Surrender plan by Jackson’s doctor upstaged by prosecutors

Saturday, February 06, 2010

MICHAEL JACKSON’S doctor wanted to seek his day in court yesterday by surrendering before being charged in the singer’s death, but prosecutors upstaged the plan by announcing that no case would be filed until Monday.

District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons released the plan less than two hours before Dr Conrad Murray and his attorneys were going to show up at an airport-area courthouse in an effort to force the prosecution’s hand while avoiding having the physician arrested and handcufffed.

Murray’s attorneys have said they expect the Texas cardiologist to be charged with involuntary manslaughter for administering drugs to Jackson before his death on June 25.

Lead defence attorney Ed Chernoff was told to be at the courthouse at 1.30pm PST yesterday, only to have the county sheriff’s department say hours later that it was called off, said the defence team.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, February 06, 2010