The singer Michael Jackson is reported to have died from a heart attack. ...to UCLA's Medical Center, but it appeared it was already too late. He arrived in hospital in a deep coma and has died. ...apparently suffered a heart attack. 2.26pm on June 25th 2009. Michael Jackson, controversial megastar, entertainer and pop icon, is pronounced dead in Los Angeles. ...brother Jermaine says no one gave up. Jackson is just 50 years old. The sidewalk outside the hospital quickly became a strange mix of grieving for a loss and celebrating a unique brand of music. His sudden and unexplained death sparks a police investigation that questions every detail of his passing,... Robbery-Homicide was assigned to this because of the high profile nature of it. Jackson's body was choppered to USC. ...but it's his lifeless body that reveals the most telling answers. ...was unceremoniously loaded into a van and driven to the LA County Coroner's Office. His corpse was pored over by a team of medical experts. It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2014 World-renowned forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd has been performing high profile autopsies for more than 25 years. He was the expert witness at inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana, Jill Dando and victims of the 9/11 attacks. The fascinating thing about an autopsy is it doesn't just tell you how a person died. It can tell you even more about how they lived. It is non-judgemental. It is a scientific acquisition of facts. And the fact that an individual is a celebrity makes no difference at all. There are no celebrities on a mortuary slab. Now Richard Shepherd will forensically unpick Jackson's autopsy and piece together what happened in the final hours of his life. This is the coroner's report into the death of Michael Jackson. These hard, cold medical facts tell us who he was and what he was doing, but more than that, they give us a timeline of the events leading up to his death. June 24th 2009. Jackson is renting a mansion in Beverly Hills. In just 19 days' time, he will embark on a sell-out 50-date residency at London's O2 Arena. 40 years previously, Michael Jackson had burst on to the music scene. As the lead singer with the Jackson 5, he was propelled to international megastardom. Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. He was the king of entertainment. He did things that no one else could do. He was untouchable. Jackson was the most successful entertainer the world has ever seen. Combined song and concert sales netted him an estimated $750 million. But by June 2009 his personal fortune had all but gone. High profile court cases and reckless spending had left him on the brink of bankruptcy. SIREN WAILS Michael Jackson had essentially been a recluse for 12 years ` not touring, not really having any huge record releases like his past. He was around $400 million in debt. He also had over 30 lawsuits lined up against him. PILLS RATTLE For Jackson, there was only one way out. To ease his debt he must perform a gruelling schedule of concerts in London. And to ensure his health and fitness, he's depending on his personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray. But Jackson would never make opening night. To look at the autopsy, the first thing we see is it's a male of approximately 50 years. There are no significant injuries, but there are grazes and abrasions to the centre of the chest. I don't think these are significant in causing his death, and I do know that he's had quite prolonged and extensive resuscitation, and these injuries are typical of that type of resuscitation. CROWDS CHEER Jackson's life was dogged with moment that were both controversial and bizarre. And the secrets revealed by his autopsy are no different. The autopsy report states that he's black. That is, of course, correct. But if you looked at the body objectively, not knowing it was Michael Jackson, it wouldn't be that clear cut. Millions of column inches have been devoted to the subject of Michael's skin. Was he black? Was he turning white? Was he turning himself white? These are the questions that everyone wanted to know. Jackson always claimed that his pallid appearance was due to a rare skin disease, but few believed him. You can see from the autopsy that, just as Jackson maintained, he did have a skin condition. In the darker areas there are lighter blotches, and it appears that in these lighter blotches the skin has stopped producing pigment. Cells called melanocytes produce a dark pigment, melanin, that colours the skin, but these cells are absent in the autopsy. And without these the skin is pale, and that explains Jackson's appearance, and it's consistent with a disease called vitiligo. Just as Jackson had always insisted, he did have a rare skin problem, but he also made other claims about his appearance. In February 1993 Michael goes on The Oprah Winfrey Show and tells 62 million Americans that he doesn't bleach his skin, he doesn't use products to do that. But evidence found at the crime scene shows this wasn't true. Jackson spent large amounts of money on a skin-bleaching drug called Benoquin. It turns out that Michael had been getting treatment for his vitiligo from a doctor called Arnold Klein for about 25 years. Based in Beverly