Doc’s Defense: Demonizing Michael Jackson?

E! Online
August 14, 2009

by Gina Serpe and Art Harris

For Dr. Conrad Murray, the best defense may be a no-holds-barred smear
campaign against Michael Jackson.

Celebrity defender extraordinaire Mark Geragos, who successfully
repped Jackson during his 2004 child-molestation trial, spoke to E!
News yesterday, explaining why he rejected an overture to defend
Murray, why he thinks the doctor may wind up charged with murder, and
what exactly he believes the embattled medico will use as a defense
strategy.

Which, in a word, would be Jackson himself. (And all the
controversies, mysteries, trials and, per Geragos, general "weirdness"
that will forever be part and parcel with the King of Pop.)

"Ultimately, that may be¦what the defense is, to say things about
Michael I’m just not going to say," Geragos said. "Whatever is
required by somebody who is going to defend the doctor, is not
something I can do ethically."

Or personally.

"I’ve been approached," he said in reference to the possibility that
he would join Murray’s defense team. "But clearly I have a conflict of
interest.

"I represented Michael and I would not want to be in a position where
I was deprecating Michael in any way, shape or form."

Part of that defensive deprecation may come in the form of rehashing
Jackson’s drug addictions and his alleged doctor shopping’some reports
claim the star sought prescriptions under 19 different aliases’which
investigators are currently sussing out. (A copy of the search warrant
executed this week shows officials were seeking proof that Murray
bought propofol at a Las Vegas pharmacy.)

A source told E! News that three prescription medications, including
Xanax, were found in Jackson’s system at his time of death, and
Geragos said that he suspects detectives’ efforts at tracking down the
source of the drugs is the reason for the indefinitely delayed
toxicology tests.

When the results do finally come in, expect the pointer fingers’and
the legal action’to fly.

"I can ima is," Geragos said, adding that someone will likely need to
be "blamed" for the death and that a wrongful death lawsuit would not
be unexpected.

"Whether it’s against doctors, whether it’s the Jacksons against AEG,
or AEG against the estate¦Anytime you’ve got the kind of money
that’s at stake here, there will be lawyers, and where there’s
lawyers, there’s lawsuits."

And where there’s Murray, there’s likely a criminal charge¦though
not, Geragos suspects, involuntary manslaughter, which is what he is
currently under investigation for. Instead, Geragos believes attorneys
may have the upper hand if they try to nail him for murder.

"It’s one of the most bizarre things," he said. "It’s literally easier
if you look at jury instructions, to get a jury to convict on
second-degree (murder) than involuntary manslaughter."

As for Jackson, the attorney has high hopes for his legacy. When asked
what he hoped people would remember most about the star, Geragos said
he wanted people to think of "all the greatness¦and forget all the
weirdness."

Too bad a lot of it’s one and the same.

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