adminCONRAD Murray, the doctor convicted in Michael Jackson’s death, cried tears of relief as the singer’s concert promoter was found not negligent of hiring him, he has revealed.
Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol in 2009, spoke to the Today show from prison on Thursday — just weeks ahead of his release.
He said that he felt relieved that the world could finally hear facts in the recent case Jackson’s mother had brought against AEG Live LLC — facts the world had not been able to hear in his own trial.
“My immediate reaction was one of tears,” he said of the verdict, which was reached on Wednesday. “I cried only because for once the world was allowed to hear some of these facts.
“I was not given a fair chance to defend myself. (My lawyers) were not given a fair chance to defend me. I was very relieved that at last the world had a chance of hearing some of the facts.”
Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for causing Jackson’s death and is due to be released this month after serving two years out of a four-year prison sentence.
But his lawyer, Valerie Wass, told Matt Lauer that the outcome of the recent AEG case will not affect Murray’s conviction because that was based on the facts of the criminal case. When Lauer added that after the verdict the jury foreman said Murray was “unethical”, the doctor argued with him.
“What the juror said was that if ethics were the issue, the conclusion might be different,’ he said.
“This is not about ethics . . .When you say I am ‘unethical’, that was speculation on [the foreman’s] part, because he has not heard the other side.”
Murray said he plans to spend time with his children, family and supporters after his release.
“God willing, I would be a model to show the world that despite adversity, and when bad things happen to good people, they can restart their life and succeed,” he said.
His medical licences were suspended after his conviction, but he could regain them, his lawyer said.
Earlier last week, the jury in the wrongful death trial ruled that the concert promoter was not negligent in hiring Dr Conrad Murray because he was not “unfit or incompetent’”. Katherine Jackson claimed AEG Live should have done a thorough background check on Murray and was seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for herself and her son’s three children.
The company denied hiring Murray and said he had been picked by the singer as the doctor for his upcoming shows. — mailonline.
Online Reporter