Hills, Klein was the dermatologist to the stars. His others clients included Elizabeth Taylor, Carrie Fisher and Sharon Stone. Klein recommended this lotion to Jackson when they first met. It prevents dark pigment being made in areas unaffected by vitiligo. For half of his life, Jackson had been bleaching his skin, and the King of Pop was fixated with his appearance. There were several scars on his face and neck that are typical of previous plastic surgery, and he'd had a cleft inserted into his chin, which would certainly have changed his appearance. The nose shows extensive signs of modification. It's caved in on one side, and the bridge is entirely missing, and this is one of the signs of extensive plastic surgery. His brothers used to tease him about the size of his nose, calling him Big Nose. It really left an emotional scar on him, and the minute he found out about plastic surgery, he began to have work on his nose. Over the years, Jackson visited the surgeon's table again and again, changing not only his nose, but almost his entire face. In the press he became known as Wacko Jacko and was public property. But the autopsy reveals he did manage to keep one secret from the media for 25 years. Jackson's hair is not his own. He's wearing a wig. It's held on by semi-permanent glue, and there's some sparse areas of his own hair on the sides and the back of his head. Other than these patches, the King of Pop was almost entirely bald. Despite being a tabloid target, he had kept this hidden for over a quarter of a century. His scalp reveals the reason for his baldness. There's an area of scarring on the top of the back of his head, and this scarring's consistent with a burn. In 1984 Jackson was at the height of his powers. His album Thriller had become the biggest-selling album of all time. But filming a Pepsi commercial with his brothers would mark the start of his decline when a pyrotechnic device set fire to his hair. DRAMATIC MUSIC He suffered severe second- and third-degree burns to his scalp, which left him needing to wear wigs for the rest of his life. Michael never recovered from that. The Pepsi incident changed Michael's career forever. Michael became extremely self-conscious about his appearance. He became extremely paranoid about the people around him. He felt damaged, he felt hurt, he felt betrayed. The accident also triggered a habit that would eventually claim his life. Recovering from his injuries, he became hooked on painkillers. These were gateway drugs that led to multiple drug addictions. A gateway drug is something that you can buy over the counter, and because they're so hugely available, it means that people who may be susceptible to wanting to take harder drugs can get involved in that process. So, you may start on paracetamol, and then you may lead up on to much more dangerous drugs. Over the years, Jackson also became dependent on sedatives, alcohol, anti-anxiety drugs and even morphine. CROWDS CHEER Without prescription drugs, he could not function, sing, dance or perform. I love you. I love you. CROWD CHEERS I love you. CROWD CHEERS I really do. You have to know... But six months before his death, Jackson announced a punishing schedule of 50 concerts. I'll be` I'll be performing the songs my fans wanna hear. (CHUCKLES) This is it. I mean, this is really it. This is the final` This is the final curtain call. CROWD CHEERS Before rehearsals began, Michael Jackson was telling everyone how excited he was about coming out and reclaiming his crown as the King of Pop and also showing his kids what he could do on the global stage. But behind closed doors, the promoters, AEG, were concerned that Jackson wasn't up to performing his trademark high-energy routines. They began to question health scares published by the press. His personal doctor, Conrad Murray, assured them that apart from bouts of insomnia Jackson was in good physical condition. But not everyone was so convinced. (LAUGHS) Terry Harvey is a music promoter with close links to the Jackson family. How fit for someone to have to be in to perform for two and a half hours? In good shape. Do I think Michael didn't have the energy or the stamina for 50 nights? He did not have the stamina to do 30 minutes. UPBEAT MUSIC What does a sieve and most NZ homes have in common? Hundreds of tiny holes. Like water streaming through a sieve, heat streams out of houses through holes and gaps in ceilings, walls, floors and windows. Heat always finds places to escape. Add it up, and it's like having a hole this big in your wall. You can turn up the heating, but you'll just be burning money. So trap heat in with effective insulation in ceilings, walls and floors and draught-proof doors and windows. Consider curtains that go right to the floor. Here's a tip ` drawing curtains before the dark retains the heat from the day. A properly insulated house is like having a thermal blanket wrapped around your home, trapping heat in, keeping it warm and comfortable. If we all made a small effort all the time, we could save the country over $100 million in energy each year. I'll see you next time. . Michael knew deep down there was no way he'd be able to perform 50 shows. Michael told people close to him he didn't know if he could do two shows. So what was the truth about Jackson's