Coroner says Michael Jackson died from lethal dose of propofol

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Pop star Michael Jackson died from a lethal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol, according to findings by the Los Angeles chief medical examiner unsealed in court documents in Houston on Monday.

Jackson suffered cardiac arrest and died on June 25 at age 50. Since then, an investigation by state and federal agencies have focused on Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal doctor who was at his side the day he died.

"The Los Angeles Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, Dr. Sathyavagiswaran, indicated that he had reviewed the preliminary toxicology results and his preliminary assessment of Jackson's cause of death was due to lethal levels of propofol (diprivan)," according to a warrant to search Murray's offices issued by California.

The document was released by the Harris County District Clerk in Houston, where Murray has an office. U.S. agents raided the office on July 22.

In an affidvit seeking the warrant, Houston police officer E.G. Chance said U.S. agents had gathered "items constituting evidence of the offense of manslaughter that tend to show that Dr. Conrad Murray committed the said criminal offense."

Murray's attorney, Ed Chernoff, was not available to comment.

Murray, who was in Jackson's personal bedroom on June 25 administering drugs to ease the pop star to sleep, administered a wide range of drugs to Jackson before he died, including a 25-milligram dose of propofol via an intravenous drip at 10:40 a.m. PDT, the state search warrant said.

Jackson was "very familiar" with propofol and referred to it as his "milk" because of its milky appearance, the warrant said.

In the early hours of June 25, Murray also gave Jackson doses of Valium, ativan, and versed, the filing said.

Jackson went to sleep after Murray administered the propofol, and Murray stayed by his side for about 10 minutes and then left "to go to the restrooom and relieve himself," the search warrant said.

Murray was out of Jackson's room for about 2 minutes and when he returned, Jackson was no longer breathing, the warrant said.

(additional reporting by Alex Dobuzunski in Los Angeles)

(Reporting by Chris Baltimore; Editing by Eddie Evans)

AP Source: Coroner rules Jackson's death homicide

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide and a combination of drugs was the cause, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, a finding that makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against the doctor who was with the pop star when he died.

British actor claims he fathered Jackson's daughter

LONDON (AFP) – Former child acting star Mark Lester said in a British newspaper Sunday that he donated sperm to Michael Jackson and believes he could be the biological father of the late singer's daughter Paris.
Lester, who played Oliver Twist in the 1968 film musical "Oliver!", told the News of the World: "I gave Michael my sperm so that he could have kids -- and I believe Paris is my daughter."
He said he was willing to take a paternity test to establish whether or not he is 11-year-old Paris' father.
The 51-year-old Briton became friends with Jackson and is godfather to Paris, and Jackson's two other children, Prince Michael, 12, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket.
"It's a been a secret for so long," Lester told the weekly tabloid.
"In 1996 Michael asked me if I would give him my sperm and I said yes. It was a gift to him, no money was paid, it was something I was honoured to do. He wanted children so badly."
Lester added: "I do feel a definite bonding with Paris and I think there's a definite possibility that she's part of me.
"I want to have contact with her, Prince and Blanket regardless of whether any or all of them are mine. I think it's cruel that I've now been excluded from them."
He said that since Jackson's mother Katherine had been granted custody of the children following the singer's death, all his phone calls and emails had gone unanswered.
Lester, who has four children himself, said there was a strong resemblance between his 15-year-old daughter Harriet and Paris.
He told the News of the World that Jackson first confided in him in 1996 that he was desperate to be a father.
Both were then aged 37 and Lester already had three children.
"He realised having kids was a natural thing but that he just couldn't do it," Lester said.
"I mentioned the fact there are alternative ways of going about it.
"I think he'd already tried using his own sperm but it hadn't worked for him, so I made an off-the-cuff comment saying, 'Try mine'."
Jackson agreed and the donation was arranged through a clinic in Harley Street, London, in February 1996.
Eight months later Jackson announced he had married nurse Debbie Rowe and three months later the couple revealed the birth of their first child, Prince.
Paris was born just over a year later, in April 1998.
Lester said he felt compelled to speak out because he feared being excluded from the lives of Jackson's children.
"This isn't what Michael would have wanted," he said. I feel I have to come forward, as my only way of saying, 'Please don't shut me out!'."
The paternity of Jackson's children is a hot topic for debate among Jackson's fans.
Magician Uri Geller, another long-time friend of Jackson's, backed Lester's story.
"As a close friend of Mark, I respect his own situation to reveal this information at this time," the 62-year-old told Sky News television.
"I am not surprised, I knew it all along simply because Michael told me."
Geller declined to specify exactly what he knew, but said he spoke to Lester on Saturday.
"I am with him on this because of the information he told me," he added.
"I can imagine the stress everyone is under, especially Mark, but I understand him and really feel for him."

