Tag Archives: Conrad Murray

Michael Jackson’s Doctor to Face Charges Tomorrow – UPDATE

It appears now that Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, with offices in Texas and Las Vegas, will most likely formally face involuntary manslaughter charges tomorrow in Los Angeles, California. 

UPDATE:  Dr. Murray WAS indeed going to face charges today, Feb. 5.  And, in fact, was in Los Angeles waiting – begging – to turn himself in, but Los Angeles authorities refused to act on his pleading, saying they will on Mon.,  Feb. 8.  We apologize for any inconvenience this caused in your day. 

Dr. Murray has been investigated for the past seven months since the pop icon’s untimely death. 

The charge results from improperly administering Michael Jackson the propofyl sleep inducing drug that ultimately ended his life. 

The charge, many feel, is a mere legal wrist slap, probably being a 4-year prison term, if that, if deemed guilty.

Yesterday, Dr. Murray was supposed to appear in a $130,000 civil suit in Las Vegas, but decided not to appear, losing the case. 

Las Vegas Backstage Access has covered the entire Michael Jackson case, with numerous articles posted.

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Michael Jackson’s Doctor Appears Before Judge Today in Las Vegas Court

Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician at the heart of Michael Jackson’s ongoing death investigation, appeared in Clark County Family Court today in Las Vegas because of his delinquent child support payments. 

In a surprise move, the child’s mother agreed to not force him to pay the $14,000 in back child support payments. Going forth, however, Murray will be required to pay $1,003 a month. 

Murray appeared to explain why he’s fallen behind in the support payments to a California woman and her son. 

Murray’s attorney, Christopher Aaron, argued that his client is unable to get work because of Michael Jackson’s death publicity. 

Dr. Murray admits giving proponyl to Jackson just before his death.

When the hearing was over, city marshals also made a rare move, blocking the media from leaving the courtroom. They let Murray get to his car and leave before they allowed media out of the courtroom. 

“They were making a decision that they needed to protect the safety of others in the building. They wanted to maintain a level of decorum throughout the building,” said court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer. 

Aaron says Murray had to close his medical practice and move due to personal threats following Jackson’s death June 25.

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Michael Jackson’s Doctor Can’t Afford to Pay Child Support in Las Vegas

The doctor being investigated in Michael Jackson’s death told a court he can’t afford to pay $13,000 in child support and other debts because he was forced to close his medical practice in Las Vegas after physical threats against him and his staff. 

A family court in Las Vegas set a Nov. 16 hearing to consider a recommendation that Dr. Conrad Murray be arrested for not appearing in court this month to explain the unpaid support. 

A ruling on the recommendation had been expected last week, but Murray’s lawyer Chris Aaron objected, saying in court documents the 56-year-old doctor supposedly didn’t receive notice of the hearing. 

It was not immediately clear whether Clark County District Attorney David Roger would fight the objection over the arrest recommendation. His office said he planned to file a response by today. 

Roger previously said he planned to ask the state medical board to suspend Murray’s license. Nevada laws allow prosecutors to go after professional licenses belonging to those behind on child support. 

Murray had serious financial problems when he signed on in May at $150,000 a month to serve as Jackson’s personnel physician through a series of comeback shows planned in London, according to court records. 

The cardiologist owed at least $780,000 for settlements against his business, outstanding mortgage payments on his house, delinquent student loans, child support and credit cards. 

An ongoing homicide investigation by Los Angeles police continues to be focused squarely on Murray, who told investigators he administered a powerful anesthetic to Jackson shortly before he died June 25. No charges have been filed as of yet.

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Breaking: Michael Jackson’s Death Ruled a Homicide

News is just breaking on this story, but L.A. County coroner’s officials earlier found lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic propofol after examining Michael Jackson’s body.  Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, told detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for about six weeks. He had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol every night using an intravenous line, according to the court records.

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Michael Jackson’s Las Vegas Doctor Courted Stripper Girlfriend

Dr. Conrad Murray took his longtime stripper girlfriend to meet Michael Jackson in Las Vegas two years ago.  The woman, Nicole Alvarez, bore Murray’s seventh child earlier this year, their first, according to a former Las Vegas resident who said Alvarez worked at two Las Vegas strip clubs. 

Aspiring actor and author Ben Harris Jr., who said he attended Las Vegas Academy for three years, said Murray met Alvarez at the Crazy Horse Too in Las Vegas in December 2005. 

Harris said Alvarez had been fired at Spearmint Rhino strip club in Las Vegas, where she had paired up with another stripper to form a tandem act called “Fire and Ice.” After Alvarez was fired over a dispute, he drove her to Las Vegas the week she met Murray. 

“I was with her that night. She showed me a $3,500 check that was written out to her,” Harris said. “She said, ‘I hit the jackpot.’ She thought this was going to be her big break.” 

Despite owing many people lots of past due owed money, Murray reportedly set up Alvarez in suites at the Luxor and Mandalay Bay while she was working weekends in Las Vegas. 

Murray, who had a medical practice in Las Vegas before joining Jackson as his personal physician in June, is currently under investigation in connection with Jackson’s June 25 death. 

Harris, who enrolled at Las Vegas Academy in 1998, said he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and met Alvarez in the spring of 2004 on the set of a commercial.

 Harris, 26, said he has telephone records that would prove his relationship with Alvarez, 27, a native of Puerto Rico. “We talked for hours at a time,” he said, adding the last time he saw her was last year. 

A book he has been working on includes their “weird friendship,” he said. Harris finished the manuscript several months before Jackson died. His e-mail address is benharrisjr@yahoo.com

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Michael Jackson’s Burial Plans Announced

The King of Pop will at long last be finally laid to, hopefuly, a long and peaceful rest. 