fitness? Was he really up to the tour? The report says that he's 136 pounds in weight, and he's 5'9" tall, which gives a BMI of 20.1, which is normal. So although he appears slightly thin, he is within the acceptable range. You might expect some furring up of the arteries in a man aged 50, but Michael Jackson had no evidence of this, and his heart was in good condition too. So for a man of his age, he was in good shape. Yet Jackson was clearly in trouble at the rehearsals. He seemed short of breath, stiff and unable to perform the routines he was famous for. In the autopsy, Richard Shepherd has found a reason for Jackson's lacklustre performance. Several X-rays were taken of Michael Jackson. They showed he has osteoarthritis in some of his fingers and his spine. The vertebrae in the spine are cushioned by areas of cartilage. CREAKING In osteoarthritis, the cartilage degenerates, and the bones are left unprotected. This places pressure on the joints, and, in extreme circumstances, the bones can grind together. This is a condition that would cause him some pain and stiffness and might limit his movement. Osteoarthritis could explain why he was struggling with movement, but it couldn't explain why he was struggling to breathe. Most of his organs were in good condition for his age. The exception is his lungs, and they were like a battlefield. The lining of the airways showed a lot of damage, and both lungs showed widespread inflammation and quite extensive scarring. For Michael Jackson, it would have made it harder for him to exert himself, and he would have fatigued more easily. The next question I would want to ask is what's caused all this damage? A possible explanation is written all over Jackson's face. In his mid-20s, he developed a symmetrical red rash around his cheeks ` a classic symptom of another rare skin disease, discoid lupus, which causes hair to fall out anywhere on the body and can damage the lips. We can see from the autopsy that Jackson had dark tattoos on his eyebrows, and there were tattoos on the eyelids like eyeliner, and he'd also got tattoos in pink around his lips. Lupus would also explain Jackson's habit of using umbrellas. The disease leaves skin sensitive to sunlight. And it doesn't only affect the skin. It can wreak havoc across the whole body. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, and these diseases occur when the body attacks parts of itself. White blood cells usually attack foreign invaders in the body. But in lupus, these cells strike at the body itself, including the lungs, leaving them heavily damaged. A chronic disease, you have episodes of remission and recurrence, and that recurrence can be triggered by a number of things ` stress, exertion and lack of sleep. But is there an alternative explanation for Jackson's lung damage? For 25 years, an increasingly unstable and drug-dependent Jackson had been visiting the clinic of dermatologist Dr Arnold Klein. According to those who work there, these visits had become less and less about his skin. He would be in the office a couple times a week, uh, have very minor procedures done. When he got to the office I would take him in the back door and put him in the procedure room, and at that point I'd go get, uh, Dr Klein's nurse, Ellen, and say, 'Michael's here, and he wants a shot.' UNSETTLING MUSIC On every visit, he'd receive at least one injection. The syringe was full of Demerol, a powerful medical version of heroin. Usually the effects were pretty quick. He might, you know, pass out; he might be just tired; he might be loopy. And Jackson didn't always come to see Dr Klein alone. If he was with the kids, that would be a` a little bit of a distraction for him. Um, the kids would usually sit, uh, in Dr Klein's office. They'd be running and screaming and joking, and it would just` It would be a lot of fun, um, until Michael got really out of it. As the tour approached, Jackson's requests for these injections became more and more frequent. He would come in, and he would demand, uh, to see Dr Klein quickly. He would want his shot of Demerol as quickly as possible. Uh, and you could tell that there was something going on. By taking the drug, Jackson risked severe lung damage, addiction and even death. New tyres. There are many types. Some were designed for performance in the wet, some will save you fuel and some cost more than others. So how do you choose? Ask about Energywise-approved tyres. They meet Energywise criteria for both fuel-efficiency and braking in the wet, so you know they'll save you fuel and money and perform when safety really counts. Find fuel-efficient tyres for your car at energywise.govt.nz . So could Demerol be implicated in Jackson's sudden passing? TENSE MUSIC The autopsy shows no significant injuries on the body, and there's no evidence of any significant disease except in the lungs. And so we turn to the next stage. We look for the telltale chemical clues in the body ` the toxicology report. Jackson had well-publicised problems with prescription drugs. He'd been in rehab several times and had admitted to addictions to painkillers. In 2009 he was also having frequent injections of Demerol, a pharmacological equivalent of heroin. And by early June, Jackson was struggling at the rehearsals for his This Is It