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Dr. Conrad Murray in Court

By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

Within minutes, the manslaughter verdict of Dr. Conrad Murray will be read, ending a six week trial to determine whether the $150,000 a month cardiologist Michael Jackson hired to administer the pop star’s insomnia drug of choice, Propofol, is guilty of killing him, or whether the pop star was an addict gave who gave himself the fatal dose.

“Every single doctor that testified in this case said they would never do what Conrad Murray did,” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told jurors in closing arguments last Thursday.

But defense attorneys have argued the superstar did himself in, taking powerful painkillers for years, and creating a “perfect storm” of drugs inside his body that led to his death on June 25, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

Did Dr. Murray do it, or did MJ do it to himself?

From The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

From a gruesome photo of his dead body to an audio tape his doctor made of the slurring superstar, high on something, prosecutors in the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial portray Michael Jackson’s doctor as callous, greedy and negligent in treating the pop star’s chronic insomnia with a powerful anesthetic called propofol in 2009 as he was preparing for an ambitious world tour.

That’s what killed him, prosecutors said in gut-wrenching opening argument Tuesday, powerful and damning, detailing how the Houston cardiologist demanded $5 million to close up his money losing practice to travel and care for Jackson as his solo patient, then settled on $150,000 a month when rebuffed.

Only he never signed the contract, and never was paid, his late manager told me, but still proceeded to give Jackson what he wanted–the powerful anesthetic propofol–so he could get sleep that was eluding him, affecting his ability to rehearse and perhaps threatening his “This Is It” Tour.

(Hear Jackson slurring on audio tape made by Dr. Murray on the next page) Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Conrad Murray: Will Putting Jackson on Trial Get Him Off?

Murray Juror Questionnaire
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By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) artharris.com, all rights reserved

It took O. J. Simpson’s Los Angeles jury four hours to reach a verdict in the 1995 double murder case against the football star-turned actor—Not Guilty.

It took the Casey Anthony jury twice as long –10 hours – to find her NOT guilty of murder one…and all counts related to killing her two year old daughter, another celebrity trial where a speedy verdict spelled acquital for murder.

In both cases, a jury backed who they saw as the underdog. In Simpson’s case, lawyer Johnny Cochran’s played on the strained feelings between the African American community and the LAPD, OJ as underdog…In Casey Anthony’s case, Jose Baez portrayed her as a molestation victim, proved her parents liars and pokeD holes in prosecution experts to create reasonable doubt…A defendant ganged up on in a country that embraces underdogs and redeemed sinners.

Anthony was found guilty on the lesser charge of lying to a law enforcement officer, and could be released as early as Thursday and given credit for time served, her lawyer, Cheney Mason said, for a charge that carries a likely prison term shorter than time she’s already spent in the Orange County Florida jail.

“Her lies worked,” said one TV pundit, as shockwaves spread from the courtroom to the Orlando streets. Crowds waving anti-Casey signs and demanding “Justice for Caylee” were transformed into a sort of Zombie-shuffle, a scene earily reminiscent of the quiet shock, then public outcry in white America after Simpson acquital split the nation along racial lines. Read the rest of this entry »