A judge has ordered Michael Jackson's doctor to stand trial on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the pop star's drug overdose death and suspended the doctor's California medical licence.
Los Angeles Superior Court judge Michael Pastor found that enough evidence exists to bring Dr Conrad Murray to trial for the singer's death in June 2009, due principally to an overdose of the powerful anaesthetic propofol.
"I order the defendant be held to answer" for the crime, Mr Pastor said after six days of testimony in a preliminary hearing as Jackson's sister, LaToya, and his brother, Randy, looked on.
Involuntary manslaughter is defined as an unintentional killing without malice and is a lesser charge than murder. Still, Dr Murray faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During the hearing, prosecutors brought to the witness stand a Jackson employee who testified that Dr Murray ordered him to hide drug evidence the day the singer died, June 25th.
Coroners ruled Jackson died from propofol and the effect of sedatives including lorazepam, but the anaesthetic was the key drug. Propofol is most often used in hospitals, but Jackson took it as a sleep aid. Dr Murray has admitted giving the singer propofol.
Defence attorneys have suggested Jackson may have injected himself with the fatal dose, but a pair of medical experts testified on Tuesday that even if that were the case, Dr Murray was still be responsible because he supplied the propofol.
The defence also claimed Dr Murray was trying to get Jackson off drugs to help him.
"Why, all of the sudden on the day that Dr Conrad Murray is trying to wean off Michael Jackson trying anything else but propofol, would he suddenly be given a dosage that goes above that. That defies common sense," defence attorney Joseph Low said in his summation yesterday.
Reuters