tour. Demerol is an incredibly powerful drug, so if you were to turn up at rehearsals on it, the reality is you'd be disorientated and dizzy. You'd struggle with your breath. It creates a shortness of breath. Now, this is literally the opposite of what is required when you're performing. But in just 19 days' time, Jackson was due to embark on his record-breaking 50-date residency in London. Michael Jackson's mind was not ready. While publicly he was telling people, 'Yes, I can do this,' it was clear by the way he was not turning up to rehearsals, ignoring important production meetings this man was not ready for the This Is It comeback. The situation became so desperate that the tour's producer, Kenny Ortega, sent an impassioned email to the promoters. READS: My concern is he appeared quite weak and fatigued this evening. He had a terrible case of the chills, was trembling, rambling and obsessing. Everything in me says he should be psychologically evaluated. I believe that he really wants this. It would shatter him, break his heart, if we pulled the plug. He's terribly frightened... (SPEECH SCRAMBLES) It broke my heart. He was like a lost boy. There still may be a chance he can rise to the occasion if we get him the help he needs. Sincerely,... The promoters issued Jackson an ultimatum ` shape up or they would pull the plug. $400 million in debt, for Jackson, this was not an option. It was clear that this was about the money being on the line. For Michael, he didn't have a choice. He had to be there, or he would lose his home, his kids would be homeless, and he would be in financial ruin. BACKING BEAT Five days earlier at the Staples Center, Jackson had been struggling with the rehearsals. He seemed sluggish and not in control of his body. FUNKY, UPBEAT MUSIC But the effect of the promoters' threat was stunning. His next performance was described as electric by members of the production team. He was agile, lively and like the Michael Jackson of old. Suddenly he makes a miraculous recovery. He gets onstage, he performs 30 to 40 minutes, and he's dancing, he's singing and performing in a way which makes them a lot happier. So how did a 50-year-old man with osteoarthritis, lupus, scarred lungs and an addiction to Demerol manage to turn it around? FUNKY MUSIC CONTINUES The clues lie in Jackson's body and yet another narcotic. FUNKY MUSIC STOPS Extensive toxological testing was performed on numerous samples taken from Jackson's body. In the urine sample it was noted that a drug called ephedrine was present. Ephedrine is similar to the naturally occurring adrenalin in the body, and adrenalin is the hormone that prepares the body for fight or flight. When Jackson took ephedrine, it would have been to energise himself. Jackson had turned to yet another drug. DISTANT SIREN WAILS In his house, police discovered tablets of ECA, a powerful stimulant made from caffeine, aspirin and ephedrine. At high levels, this drug can trigger cardiac failure ` the ultimate cause of Jackson's death. As the ephedrine is only present in the urine, not in his blood, it can't be having an effect on Jackson's body, and so it can't have contributed to his death. But the autopsy throws up a further narcotic surprise. The toxicology analysis looked for but did not find Demerol, and this shows that Jackson hadn't been taking the drug for some time. Jackson made it through his make or break rehearsal by loading his body with stimulants, and coming off the heroin-like drug Demerol. But as he returned to his Carolwood mansion, this strategy would have deadly repercussions because suddenly coming off Demerol is highly risky. The effects of withdrawing from Demerol can be very very difficult. In fact, if you try to do it on your own, it's really dangerous. You have issues such as fever, you'll feel a sense of cold turkey, so aches and pains, and one of the biggest side effects is insomnia. Jackson had been plagued by this sleeping disorder throughout his adult life. Now he is full of stimulants and in withdrawal from Demerol. But his doctor, Conrad Murray, had no idea Jackson had been taking this drug, let alone that he'd suddenly stopped. Michael Jackson hid his drug habits well. While at the location conducting, um, one of several searches, we located a number of bottles of prescription medication, uh, not only in Mr Jackson's name, but in four or five aliases. Although the majority of these drugs were prescribed by Murray, some were recorded with other doctors' names. I'm not saying he was devious. He's the king of manipulation. He was the puppet-master. He can tell you what you wanna hear and look like it's real, And guess what ` you go, 'OK. He's all right. Come on. Let's go.' And Murray was ripe for manipulation. Like Jackson, he was deep in debt. If the London shows didn't go ahead, he too would be financially ruined. One of his roles was to ensure Jackson could sleep, but the autopsy report suggests this would be problematic. He does have an enlarged prostate, which is not at all unusual for a 50-year-old man, and this might mean he has some difficulty in urination or that he has to go to the toilet more often. Michael had a condom catheter that he used during his sleep-time so that he did not have to wake up or be woken up to go in and use the bathroom. But