Michael Jackson’s death has been ruled a homicide caused by a combination of drugs to treat insomnia, a police official told the AP, while his personal physician told investigators she was trying to wean the king of pop front a powerful anesthetic that is in
Forensic tests found the anesthetic protocol combined with at least two sedatives to kill Jackson, according to the official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because the results have not been publicly released. Based on this evidence, the coroner of Los Angeles County ruled the death a homicide, the official said.
The decision forensic homicide does not necessarily mean a crime was committed. But it’s more likely that criminal charges be filed against Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist from Las Vegas who was caring for the pop star when he died June 25 in a mansion rented Los Angeles.
Through his lawyer, Murray has said that anything that runs “should have” killed Jackson.
Murray told investigators that Jackson stopped breathing about 10 minutes after they relented and finally bowed to the demands of his patient of protocol around 10:40 am, after a night-long regimen of sedatives did not work , according to court documents released Monday.
A statement of the search warrant unsealed in Houston, where Los Angeles police took material from one clinic to Murray last month as part of its investigation the murder, including a detailed account of what the detectives say they Murray said. Manslaughter is homicide without malice or premeditation.
The doctor said Jackson had been trying for insomnia for about six weeks with 50 mg protocol every night through an intravenous drip, the affidavit said. Murray Jackson said he feared he was becoming addicted to the anesthesia, which is supposed to be used only in hospitals and other advanced medical centers, so it had reduced the dose to 25 milligrams, and added the sedative lorazepam and midazolam .
That combination has successfully helped Jackson to sleep, two days before his death. So the next day, Murray told detectives, protocol was cut – and Jackson slept with only two sedatives.
Then about 1:30 am on June 25, starting with one tablet of 10 milligrams of Valium, Murray said he tried a number of drugs instead of protocol to make the dream of Jackson. Injections included two milligrams of lorazepam around 2 am, two mg of midazolam around 3 am, and repetitions of each at 5 am and 7:30 am, respectively.
I do not work.
Murray told detectives that around 10:40 gave “repeated requests from Jackson / requests” for protocol, the singer called her “milk” the affidavit said. Are given 25 milligrams of white liquid – a relatively small dose – and, finally, Jackson fell asleep.
Murray stayed with Jackson sedated for 10 minutes, then left for the bathroom, the affidavit said. Less than two minutes later, Murray returned – and found Jackson had stopped breathing.
Cell phone records show three separate phone calls from Murray 11:18 and 12:05 pm, the affidavit said. It is not clear who received the calls. Murray had told the authorities he was the administration of CPR during that time.
In a statement released late Monday on the website of his company, Murray’s attorney Edward Chernoff questioned the timeline as described in the affidavit, calling it a “theory of police.”
“Dr. Murray just never told investigators that Michael Jackson was found at 11:00 am not breathing,” said Chernoff. He refused to comment on the ruling of homicide, saying: “We will be happy to answer the coroner’s report when it launches officially.”
The coroner’s office has withheld the results of an autopsy, citing a police request to wait until their investigation is complete.
No wonder that this combination of drugs could kill someone, said Dr. David Zvara, chairman of anesthesia at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“All the drugs act in synergy with others,” said Zvara. Addition of protocol on top of sedatives could be other “tipped the balance” by pressing Jackson breathing, and finally stop his heart.
The 25 milligrams of protocol “is not a huge amount,” said Lee Cantrell, director of the San Diego division of Poison Control System in California. It was the cocktail of other sedatives, known as benzodiazepines, which “may have been the trigger that pushed him over the edge,” Cantrell said.
Cantrell said it’s baffling that someone would give them different benzodiazepines if you were found not to be effective.
“This is horrible polypharmacy,” he said, referring to the interaction between different agents. “Nobody is going to try an insomniac like this.”
The affidavit, signed by a judge July 20, said the coroner’s office forensic police chief said his review of preliminary toxicology results showed “lethal levels of protocol.”
In addition to the sedatives protocol and two, the forensic toxicology report found other substances in the Jackson system, but are not believed to have been a factor in the death of the singer, the official told The Associated Press.
Murray did not tell paramedics or doctors at the UCLA hospital, where Jackson was rushed on any other drug that is administered lorazepam and flumazenil, a “drug rescue” to counter lorazepam issues too, as the affidavit.
It was during a subsequent interview with detectives from the Los Angeles Police Murray gave a fuller explanation of the events leading up to the 911 call, the document said.
A call to the coroner’s office was not returned Monday. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney said that no case had been submitted so that the office had nothing to discuss.
The line between safe and dangerous doses of protocol is thin, and according to the guidelines of the drug is a trained professional should always remain dark.
Jackson received word that the medicine to help you sleep surprised the medical community, especially since the venue was rented mansion. Consumption of protocol is almost unheard of – cash management requires both a specialized anesthesiologist and a wide range of rescue equipment. Murray was trained as a heart doctor, not a specialist in pain and sedation.
Besides Jackson’s bed pill bottles for other drugs prescribed by Murray and two other doctors, says the document. The drugs include a variety of medications for insomnia, muscle relaxant and a drug for urinary problems of an enlarged prostate.
The researchers found about eight bottles of protocol in Jackson’s home, along with many other drugs, according to the affidavit. Murray told investigators that he did not order or buy any protocol, but the researchers was a search warrant Aug. 11 in a pharmacy in Las Vegas and found evidence showing Murray Purchased legally protocol gave Jackson the day he died .
When he died, Jackson was skinny, but not too emaciated, and his body had bed sores, the official said. The singer is believed to have developed pressure sores in the months following his acquittal in 2005 on charges of sexual abuse when he went to prison and spent long periods in bed.
Jackson family, released a statement Monday, saying he has “full confidence” in the legal process and the efforts of researchers. He concludes: “The family looks forward to the day when justice can be served.”
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