THE DOCTOR who was with Michael Jackson when he died has hired a notoriously aggressive lawyer and is insisting he has done nothing wrong, as the singer’s death appeared to open rifts between his family and other players in his complicated life.
The lawyer, Matt Alford, described on his own website as an “intimidating bad ass” who goes about his work “with a scorched-earth mentality”, went on television yesterday morning with an impassioned defence of his client, Conrad Murray, underlining that he was a witness and not a suspect.
LA police issued a statement after talking to Murray on Saturday, saying he had been co-operative and provided “information which will aid the investigation”.
Murray was with Jackson when he suffered a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday. An official postmortem failed to determine the cause of death, pending toxicology tests that could take four to six weeks.
The Jackson family hired a private pathologist to conduct a second postmortem examination over the weekend, and hinted that they might use the results to press for criminal charges – something the official police investigation has ruled out for the moment.
The family questioned whether the doctor had carried out resuscitation attempts properly, pointing out that on the tape recording of the emergency call seeking an ambulance he was described as “pumping” Jackson on a bed, not the floor or another hard surface.
However, the Los Angeles Timesquoted a source close to the investigation yesterday as saying the police had completed an "extensive interview" on Saturday night with the doctor, and that detectives had found "no red flag" during discussions about the death. "There was no smoking gun," the source told the paper.
As tributes to the star continued to flood in from across the world, White House adviser David Axelrod said President Barack Obama had written a personal letter to Jackson’s family expressing his condolences.
He told NBC: "The president obviously believes that Michael Jackson was an important and magnificent performer and obviously he led a sad life in many ways as well, but his impact is undeniable." – ( Guardianservice)