Murray's master plan to get Jackson to sleep also had a more sinister pharmaceutical element. One drug really stands out in the toxicology, and that's propofol. Propofol's an anaesthetic agent which is normally only used in operating theatres and intensive care units. It's a very powerful drug. Due to its appearance and its effects, it's sometimes known as milk of amnesia. Jackson had been using propofol as a sleep aid for nearly a decade. In the early 2000s, he was in the hospital one time. They administered Michael propofol, and he said he really liked the drug and became dependent on it and would get doctors to administer it to him. OMINOUS MUSIC Over the years, this dependency escalated. He called me one Sunday night and said, 'I need an anaesthesiologist.' And I said, 'What do you need an anaesthesiologist for, Michael?' And he says, 'Well, I've got a media spot in the morning, and I need to be fresh for it.' I said, 'This is crazy.' I said, 'I don't understand.' I` I had never in my life heard of anything like this, ever. I was just flabbergasted. By June 2009, Conrad Murray was feeding Jackson's propofol addiction in the star's own house. For Jackson, it was the ideal drug. Propofol's a very useful drug. You go to sleep quickly, and you wake up cleanly with no hangover, but the line between risk and use can be very narrow, and too much drug can cause fatalities. Murray has been giving Jackson propofol for 60 nights in a row. But, aware of the promoters' ultimatum, he has decided to wean Jackson off the drug. For the last two nights, he's sent Jackson off to sleep using drugs called benzodiazepines instead, and he administered them in an unusual way. The autopsy report shows an intravenous injection site below the knee. This is a very rare site for any medical or resuscitation treatment, but it's a common site for intravenous drug abuse. Unlike the arms, an injection site on the knee is hidden away and keeps the drug abuse a secret. When you're in the press, you have to consider that people watch you all the time. You're being observed, and your profile's very important to you. So it's not actually unusual for people to inject in areas like the penis, the groin, under the toenails, for example ` anything that would distract people around them from seeing that they had an issue. The reality is that this is such a sad thing to see because we know the user is aware of their problems, aware that they don't want others to know about them. It means the user recognises that they have an issue. They just don't wanna share that issue. . At 1.30am on 25th June 2009, Conrad Murray gives Jackson a tablet he hopes will help him sleep. There is Valium in his system. Valium is a benzodiazepine drug which is used to treat anxiety but commonly causes some sedation. It is an addictive drug, and long-term use can lead to physical dependence. But 30 minutes later, Jackson is still awake. Murray turns to a faster-acting benzodiazepine sedative ` lorazepam. After an hour, Jackson still hasn't fallen asleep. So Murray tries a third benzodiazepine ` midazolam. It may be a little unusual to find three different types of benzodiazepine at the same time, but it seems likely, if the intent is to get someone to sleep, that one would start with a long-acting Valium-type drug, move to the medium-acting lorazepam, and then finally have to try the very short-acting midazolam. So in this situation, it does make sense. TENSE MUSIC (MUMBLES) Throughout the early hours, Murray gives Jackson more and more benzodiazepines. But they have no effect. By 10am, a desperate Jackson asks for his drug of choice ` his milk. My milk. He wants propofol. But Murray resists. My milk. Jackson protests. He can't function without sleep and will have to cancel the concerts. (MUMBLES) At 10.50am Conrad Murray finally relents and prepares a dose of propofol. As this drug burns when it enters the body, Murray adds a local anaesthetic, lidocaine, to numb the pain. Jackson is unconscious at last. UNEASY MUSIC SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC (SIGHS) 15 minutes later, Conrad Murray re-enters the singer's bedroom. Michael. Michael? Michael? Michael?! Jackson is not breathing, but Murray thinks he can feel a pulse. Michael?! TENSE MUSIC (PANTS) CLATTERING He searches for flumazenil, a drug that reverses the effects of benzodiazepines. DRAMATIC MUSIC But there's no antidote for propofol. Michael?! Michael?! (PANTS) SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC OPERATOR: Fire paramedic 33. What is your emergency? ALVAREZ: Uh, sir, I have a` We have a` a gentleman here that needs help, and he's stopped breathing. He's not breathing. Trying to pump him, but he's not` He's not` He's not breathing. Trying to pump him, but he's not` He's not` OK. OK. How old is he? He's, uh, 50 years old, sir. He's, uh, 50 years old, sir. 50. OK. He's not breathing, sir. He's not breathing, sir. OK, and he's not conscious either? Not conscious, sir. Not conscious, sir. OK. Is he on the floor? Where's he at right now? Is he on the floor? Where's he at right now? He's on the bed, sir. On the bed. OK. Let's get him on the floor. OK. Let's get him down to the floor. I'm gonna help you with CPR, OK? We need them to get` Yes. We're already on our way there. I'm gonna do as much as