Jackson death may have been 'homicide', says police chief

[FarCenter]

The Los Angeles police chief has raised the prospect of a homicide charge over the death of Michael Jackson.

Homicide does not necessarily mean murder — it could mean a manslaughter charge against a doctor.

Jackson, 50, died last month in mysterious circumstances but is reported to have been taking a cocktail of drugs including the potent anaesthetic Diprivan, also known as propofol. Los Angeles police are investigating Jackson’s prescription drug history and have subpoenaed medical records from doctors who treated him, including psychiatric records.

“We are still awaiting corroboration from the coroner’s office as to cause of death. That is going to be very dependent on the toxicology reports that are due to come back,” William Bratton, the city’s police commissioner, told the broadcaster CNN. “And based on those, we will have an idea of what it is we are dealing with. Are we dealing with a homicide? Or are we dealing with accidental overdose?

“We’ve got very good investigators. They will be prepared to deal with whatever the coroner’s findings may be.”

<SNIP> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6681404.ece

[Sophie-Helene]

1. Something seemed fishy...

I thought it was interesting that his new Las Vegas cardiologist refused to have Michael declared dead at the house (as the paramedics requested) and insisted that he be sent to the hospital officially "alive". And then once Michael was finally declared dead (at the hospital), he refused to sign the death certificate.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Welcome to DU!

And good point re. your post.

[rainbow4321]

3. His enablers should have the book thrown at them

Basically instead of making it so he hit rock bottom and got help, they led him to his death.
The docs who gave him the drugs, the docs who knew that other docs were giving him the drugs, his staff who kept the secret from the authorities, and the ones who helped him keep his family away when they wanted to do an intervention (going by what TMZ is reporting today.)
And now we hear (TMZ) that the sheriff's office who searched his home prior to the last trial also failed him and his kids---they had found IV drugs and different drug paraphenalia in his house along with doctors' names and a massive amount of pills??
As was said on TV last night they all (except the sheriff dept, of course) saw him as their golden goose and all played the roll of yesmen/women.
You have to wonder if any of them could face charges of child endangerment...knowing there were kids in the home with all this going on. Especially those who were in his house day after day. Would it have sucked for the kids to be removed from their home and away from their father at the time? Yes. But it sucks more that their father is now dead. Perhaps the kids being removed would have been the rock bottom he needed to get out of the horrible cycle of drug addiction. We'll never know.

I imagine the sheriff's department, if they really did find all this stuff back then, will also have a lot of explaining to do.

[Sophie-Helene]

4. His enablers should have the book thrown at them

The police are also in some difficulty. When MJ died, they did not secure his home as a crime scene. No yellow tape, no photos, no latex gloves...nada. This will make getting any convictions all the more difficult.

[rainbow4321]

7. Yep...video of the moving vans at his house may not help matters

if this does come to a criminal trial. Unless there were cops there watching who went where in the house and what was taken out. :shrug:
Plus, when the ambulance left the house, did anyone (staff, etc..) stay behind by themselves/were the police there in the house with them the whole time/did they empty the house of people, etc..

Going by what has been shown---the cops went back in AFTER the moving vans had been there--they were there to collect more evidence after speaking to the cardiac doctor a second time.

Even if they can't prove who pushed the plunger of the syringe that had the Diprivan, the docs will have to answer WHY they even brought the medicine to a home environment and gave MJ access to it....that alone should get their licenses yanked out from under them at the very LEAST...medical malpractice, etc...

[WolverineDG]

10. Whatever happened, they still found bags of drugs the next day nt

[LisaL]

17. People who knew him have made claims that he was a great

father. How does it jive with all this alleged drug abuse?

[WolverineDG]

26. Because it's been documented for years?

Just a thought.

dg

[WolverineDG]

9. That was to force them to do an autopsy

I've seen several MDs give this as an explanation for the *new* doctor's actions. It's looking like Jackson had a huge stable of doctors, getting who knows what drugs from them...do you think he'd give this new doctor hired *by the concert promoter* his full & complete medical history? Not saying this doctor didn't do something shady, but to put all the blame on him when Jackson was surrounded by sycophants and enablers for decades is just plain wrong.

dg

[LisaL]

14. And this doctor would want an autopsy why exactly?

I don't care what those talking heads MDs have said, this explanation makes no sense to me.

[WolverineDG]

20. Because he didn't know enough to say what killed him

He was only on the job a few weeks; Michael had had other doctors for years & quite an extensive medical history.

dg

[LisaL]

21. Oh right.

That would be the same guy who supposedly did CPR in the bed instead of a floor, and whose lawyer said didn't know the address of where he was so he couldn't call 911 for 30 minutes.
Makes total sense.

[WolverineDG]

24. I realize you want to dump all the responsibility for MJ's death on this guy

because you believe he wasn't addicted to drugs or a doctor-shopper or used phony names to get scripts. I completely understand why this doctor wouldn't sign the death certificate & if you actually bothered to read my first post, I don't let him off completely off the hook for what he may have done. But to expect him to take the fall for all the (possibly) illegal shit that had been going on for DECADES is too much.

dg

[LisaL]

28. I have never stated I believe Jackson wasn't addicted to drugs or

doctor shopping. I have no clue where you would get that idea.
But it's obvious doctor who was last with him when he died would be the first one investigated.
Are you claiming he wanted to be investigated?

