procedure and there are risks that the patient could stop breathing; that is why it is used with constant monitoring and emergency equipment on hand. He testified that he only uses propofol with performing cardioversions and that he is required to have an anaesthetist present. For instances of mild and moderate sedation he would use benzodiazepines and would never prescribe propofol for insomnia. He received Murray's case and was asked to review his acts and omissions against the standard of care. The review was based on Murray's own words from his police interview previously heard by the court. His findings: "Six separate and distinct extreme deviations from the standard of care".

#Propofol is not medically indicated for sleep. "I have never even heard of it being used for insomnia, it is a very powerful surgical sedation agent." There was also no informed consent signed by the patient. Risks, benefits, indications and alternatives should all be explained, understood and agreed before any treatment. #Propofol was being administered in the home, with no equipment, no medical personnel, no back-up and no physical observation by the attending physician. "Each of these individually would be an extreme deviation on their own". Equipment needed for propofol: alarm on the pulse oximeter, automated blood pressure cuff, EKG to monitor heart rhythm, ambu bag for ventilation assistance, a backboard for chest compressions, a back-up generator in case the power goes out, a way to summon help and a device for keeping the airway open such as an endotracheal tube. Murray had none of this equipment. Personnel required: Intubation specialist to rescue the airway, nurses for the procedures, emergency personnel close by, and an anaesthesiologist. Personnel trained in basic life support and advanced life support should be in attendance to deal with the airway maintenance, IV maintenance and any arrests that may occur. Drugs required during sedation in the event of an emergency: flumazenil, naloxone, lidocaine, atropine, beta blockers, dopamine, epinephrine, methylprednisolone. All of these should be available in a crash cart very close by. #Inadequate preparation for emergency situation. Attending physician must have the drugs and personnel prepared. #Improper care during arrest. Jackson had a respiratory arrest, and Murray did not follow the protocol for such an event. During respiratory arrest, the patient stops breathing, causing the oxygen levels in the blood to drop lower and lower, which causes the heart rate to increase. Lack of oxygen weakens the heart, and the heart will have electricity present but will not contract (pulseless electrical activity). Finally, the heart's electricity dies (asystole). Murray should have tried to arouse Jackson, placed an ambu bag over his mouth, cleared the airway, called 911 and administered flumazenil. Instead, Murray started chest compressions, which do not help respiratory arrest. "The heart was already working, he didn't need chest compressions". Even then the CPR was poor quality as it should be both hands on a hard surface not one hand on a bed. #Failure to summon emergency help. Murray should have called 911 on his cell phone immediately. Instead he waited until 12:21 pm, which was approximately 20 minutes after Jackson stopped breathing. Help was four minutes away. "I would have allowed two minutes to check the situation before calling 911. He had a cell phone." #Failure to maintain proper medical records. No informed consent. No records of Jackson's vital signs, doses given, responses to the medication. Murray was confused or dishonest about the records when they got to the emergency room.

Question: "Dr. Murray's deviations in the standard of care contributed to Jackson's untimely death?" Steinberg: "Yes". Question: "If Jackson administered the drugs to himself was it still gross negligence?" Steinberg: "Yes". All medicines are kept in locked and passworded cabinets. There would have been no opportunity for self-administration in a proper setting.

During cross-examination, Steinberg testified that if the patient had a blood pressure (caused by there being a pulse) and a pulse of 122, he was savable. If a patient is not breathing but has a pulse, the course of action is to clear the airways and give breaths.

Next to the stand was Dr. Nader Kamanger, board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, critical care and sleep medicine. He uses propofol daily for sedation when placing an endotracheal tube. It is the classic induction agent for deep sedation during painful procedures. It is the most common drug for maintaining sedation on patients on mechanical breathing apparatus. Doctors have to call an anaesthesiologist to administer it, someone who can maintain the airway, and someone who can reverse the effects of the drugs. Kamanger also pointed out extreme deviation of the standard of care, consistent with Steinberg's testimony.

October 13, 2011: Day 12 Next to the stand was Dr. Steven Shafer, a professor of anesthesiology at Columbia University since 2007 and adjunct professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University since 2000. He is an expert on pharmacokinetics (drugs in motion) and pharmacometrics with 20 years of experience working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). His field of interest involves mathematically modeling and how a dose of drug translates to concentrations in the body and its effects on a patient. He has published 19 papers about the pharmacokinetics of propofol. Pharmacokinetics involves the study of the dilution of drug in a patient's blood stream. Shafer is the current editor in chief for the Journal of Anesthesia and Analgesia and on the editing board of many other journals.

He testified about the history of the dosing guidelines of propofol.

October 19–20, 2011: Days 13 and 14 Shafer showed a video of the use of propofol during a procedure. He testified about his review of the Murray case. He found seventeen "separate and distinct egregious violations" of the standard of care, of which four were unconscionable, based on Murray's police interview:

#The lack of the basic emergency airway equipment. #The lack of the advanced emergency airway equipment. #The lack of suction apparatus. #The lack of an IV infusion pump. #The lack of alarmed pulse oximetry. #The failure to use a blood pressure cuff. #The lack of an electrocardiogram. #The lack of capnography. #The failure to maintain a doctor-patient relationship. #The failure to continuously monitor the mental status of the patient. #The failure to continuously monitor the breathing of the patient. #The failure to continuously monitor blood pressure and pulse oximetry, and to have heart monitors. #The failure to call 911 immediately. #The failure to chart at the outset of the procedure (egregious and unconscionable). #The failure to maintain written informed consent (egregious and unconscionable). #The failure to document throughout the course of sedation (egregious and unconscionable). #The failure to disclose to both the paramedics and UCLA the use of propofol and What Murray witnessed at the arrest.

Question: "Each one of these seventeen egregious violations is individually likely or expected to result in injury or death to Michael Jackson?" Response: "Yes"

Shafer showed simulations of propofol and lorazepam on his computer models. (i) If the drugs were bolus pushed: He stated that the drugs administered (as described in Murray's interview statement) could not have produced the femoral blood levels at autopsy. He also testified that Jackson repeatedly self-administrating the drugs would not have caused the femoral blood levels found at autopsy. (ii) If the drugs were IV administered: Administration by continued IV infusion would cause the femoral blood levels found at autopsy very quickly after the drip was started. After the patient stops breathing, the heart would still be beating so the IV would continue. This scenario would result in the blood levels at autopsy. According to Shafer: "That's what I think happened. Based on all the evidence."

Shafer demonstrated the set-up of an IV infusion of propofol. The IV line for propofol would need an air vent to allow air into the bottle and an infusion pump to control the dose. Without a pump, it is very hard to control the dose. He testified that he had never seen anything like the cut bag set-up and had never seen anyone do it.

Walgren asked Shafer a number of question regarding his testimony over the last few days:

"You have noted seventeen egregious violation from the standard of care, four of which you found were unconscionable?" "Yes"

"Showed us the video in which you demonstrated the safe and proper mean to administer sedation" "Yes". "And it is your opinion that those safeguards and that equipment is necessary even if the physician intents on administering just 25 mg of propofol?" "Yes".

"You have explained to us why it is impossible that Michael Jackson died as a result of orally swallowing propofol?" "Yes".

"You discussed lorazepam and you concluded that Michael Jackson received more than the 4 mg of lorazepam that Dr. Murray claimed to have given Michael Jackson?" "Yes".

"You also rejected the notion that certainly at ten o' clock am that Michael Jackson swallowed eight 2 mg tablets of lorazepam?" "Yes". "And you would broaden that window to four hours meaning between eight and noon based on what was found in the stomach was impossible that Michael Jackson swallowed that amount of lorazepam?" "Correct".

"You demonstrated here the simulation of how one would infuse propofol with this type of set up and with some of the evidence recovered in this case?" "Yes". "And that the infusion line with the propofol in it could be compacted into the fist of my hand?" "Yes".

"Taking all the evidence that you've reviewed and all the deviations from the standard of care, you've concluded that Conrad Murray was not only a substantial factor but a direct cause of Michael Jackson's death?" "Yes".

"Had all this transpired as relayed by Dr. Murray and subsequent to that Michael Jackson had either injected propofol and/or swallowed lorazepam tablets is it still your opinion that Conrad Murray was a direct cause, not just a substantial factor, of Michael Jackson's death?" "Absolutely". "And why is that?" "That's because he is a physician who has brought propofol into the room, started an intravenous and provided access to propofol to a patient who may in fact be developing a dependency on sedatives and he has been entrusted by Michael Jackson to look after his safety every night and he has failed that responsibility by enabling the administration of intravenous propofol. He is responsible for every drop of propofol in that room." "And lorazepam?" "Every drop of lorazepam in that room."

"And that's because Conrad Murray set up the situation when he abandoned the patient in the room?" "Yes".

October 21, 2011: Day 15 Chernoff cross-examined Shafer on his CV and about his relationship with the defense's expert Dr. Paul White.

October 24, 2011: Day 16 The cross-examination of Shafer concluded, and the prosecution rested.

Timeline of defense case[link]

October 24, 2011: Day 16 The first witness called was Donna Norris from the Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD). She is the manager of the 911 system of the BHPD. It was heard that the 911 call on June 25 at 12:20:18 lasted 46 seconds and was made from a cell phone.

The next witness called was Alexander Supall, a police surveillance specialist working for LAPD. He has been in this role for eleven years. It was heard that Mr Supall went to the Jackson residence on the day to check the surveillance tapes. He said he didn't locate where the cameras were or how many of them there were. The defense then played two surveillance videos involving Jackson and Murray's arrivals at the residence.

The next witness to testify was LAPD Detective Dan Myres. He works in the robbery homicide division and has been with the LAPD since March 1994. He joined the investigation of the Jackson death on the Monday after June 25, 2009. It was heard that Myres interviewed Alberto Alvarez in June 25 and August 31. In his initial statement he didn't mention putting away vials or a vial or bottle in an IV bag.