Michael Jackson will be buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. on Aug. 29 on what would have been the King of Pop’s 51st birthday,  his father Joe Jackson said. 

Joe Jackson, who has a home in Las Vegas, indicated that the burial plans had been made final just in the past few days. He discussed the burial over ribs and jalapeño corn bread at the poolside Simon at Palms Place at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

With him during the discussion was Crystal Marven, a singer he has signed to his new record label, and her mother. 

The elder Jackson says he will return to Las Vegas after his son is buried that Saturday to receive a celebrity star in the singer’s honor at the Brenden Theatres, a cinema at the Palms that Michael Jackson and his children frequented. The Brenden will also screen the 1988 film “Moonwalker” that day. 

Jackson said he is supportive of the Los Angeles Police Department current probe into his son’s June 25 death so far – but also said that cops may be making Dr. Conrad Murray “the fall guy for a whole lot of people.” 

He did not elaborate. Murray was Michael Jackson’s personal doctor and with him the day he died. Murray’s lawyer has confirmed the Vegas-based doctor is being investigated for administering the anesthetic Propofol and possibly other drugs. He denies wrongdoing. 

A Las Vegas pharmacy was searched Aug. 11 for evidence Murray sought Propofol there. 

Meanwhile, Joe Jackson, who previously indicated he would like a shrine for is son in Las Vegas, dismissed talk that the Neverland mansion would be disassembled and moved to Las Vegas, as his daughter, La Toya Jackson, told reporters last week.

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Search on for Michael Jackson’s Doctor in Las Vegas

Yesterday, the Los Angeles County coroner finished their three-hour autopsy of Michael Jackson and found no signs of trauma or foul play leading to his death on Thursday.  Spokesman Craig Harvey said a cause of death might not be known for four to six weeks, pending results from toxicology, pulmonary and neuropathology tests. 

With the wait anticipated, that’s especially why investigatars want to find and question a Las Vegas physician who supposedly has been treating Jackson for the past three years and was at Jackson’s mansion when the iconic signer stopped breathing, desperately trying CPR to revive. 

The doctor at the heart of the investigation is Conrad F. Murray, a cardiologist with offices in Las Vegas and Houston. ConradMurray

Murray was hired by AEG Live to accompany the pop star to London for his “This is It” tour of 50 concerts planned in London, said AEG Live President and Chief Executive Randy Phillips. 

“As a company, we would have preferred not having a physician on staff full-time because it would have been cheaper without the hotels and travel, but Michael was insistent that he be hired,” Phillips told The Associated Press. “Michael said he had a rapport with him.” 

“We do not consider him to be uncooperative at this time,” said police Los Angeles Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, noting that detectives spoke with the doctor after Jackson’s death. “We think that he will assist us in coming to the truth of the facts in this case.” 

Beck, however, declined to answer questions about how long the doctor had been with Jackson before paramedics were summoned, or if any drugs had been administered to the singer. 

Phillips said AEG Live advanced Jackson money to pay for Murray’s services as part of the production costs. Phillips said he asked Jackson why he wanted Murray with him full-time. 

“He just said, `Look, this whole business revolves around me. I’m a machine and we have to keep the machine well-oiled,’ and you don’t argue with the King of Pop,” Phillips said. 

Phillips attended Jackson’s rehearsal at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday night, when the entertainer was on stage for about three hours before leaving at 12:30 a.m. 

“He was dancing as well or better than the 20-year-old dancers we surrounded him with,” the promoter said. “He was riveting. I thought we were home free. I thought this was going to be the greatest live show ever produced. He looked great.” 

“This wasn’t as strenuous as a tour. There was no travel,” Phillips said. “He and the kids were going to be living in this beautiful home outside London and shows were spread out over six months. For him, it seemed like the perfect way to come back.” 

Phillips added AEG Live held multiple insurance policies covering cancellation of the shows.  

“We had pretty good coverage, but a lot of it is going to depend on the toxicology results,” he said. “We need to know what the cause of death was.” 

Murray has spent a decade living and practicing in Las Vegas.  Though he has not been subject of disciplinary action by the Nevada medical or pharmarcy boards, the same can’t be said for his legal and financial health. 

Murray, who currently lives in a 5,268-square foot home with four bedrooms and a pool near the Red Rock Country Club in Summerlin, opened in 2000 his Global Cardiovascular Associates medical practice on East Flamingo Road near Eastern Avenue.    Two years later his legal problems started.  

In February 2002, the Clark County district attorney’s office filed a lien against Murray because of unpaid child support owed to Nenita Malibiran in California.  That case followed him throughout the decade. 

In 2006 he was hit with another lien for nearly $3,100 in unpaid child support, and as recently as June 10, the district attorney’s office filed to collect $10,893 in back child support owed to Malibiran in Santa Clara County in California, according to county records. 

Murray had trouble paying other personal debts, as well. 

Captial One Bank sued Murray in October and won a default judgement for $960 plus $408 in interest and legal fees.  Then, in March, HICA Education Loan Corp. won a $71,332 civil judgement against Murray, who failed to repay his student loans from his medical school days 20 years ago at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., according to court records. 

Murray and his company have also faced a litany of lawsuits in the past three years for unpaid bills and business obligations. 

Lawsuits from Citicorp Vendor Finance and Popular Leasing U.S.A. ended with judgements against Murray totaling $363,722, and two pending lawsuits from Digirad Imaging Solutions and Siemens Financial Services are seeking judgements totaling $366,541. 

Murray has been registered to vote in Clark County since 2004 but does not have a Nevada driver’s license, according to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. 

On Friday, his office in Las Vegas was locked and dark with a closed sign hanging from the door.  Supposedly, according to TMZ.com, Murray notified employees in a note that he was leaving “temporarily,” adding “in my absence, I will continue to manage the practice, and be involved as much as possible but from a distance.”

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