[LisaL]

22. And by the way according to tmz that doctor is the central target of the

investigation. If that is true, why would he want an autopsy exactly?
And if it's not true, it still doesn't take a genius to figure out that since this doctor was the last one with Jackson before Jackson died, he'd be the first one investigated.
Apparently, if you follow those talking heads logic, he really wanted an autopsy just so he can be the first one investigated. O'key.

[WolverineDG]

25. Stop being stupid & actually read my post nt

[LisaL]

29. I've read your posts.

If you believe everything those talking heads blubber about on TV, so be it.

[WolverineDG]

31. Well you obviously believe that the last doctor should take the fall

even though he likely was not told the truth or knew the extent of MJ's medical history. Why should he have to sign the death certificate if he didn't know enough to know what killed him? :eyes:

dg

[LisaL]

32. Read this-

www.tmz.com
If that's true, who do you think will go down first?

[niceypoo]

5. Yay! More Jacko!!

Right cross, left hook, BODY BLOW!!

[thelordofhell]

6. He's down for the count!!

1....2....3....KNOCKOUT!!

Great fighting!! You're an up and coming boxer!!

[Duer 157099]

8. Not to minimize this or anything, but

compare this to the situation with all of the Bush era crimes that have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, and nary a word about holding anyone there responsible.

Just mind boggling.

If only we held the Bush administration as accountable as we apparently hold MJ's physicians.

[Life Long Dem]

11. The friends need to be honest. I see denial in any drug abuse.

[troubledamerican]

12. Suicide-by-MedCop

Jackson was writing lyrics about himself in the past tense, lyrics about Demerol, writing reportedly 100 to 200 unpublished songs to be given to "his" children in the event of his death even though his outstanding debts were up to $400 million...

Jackson agreed to ten "This Is It" farewell concerts, then didn't fight 40 more added on although he was likely not physically ready for a single concert, then put cemetery imagery in his final video...

Passive suicide.

[Life Long Dem]

15. I agreed with Reverend Sharpton

And feel this is bigger than MJ.

[SoCalDem]

13. Manslaughter, maybe..but probably not homicide

The people "in charge" of him were ON HIS PAYROLL.. When he died, they were immediately "laid off"..kaput..no more money..

To me, it sounds like a bunch of inept, bungling enabler-toadies acquiesced to his every wish, and in the end, they killed their golden goose..

[LisaL]

16. Hah? This is from the article-

"Homicide does not necessarily mean murder — it could mean a manslaughter charge against a doctor."

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. I get the impression that many "doctors to the stars" work hand in hand with

their lawyers to stay within at least technical although - highly ethically dubious - letter of the law - They may employ medical-legal experts to insure that their highly questionable prescriptions are documented and medically-legally defended - in a similar way tax lawyers may stretch justification to the limit -

This way these high-priced physicians can avoid prosecution or losing their licenses while providing their patients (perhaps customers is a more appropriate term) with the sedations they want.

Of course anyone familiar with propofol knows that this highly powerful anesthetic cannot normally be given even to patents on the wards in most hospitals. Its use is almost always limited by hospital protocols to intensive care setting or operating theaters. Still, I could imagine that there are probably some medical/academic papers somewhere that could be referenced as justification. Medical-legal experts could conceivably spin exceptional indications for its use.

I could imagine high-priced doctors to the rich and famous working with their medical/legal teams and armed with their cherry picked medical academic papers defend highly dubious use of these powerful drugs with with medical/legal documentation stretched to the limit.

[Johonny]

19. until there's a coroner’s findings all of this is pointless

[Avalux]

23. If it is proven Jackson died of an overdose of propofol, then it will be manslaughter.

The reason - this drug is very short acting - must be administered by someone for continued sedation. The moment the infusion stops the patient wakes up. Don't think Jackson could have overdosed himself.

[HOLOS]

27. YES

[mnhtnbb]

30. Many celebrities and stars are at risk for drug abuse. Many of them

have problems with addiction and behaving like addicts, will lie in order to get their drugs of choice.

A lot of medical/health care people have to be very careful when treating celebrities. When I was
an administrator at a hospital in Los Angeles in the 80's, I got a call one day from the Director of Pharmacy. A celebrity (very well known actor) was in house visiting patients. One of his people brought a scrip to the pharmacy asking to have it filled--it was for a huge number of valium. The pharmacy staff
immediately brought it to the attention of the Director, who phoned me. The story was that this individual
was on his way to the airport to leave for another country to begin filming a new production and needed
several months supply. I authorized filling it. The actor did not overdose on location and the production
eventually won 4 Golden Globes and 6 Emmy's and was nominated for many, many more awards.

Happy ending, unlike The Dark Knight.