UPDATE - 5:29 P.M. - Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s doctor, appeared in court today in connection with an involuntary manslaughter charge against him.
Despite protests and chanting by Michael Jackson fans outside the courthouse, no decisions were made and Murray was ordered to return to court two months later.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ordered Murray to return June 14 for a preliminary hearing. Then, the judge will decide if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
During the hearing, Pastor is expected to consider a request by the California Attorney General’s Office to revoke the doctor’s medical license.
Dr. Conrad Murray, the late Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, is expected in an L.A. courtroom this afternoon so a judge can set a date for a preliminary hearing on the manslaughter charge he faces.
The case has been assigned to a new judge in a brief proceeding in Los Angeles. Dr. Conrad Murray, his attorneys and prosecutors assembled Monday before Supervising Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza, who quickly assigned the case to Judge Michael Pastor and sent them to his courtroom.
The real action though may come from a prosecutor with the state Attorney General’s office, representing the state medical board.
The prosecutor plans to ask the judge to revoke Doctor Conrad Murray’s license to practice medicine in California.
Murray’s attorney is expected to oppose the move, saying the Houston-based doctor needs to keep working to pay his legal bills.
TMZ reports that Joe Jackson, the 80-year-old patriarch of the Jackson clan, plans to be in L.A. Superior Court today when a judge sets the preliminary hearing date.
TMZ says Jackson plans to attend because he heard reports over the weekend that Murray’s lawyers plan to say that the singer injected himself with a fatal dose of propofol.
Murray is charged in the singer’s June 25th death for allegedly giving him a fatal dose of propofol to put him to sleep.
Jackson died from acute intoxication with the hospital anesthetic propofol and other sedatives. Murray has pleaded not guilty.