The next witness to the stand was LAPD Detective Orlando Martinez. Also in the robbery homicide division, has been with the LAPD for ten years. On hearing of Jackson's death he went to UCLA and was present for half of Alvarez's interview. He stated that Alvarez didn't mention putting away vials for Dr. Murray or seeing a vial or bottle inside an IV bag. It was heard that Mr. Walgren had a meeting with Alvarez and Myres in his office in April 2011. Martinez brought (from the case's evidence) a saline bag, a propofol bottle and a pulse oximeter to the meeting. Alvarez didn't recognize the propofol bottle shown to him. Alvarez was asked to draw the saline bag he saw after he described something at the bottom of the bag, it looked to be a port or some kind of apparatus.

The next witness was Dr. Allan Metzger. A physician, general internalist and rheumatologist since 1974, based in Los Angeles since 1981. First met Jackson 15–20 years ago. He began treating Michael Jackson in the 1990s for various things. He became close to Jackson through the birth of his children and became a friend. He was Jackson's primary physician in Los Angeles. He received a call from Jackson on June 12, 2008; the conversation was about sleep issues, skin issues and nutrition. Hadn't spoken to Jackson for five years previously. It was heard that Dr. Metzger was in touch infrequently with the children's nanny over 2008-2009 keeping tabs on the children. Jackson called for Dr. Metzger to come over in April 2009 to review his health issues. It was infrequent, not unusual to visit house. Three children, Jackson and some security guards were present on visit. The conversation was about medical issues and rehearsal schedule. Jackson wanted to do 50 shows but was worried about nutrition. Also talked about hydration before and after performing. It was heard Jackson has had sleep issues for 15–20 years, particularly after performing, he had a problem coming down. Dr. Metzger had infrequently treated him for this over the years on tours. In April 2009 he asked Dr. Metzger about IV sleep medication he mentioned 'juice' but he wasn't sure what he was asking for. Jackson did not believe any oral medicine would be helpful; they did not work. He had tried Tylenol PM, Xanax, clonazepam, trazodone, etc. None worked. It was heard Dr. Metzger told Jackson that IV sleep medication was dangerous and should not be done outside of a hospital. It was heard that Jackson saw other doctors: Dr. Rosen for pain management and Dr. Klein for his vitiligo. Dr. Metzger stated he never provided any intravenous medicine to Jackson. It was heard Metzger did not speak to Jackson between the April 2009 meeting and his death. The prosecution asked Metzger "Would any amount of money persuade you to give propofol?" "No" and "Did you ever give Jackson propofol?" "No".

Next to the stand was Nurse Practitioner Cherilyn Lee. Lee helps entertainers and athletes with nutritional issues. Lee is a board-certified nurse practitioner and legally allowed to prescribe meds, but chooses not to. Faheem Muhammad called Lee to treat Jackson's children who had a cold. She told him she wasnt a pediatrician but was invited anyway. Lee went to house in Jan 2009 after making appointment. Jackson asked what she did and mentioned he was tired and he wanted nutrition therapy. Lee asked Jackson to fast that night & went back next day to do assessment: physical, blood drawn for testing. Lee wanted to determine cause of Jackson's tiredness. She noticed he drank Red Bull a lot, which can cause fatigue. He said he would sweat a lot during rehearsal, he could lose 5-7 pounds. Lee said Jackson's vital signs were normal and provided him with high-concentrated smoothies & low dose nutritional IV. Lee stated that after the first IV (amino acid) in early Feb, he felt a lot better and more energized. In March 2009, Jackson said he couldn't sleep and Lee recommended natural sleep products. He said they don't work for him. Jackson said, "when I need sleep I need it right away" when they met Easter Sunday. Jackson wanted her to see that he doesn't sleep well. Jackson also wanted to show her that natural supplements are not working. It was heard that Lee wanted to do sleep studies, but Jackson said he did not have time for that. Jackson invited her to stay and watch that he didn't sleep. Lee gave him the energy IV and 'sleepy tea' but she observed that he woke up at 3am. He could only sleep for about 5 hours and repeated to her that he cannot sleep the whole night. Lee stated that Jackson's veins were very small. Jackson started to talk about getting medication for sleep around Easter.

October 25, 2011: Day 17 Judge ruled that Jacksons's contract with AEG Live for the 02 gigs would not be admitted into evidence.

Nurse Practitioner Cherilyn Lee still on the stand. It was heard that Lee is a believer of Holistic Health and has a PhD in it. Chernoff began by clearing up some of the dates in her records:

April 12, Easter Sunday, went to Jackson's house, he said he needed products for sleep.

April 19, went out to Jackson's house, Sunday morning, Jackson told Lee he "just can't sleep", he was having a lot of difficulty. Jackson expressed his desire for Diprivan; "it was the only medication that makes him fall asleep straight away". Lee was concerned, he seemed to have a familiarity with it. Jackson told Lee he had been administered Diprivan before but only for surgery, not for anything else. Lee says she didn't know what Diprivan was, so she called a doctor friend of hers who said it was an anesthetic used for surgery in hospital. Jackson told her other doctors had said Diprivan was safe to use, that all he needed was to be monitored. Jackson asked her to stay that night because he wanted to show Lee he was unable to sleep, he slept for 5 hours, woke up and was upset that he didn't sleep longer and that the nutritional medicine wasn't working. He then said "the only thing that helps is Diprivan, can you find someone to help me sleep?" "as soon as Diprivan gets in my veins it knocks me out and I go to sleep right away". Lee said "I know you want to be knocked out but what if you don't wake up?" "I just need to be monitored". She told Jackson that no one who cared or had his best interests at heart would give him propofol. Jackson complained to Lee that not sleeping would "mess up my performance". Lee testified that one of the symptoms was memory loss and she asked Jackson "What if you forget your lines?" He said he never would. He hugged her and she never saw him again.

June 21, 2009, Jackson's bodyguard called Lee and said Jackson wanted to see her. Lee says she could hear Jackson in background, saying 'tell her what is wrong, one half of body hot, one half is cold'. She said that she was too far away to exam him (Florida) and that he should go to the hospital. Lee recognized the symptoms and thought he was on propofol.

Next to the stand was Amir Dan Rubin, a hospital executive in Stanford, California. Chief Operating Officer for UCLA Medical Center in June 2009. Responsible for operation systems. He explained the layout of UCLA Medical Center, he worked in the administration area. Rubin was paged when "a patient of interest" was brought to the emergency room. He proceeded to secure the area for privacy and security purposes. He was present at the hospital for a discussion about releasing a press release with CEO of AEG Live (Randy Phillips) and Jermaine Jackson. The statement was released by Jermaine Jackson in the basement of the hospital; it was stated that Michael Jackson had died. Rubin said that Murray suggested that the reason for death, "unknown", should be in the press release.

Next to the stand was Brandon Keith Phillips, President and CEO of AEG Live, division of AEG, for nine and a half years. Has worked in the entertainment industry for thirty years. AEG are the owners and operators of the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the O2 arena in London. Phillips is responsible for profit and loss, booking talent for tours, making sure regional offices function properly as well as festival division. Phillips represented Jackson as an agent/consultant as early as 1993. Saw Jackson next in a meeting in 2007.

It was heard that Phillips met Jackson in September 2008 with Jackson's manager (Dr. Tomei) at the Bel-Air hotel about concerts. Phillips laid out plans for a new tour; a residency show at the O2 arena in London, move the "mountain to Mohammed"; this can only happen with such a big star. This was the first phase of a "multi-year" tour. It was apparent that Jackson was motivated, energized and receptive to the idea. They had numerous meetings afterwards. One reason Jackson wanted to do the concerts was to settle down and make a good home for the children and not live like "vagabonds". Contract was drawn up and signed (in mid-Jan 2009) for thirty one shows; Jackson wanted to do ten more than Prince did. Chernoff asked questions about the finances of the contract. All questions were objected to and the judge sustained them. It was heard that ten shows went on sale first and the demand was "over the top". "We had never seen that kinds of demand for tickets, it was obviously we would have blown through thirty-one shows in the pre-sale and not had any for general sales". Within twenty minutes Jackson agreed to more shows. Jackson said he wanted to do maximum fifty shows because he didn't want a passport, didn't want to live in London. He asked for a country house estate (16+ acres with running streams) so he and the kids wouldn't be stuck in a hotel in London. He also wanted the Guinness World Records to be there at the fiftieth show. It was heard that Jackson was very firm about having his own (24/7) physician (Murray). It was heard that Phillips met with Murray and Jackson in early June 2009 to discuss Jackson's health. Murray assured Phillips he was in great health and that Murray would look after Jackson's diet. It was heard that Kenny [Ortega] told Phillips that he was concerned about Jackson's focus in performances in a production of this magnitude. Phillips started seeing stress and pressure in Ortega towards the middle of June because of this. There was an issue of Jackson showing up for performances. Ortega said he needed to be there because he was the fulcrum, everything surrounded him in the production. Ortega scheduled a meeting for on June 20 would be about Michael Jackson's tardiness/focus at rehearsals. It was heard that based on Kenny Ortega's email, it was clear he felt this was an emergency meeting (over Michael Jackson's 'focus'). The meeting was with Murray, Jackson, Ortega and Phillips at Carolwood house. Ortega didn't understand why Jackson wasn't engaged like he thought he'd be, maybe there were health concerns. "Michael didn't respond immediately. Murray spoke for Michael on the situation, guaranteed us that Michael would get into it". Phillips attended rehearsal on June 23–24 to make sure everything was back on track. On June 25, Phillips went to hospital and stayed there the entire time Jackson was there. "I was there all day into the evening". Murray was in "severe distress".

