Michael Jackson’s fame could pose a challenge for Dr. Conrad Murray’s defense team as his lawyers fight an involuntary manslaughter charge against the physician in the singer’s death.
Citing the “popularity of Michael Jackson,” criminal defense lawyer Harland Braun, who has handled celebrity cases and defended doctors in court, said Tuesday that Murray’s defense team has a monumental job ahead.
“How would (jurors) be accepted back into the community if they acquit him?” Braun said. “It’s a tough case.”
Attorney Steve Cron, who also has handled medical cases, said the attorneys are being confronted this week with a mountain of evidence amassed by the Los Angeles Police Department during their nearly eight-month investigation.
“I would safely say there are tens of thousands of pages of reports as well as CDs, videos, phone records and photographs. “They will be looking at all of Michael Jackson’s medical records, search warrant affidavits and reports on every person who was interviewed,” Cron said.
Cron said Jackson’s interaction with the doctor and his alleged demands for the drug propofol is likely to come into play.
“A bad result doesn’t mean bad doctoring,” said Cron. “They will find an expert who will say he had a difficult, demanding patient who needed to sleep and he did what was reasonable.”
Jackson died at the age of 50 on June 25 in his rented Bel Air mansion. Murray, a Caribbean born physician who had been hired by the superstar to look after his health during a rigorous comeback tour, told police he gave Jackson propofol and other sedatives to help him sleep.
Murray’s lead counsel, Ed Chernoff, has said that nothing the doctor gave Jackson should have killed him.
Source: Associated Press
