By Jeff Gottlieb, Victoria Kim, Ruben Vives
The jury in the Michael Jackson case found that Dr. Conrad Murray was competent to serve as the pop star’s physician, but they said after the verdict that they don’t believe that vindicates him in the death.
“There are really no winners in this,” jury foreman Gregg Barden said. “Somebody had to die for us to be here.… It was really a tragic situation.”
Valerie Wass, Murray’s appellate attorney, said the verdict wouldn’t help the physician’s appeal of his involuntary manslaughter conviction, but it may help “in the court of public opinion.””Hopefully, it will vindicate him in a small way,” she said.
Murray, who is at the Men’s Central Jail, is due to be released in 26 days, she said.
But when told of Wass’ comment, Barden criticized Murray’s treatment of Jackson.
“We felt he was competent,” Barden said. “That doesn’t mean we felt he was ethical. If ethical was in the question, it might have been a different outcome. In the end, he was very unethical. He did something he shouldn’t have done. “
He added later: “I don’t see this as a vindication of Dr. Murray. I would not hire him as my doctor.”
The family’s attorney painted a picture of a cold, calculating entertainment enterprise that failed to notice that Murray was financially desperate and then pushed the physician to get Jackson ready to tour even though the singer was in frail health and was crippled by fear.
“They’re going to kill me, they’re going to kill me,’” Jackson’s eldest son, Prince, testified, recalling the singer’s words in one his final conversations with his father.
AEG tried turning the tables during the trial, all but putting Michael Jackson on trial. AEG said Jackson was the one who brought aboard Murray and that the singer was a fully-formed drug user who had demanded anesthetics as a sleep aid during earlier tours. AEG said it was Jackson who planted the seeds of his demise.
Katherine Jackson left the courthouse without speaking to reporters. Her attorney, Kevin Boyle, said they were “not happy” with the verdict and plan to “explore all options.”
Source: LATimes / MJ-Upbeat.com
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