The next defense witness is toxicologist Michael Henson, a tech operations officer at Pacific Toxicology. Defense attorney Michael Flanagan doing direct examination. Henson has known Flanagan since 2009, his company has worked with Flanagan for quite some time. Henson examined urine samples handed over from LA County Coroners Office he also provided defense testing for stomach content of lorazepam. It was heard that Dr. Shafer emailed Henson about what his standard operating procedure (SOP) was for lorazepam results but he did not email Shafer back and contacted Flanagan instead. During cross-examination, Walgren asked Henson why the People and the Defence have 2 different copies of lorazepam results. Henson said he did not know.

October 26, 2011: Day 18 First witness of the day was Gerry Causey, who lives in Cedar City, Utah. Causey has known Murray for 11 years, they met when he lived in Las Vegas, when Causey had a heart attack. "Murray made me sign some paperwork, some kind of release, then they took me to the operating room for an angiogram". "During my procedure I didn't want to be sedated. I saw everything on the screen. He always explained me everything he was doing". He has been in constant contact with Murray ever since he was in hospital. They have remained friends. It was heard that they have remained friends because of the love Dr. Murray has for his patients. Causey has stated Murray is his "best friend". Causey said that Murray was not greedy, he has never been, he would treat you regardless whether you had insurance or not. Murray broke down in tears when Causey said Murray would spend all time necessary with him, he would call his wife to explain problems. It was heard that Causey has given two TV interviews regarding Murray. He gave them free of charge "to help my friend". During cross-examination Causey said that Dr. Murray is known for "his compassion, his feelings, you can ask any of his patients, he's the best doctor in the world". "I don't think he did what he's accused of. From what I know, what I feel right now he didn't do it". Walgren asked Causey even if he knew Murray was grossly negligent if he would come and testify on the doc's behalf - he said yes. Causey was excused and as he walked out he kissed Dr. Murray on the forehead and shook his hand.

Next to the stand was Andrew Guest, also a previous patient of Murray's from Las Vegas. Guest described how he first met Murray and the procedures he went through for his heart. Guest said "that man sitting there is the best doctor I have ever seen" "I'm alive today because of that man". It was heard that Guest did an interview, free of charge, with CNN because he believed Murray needed support and wasn't getting a "fair shake". Walgren asked "Nothing would change your opinion of that man would it" "Correct".

Next to the stand was Lunette Sampson. Another patient of Murray's. She now lives in San Diego, but lived in Las Vegas for long time. Sampson had 2 heart attacks while in Las Vegas, Dr. Murray treated her. "I have never had a doctor that was more caring and thorough". When asked if she thought Murray was greedy or was motivated by money she said: "I know Dr. Murray is not greedy or money-hungry. He is taking care of people pro-Bono, people without money". Sampson said Murray never once mentioned he was going to work with Jackson. "He told me he was going to take sabbatical for a year".

Next called was Dennis Hix. He had heart problems and got stents (Coronary stent), the last one around 2004-2005. Murray's children's were his neighbors. It was heard that Hix is a 66 and has gone to a lot of doctors and never had one who gave me the care he did. "I had insurance that 'didn't hardly pay for nothing', he said he would help". "When my brother saw I got the stents, my brother said he wanted some too. He had heart issues but didn't have money for the procedure" "Dr. Murray told my brother not to worry about the payment that he would treat him for free. And he did." Walgren asked Hix "When did you learn Dr. Murray was going on tour with Jackson? I didn't even know it until I saw it on TV."

Next to the stand was Ruby Mosley. She lives in Houston. She's the secretary of Acres Home Citizen's Council, a low income seniors community. Dr. Murray's father was a doctor in the Acres Home district. Dr. Murray opened clinic in his father's memory. "He made a commitment to community to open a clinic in memory of his dad" (Dr. M Snr was there from 1968 until 2003). Upon Chernoff asking if Murray was greedy, Mosley replied "if this man was greedy he would've not come to work at Acres Home, where 75% of people are poor, he was making less than in Las Vegas". Murray treated Mosley for heart problems.

October 27, 2011: Day 19 First to take the stand was Dr. Robert Waldman, a physician specializing in internal medicine, Nephrology and Addiction medicine, has been involved in addiction medicine and treating patients who have addiction diseases for 23 years but is not board-certified in it. He described to the court what happens to a patient during addiction and withdrawal, including the tell-tale signs, the symptoms and the drugs that can be involved. Dr. Waldman stated that the side effects of withdrawal of drugs are sweating, increase heart rate, nausea, cramp, insomnia, temperature deregulation and tremendous anxiety. It was heard that the addict's biggest fear is that you're not going to respect the amount of discomfort they'll go through during treatment and detoxing process. It was also heard that rapid detox is not a treatment. It uses high levels of sedation intravenously and it is a process that uses general anesthesia to help tolerate the discomfort. It was heard that Dr. Waldman's opinion is that there is evidence to suggest Jackson was dependent (not addicted) on Demerol (pethidine) due to the frequent high doses he received in May 2009 indicated by Dr. Klein's medical records of Omar Arnold (an alias of Jackson's). It was heard that Dr. Klein's medical records indicate that in April 2009 Jackson received 775 mg of Demerol for Botox and Restylane procedures. During 3 days in beginning of May 2009, Jackson received another 900 mg of Demerol for Botox and Restylane procedures. Dr. Waldman said being injected during 6 days with very high doses of Demerol would create opioid dependency in anyone of us.

Next to the stand was Dr. Paul White, with an interest in intravenous anesthesia, he started working with propofol in 1983, FDA approved it for general anesthesia in 1989. He has published 435 papers on PubMed. He has written about fifteen books, two are major textbooks. He has written five books on propofol, wrote twenty one chapters on propofol in various textbooks. After initial study showed propofol allowed patients to wake up sooner, went back to company and asked to do follow-up study. Dr. White said "Some people call me the father of Monitored Anesthetic Care (MAC) (anesthesia awareness) sedation". "In January of this year, Mr. Flanagan contacted me and mentioned the name Conrad Murray. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get involved in a high-profile trial involving death of a celebrity. I was perplexed how experts determined that Murray was infusing propofol. It was not obvious to me." Dr. White met the Shafers in 1981, shortly after arrival at Stanford. They approached him about doing research. It was heard that Dr. White performed a study with animals, found that propofol directly into stomach has no clinical effect. Regarding the paper Dr. Shafer testified about a sleep study in China, Dr. White said "My take on the paper was different than Dr. Shafer's. The study showed that propofol was safe and effective for normalizing disturbed sleep but it's certainly not a definitive study."

October 28, 2011: Day 20 White was back on the stand being examined by J.Michael Flanagan. It was heard that based on the diagram showing what Dr. Murray told the police he gave to Jackson on the night in question it would not have presented any danger at all. White said that "the dose of propofol we are talking here is 25 mg. This is a dose that produces little anxiety, little sleepiness". It was heard that anesthesiologists are obviously trained in sedation. For non-anesthesiologists most hospitals require certification to use sedation. White was then given a certificate to read. It was Murray's certification from Sunrise Medical Hospital approving him to administer moderate sedation. It qualifies the doctor to administer drugs to achieve moderate sedation but he must monitor patients carefully. The certification also says doctor approved to rescue patients from deep sedation, manage compromised airway; provide adequate ventilation. Flanagan and White went through simulations that Shafer put together with variables of amount of drugs and time administered. It was heard that the fact that there is some free lorazepam in stomach, shows Jackson took lorazepam orally at some point before his death. Flanagan went going through different scenarios with Dr. White that could have caused Jackson's death. Dr. White then demonstrated how to mix propofol and lidocaine inside a syringe and administered it through a saline drip and Y tube. White injected 5 mg of propofol/saline mix into a cup to show that propofol doesn't go up the IV line and propofol sticks to the plastic tubing. He said that this is certainly a very safe way to inject propofol, and it was only 25 mg. "my demonstration was probably close to what happened at the scene. You'd need a mechanism to drip the drug & hold this heavy bottle". Flanagan asked if he could envision anyone using a slit IV bag to hang the propofol bottle when there's handle on the bottle? "No". White added "why would anyone go through the hassle of cutting a saline bag to put bottle inside when bottle has handle". Flanagan then asked how you would mix propofol solution with saline to make it 1–1 mg/ml? "You pull tab off the bottle, spike top, then inject all the bottle of propofol into the saline bag, shaking the bag to make it 1-1 μg/ml".

It was heard that propofol is extensively metabolized, but some is eliminated in the urine in unchanged form. Autopsy level determined extremely small level. There was half of liter of urine in Jackson's bladder at time of autopsy. It contained very little amount of unchanged propofol. White commented "I cannot understand a 3 hour infusion theory where there were evidence of infusion set up and elimination of drug in urine". Flanagan then asked "do you think it was self injection of propofol nearly 11:30a/12p did it?" "In my opinion yes". Flanagan then asked "Shafer said his scenario reconciled with all facts in this case. Does it reconcile with Dr. Murray's statement?" "No". "Does Dr. Shafer's theory reconcile with physical evidence at the scene or urine concentration?". "No". Dr. White said "my theory reconciles with the evidence found at the scene and urine concentration at autopsy".

