Jackson's fatal drug bought in Vegas
Any decision to lay charges won't come until 2010
Last Updated: Saturday, November 21, 2009 | 12:44 PM ET
CBC News
Court records of a search of Dr. Conrad Murray showed that Murray bought the anaesthetic propofol from a Los Vegas company on May 12 and had it shipped to Los Angeles. (Houston Chrnicle)Michael Jackson's personal physician bought the powerful anesthetic propofol in Las Vegas and had it shipped to Los Angeles, according to search warrant records released over objections from the L.A. police.
The drug was found at the singer's bedside after he died on June 25.
Los Angeles police are treating Jackson's death as a homicide after the L.A. county coroner's office ruled in August that he died from "acute propofol intoxication," with other sedatives listed as a contributing factor.
Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's 56-year-old physician, is the focus of the investigation, but has not been charged.
Receipts found by police in Murray's office on Aug. 11 showed he bought propofol on May 12 when he was working full time for Jackson, the court papers say.
The lot numbers on the bottles found in Jackson's home matched those sold to the company by drug manufacturers, they say.
The records show Murray told investigatiors that, on the night of Jackson's death, he stepped out for a bathroom break after injecting the singer with propofol to induce sleep. But Murray didn't call for help until more than an hour after he realized Jackson wasn't breathing.
It will be at least a few more months before police decide whether to charge Murray.
"A decision [on whether to prosecute] will be made in 2010. It is not going to be made this year," Patrick Gannon, a Los Angeles police commander, told People magazine.
The police tried to keep the search warrant records sealed, maintaining their release before the new year would jeopardize the investigation.
Lawyers for The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, TMZ Productions Inc. and Stephens Media LLC, the parent company of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, argued there was no reason to keep the documents secret.
On Thursday, Clark County District Judge Valerie Adair decided to unseal the records.
