noimekimmel: Conrad Murray Documentary To Air Friday

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Conrad Murray Documentary To Air Friday

'Michael Jackson and the Doctor' will premiere on MSNBC.
By Gil Kaufman

Dr. Conrad Murray
Photo: Al Seib/ Getty Images

Just five days after his conviction on a felony count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, a documentary about Dr. Conrad Murray will air on MSNBC.

The special, "Michael Jackson and the Doctor," will include footage of Murray insisting that Jackson "begged and pleaded" for the surgical anesthetic propofol. It will hit the airwaves a few days after Murray settled into Los Angeles County Jail, where he is awaiting a November 29 sentencing hearing following his conviction.

"He asked me, 'Please, please, Dr. Conrad ... I need some milk [propofol] so that I can sleep," Murray says in the special, according to MSNBC. "If I don't get any sleep today, I cannot perform, I cannot do anything."

After nearly 10 hours of deliberation, the jury in the Murray case came back with a unanimous guilty verdict, agreeing the doctor acted in a fashion that caused Jackson's death. The seven-man, five-woman jury made the decision after 49 witnesses and some bruising testimony from prosecution experts lashing Murray, a cardiologist with clinics in Texas and Las Vegas who was recruited in 2009 by Jackson to help the then-50-year-old star stay healthy in the run-up to his planned 50-date comeback tour, This Is It.

The prosecution brought a long list of medical experts and emergency-room doctors to the stand to testify that Murray had not followed proper procedure in dealing with Jackson when the singer was in distress on the morning of June 25, 2009. They also presented evidence that the care Murray provided for Jackson in the weeks and months leading up to that fateful morning were substandard or outside the bounds of legal and ethical requirements. The witnesses concluded that Murray lacked the proper monitoring equipment to administer the surgical anesthetic propofol to Jackson, an off-label use of the intravenously delivered drug that was reportedly employed to help chronic insomniac Jackson get to sleep.

According to TMZ, Murray signed on for the documentary back in 2009 just after MJ's death, and it will feature scenes of infighting among his defense team.

The MSNBC special will chronicle the trial from the perspective of Murray — who did not take the stand in the trial — and his defense team, including an interview with the doctor about the day Jackson died, in which he shares details about his relationship with the pop star.

In one segment, Murray describes Jackson's appearance the morning he died, saying the singer looked "hysterical" and was so distraught he resembled his ghoulish alter-ego from the iconic 1982 "Thriller" video. Cameras have followed Murray and his defense team for two years in compiling the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie's distributor also acquired the rights to an exclusive interview Murray gave to British broadcaster Steve Hewlett on October 30, which is reportedly the only interview Murray plans to give on the trial.

"I think in many ways, there were some mirror images in our lives," Murray says about MJ in the special. "I've seen him cry so many times. He lived a life greater than a hundred years of pain of any human."

The verdict is in on the Conrad Murray trial. Stick with MTV News for continued coverage, updates and analysis on MTVNews.com.

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