October 31, 2011: Day 21 It was heard from White that administering propofol without careful bedside monitoring could be dangerous. "Do you agree there were instances where Dr. Murray deviated from standard of care on June 25, 2009?" "Yes". Walgren asked "have you ever administered propofol in someone's bedroom?" "No". "Have you heard anyone else doing it?" "No". Dr. White agrees Dr. Murray deviated from the 'standard of care' of Jackson but doesn't know to what degree. "Do you disagree with Dr. Shafer's opinion that failure to keep medical records 'egregious & unconscionable' deviation?" White doesn't know what the words egregious and unconsionable mean in this case. "Would you administer propofol to a patient without proper airway-opening equipment?" "I would certainly have means for ventilation, means of ventilation could be an ambu bag and a mask, not necessarily other respiratory equipment". It was heard that Dr. White has received $11000 so far for his testimony in this case. He usually charges $3500 per day and any expenses such as airfares. He doesn't think the defense have this much so will not bill them that much. Dr. Safer testified for many days, and performed numerous simulations for both the prosecution and defense for free. "Was Dr. Murray offered money to provide Jackson's propofol?" "It is my understanding that Dr. Murray was offered money to be Jackson's personal doctor". Walgren then asked "If you injected 25 mg propofol, is it ok to walk out of the room?" "25 mg only lasts 15-30 minutes, after that I see no problem in leaving the patient's bedside". "If the patient liked to 'push' propofol themselves, would you walk out of room?" "No". Upon being asked about Murray's actions after he found Jackson, Dr. White said "I would have done things differently. I would have called for help, called 911 and initiated CPR". When being asked about Murray's delay to call 911 he stated "I would have called 911 earlier but do not believe it would have made any difference in this case". "3-5 minutes after finding him I would call 911". It was heard that "forgetting to mention propofol was a detail overlooked, could also be a lie?" "Yes". After Dr. White mentioned he believed that Jackson had his own stash of propofol, Walgren asked the judge to admonish witness to respond the question only. Judge asked jurors to leave the courtroom. Walgren asked "Do you reject that Jackson drank propofol and that caused his death?" "Yes. I speculated that oral administration may have played a role. I don't reject completely the self administration theory. The evidence suggests that Jackson did not drink propofol". Flanagan asked Dr. White "If patient died on noon, would it matter if help came 5 minutes later?" "Unlikely". He added "Propofol does not have a reversal treatment, only treatment for propofol overdose is time".

During his testimony, Dr. White was fined $1000 for contempt of court for disobeying an order by the judge.

After court adjourned the judge told attorneys he will give them one day off so they can prepare for closing arguments. If done by Tuesday, Wednesday could be dark. The judge said he's prepared to give a full day off, which takes us to Thursday for jury instructions. He says he'll not deferred that. The judge asked Murray if he's going to testify. He said "I need more time to talk to my lawyers. I have not made my final decision". Judge Pastor told Dr. Murray he will have until tomorrow morning to decide. Murray said: "it will all depend on how the case progresses". After defense concludes with Dr. White, they plan on calling Dr. Ornellas, the one who put together the models Dr. White spoke about. After Dr. Ornellas, defense is prepared to rest their case. Walgren said he will call Dr. Shafer, briefly, as rebuttal witness. Judge then said he expects all the evidence in the case to be concluded tomorrow. Trial is set to resume at 9:30 am with end of re-direct of Dr. White.

November 1, 2011: Day 22 The re direct examination of Dr. White continues with Mr. Flanagan asking the questions about various models that Dr. White had commissioned for the defence. They talked about the level of lorazepam in Jackson's body in the models created by Dr. Shafer and Dr. White's expert. It was heard that there are many possibilities as to how the blood and urine levels got to where they were at autopsy. The models present a few different ideas and scenarios. "We can make models and adjust the time/dose to achieve the concentration of lorazepam found in femoral blood at time of autopsy". There are great differences between different patients so the models are subject to huge population variability. Flanagan to Dr. White: "we don't know how many lorazepam pills Jackson took, do we?" "No one can be sure." Dr. White said that if Dr. Shafer's scenario of a three hour infusion does not hold up because the urine levels of propofol at autopsy are too low. Dr. White said that standards of care are the ideals, standards of practice are different in different situations. Some office procedures, i.e. different than hospitals, you might find different conditions and standards or practice if it is not possible to have the highest standard of care. Dr. White stated that 25 mg over 3-5 minute of propofol would only produce light sleepiness, possibly no sleep at all.

Murray decided not to take the stand in his defense. The defense had no more witnesses and rested their case.

Prosecution recalled Dr. Steven Shafer. It was heard that there was no suggestion Jackson died at any specific time, only he died with high level of infusion of propofol. It was heard that the propofol elimination in the urine is 0.004+-0.002% of the total dose given. The excreted unchanged propofol found in the urine at autopsy was 82.5 μg. This indicates that more that 2,000 mg propofol was administered to Jackson. This rules out the hypothesis by Dr. White and indicates more propofol than Dr. Shafer's models. Dr. Shafer said that if there were such a thing as bedroom-based anesthesia, the standard guidelines would be a minimum, you would require much more precautions.

November 3, 2011: Day 23 The jury heard instructions from the judge, both prosecution and defense closing arguments and final post-trial instructions from the judge.

Verdict and sentencing[link]

November 7, 2011: Day 24 Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Pastor set sentencing for November 29, 2011, and ordered Murray taken into custody without bail.

November 29, 2011: Day 25 Murray was sentenced to the maximum penalty of four years of incarceration; according to Los Angeles County Sheriff officials, he is expected to serve a little less than two years in the Los Angeles County Jail due to California prison overcrowding.

See also[link]

Death of Michael Jackson

References[link]

External links[link]

Trial coverage at the ''Los Angeles Times''

Trial coverage at CNN

Trial coverage at ''The Guardian''

Trial coverage at ''The Daily Telegraph''

Video of trial proceedings

List of all videos of trial proceedings

Closing Arguments, Verdict, Sentencing YouTube playlist of the events of the closing arguments, jury verdict and sentencing from the Judge

Category:2011 in California Category:Manslaughter trials Category:Michael Jackson Category:Trials in the United States

fa:مردم در برابر موری ru:Народ штата Калифорния против Конрада Мюррея

{{infobox historical event |event name

Death of Michael Jackson |Image_Name Michael Jackson Star on Hollywood Blvd (cropped).jpg |Imagesize 260px |Image_Alt A pink star with a gold color rim, with the writing "Michael Jackson". The star is covered by barriers and flowers. |Image_Caption Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, surrounded by barriers and covered with flowers, became a focal point for fans to express grief. |Location Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States |Date |Result }}

American singer Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, at age 50, of propofol intoxication after suffering a respiratory arrest at his home on North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said he had found Jackson in his room, not breathing, but with a faint pulse, and that he administered CPR on his bed to no avail. After a call was placed to 9-1-1 at 12:20 pm, Jackson was treated by paramedics at the scene, and was later pronounced dead at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

On August 28, 2009, the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled the death a homicide. Shortly before he died, Jackson had been administered propofol and two anti-anxiety benzodiazepines – lorazepam and midazolam – in his home by Conrad Murray. Murray was convicted in November 2011 of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Jackson's death triggered grief around the world, creating unprecedented surges of Internet traffic and causing sales of his music and that of the Jackson 5 to increase dramatically. He had intended to perform a series of concerts entitled This Is It to over one million people at London's O₂ Arena from July 13, 2009 to March 6, 2010. A public memorial service for Jackson was held on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where he had rehearsed for the London concerts the night before his death. The service was broadcast live around the world, attracting a global audience of up to one billion people.

In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death. His death is ranked No. 1 on VH1/VH1 Classic's list of 100 Most Shocking Moments in Music.

Circumstances[link]

Jackson arrived for rehearsal at Staples Center around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, according to Ed Alonzo, a magician who was there. The singer complained of laryngitis and did not rehearse until 9 p.m. "He looked great and had great energy," Alonzo added. The rehearsal went past midnight. The next morning Jackson did not come out of his bedroom. According to the attorney of Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, Murray entered the room in the afternoon and found Jackson in bed and not breathing. Jackson had a weak pulse, and his body was still warm. Murray tried to revive Jackson for five to ten minutes, at which point he realized he needed to call for help. Murray stated that he was hindered because there was no landline in the house. Murray also stated that he could not use his cell phone to call 911 because he did not know the exact address. Murray stated that he also phoned security, but did not get an answer. Finally Murray ran downstairs, yelled for help, and told a chef to bring security up to the room. By the time security called 911, Murray stated that only 30 minutes had passed.

Statements described Murray as using a non-standard CPR technique on Jackson. During the tape of the emergency call, released on June 26, the doctor was described as administering CPR on a bed, not on a hard surface such as a floor, which would be standard practice. The doctor's attorney said that Murray placed one hand underneath Jackson and used the other hand for chest compression, where the standard practice is to use both hands for compression. A Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) spokesperson said the 911 call came in at 12:21:04 p.m. PST (19:21:04 UTC). Paramedics reached Jackson at 12:26 p.m. and found that he was not breathing.

Paramedics performed CPR for 42 minutes at the house. Murray's attorney stated that Jackson had a pulse when he was taken out of the house and put in the ambulance. An LAFD official gave a different account, stating that paramedics found Jackson in "full cardiac arrest", and that they did not observe a change in Jackson's status en route to the hospital. LAFD transported Jackson to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The ambulance arrived at the hospital at approximately 1:14 p.m. A team of medical personnel attempted to resuscitate Jackson for more than one hour. They were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m.

