Murray and that clinic in this community," Houston patient Ruby Mosley told People magazine. Those who've had financial dealings with the doctor, however, might feel otherwise. Unpaid debts, lawsuits and tax liens have followed Dr.
Murray's life. In fact, it was Dr. Murray's debt situation that set the stage for his working relationship with Jackson. The two men had first met in when the singer, a frequent Vegas visitor, had contacted Dr. Murray about treating one of his children for an unknown medical situation. Reports indicate that the two men soon became friends and, as Jackson began making plans for his upcoming concert tour, he hired Dr. Jackson's motivation to bring Murray aboard, though, may have had less to do with friendship and more to do with the singer's own complicated reliance on prescription medicine.
Following Jackson's death, police discovered more than 20 prescriptions inside his rented Holmby Hills home, including methadone, fentanyl, percocet, dilaudid and vicodin. By all accounts, Jackson had become an insomniac and had pushed for the use of propofol, an anesthetic, to help him rest.
Along with a mix of other drugs Jackson used to go to bed, he often referred to the concoction as his "milk" or "liquid sleep. Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse and nutritionist whom Jackson employed, told ABC News that the singer begged her to buy more of the drug for him. She refused. You don't want that. Murray, however, was another matter. While court documents showed he never actually purchased the drug for Jackson, over the course of the six weeks he worked for him, the doctor administered a nightly intravenous drip of propofol—despite his concerns that Jackson may be addicted to the drug.
That was the case on June 25, , when Jackson, exhausted from a long rehearsal session at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that went past midnight, returned home and tried to get some rest. A familiar routine followed, with Murray hooking up his client to an IV in order to administer the propofol. Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of propofol that, with the lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body that killed him instantly," Chernoff, said during the trial.
Prosecutors said it made no difference who administered the drugs since it was Murray who brought them into the bedroom and, in the defense's scenario, left Jackson alone with them. The jury of seven men and five women sat through 22 days of testimony from Jackson's employees, paramedics, doctors, investigators, medical experts and a number of Murray's girlfriends and patients.
The jury deliberated for more than eight hours over two days before concluding that the evidence was sufficient beyond any reasonable doubt that Murray caused the singer's death.
Murray declined to testify during his trial and showed no emotion when the guilty verdict was read. Several of Jackson's family members routinely attended the trial.
Following the verdict, his mother, Katherine Jackson, exited the courthouse and declared, "Justice is served. Murray's mother, Milta Rush, sent a letter to Judge Pastor prior to today's sentencing, speaking of her son's fine qualities and begging for mercy. He never drank alcohol, took drugs or smoked cigarettes in his life," Rush wrote in the letter -- a copy of which was obtained by TMZ.
Rush added, "I sympathize with Mrs. Jackson as a mother; I feel her pain for having lost her son. I sense she was very close to her son. I really wanted to approach her personally and tell her I am sorry for the loss of her son but I was unsure if she would be receptive, and I did not want to take the chance of violating the courts rules.
I am sorry for her loss. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Suggest a correction. What's Hot. After the verdict in the civil case, Murray told the "Today" show in an interview from jail that he was "relieved" by the jury's decision. Murray has insisted that he did nothing wrong in his treatment of the singer, with his attorneys arguing during his trial that Jackson himself likely administered the fatal dose when the doctor was out of the room.
But prosecutors said propofol should only be administered in a hospital setting with proper monitoring equipment. Asked about his plans after his release, Murray said, "I will restart my life and, God willing, I will be a model to show the world that despite adversity, and when bad things happen to good people, they can restart their life and succeed. Murray's medical license has been suspended, but his appellate attorney, Valerie Wass, has said he hopes to regain his license and resume treating patients.
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