No Charges for Jackson Doctor Yet; Conrad Murray Expected to Surrender to Cops
Charges will not be filed against Michael Jackson‘s personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray today as the Los Angeles Police Department and the District Attorney’s office continue to argue about whether Murray can surrender to police. Instead, an involuntary manslaughter charge is expected to be filed “in the near future,” a source tells CNN. Murray’s legal team says the doctor, who is accused of administering a deadly dose of sedatives including Propofol to Jackson in the hours before his June 25th, 2009 death, will surrender to police as planned today at 1:30 p.m. PST, but it’s unclear if he’ll be taken into custody. If he’s not, Murray’s legal team will hold a press conference outside the precinct.
Anticipating that charges were near, Murray and his lawyers traveled to Los Angeles earlier this week to negotiate voluntary surrender to police devoid of the spectacle of being handcuffed when Murray was arraigned in court. However, according to TMZ, the LAPD did not agree with the surrender, arguing that Murray should be handcuffed, arrested and brought to the station to be charged, which is the normal series of events in homicide cases. The ensuing battle between the LAPD and D.A. over whether or not Murray should be handcuffed and arrested or not broke down all surrender talks, and ultimately pushed back charges.
“I don’t know what part of negotiations could have broken down, in light of the fact that we’ve placed ourselves in the hands of law enforcement to surrender at any time,” said Murray’s lawyer Ed Chernoff. When Murray is finally charged, his legal team has made it clear that the physician will plead not guilty to all charges. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide, with “acute propofol intoxication” blamed for Jackson’s fatal cardiac arrest.
Related Stories:
• Source: Dr. Murray Likely to Face Manslaughter for Jackson Death
• Janet Jackson Blames Dr. Murray for Michael’s Death in Interview
• Michael Jackson’s Death Officially Ruled Homicide