Investigation[link]

Autopsies[link]

Jackson's body was flown by helicopter to the Los Angeles Coroner's offices in Lincoln Heights, where on June 26 a three-hour autopsy was performed on behalf of the Los Angeles County Coroner by the chief medical examiner, Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran. Jackson's family arranged for a second autopsy, a practice that could yield expedited—albeit limited—results. After the preliminary autopsy was completed, Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the coroner's office, said there was no evidence of trauma or foul play. On August 28, the LA County Coroner made an official statement classifying Jackson's death as a homicide. The county coroner stated that Jackson died from the combination of drugs in his body, with the most significant drugs being the anesthetic propofol and the anxiolytic lorazepam. Less significant drugs found in Jackson's body were midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine and ephedrine. The coroner is keeping the complete toxicology report private, as requested by the police and district attorney. On October 1, the BBC reported that the autopsy report revealed that Jackson was "fairly healthy" for his age and that his heart was strong. The document stated that Jackson's most significant health problem was his chronically inflamed lungs, but this did not contribute to his death. His other major organs were normal and he had no atherosclerosis except for some slight plaque accumulation in his leg arteries. The autopsy stated that he weighed 136 pounds (62 kg) with a height of 5'9" (175 cm), which equates to a BMI of 20.1. Fox News said that this confirmed rumors that Jackson was emaciated, while the Associated Press stated that his weight was in the acceptable range. The autopsy also revealed that Jackson's arms were covered with punctures and his face and neck were scarred. He was balding and had worn a wig for the last decade of his life. A tattooed hairline was found on his scalp.

Law enforcement agencies[link]

Although they did not immediately announce that they suspected foul play, by the day after Jackson's death the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) began to investigate the unusual and high-profile case. By August 28, the LAPD had announced that the case would be referred to prosecutors who might file criminal charges. Because the LAPD did not secure Jackson's home, and allowed the Jackson family access to it, before returning to remove certain items, the department raised concerns by some observers that the chain of custody had been broken. The police maintained that they had followed protocol. On July 1, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) joined the LAPD in the investigation. Having the authority to investigate issues otherwise protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, the DEA could legally follow the entirety of what appeared to be the complex trail of prescription drugs supplied to Jackson. California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that his office was helping the LAPD and DEA to create a statewide database of all medical doctors and prescriptions filled.

The LAPD subpoenaed medical records from doctors who had treated Jackson. On July 9, William Bratton, then the Los Angeles Chief of Police, indicated that investigators were focusing on the possibility of homicide or accidental overdose, but had to wait for the full toxicology reports from the coroner. The ''Los Angeles Times'' quoted a senior law enforcement source as saying authorities may not pursue charges even if the coroner declares the case a homicide, because Jackson's well-documented drug abuse would make any prosecution difficult. Nonetheless, the source said prosecutors had not ruled out more serious charges "all the way up to involuntary manslaughter" if it were determined that Jackson's death was indeed caused by the drug propofol.

Drug-use allegations[link]

The website TMZ wrote that Jackson used a number of aliases to secure prescription drugs, including Omar Arnold and Jack London, and the names of one of his bodyguards and an office manager. One doctor would allegedly call the pharmacy to say that Jackson was coming to get pethidine, and the pharmacy would fill the prescription with the patient's name blank. Jackson was said to have used propofol, as well as alprazolam (an antianxiety agent), and sertraline (an antidepressant). Other drugs named in connection with him included omeprazole, hydrocodone, paroxetine, carisoprodol, and hydromorphone. After his death, police found several drugs in his home, including propofol. Some of these drugs had labels made out to Jackson's pseudonyms, while others were unlabeled. A 2004 police document prepared for the 2005 ''People v. Jackson'' child abuse trial alleged that Jackson was taking up to 40 alprazolam pills a night.

Deepak Chopra, an internist, endocrinologist, and speaker about mind–body intervention who was a friend of Jackson's for 20 years, expressed concern that, despite presumably having access to a large arsenal of drugs, Jackson appears to have been given no naloxone, a drug used to counteract the effects of an opioid overdose. Chopra also criticized what he saw as "enabling" by some Hollywood doctors: "This cult of drug-pushing doctors, with their co-dependent relationships with addicted celebrities, must be stopped. Let's hope that Michael's unnecessary death is the call for action."

Eugene Aksenoff, a Tokyo-based physician who had treated Michael Jackson or his children on a few occasions, expressed concern about Jackson's use of and interest in various drugs. Aksenoff told ''The Japan Times'' that Jackson asked for stimulants so that he could get through some demanding performances. Aksenoff said he refused to prescribe them. He recalled that the singer suffered chronic fatigue, fever, insomnia and other symptoms and took a large amount of drugs. He suspected one of the major factors causing Jackson these symptoms was excessive use of steroids or other skin-whitening medications. ''People'' magazine reported that the Jackson family tried to stage an intervention in early 2007, when Michael was living in Las Vegas, a fact Janet Jackson later confirmed. Janet Jackson and some of her brothers allegedly traveled to his home, but were turned away by security guards who were ordered not to let them in. He was also rumored to have refused calls from his mother. "If you tried to deal with him," one source told CNN, "he would shut you out. You just wouldn't hear from him for long periods." The family denied that they had tried to intervene.

Propofol[link]

Of all the drugs found in Jackson's home, the one that most concerned investigators was propofol (Diprivan), a powerful anesthetic administered intravenously in hospitals to induce anesthesia in preparation for surgery. Nicknamed "milk of amnesia" because of its opaque, milky-like appearance (and a play on words of "milk of magnesia"), the drug has been associated with cardiac arrest, but it still may be increasingly used off-label for anxiolytic and other medically unsubstantiated purposes. Several propofol bottles—some empty, some full—were found in Jackson's home.

On June 30, Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who had worked as Jackson's nutritionist, said that he had asked her in May to provide propofol to help him sleep, but she refused. He told her he had been given the drug before for persistent insomnia, and that a doctor had said it was safe. Lee said she received a telephone call from an aide to Jackson on June 21 to say that Jackson was ill, although she no longer worked for him. She reported overhearing Jackson complain that one side of his body was hot, the other side cold. She advised the aide to send Jackson to a hospital.

Arnold Klein told CNN that Jackson used an anesthesiologist to administer propofol to help him sleep while he was on tour in Germany. CNN said the anesthesiologist would "take him down" at night and "bring him back up" in the morning during the HIStory tour of 1996 to 1997.

On August 24, a search warrant affidavit sworn by a Los Angeles detective was made public. The affidavit indicated that authorities were considering a potential manslaughter charge. According to the affidavit, Jackson "was very familiar with" propofol "and referred to it as his 'milk.'"

Medical professionals[link]

The ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote that the DEA was focusing on at least five doctors who prescribed drugs to Jackson, trying to determine whether they had had a "face to face" relationship with him, and whether they had made legally required diagnoses. Fox News Channel published a list of nine doctors whom they said were under investigation. The ''Sunday Times'' wrote that the police wanted to question 30 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, including Arnold Klein. Klein said that he occasionally had given Jackson pethidine to sedate him, but had administered nothing stronger, and that he had turned his records over to the medical examiner.

Personal physician[link]

Cardiologist Conrad Murray joined Jackson's camp in May 2009 as part of Jackson's agreement with AEG Live, the promoter of his London concerts. Murray first met Jackson in Las Vegas when the doctor treated one of the singer’s children. AEG Live said the singer insisted the company hire Murray to accompany him to England. Murray said through his attorney that he did not prescribe or administer pethidine or oxycodone to Jackson, but did not say what, if anything, he did prescribe or administer. Los Angeles police said the doctor spoke to officers immediately after Jackson's death, and during an extensive interview two days later. They stressed that they found "no red flag" and did not suspect foul play. On June 26, police towed away a car used by Murray, stating that it might contain medication or other evidence. The police released the car five days later.

Politician and minister Jesse Jackson, a friend of Michael Jackson's family, said that the family was concerned about Murray's role. "They have good reason to be [...] he left the scene." Over the next few weeks, law enforcement grew increasingly concerned about the doctor, and on July 22 detectives searched Murray's medical office and storage unit in Houston, removing items such as a computer and two hard drives, contact lists and a hospital suspension notice. On the 27th, an anonymous source reported that Murray had administered propofol within 24 hours of Jackson's death. Murray's lawyers refused to comment on what they called "rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources." The following day, the ABC News program ''Nightline'' reported that investigators had searched Murray's home and office in Las Vegas, and that Murray had become the primary focus of the investigation. On August 11, a Las Vegas pharmacy was searched by investigators looking for evidence regarding Murray, according to an anonymous police source cited by ''The New York Times''. Murray's lawyer advised patience until the toxicology results arrived, noting that "things tend to shake out when all the facts are made known". On February 8, 2010, Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles. Murray pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $75,000 (USD) bail. Shortly after, the California Medical Board issued an order preventing Murray from administering heavy sedatives.

On January 11, 2011, the judge from Murray's preliminary hearing determined that Murray should stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in the Jackson case. The judge also suspended Murray's license to practice medicine in California. The trial was originally to begin on March 24, but a delayed opening rescheduled it for May 9. Finally, the trial was rescheduled to September 8, with no further delays, as reported by CNN. The jury selection of Murray's trial began on September 8, 2011 in Los Angeles. The trial began on September 27, 2011. On November 7, 2011, Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and he was held without bail to await sentencing. On November 29, 2011, Murray received the maximum sentence of 4 years in prison.

Health[link]

Stacy Brown, a biographer, said Jackson had become "very frail, totally, totally underweight," and that his family had been worried about him. Another biographer, J. Randy Taraborrelli, who became friends with Jackson in 1970s, said Jackson had suffered from an addiction to painkillers which went on and off for decades. Arnold Klein, Jackson's dermatologist, confirmed that Jackson misused prescription drugs, and that Klein had diagnosed Jackson with vitiligo and lupus. Yet, Klein said, when he saw Jackson at his office three days before his death, the singer "was in very good physical condition. He was dancing for my patients. He was very mentally aware when we saw him and he was in a very good mood." In none of multiple hospitalizations in latest decades, did medics find drugs in Jackson's system.

Family and legal affairs[link]

Jackson is survived by his three children, Prince Michael Joseph Jackson (b. 1997); Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson (b. 1998), born during his marriage to his second wife, Debbie Rowe; and Prince Michael Jackson II, known as "Blanket", born in 2002 to a surrogate mother. He is also survived by his brothers, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy; sisters Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet; and parents Joseph and Katherine. Katherine was granted temporary guardianship of Michael's three children on June 29.

