Coroner's report rules Jackson death as homicide

Los Angeles: Lethal levels of powerful anaesthetic propofol killed pop star Michael Jackson, according to the preliminary findings of coroner which were unsealed in a court in Houston.

The released documents, including search warrants and affidavits filed by the police in July to search the Houston office and storage unit of Dr Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, reveal that Murray accepted administering propofol to the pop star to treat his insomnia.

The documents also reveal that Jackson was consuming a "deadly cocktail" of various drugs before his death, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Murray told detectives that he had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol every night for six weeks but tried to wean Jackson off the drugs by lowering the dosage to 25 milligrams after he realised that the pop star was addicted to it.

Murray said he was not the first doctor to administer the dangerous sedative to the 50-year-old 'King of Pop' as he was already addicted to it.

Murray also claims in the documents that Jackson was also consuming prescriptions given by other doctors and when asked about it the pop star declined to provide the information.

In his bid to counter Jackson's dependency on propofol, Murray said he mixed it with two other sedatives, lorazepam and midazolam.

On June 23, two days before Jackson's death, Murray administered those two medications and withheld the propofol.

On the morning Jackson died, Murray tried to induce sleep without using propofol, according to the affidavit. He said he gave Jackson valium at 1:30 am.

When that didn't work, he said, he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2 am. At 3 am, when Jackson was still awake, Murray administered midazolam.

Over the next few hours, Murray said he gave Jackson various drugs.

Then at 10:40 am, Murray administered 25 milligrams of propofol after Jackson repeatedly demanded the drug, according to the court records.

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Murray told authorities he left Jackson's bedside for no more than two minutes before returning to find the pop star not breathing. When he returned at 11 am. he saw that Jackson wasn't breathing.

He immediately began attempting to revive Jackson, administering CPR as well as a drug to reverse the effects of the sedative.

But police are questioning that account.

Cellphone records for the morning of June 25 show Murray made three separate phone calls for approximately 47 minutes beginning at 11:18 am.

Murray said he called Jackson's personal assistant to request that they send security upstairs.

After a few minutes without a response, Murray told authorities he ran downstairs to the kitchen.

He asked the chef to send Jackson's eldest son, Prince Jackson, upstairs.

Dr Murray waited about 82 minutes before anyone called paramedics to the home, according to the court documents.

He said he continued CPR and waited for the arrival of paramedics.

Much of the investigation has focused on propofol and whether Murray's decision to give it to Jackson as a sleep aid outside a hospital setting reaches a level of negligence required for an involuntary manslaughter charge.

The new development confirms what has long been suspected in Jackson's death eight weeks ago but has raised further questions about the treatment of the pop star during his last days as he struggled to prepare himself for his extensive comeback shows.