Jackson’s doctor must surrender to face charges

The lawyer for Michael Jackson’s personal doctor says the doctor will surrender to authorities to face criminal charges in Los Angeles arising from the pop star’s death last year.

Attorney Ed Chernoff said in a statement that Dr. Conrad Murray had agreed to surrender later today.

Criminal charges against Michael Jackson’s personal physician will be filed “in the near future,” in connection with the pop star’s death, law enforcement sources said, but there is confusion over when he will be booked.

Negotiations between prosecutors and Murray’s lawyers broke down Thursday evening, law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the talks told Beth Karas of “In Session,” of CNN sister network tru TV..

“I don’t know what part of negotiations could have broken down, in light of the fact that we’ve placed ourselves in the hands of law enforcement to surrender at any time,” said Ed Chernoff, Murray’s lawyer.

Murray, who was Jackson’s doctor when the pop star died last summer, will nonetheless show up at the Los Angeles courthouse airport location to surrender at 1:30 p.m. PST Friday, as previously planned, a spokesman for his legal team told Karas.

If authorities refuse to take him into custody for a court arraignment, then Murray and his lawyers will meet with reporters outside the courthouse, Miranda Sevcik said.

Prosecutors could file charges at any time, however, setting up a scenario for Los Angeles police to find Murray on their own, arrest him and take him to jail.

A surrender — in which a defendant turns himself at a police station for booking — would allow the doctor to avoid being seen in public handcuffed and escorted by police.

Murray is reportedly facing formal charges of involuntary manslaughter — of unintentionally causing death through negligence or carelessness — in connection with Jackson’s death.

Coroners have ruled that Jackson, who was 50, died due to a combination of drugs, including the powerful anesthetic propofol, that were reportedly given to help the star sleep.

Jackson’s sudden death on June 25 led to a global outpouring of grief for the singer, whose 1982 album “Thriller” remains the world’s best-selling album of all time.

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, as the eighth of ten children in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago, to an African American working-class family. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah’s Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter “Joe” Jackson, a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and six brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Brandon (Marlon’s twin brother, who died shortly after birth) and Randy.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. He stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, with whippings, and name-calling, though he admitted his father’s strict discipline played a large role in his success. In one altercation recalled by Marlon, Joseph held Michael upside down by one leg and “pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks”. Joseph would also grab his sons and push them with great force against the wall. One night while Michael was asleep, Joseph climbed into his room through the bedroom window, wearing a fright mask and screamed, in hopes to scare him. He said he wanted to teach the children not to leave the window open when they went to sleep. For years afterward, Jackson said he suffered nightmares about being kidnapped from his bedroom. Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a child.