Michael Jackson - Jackson Family Attempted Vegas Drugs and Alcohol Intervention
06/26/09
As far back as 2006, members of Michael Jackson's family were terrified that his escalating dependence on prescription drugs had become a danger to his life – and attempted an intervention in Las Vegas.
"The family believes Michael is addicted," a family insider told PEOPLE. "There was an intervention in Las Vegas. Janet was on the phone, but Randy, Jackie and Rebbie were there in person," the source said, referring to several of Michael's eight siblings.
"Michael got p---ed off. He said he wasn't on drugs. But they didn't believe him."
Jackson suffered cardiac arrest at his rented home in Los Angeles Thursday and was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. PST. His autopsy will be conducted by the Los Angeles County Coroner Friday, although some tests, including a toxicology report, could take days or weeks to complete.
At the time of the Vegas intervention, another source close to the family blamed a Jackson aide for supplying the superstar with drugs from prescriptions acquired from multiple doctors.
"[The aide] has contacts wherever they are," said the source. In addition to consuming alcohol, Jackson takes "straight morphine, Demerol and opiates like Oxycontin. He also takes Valium and Xanax," said the insider.
"Michael is a clinically functioning addict and these are the most dangerous," the source continued. "They stop and start. These are the ones that OD ... It could happen any minute."
After Jackson's death Thursday, family attorney Brian Oxman, who huddled with the grieving family at the hospital, raised the possibility that the drug abuse remained a critical factor in Jackson's life. "If you think that the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, it is nothing in comparison to what we have seen in Michael Jackson's life," Oxman told CNN.
______________________
Dr. Conrad Murray and
Michael Jackson
Coroner rules Jackson's death homicide
08/24/09
By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer – 10 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide, 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.
The coroner determined a fatal combination of drugs was given to Jackson hours before he died June 25 in his rented Los Angeles mansion, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released. Forensic tests found the powerful anesthetic propofol acted together with at least two sedatives to cause Jackson's death, the official said.
Dr. Conrad Murray, a Las Vegas cardiologist who became Jackson's personal physician weeks before his death, is the target of a manslaughter investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed Monday in Houston, Murray told investigators he administered a 25 mg dose of propofol around 10:40 a.m. after spending the night injecting Jackson with two sedatives in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to sleep.
The warrant, dated July 23, states that lethal levels of propofol were found in Jackson's system. Besides the propofol and two sedatives, the coroner's toxicology report found other substances in Jackson's system but they were not believed to have been a factor in the singer's death, the official said.
Murray has spoken to police and last week released a video saying he "told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail." His attorney, Edward Chernoff, had no immediate comment but has previously said Murray never administered anything that "should have" killed Jackson.
A call to the coroner's office was not returned Monday.
Murray did not say anything about the drugs he gave to Jackson.
______________________
|
