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NEWS : STORIES
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10.07.2009 9:33 AM EDT
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Police Scheduled To Wrap Michael Jackson Death Investigation Next Week
Singer's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, still sole focus.
by
Gil Kaufman
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Michael Jackson
(Photo:
Tony Barson/ WireImage
)
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More than three months after his death, next week might finally bring some closure for Michael Jackson's family and fans. According to
TMZ, the Los Angeles Police Department is expected to present its case against Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office at that time.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office has been holding the official autopsy results in the Jackson case pending the completion of the LAPD's death investigation. Last week, The Associated Press leaked what is believed to be the coroner's report on Jackson's death, which found the 50-year-old singer to be in overall good health, without any serious issues that should have caused his death on June 25.
Sources have told TMZ that Murray remains the sole target of the investigation. Several of Jackson's physicians have been visited and interviewed by police, but investigators have focused on Murray, who was with Jackson the morning he died. Murray told police that he administered the injections of the powerful anesthetic propofol, as well as other sedatives, that the coroner's office reported caused Jackson's death.
LAPD detectives were reportedly waiting on some written evaluations by medical professionals who reviewed the evidence surrounding Jackson's death, and with those in hand, they now plan to present the case to the D.A. next week.
An unnamed, "well-placed" law enforcement source reportedly told TMZ that because of the complex nature of the findings, there's a "70/30 chance" that the D.A. will take the Jackson case to a Los Angeles County grand jury rather than charge Murray directly, believing that it would be easier to get a grand jury indictment than face a lengthy preliminary hearing. A spokesperson for the L.A. County D.A.'s office could not be reached for comment at press time.
Murray has been the focus of a manslaughter investigation that centers on his actions in the hours before Jackson's death. His lawyer has denied that Murray administered anything that "should have" killed Jackson.
An Associated Press story last week speculated that the autopsy results showing Jackson to be in good health for a man his age and free of illegal drugs in his system could pose a problem for Murray. The coroner has ruled Jackson's death a homicide caused by acute propofol intoxication — which the coroner found was administered without any medical reason — and the autopsy findings negate a potentially strong defense for Murray: that Jackson was hiding serious preexisting conditions that increased his risk of death from the drugs he willingly took and requested.
This report is provided by MTV News
 
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