I can to help you over the phone. Did anybody see him? Did anybody see him? Yes. We have a personal doctor here with him, sir. Oh, you have a doctor there? Oh, you have a doctor there? He's not responding to CPR or anything. OK. Did anybody witness what happened? Uh, no, just the doctor, sir. The doctor's been the only one here. He's pumping his chest, but he's not responding to anything, sir. Please. He's pumping his chest, but he's not responding to anything, sir. Please. OK. OK. We're on our way. OK. Over here, over here. By the time the paramedics arrive, Murray can no longer detect a pulse. We need a line. We need a line. Check his airway's clear. DEFIBRILLATOR WHIRRS DEFIBRILLATOR WHIRRS We're not getting a pulse. Clear. Clear. DEFIBRILLATOR SHOCKS Come on, come on. Jackson's body is rushed to hospital. SOMBRE PIANO MUSIC But it's too late. At 14.26 on 25th June 2009, Michael Joseph Jackson was declared dead at the UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles. The autopsy report concludes that his cause of death was acute propofol intoxication, with a contributory factor in the death being benzodiazepines. Once in the bloodstream, both these drugs spread around the body. When they reach the lungs, they have a profound effect. They slow the rate the lungs inflate and deflate, so critically decreasing their ability to oxygenate the body. You've got to remember that Jackson had really bad lungs, and these things combined have caused the oxygen in his bloodstream to get to such a low level that his heart and his brain have stopped working, and he has died. Two months after his death, the autopsy results were announced. The LA County Coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide. The prime suspect was Dr Conrad Murray. He was tried for involuntary manslaughter. At the trial, the smoking gun was propofol. Conrad Murray states that he gave Jackson 25mg of propofol at 10.40am, and yet the toxicology report shows there was far more than that in Jackson's bloodstream when he died. So the question remains ` how are we going to explain this discrepancy? In court Murray claimed that this anomaly was not of his doing. He suggested it was all down to the other person in the room ` Jackson himself. When Dr Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose` an additional dose of propofol, and it killed him. And it killed him like that, and there was no way to save him. But the prosecution had a different version of events ` a version that implicated Murray as guilty. Conrad Murray's actions directly caused the death of Michael Jackson. They claimed Murray had cobbled together a system that kept Jackson continually topped up with propofol whilst he slept. Murray cut into the lid of a bottle of the drug. Once in the saline bag, the propofol could then infuse constantly into Jackson's bloodstream. Normally, saline coming down from the bag mixes with drugs injected at a port and washes them into the body. The prosecution maintained the drug was already mixed with the saline, so there should be traces of propofol in the tube above the injection port. Despite testing, traces of the drug were never detected. The prosecution claimed there must be a second tube, and Murray had hidden it in the pocket of his combat trousers, but this missing piece of piping was never recovered, casting doubts on the prosecution's version of events. Yet, this didn't sway the jury. I am advised that the jury has reached a verdict. We, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Conrad Robert Murray, guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter. CLAMOUR Burn in hell. And the autopsy supports the court's verdict. BOTH CHANT: Guilty! Guilty! Conrad Murray failed in his duty as a doctor. Propofol's a very powerful anaesthetic, and there's a very fine line between its proper effects and causing death. In hospital, an anaesthesiologist would attach the patient to several machines to monitor pulse and blood pressure, carbon dioxide levels and oxygen levels. But investigators found no evidence of any medical monitors in the mansion. Murray was sentenced to four years in prison for killing the King of Pop. In a 40-year career, Jackson had established himself as the most successful act of all time. But his success had long been underpinned by a reliance on prescription drugs. It was such a tragedy seeing him go from this huge, larger-than-life figure down this road of drug dependency. These drugs had turned him into just a shell of his former self. He didn't have a choice. He was around $400 million in debt. This Is It was this is it. It was his make or break comeback. He was on a path of destruction. When you walk off into that devil's den, some of us make it out, some of us don't. Jackson's life had been full of turmoil and controversy. In Conrad Murray, he hired a doctor who ultimately failed him. From the moment they met, Michael's fate was sealed. Michael Jackson was a man with numerous physical and psychological problems, and to overcome these, he'd spiralled into drug dependency and addiction. He was using dangerous drugs in an untested manner. In some ways, it's a miracle that he lasted as long as he did. Captions by Imogen Staines. Edited by Virginia Philp. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2014