Monday, June 29 2009

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LOS ANGELES: The cardiologist who was with Michael Jackson during the pop star’s final moments sat down with investigators for three hours to explain his actions, and his spokeswoman says he is not a suspect.

Dr Conrad Murray, a physician with a tangled financial and personal history who was hired to accompany Jackson on his planned summer concert tour, reportedly performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived at Jackson’s rented home. The pop star was declared dead later at UCLA Medical Center.

In his interview with police, the doctor “helped identify the circumstances around the death of the pop icon and clarified some inconsistencies,” Murray’s spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik said in a statement Saturday. “Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy.”

The statement said Murray has been in Los Angeles since Jackson’s death, and plans to stay here until his cooperation is no longer needed.

Police confirmed that they interviewed Murray, adding that he was cooperative and “provided information which will aid the investigation.”

The interview took place on a busy day when one of Jackson’s lawyers was chosen to represent the family’s legal interests and celebrities descended on Los Angeles for a star-studded public celebration of the King of Pop’s life at the annual BET awards show.

US President Barack Obama has written to Michael Jackson’s family expressing his condolences, White House advisor David Axelrod said Sunday on NBC television’s Meet the Press.

Obama did not issue a statement following Jackson’s death, but the White House has said the president saw the pop star as a spectacular performer whose life had sad and tragic aspects.

L. Londell McMillan, who represented Jackson last year in a breach of contract lawsuit and has advised high-profile clients such as Prince, was picked to help the family by Katherine Jackson, the singer’s mother, said a person who requested anonymity because the matter is private.

The legal move came as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights leader, revealed that Michael Jackson’s family wants a second, private autopsy of the pop superstar because of unanswered questions about how he died.

“It’s abnormal,” Jesse Jackson said from Chicago a day after visiting the Jackson family. “We don’t know what happened. Was he injected and with what? All reasonable doubt should be addressed.”

People close to Jackson have said since his death that they were concerned about his use of painkillers. Los Angeles County medical examiners completed their autopsy Friday and said Jackson had taken prescription medication.

Michael Jackson still had a faint pulse and his body was warm when his doctor found him in bed and not breathing, a lawyer for the doctor told The Associated Press yesterday.

Lawyer Edward Chernoff also said Dr Conrad Murray never prescribed or gave Jackson the drugs Demerol or OxyContin. He denied reports suggesting Murray gave Jackson drugs that contributed to his death.

Chernoff told the AP that Murray was at the pop icon’s rented mansion on Thursday afternoon when he discovered Jackson in bed and not breathing. The doctor immediately began administering CPR, Chernoff said.

“He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn’t breathing,” the lawyer said. “Mr Jackson was still warm and had a pulse.”

Chernoff said any drugs the doctor gave Jackson were prescribed in response to a specific complaint from the entertainer.

“Dr Murray has never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson,” Chernoff said. “Not ever. Not that day. ... Not Oxycontin (either) for that matter.” Medical officials also said there was no indication of trauma or foul play. An official cause of death could take weeks to determine.

There was no word from the Jackson family on funeral plans. Many of Jackson’s relatives have gathered at the family’s Encino compound, caring there for Jackson’s three children.

It remains unclear who Jackson designated as potential guardians for his children. Those details — likely contained in the 50-year-old singer’s will — have not been released.

An attorney for Deborah Rowe, the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, issued a statement Saturday asking that the Jackson family “be able to say goodbye to their loved one in peace.”

Sisters Janet and La Toya arrived Saturday at the mansion Jackson had been renting and left without addressing reporters. Moving vans also showed up at the Jackson home, leaving about an hour later. There was no indication what they might have taken away.

The Jackson family issued a statement Saturday expressing its grief over the death and thanking his supporters.

“In one of the darkest moments of our lives we find it hard to find the words appropriate to this sudden tragedy we all had to encounter,” said the statement made through People magazine. “We miss Michael endlessly.”