Jackson Death: Arrest of Dr. Conrad Murray Seems Imminent

Noted defense attorney says indictment of Conrad Murray likely.

ByABC News
August 13, 2009, 4:53 PM

Aug. 25, 2009— -- Details of Michael Jackson's death outlined in a coroner's report make it seem almost certain that Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, will be charged in the pop icon's death, according to a noted defense attorney who has been following the case.

"I have no doubt he's going to be indicted," attorney Roy Black told "Good Morning America" today.

Black pointed to the two months of intense investigation -- the search warrants, the interviews, the raids in two states -- as evidence investigators will look to Murray as causing Jackson's June 25 death from a drug overdose.

"Just the amount of work tells us that," Black said.

Documents released Monday show that Murray administered a continuous cocktail of sedatives the morning Jackson died in an effort to put the singer to sleep. It was the propofol, a powerful anesthetic typically used in operating rooms, that caused him to stop breathing, according to the report.

Jackson's death was ruled a homicide.

"The Los Angeles Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, indicated that he had reviewed the preliminary toxicology results and his preliminary assessment of Jackson's cause of death was due to lethal levels of propofol (Diprivan)," according to the search warrant affidavit.

(To read the search warrant click here and here.)

Murray has said he stepped out of the room to go to the bathroom after administering the propofol and came back to find Jackson unresponsive. The documents contend that Murray waited more than an hour to summon emergency officials.

Cell phone records obtained by ABC News show that Murray made more than 40 minutes' worth of calls around the time he says he was trying to revive Jackson.

Black said the entire string of events -- the cocktail of drugs, the use of propofol outside a hospital, Murray's leaving the room -- will be considered a "highly reckless, dangerous situation" by prosecutors.

"I have no doubt it will be manslaughter," he said. "It's certainly not murder because this was not intentional."

According to search warrants from the Las Vegas raid on Murray's home and office, he could also be charged with administering drugs to an addict.

Murray told investigators, according to the police documents, that he had been treating Jackson for several weeks, trying to wean the singer off propofol by administering a series of prescription sedatives, including lorazepam and midazolam.

Commenting on the affidavit after it was released, Edward Chernoff, Murray's attorney, said, "Much of what was in the search warrant affidavit is factual. However, unfortunately, much is police theory. Most egregiously, the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr. Murray, as was implied by the affidavit.

"Dr. Murray simply never told investigators that he found Michael Jackson at 11:00 a.m. not breathing. He also never said that he waited a mere 10 minutes before leaving to make several phone calls. In fact, Dr. Murray never said that he left Michael Jackson's room to make phone calls at all."