Family reaction[link]

The Jackson family released a collective statement following the death:

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La Toya indicated that the family would file a lawsuit against anyone they believed responsible for her brother's death, as well as push for criminal charges. In 2009, she stated that Jackson might have been administered an ultimately lethal dose of drugs by "a shadowy entourage" of handlers and, in 2010, said that she believed her brother "was murdered for his music catalogue." Shortly after Jackson's death, the family raised questions about the role of AEG Live, the ''This Is It'' concert promoter, in the last few weeks of his life. Joseph has since filed a complaint with the California Medical Board alleging that AEG Live was illegally practicing medicine by demanding that Murray get Jackson off various medications. The complaint also alleges that AEG Live failed to provide the resuscitation equipment and nurse which Murray had requested. AEG spokesman Michael Roth declined to comment on the complaint.

After Murray pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, several members of the Jackson family said they felt he deserved a more severe charge. On June 25, 2010, Joseph filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Murray. The lawsuit alleges that Murray repeatedly lied to cover up his use of propofol, did not keep sufficient medical records and was negligent in his use of medications on Jackson. Murray's civil attorney, Charles Peckham, denied that Murray gave Jackson anything life-threatening.

On September 15, 2010, Panish Shea & Boyle LLP also filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Michael Jackson’s three children and his mother against the Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. (AEG) and its subsidiaries and principals (including Randy Phillips, Kenny Ortega, Paul Gongaware and Thimothy Leiweke). The suit alleges that AEG put their desire for profits from the This Is It Tour over the health and safety of Michael Jackson, ultimately causing his death". Roth declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying that AEG not seen it.

On November 7, 2011, Michael Jackson's family arrived at the courthouse in Los Angeles shortly after the jury announced they reached their verdict: Guilty. Michael's father Joe Jackson replied to reporters, only saying, "Justice." LaToya Jackson tweeted that she was shaking uncontrollably when she heard the verdict, and continued to tweet her emotions throughout the day.

Estate[link]

Jackson's last will was filed by attorney John Branca at the Los Angeles County courthouse on July 1, 2009. Signed July 7, 2002, it names Branca and accountant John McClain as executors; they were confirmed as such by a Los Angeles judge on July 6, 2009. All assets are given to the (pre-existing) Michael Jackson Family Trust (amended March 22, 2002), the details of which have not been made public. The Associated Press reports that, in 2007, Jackson had a net worth of $236.6 million: $567.6 million in assets, which included Neverland Ranch and his 50% share of Sony/ATV Music Publishing' catalogue, and debts of $331 million. The guardianship of his three children is given to his mother, Katherine, or if she is unable or unwilling, to singer Diana Ross. The will states that Jackson's former wife Debbie Rowe was omitted intentionally. Jackson's will allocates 20% of his fortune as well as 20% of money made after death to unspecified charities.

Media reports suggested that settlement of Jackson's estate could last many years. The value of Sony/ATV Music Publishing is estimated by Ryan Schinman, chief of Platinum Rye, to be US$1.5 billion. Shinman's estimate makes Jackson's share of Sony/ATV worth US$750 million, from which Jackson would have had an annual income of US$80 million. Sony Corporation has not commented on whether it intends to buy Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate. Jackson's creditors could force a distressed sale, which would act in Sony's favor since it would lower the sale price, but only if the trust set up by Jackson for his stake in Sony/ATV is revocable. A distressed sale would lower the value of Jackson's estate, and thus might not raise enough to cover the debts owed by the estate.

Public reaction[link]

Media and Internet coverage[link]

The first reports that Jackson had suffered a cardiac arrest, then that he had died, came from TMZ.com, a Los Angeles-based celebrity news website. Doctors at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center pronounced Jackson dead at 2:26 pm, and 18 minutes later at 2:44 pm. TMZ published: "Michael Jackson passed away today at the age of 50." The ''Los Angeles Times'' website confirmed the report at 2:51 pm PDT (5:51 pm EDT). The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload. Both TMZ and the ''Los Angeles Times'' suffered outages. Google initially believed that the input from millions of people searching for "Michael Jackson" meant that the search engine was under attack. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia at 3:15 pm The Wikimedia Foundation reported nearly a million visitors to Jackson's biography within one hour, probably the most visitors in a one-hour period to any article in Wikipedia's history. AOL Instant Messenger went down for 40 minutes. AOL called it a "seminal moment in Internet history", adding, "We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth."

Around 15% of Twitter posts—or 5,000 tweets per minute—reportedly mentioned Jackson after the news broke, compared to the 5% recalled as having mentioned the Iranian elections or the flu pandemic that had made headlines earlier in the year. Overall, web traffic ranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal. MTV and Black Entertainment Television (BET) aired marathons of Jackson's music videos. Jackson specials aired on multiple television stations around the world. The British soap opera ''EastEnders'' added a last-minute scene, in which one character discussed the news with another, to the June 26 episode. Whilst all British newspapers printed pictures of Jackson in his youth or in his prime, ''The Sun'' (for the day after his death) was the only paper to show Jackson from 2009 at his frailest, and keeping to their regular promotion of 'Wacko Jacko.' The next day ''The Sun'' fell into course with the rest of the newspapers and Jackson was the topic of every front-page headline in ''The Sun'' for about two weeks following his death. During the same period, the three major U.S. networks' evening newscasts—''ABC's World News'', ''CBS Evening News'', and ''NBC Nightly News''—devoted 34 percent of their broadcast time to him. Magazines including ''TIME'' published commemorative editions. A scene that had featured Jackson's sister La Toya was cut from the film ''Brüno'' out of respect toward Jackson's family.

According to an analysis released by the Global Language Monitor, "72 hours after his death, Jackson jumped to the No. 9 spot for the global print and electronic media. For Internet, blogs and social media, Jackson jumped to the No. 2, only trailing the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. The results showed the growing disparity between the mainstream global media, and what is playing out for news on the Internet, and beyond". Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of GLM said, “the death of Michael Jackson has resulted in a global media event of the first order”, and added, “the fact that he has broken into the top media of the 21st century is a testament to the global impact of the man and his music.” Commentators around the globe made connections between Jackson's death and the problems they perceived with everything from the racial dichotomy that Jackson sang about, to the "profoundly tragic figure of Michael Jackson"—from American capitalism and globalization, to the fall of the music industry in the 1980s. "Commentators around the world have absolutely flipped", wrote Patrik Etschmayer of Switzerland's ''Nachrichten'' newspaper. ''Le Figaro'' collumnist Yann Moix said that although Jackson, like his iconic Moonwalk, lived life in reverse, the world at his death shed "identical and universal tears".

Statistics published by the Pew Research Center suggested that two out of three Americans believed the coverage of Jackson's death was excessive, while 3% felt it was insufficient. In the UK, the BBC received over 700 complaints from viewers who thought the death dominated the news. On June 29, American conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said the coverage was "a horrible disgrace" and lent his support to activist-ministers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who were fighting to stem the press's speculation about what caused the death. Other conservatives, including commentator Bill O'Reilly and Congressman Peter T. King, also disapproved of the media attention Jackson's death received. Meanwhile, Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, called the pop star's death "lamentable news", but criticized CNN for giving this news more coverage than they gave a ''coup d'état'' taking place in Honduras.

In August 2009, there were reports that Michael Jackson's family paid social media marketing company uSocial.net to increase the numbers of followers on Jackson's Twitter profile. According to the ''New York Daily News'', uSocial was contracted to deliver 25,000 followers to the account. It was not specified whether the service was rendered before or after his death.

Grief[link]

Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief. The circumstances and timing of his death were compared to those of Elvis Presley and John Lennon. Fans gathered outside the UCLA Medical Center, Neverland Ranch, his Holmby Hills home, the Hayvenhurst Jackson family home in Encino, the Apollo Theater in New York, and at Hitsville U.S.A., the old Motown headquarters in Detroit where Jackson's career began, now the Motown Museum. Streets around the hospital were blocked off, and across America people left offices and factories to watch the breaking news on television. A small crowd, including the city's mayor, gathered outside his childhood home in Gary, where the flag on city hall was flown at half staff in his honor. Fans in Hollywood initially gathered around the Walk of Fame star of another Michael Jackson—unable to access the singer's star, which had been temporarily covered by equipment in place for the ''Brüno'' film premiere. Grieving fans and memorial tributes relocated from the talk radio host's star the next day.

From Odessa to Brussels, and beyond, fans held their own memorial gatherings. U.S. President Barack Obama sent a letter of condolence to the Jackson family, and the House of Representatives observed a moment of silence. Obama later stated that Jackson "will go down in history as one of our greatest entertainers". Former South African President Nelson Mandela issued a message through his foundation saying Jackson's loss would be felt worldwide.

In Japan, where Jackson had somewhat of an idol status, the top government spokesman and other ministers expressed their condolences. Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Tsutomu Sato told reporters, "I feel sad as I had watched him since he was a member of Jackson Five." "Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has credited him with building a generation with his music." "'He was a superstar. It is an extremely tragic loss. But it is fantastic he was able to give so many dreams and so much hope to the people of the world,' said Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issue a brief statement on Jackson's death: "This is very sad news for the millions of Michael Jackson fans in Britain and around the world." The Conservative opposition leader, David Cameron, said, "I know Michael Jackson's fans in Britain and around the world will be sad today. Despite the controversies, he was a legendary entertainer."

Russian fans gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow to mourn. One told Russia's ''Novosti'' newspaper, "This is so difficult! I'm hurt, very hurt! … For us, this is a very great loss. To us, he became a symbol of the spiritual world. It's hard to convey how great a loss this is." France's Minister Culture, Frédéric Mitterrand, said, "We all have a Michael Jackson within." Elizabeth Taylor, a long-time friend, said she can't imagine life without him. Liza Minnelli told CBS, "When the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose, so thank God we're celebrating him now." His sister La Toya claimed that his daughter said he was being overworked. La Toya is quoted as saying: "She said, 'No, you don't understand. They kept working him and Daddy didn't want that, but they worked him constantly'. I felt so bad."