Jackson's personal doctor was in financial trouble

LOS ANGELES – Dr. Conrad Murray was in dire financial shape when he signed on as Michael Jackson's personal physician earlier this year at $150,000 a month.
The Las Vegas cardiologist owed a total of at least $780,000 in judgments against him and his medical practice, outstanding mortgage payments on his house, delinquent student loans, child support and credit cards.
Court records chronicling Murray's woes in Las Vegas, where authorities searched his home this week as part of a manslaughter investigation into Jackson's death, might help explain why — beyond the chance to get close to a celebrity — Murray seized the chance to keep the pop star healthy through a series of concerts in London.
But more than that, the financial pressures on Murray could help prosecutors establish a motive if he ends up facing charges.
"Here he is, dealing with one of the most famous people in the world. There may have been a great deal of pressure to do what Michael Jackson wanted, give him the drugs he wanted, treat him the way Michael Jackson wanted to be treated, even if it wasn't in keeping with medical protocol," said Steve Cron, a criminal defense attorney and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University's law school.
Authorities investigating Jackson's death at his rented Los Angeles mansion believe Murray gave the star a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on.
Propofol is commonly used for surgery and is not meant as a sleep agent or to be given in private homes. Because of its potency, only trained anesthesia professionals are supposed to administer it, and patients are supposed to be constantly monitored.
If prosecutors bring charges, Murray's financial trouble "does potentially provide evidence of good motive for financial-based crimes, including prescribing when there is not a medical necessity," said Rebecca Lonergan, a University of Southern California law professor and former federal prosecutor of health care fraud cases.
Murray, 56, has not spoken publicly since Jackson's June 25 death. His lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has said the doctor did not prescribe anything that "should have" killed Jackson.
Murray was hired through Jackson's promoter in May, as his bleak financial picture threatened to worsen. He was under court orders to pay more than $363,000 for equipment for his heart clinic, and was ordered in April to repay $71,000 in student loans dating to the 1980s. Two lawsuits claiming he owes $240,000 more for unpaid equipment are pending in Nevada courts.
Also, Murray's 5,268-square-foot home near the 18th hole of a golf course is in "pre-foreclosure" after he failed to make payments on his $1.66 million loan, records show. He stopped paying the $15,000-per-month mortgage in December and could lose the home by November, said Mary Hunt, the foreclosure officer handling the case.
Neither Jackson nor AEG Live, the promoter for the London concerts that was prepared to pay him $150,000 a month, paid Murray for the two months the doctor worked for the pop star, according to Chernoff.
"Dr. Murray has lost the ability to make a living as a result of this investigation," Chernoff said. "His hope is he can forestall foreclosure until he can once again begin working as a doctor."
Murray's cresting financial woes fit into a history of money problems. He filed for bankruptcy in California in 1992 and had a string of tax liens in California and Arizona between 1993 and 2003. Also, a former business partner in an energy-drink distribution venture claimed Murray owed him $68,000.
John Thomas, distributor of a drink called Pit Bull, said that in 2005 and 2006 Murray had the rights to distribute the product in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean island nation where Murray lived and worked before coming to the United States in the 1980s to study medicine.
The drink never gained popularity there. Murray paid his bill for a first shipment, then didn't pay for three subsequent shipments, Thomas said.
___
Ritter reported from Las Vegas. Contributing to this report were Associated Press reporters Juan Lozano in Houston, Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles and Tony Fraser in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and AP Researchers Judith Ausuebel and Barbara Sambriski in New York.

Michael Jackson's death .....Dozens of doctors probed

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California's attorney general said on Wednesday his office has run dozens of doctors' names, some of them thought to be aliases, through its prescription drug database to aid police investigating the death of Michael Jackson.
Attorney General Jerry Brown said his office was not the lead agency in probing Jackson's sudden death -- a role it took in the fatal overdose of Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith in 2007 -- but was assisting other agencies as they try to track down prescription drugs that may have killed the King of Pop.
"We've found some things, but this is early on" to provide details, Brown told Reuters.
Brown's office monitors all over-the-counter prescription transactions in California, using a database that contains the name of each doctor, patient, medication and quantity.
He said his investigators were given "dozens" of doctors' names to run through its system by police probing Jackson's sudden death, although some are considered to be aliases.
The findings could be used to show that "there were drugs in quantities and character that are lethal in combination," which in conjunction with the official autopsy could lead investigators to determine exactly what killed the 50-year-old singer and dancer.
Brown declined to say if he thought murder or manslaughter charges could be brought in the case, but said those kinds of crimes could not be ruled out "any time you've got a dead body and you've got chemicals in large quantities."
Jackson died at his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest. Official autopsy results are pending toxicology tests, but rampant speculation has centered on Jackson's use of prescription drugs.
On Tuesday, an official from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office visited the office of Dr. Arnold Klein, the singer's longtime dermatologist, to obtain Jackson's medical records as part of its investigation.
Brown, a former California governor who is said to be considering a run for that job again in 2010, said his office took the lead in investigating prescription drug use in Anna Nicole Smith's death because no other agency had done so.
In the Jackson case, he said, Los Angeles Police and coroners investigators were involved

Michael Jackson's Death Still Not Being Treated as Homicide

Los Angeles The investigation into Michael Jackson's death marches on, and with it, so do the rumors.
Despite several reports, the quest for answers has not turned into a homicide investigation.
"Nothing has changed," Los Angeles District Attorney's office spokeswoman Jane Robinson tells E! News. "It's still an ongoing investigation."
Likewise, the LAPD echoes that statement, simply saying the investigation continues.
Neither party is throwing the words criminal or homicide around, although the LAPD and the district attorney's office have spoken to each other.
"As far as [the LAPD] contacting us a few times, that's true," Robinson says.
She adds that reports that the investigation has become a criminal one are false, and that she cannot comment on whether or not the LAPD is approaching the death as a homicide.
A source close to the investigation tells E! News that they haven't ruled out homicide, but have made no conclusions. They continue to question and seek information from at least five doctors with knowledge of Jackson's health condition and treatments.
Hopefully, the results of the toxicology report being announced next week will provide us all—law enforcement, reporters and fans—with some much needed clarity.
—Additional reporting by Maureen Heaton