LOS ANGELES: The fate of Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray could be decided Friday when jurors in his manslaughter trial start deliberating, after lawyers clashed at the climax of the high-profile case.
The seven-man, five-woman jury were tasked with considering their verdict after prosecutors and defense lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments Thursday at the end of the six-week long trial in Los Angeles.
The jurors are due to meet from 8:30 am (1530 GMT), amid speculation that they will reach a quick verdict on the sole charge of involuntary manslaughter which Murray faces. Otherwise deliberations will continue next week.In a powerful summary Thursday, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said the 58-year-old medic caused the star’s death through negligence and greed, depriving his children of their father and the world of a “genius.”
Defense attorney Ed Chernoff then took the floor to claim that Murray was “a little fish in a big dirty pond,” alleging that key witnesses conspired to agree on a story after Jackson died at his LA mansion on June 25, 2009.
Murray faces up to four years in jail and could lose the right to practice medicine if convicted over Jackson’s death from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, combined with other sedatives administered to help him sleep.The evidence in this case is overwhelming… that Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence, that Conrad Murray caused the death of Michael Jackson, that Conrad Murray left Prince, Paris and Blanket without a father.
“For them this case doesn’t end today or tomorrow or the next day. For Michael’s children this case will go on forever, because they do not have a father,” he said.
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