Tributes[link]

On June 30, 2009, U2 while performing their first show of the U2 360 tour in Barcelona dedicated the song Angel Of Harlem to Jackson. Bono sang verses from "Man In The Mirror" and "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" at the end of the song. On July 10, 2009, six thousand fans attended a musical tribute in Jackson's hometown of Gary, Indiana. Local performers staged a medley of his songs, and mayor Rudy Clay unveiled a seven-foot memorial to him. Jesse Jackson addressed the crowd, stating, "This is where Michael learned to dance, where he learned to sing, where he learned to sacrifice." The Game, was among the first performers to release a tribute song: his single "Better on the Other Side" came out the day after Jackson's death. Produced by DJ Khalil, this song featured vocals by Diddy, Chris Brown, Polow da Don, Mario Winans, Usher, and Boyz II Men. A wide variety of other artists recorded musical tributes, such as 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Robbie Williams, Akon and guitarist Buckethead (whose song entitled "The Homing Beacon" was inspired by Jackson's 3-D film, ''Captain EO''.)

On June 26, multiple artists, such as Pharrell Williams and Lily Allen, paid tribute to Jackson at the Glastonbury Festival. Performances included Allen wearing a single white glove (which was a signature look for Jackson) for her set on the Pyramid Stage, while The Streets performed a cover of "Billie Jean". Tributes to Jackson at the musical festival continued over the weekend from June 26 to June 28. On July 5, 2009. Madonna performed a tribute to Jackson during the second leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour. While performing a medley of Jackson's songs, as a Jackson impersonator performed Jackson's signature moves, photos of Jackson were shown on screen behind them. After the performance, Madonna told the crowd, "Let's give it up for one of the greatest artists the world has ever known", which led to applauds from the crowd. Alternative metal band CKY performed "Beat It" for the duration of their "Carver City" Tour. In some instances, guitarist Chad I Ginsburg wore T-shirts depicting Jackson during the performances.

Jackson's sister La Toya released her song, "Home", on July 28 as a charity single in her brother's honor. All proceeds are being donated to one of Michael's favorite charities. BET's annual 2009 Awards Ceremony aired three days after Jackson's death, on June 28, 2009. It featured a tribute to the singer. Host Jamie Foxx said, "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else." The ceremony featured performances of several of Jackson's songs, including pieces from his time with The Jackson Five and those from his solo career. Joe Jackson and Al Sharpton were in the audience, and Janet Jackson spoke briefly on behalf of the family. The show was the most watched BET annual awards show in the awards shows history. A few days after Jackson's death, there were news reports to the effect that AEG Live, the promoter for Jackson's ''This Is It'' tour, was preparing a tribute concert for September 2009. The show would reportedly follow the style arranged for the ''This Is It'' concerts. However, no details of any such concert have been announced.

The day after Jackson's death, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro announced that the city would erect a statue of the singer in the favela of Dona Marta. Jackson visited the community in 1996 and filmed a music video for "They Don't Care About Us" there. The mayor said that Jackson had helped make the community into "a model for social development." Memorials were held all over the world, in places as diverse as Tokyo, Bucharest and Baku, Azerbaijan. In Midyat, Turkey, even a Salat al-Janazah (Islamic funeral prayer) was performed, and traditional funeral helva was cooked and distributed. The music video for "Do the Bartman", a ''Simpsons'' song co-written by Jackson, was broadcast ahead of an episode rerun of ''The Simpsons'' on June 28. It featured a title card paying tribute to Jackson. The 1991 ''Simpsons'' episode that Jackson guest starred in under the name of John Jay Smith, "Stark Raving Dad", was broadcast on Fox on July 5. The episode had been broadcast on the Dutch Comedy Central the day after his death, and was dedicated to Jackson's memory. His 1978 film ''The Wiz'' (in which he co-starred alongside Diana Ross and Richard Pryor) was briefly re-released in a rare 35mm format and was shown at the Hollywood Theater in his honor. It was also re-released a week prior to the release of ''Michael Jackson's This Is It'' in select cities. Madonna opened the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with a speech about Michael Jackson. Janet Jackson made an appearance at the VMAs to pay musical tribute to her late brother and honor his career. He was honored with a posthumous lifetime achievement award during the 52nd Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. Jackson, who had an acting role in the 1978 film ''The Wiz'', was featured in the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony's "In Memoriam" tribute.

Record sales[link]

Jackson's record sales increased dramatically, eightyfold by June 29, according to HMV. Bill Carr of Amazon said the website sold out of all Jackson and Jackson 5 CDs within minutes of the news breaking, and that demand surpassed that for Elvis Presley and John Lennon after their sudden deaths. In Japan, six of his albums made SoundScan Japan's Top 200 Albums chart, and in Poland, ''Thriller 25'' topped the national album chart and was replaced by ''King of Pop'' the following week.

In Australia, 15 of his albums occupied the ARIA top 100 as of July 5, four of them in the top ten, with three occupying the top three spots. He had 34 singles in the top 100 singles chart, including four in the top ten. Album sales were 62,015 for the previous week; singles tallied 107,821 units. In the second week, album sales rose from the previous week and tallied 88,650 copies. On July 12, four albums were in the top 10 with three occupying the top three spots. In New Zealand, ''Thriller 25'' topped the chart. In Germany, ''King of Pop'' topped the album chart, and from June 28 to July 4, nine of his albums occupied the Top 20 of CAPIF in Argentina. In Billboard's European Top 100 Albums, he made history with eight of his albums in the top ten positions. As of August 3, ''King of Pop'' has spent four weeks atop Billboard's European Top 100 Albums chart. ''The Collection'' also spent two weeks atop the same chart.

In the UK, on the Sunday following his death, his albums occupied 14 of the top 20 places on the ''Amazon.co.uk'' sales chart, with ''Off the Wall'' at the top. ''Number Ones'' reached the top of the UK Album Chart, and his studio albums occupied number two to number eight on the ''iTunes'' Music Store top albums. Six of his songs charted in the top 40: "Man in the Mirror" (11), "Thriller" (23), "Billie Jean" (25), "Smooth Criminal" (28)", "Beat It" (30), and "Earth Song" (38). The following Sunday, 13 of Jackson's songs charted in the top 40, including "Man in the Mirror", which landed the number two spot. He broke Ruby Murray's 1955 record of five songs in the top 30. ''The Essential Michael Jackson'' topped the album chart, giving Jackson a second number one album in as many weeks. He had five of the top ten albums in the album chart. In third week sales, ''The Essential Michael Jackson'' retained the number one position and Jackson held three other positions within the top five. By August 3, Jackson had sold 2 million records and spent six consecutive weeks atop the album chart. He retained the top spot on the album chart for a seventh consecutive week.

In the U.S., Jackson broke three chart records on the first ''Billboard'' issue date that followed his death. The entire top nine positions on ''Billboard'''s Top Pop Catalog Albums featured titles related to him. By the third week it would be the entire top 12 positions. ''Number Ones'' was the best-selling album of the week and topped the catalog chart with sales of 108,000, an increase of 2,340 percent. ''The Essential Michael Jackson'' (2) and ''Thriller'' (3) also sold over 100,000 units. The other titles on the chart are ''Off the Wall'' (4), Jackson Five's ''Ultimate Collection'' (5), ''Bad'' (6), ''Dangerous'' (7), ''HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Volume 1'' (8) and Jackson's ''Ultimate Collection'' (9). Collectively, his solo albums sold 422,000 copies in the week following his death, 800,000 copies in the first full week, and 1.1 million copies in the following week of his memorial service. He also broke a record on the Top Digital Albums chart, with six of the top 10 slots, including the entire top four. On the Hot Digital Songs chart he placed a record of 25 songs on the 75-position list. In the U.S., Jackson became the first artist to sell over one million downloads in a week, with 2.6 million sales.

By August 5, Jackson had sold nearly 3.8 million albums and 7.6 million tracks in the U.S.. ''Number Ones'' was the best-selling album for six out of seven weeks that followed his death. By year's end in 2009, Jackson had become the best selling artist of the year selling 8.2 million albums in the U.S. He also became the first artist in history to have four of the top 20 best-selling albums in a single year in the U.S., nearly doubling the sales of his nearest competitor. Jackson was also the third best selling digital artist of 2009 in the U.S., selling approximately 12.35 million units. In the 12 months that followed his death Jackson sold nine million albums in the U.S., and 35 million albums worldwide. His estate also generated revenues of one billion dollars.

Services[link]

Memorial[link]

A private family service was held on July 7 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, followed by a public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, where Jackson had rehearsed on June 24, the day before he died. The memorial service was organized by Jackson's concert promoter, AEG Live, who gave away 17,500 free tickets to fans worldwide through an online lottery that attracted over 1.2 million applicants in 24 hours, and over a half-billion hits to the webpage. The service was broadcast live around the world, and was believed to have been watched by up to 2.5 billion people.

Jackson's solid-bronze casket (which reportedly cost twenty-five thousand dollars) was placed in front of the stage. Numerous celebrity guests attended the services. His brothers each wore a single, white, sparkling glove, while Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Jermaine Jackson and others sang his songs. Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris, broke down as she told the crowd, "Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine ..." Marlon Jackson said, "Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone."

Burial[link]

According to reports, Jackson's burial was originally scheduled for August 29, 2009 (which would have been his 51st birthday). His service and burial was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery of Glendale on September 3, 2009, 10 weeks to the day after his death. The burial was attended by his family members, first wife Lisa Marie Presley as well as his old friends Macaulay Culkin, Quincy Jones, Eddie Murphy and Elizabeth Taylor, amongst others. The service began with Jackson's three children placing a golden crown on his casket.

