Conrad Murray

Conrad Murray
General information
Birthname	Conrad Robert Murray
Born	February 19, 1953 Saint Andrew Parish, Grenada
Occupation	Physician (formerly) • cardiologist (formerly)
Years active	1990-2009
Criminal status	Released on October 28, 2013
Conviction	Involuntary manslaughter
Criminal penalty	4 years imprisonment; paroled after one year and 11 months
Physical characteristics
Gender	Male
Personal relationships
Children	7

Conrad Robert Murray (born February 19, 1953) is a Grenadian-American convicted felon and former cardiologist, who served as Michael Jackson's physician in 2009 during the This Is It concerts.

Relationship with Jackson

Murray met Jackson in 2006 in Las Vegas, treating his daughter Paris when she was ill. In 2009, Murray was hired by Jackson as his exclusive personal physician before the concerts in July 2009.

Death of Jackson

On June 25, 2009, months after hiring Murray, Jackson died due to a lethal dose of propofol administered by the physician. Court documents released in August 2009 revealed that the coroner's preliminary conclusion indicated that Jackson overdosed on propofol. However, the coroner's office declined to comment on reports claiming that the death was ruled a homicide.

Several offices of doctors who were believed to have treated Jackson were searched. Based on the autopsy and toxicology findings, the cause of Jackson's death was determined to be acute propofol intoxication with a contributory benzodiazepine effect, and the manner of death was determined to be a homicide, eventually, so that the focus of the investigation shifted toward Murray. He admitted administering 25 mg of propofol intravenously for insomnia on the night of Jackson's death. He claimed that he tried treating him with other drugs and that he only administered the propofol after Jackson insisted, according to a police affidavit.

Murray was worried that Jackson had become dependent on the drug to get to sleep and was trying to wean him from it. Though any FDA-approved drug can be used off-label in a responsible manner that is medically appropriate for their patient, the indicated use for propofol is for anesthesia—not as a sleep aid—and is therefore properly given in a hospital or a clinical setting with close monitoring. Accordingly, propofol is supposed to be administered on the orders of an anesthesiologist, certified registered nurse anesthetist, intensivist, or an emergency medicine physician who received extensive training in the use and monitoring of anesthetics; Murray had no such specialty training.

Trial

In February 2011, Murray was formally charged with involuntary manslaughter. On September 27, Murray went on trial in Los Angeles and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on November 7. His bail was revoked, and he was remanded to custody pending his November 29 sentencing date. He received the maximum penalty of four years in prison. His Texas medical license was revoked, and his California and Nevada licenses were suspended. After serving two years, Murray was released on parole on October 28, 2013.

Jackson's father, Joe, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Murray in 2010 but dropped it in 2012. In the same year, Jackson's mother Katherine, along with his three children, filed a separate wrongful death suit against AEG, the promoter of the This Is It concerts, claiming that the company was negligent in hiring Murray; the jury ultimately favoured AEG in 2013.

Main article: People v. Murray