Jackson's funeral cost one million dollars. Cost for the funeral included; $590,000 for Jackson's crypt in Forest Lawn's Great Mausoleum, a vast granite and marble filled palazzo, guest invitations for $11,716. The bill for security, including the fleet of luxury cars that delivered Jackson's children, parents and siblings to the ceremony, came to $30,000 and the florist's bill was $16,000, and the funeral planner for $15,000. Howard Weitzman, a lawyer for the estate executors noted that Jackson's family decided on the details of the ceremony, but said a lavish funeral fit the life Jackson lived, commenting, "It was Michael Jackson. He was bigger than life when he was alive."

Jackson's remains are interred in the Holly Terrace section in the Great Mausoleum. The mausoleum is a secure facility that is not accessible to the general public or to the media, except on an extremely limited basis. The unmarked crypt, which is partially visible at the tinted entrance of the Holly Terrace mausoleum, is covered in flowers fans leave, which are placed by security guards outside the crypt. The family had considered burying Jackson at Neverland Ranch. However, some family members objected to the site, saying that the ranch had been tainted by the sexual abuse allegations. Also, the owners of the ranch would have had to go through a permitting process with county and state government before establishing a cemetery at the site. In July 2010, security was increased at the mausoleum due to vandalism by fans leaving messages such as "Keep the dream alive" and "Miss you sweet angel" in permanent ink.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Jackson Tour Video—The Final Rehearsals, TMZ, July 2, 2009.

Barnes, Brooks. A Star Idolized and Haunted, Michael Jackson Dies at 50, ''The New York Times'', June 25, 2009.

BBC News. Obituary: Michael Jackson, June 26, 2009.

Boucher, Geoff and Woo, Elaine. Michael Jackson's life was infused with fantasy and tragedy, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 26, 2009.

Rayner, Ben. Michael Jackson, 50: Child star, thriller, sad sideshow, ''The Toronto Star'', June 26, 2009.

Saperstein, Pat. Michael Jackson dies at 50, ''Variety'', June 25, 2009.

Sullivan, Caroline. Michael Jackson, ''The Guardian'', June 26, 2009.

''The Smoking Gun''. "Lethal Levels" Of Drug Killed Jackson, August 24, 2009, includes State of California search warrant and affidavit.

''The Sydney Morning Herald''. Michael Jackson obituary: a gifted, troubled king of pop, June 26, 2009.

''The Times''. Michael Jackson, June 26, 2009.

Walters, Dell. "Michael Slept Here", ''Washingtonian'', August 1, 2009.

Wikipedia article traffic statistics – Michael Jackson – June 2009.

Death of Michael Jackson Category:Deaths by person Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:Michael Jackson Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:2009 in the United States

et:Michael Jacksoni surm es:Muerte de Michael Jackson fa:مرگ مایکل جکسون fr:Mort de Michael Jackson hy:Մայքլ Ջեքսոնի մահը pt:Michael Jackson#Morte ru:Смерть Майкла Джексона sr:Смрт Мајкла Џексона th:การเสียชีวิตของไมเคิล แจ็กสัน

birth name	Kenneth John Ortega
birth date	April 18, 1950
birth place	Palo Alto, California, U.S.
occupation	Television and film director, producer, choreographer
years active	1980–present
website	Official site }}

Kenneth John "Kenny" Ortega (born April 18, 1950) is an American producer, director, and choreographer. He is known for directing the ''High School Musical trilogy'' and Michael Jackson's ''This Is It'' concert tour.

Life and career[link]

Ortega was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Madeline, a waitress, and Octavio (Tibby) Ortega, a factory worker from Redwood City. His grandparents were from Spain. Initially known for working with dancer and choreographer Gene Kelly on the film ''Xanadu'', Ortega went on to choreographing the dance for the Menudo video "Hold Me", as well as the 1987 film ''Dirty Dancing'', and has won awards for choreography in music videos, such as Madonna's "Material Girl".

Ortega directed Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonite" video, which is often cited as the worst music promo clip ever made and has been blamed by Squier for killing his career. Together with Michael Jackson, he created and designed the Dangerous World Tour 1992-1993 and the HIStory World Tour 1996-1997. He has also choreographed events ranging from Super Bowl XXX, the 72nd Academy Awards, the 1996 Summer Olympics (Atlanta) and the 2002 Winter Olympics (Salt Lake City).

In addition, Ortega has directed and choreographed ''High School Musical'', ''High School Musical 2'', ''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'', and was choreographer of the ''The Cheetah Girls 2''.

In May 2009, Ortega began work on the scheduled Michael Jackson 50-date ''This Is It'' concert tour, which was cancelled subsequent to Jackson's sudden death. He directed the concert film ''Michael Jackson's This Is It'' which was put together from rehearsal footage recorded at the Los Angeles Forum and the Staples Center. The film was released on October 28.

Ortega directed the Michael Jackson Public Memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which was broadcast live on several networks on July 7, 2009. It reached a television audience of 31 million in America, and more than 1 billion worldwide and via the internet. At the end of the service, he introduced a rendition of Jackson's 1985 charity single "We Are the World" created for the This Is It concerts, featuring Jackson's backing singers on lead vocals with his dancers performing around them.

He was set to direct the 2011 ''Footloose'' remake, but dropped out in October 2009. Ortega is now set to direct the upcoming movie adaptation of the Broadway musical ''In the Heights''.

On August 9, 2011, it was announced that Ortega will direct the remake of ''Dirty Dancing'', which he choreographed in 1987. Lionsgate Films has yet to announce the release date.

Filmography and concerts[link]

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film |- align="center" ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Film ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes |- | 1980 | ''Xanadu'' | Choreographer |- | 1985 | ''St. Elmo's Fire'' | Choreographer |- | rowspan=2|1986 | ''Pretty in Pink'' | Choreographer |- | ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' | Choreographer |- | 1987 |''Dirty Dancing'' | Choreographer |- | 1988 | ''Salsa'' | Choreographer |- | 1989 | ''Shag'' | Choreographer |- | 1992 | ''Newsies'' | Choreographer, Director |- | 1993 | ''Hocus Pocus'' | Director |- | 1995 | ''To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar'' | Choreographer |- | 1998 | ''Quest for Camelot'' | Choreographer |- | 2006 | ''High School Musical'' | Choreographer, Director |- | 2006 | ''The Cheetah Girls 2'' | Choreographer, Director |- | 2007 | ''High School Musical 2'' | Choreographer, Director |- | 2008 | ''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'' | Choreographer, Director |- | 2008 | ''Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert'' | Choreographer, Director |- | 2009 | ''Michael Jackson's This Is It'' | Choreographer, Director |- |2011 |''In the Heights'' |Director |- | 2013 | ''Dirty Dancing remake'' (pre-production) | Director |- align="center" ! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Television |- align="center" ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Title ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes |- | 1988 | ''Dirty Dancing'' | Director, 2 episodes |- | 1990 | ''Hull High'' | Choreographer, director, 2 episodes |- | 1996 | ''Second Noah'' | Director, 1 episode |- | 1998–1999 | ''Chicago Hope'' | Director, 2 episodes |- | 2000 | ''Resurrection Blvd.'' | Director, 1 episode |- | 2001 | ''Grounded for Life'' | Director, 1 episode |- | 2001 | ''Ally McBeal'' | Director, 3 episodes |- | 2002–2006 | ''Gilmore Girls'' | Director, 11 episodes |- | 2011 | ''Phineas and Ferb'' | Guest star, 1 episode |- |- align="center" ! colspan=5 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Concerts |- align="center" ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Title ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes |-

| 1989–1990 | ''Cher's Heart of Stone Tour | Director |- | 1992–1993 | ''Michael Jackson's Dangerous World Tour | Director |- | 1996–1997 | ''Michael Jackson's HIStory World Tour" | Director |- | 2003-2004 | Gloria Estefan's Live & Unwrapped | Show Director and Choreographer |- | 2006-2007 | ''High School Musical: The Concert" | Director |- | 2007–2008 | ''Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour" | Director, Choreographer |- | 2009-2010 | ''Michael Jackson's This Is It Tour'' | Director |}

Awards[link]

Year	Award	Category
2008	ALMA Award	Special Achievement Award – Outstanding Director
	National Association of Latino Independent Producers	Outstanding Achievement Award
30th Young Artist Awards	Jackie Coogan Award - Contribution to Youth

References[link]

External links [link]

Official site

Category:1950 births Category:American choreographers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Spanish descent Category:American television actors Category:American television directors Category:Hispanic and Latino American people Category:Hispanic and Latino American actors Category:Living people Category:People from Palo Alto, California

cy:Kenny Ortega de:Kenny Ortega es:Kenny Ortega fr:Kenny Ortega it:Kenny Ortega nl:Kenny Ortega ja:ケニー・オルテガ no:Kenny Ortega pl:Kenny Ortega pt:Kenny Ortega ru:Ортега, Кенни simple:Kenny Ortega fi:Kenny Ortega sv:Kenny Ortega zh:肯尼·奥特加

alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	King of Pop, MJ
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals
genre	R&B;, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy, MJJ Productions
associated acts	The Jackson 5 150pxMichael Jackson's Signature
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	}}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B;, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series titled ''This Is It'', Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.

Life and career[link]

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)[link]

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B; band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.

The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.

Move to Epic and ''Off the Wall'' (1975–81)[link]

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B; Album, Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B; Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B; Album and Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever'' (1982–83)[link]

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona. ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Midwest hip hop musicians Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Child pop musicians Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:Epic Records artists Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Legend Award Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Young Artist Award winners

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