Conrad Murray Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s Death

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A Los Angeles jury found Conrad Murray, the physician accused of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, guilty on Monday.

The jury, made up of five men and seven women, deliberated for about eight hours between Friday and Monday after hearing closing arguments from the prosecution and defense throughout the day on Nov. 3 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Murray, 58, sat stoically while the verdict was read. His lead attorney, Ed Chernoff, who came to Los Angeles from Houston to defend him, looked sullen and frustrated. After the announcement, dismissal of the jury and queries on sentencing to the defense, Murray was remanded and denied bail. Sentencing was set for Nov. 29.

(MORE: NewsFeed’s Coverage of the Conrad Murray Trial)

The six-week trial hinged largely on scientific demonstrations and the testimonies of two well-regarded anesthesiologists, Dr. Steven Shafer and Dr. Paul White. Both are highly published and sought-after lecturers and experts on the anesthetic propofol. They were on opposite sides when it came to determining whether Murray was negligent by leaving Jackson’s bedside after he gave him an injection of the drug and by failing to immediately call 911 when he returned to discover that Jackson was not breathing.

(PHOTOS: A Post-Michael Guide to the Jackson Family)

An autopsy found that Jackson was killed by an overdose of the drug. Defense lawyers argued that Murray’s carelessness caused a lethal amount of it to seep into Jackson’s system. Murray admitted to giving propofol to Jackson but said he was trying to wean him off it because he feared the pop singer was becoming addicted. Meanwhile, Murray’s defense countered that Jackson could have taken the drug while Murray was out of the bedroom. White himself said on the stand that Jackson, desperate for sleep in preparation for his comeback This Is It tour, may have injected himself with the drug, causing his own death.

Others, including Jackson’s bodyguard, nurse and people involved with the launch of the tour, were also called to the stand. Murray told Judge Michael Pastor that he would not testify in his own defense.

Loyola Law School Los Angeles Professor Stan Goldman, who has been monitoring the trial from the beginning, said the verdict came as no surprise given the strength of the prosecution’s case.

“I think it would have been a shocker if this hadn’t happened,” he explained. “Conrad Murray’s criminal negligence was pretty obvious once the trial got going.”

He continued, “The prosecution’s case was pretty overwhelming. The best argument the defense had was one they couldn’t make: that Michael Jackson wanted this particular doctor to give him this powerful sleep medication. The only chance the defense had was to prove that Jackson caused his own death.”

With the guilty verdict, Murray could face four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license.

MORE: Jackson’s Death: How Dangerous Is Propofol?

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'Underwear bomber' pleads guilty

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12 October 2011 Last updated at 20:41 GMT Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to eight charges, including terrorism A Nigerian accused of trying to bomb a US-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009 has told his trial in Detroit that he is pleading guilty to all charges.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, told a judge he was admitting all eight counts against him, including terrorism and attempted murder.

Abdulmutallab was badly burned when a bomb sewn into his underwear failed to detonate fully, prosecutors say.

Almost 300 people were on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Abdulmutallab will be sentenced on 12 January 2012 but the BBC's Jonny Dymond, in Washington, says this is now a formality - Abdulmutallab will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Al-Qaeda links

US Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds verified that Abdulmutallab understood his right to silence before asking him if he wished to make a plea.

"Do I understand correctly that you wish to waive that right [in order] to plead guilty to all the charges in the indictment?" she asked.

Continue reading the main story Jonny Dymond BBC News, Washington

This is a good result for an administration that has long battled to bring such cases into the civilian, federal court system. But officials will still struggle to convince doubters. This was an exceptional case: the perpetrator was caught in the act, with physical evidence on and around his body, and confessed repeatedly to bystanders and security officials. Most national security cases are not so cut and dried.

Abdulmutallab's impact is difficult to discern. The body scanners that were hurried into service following his novel method of smuggling explosive on board are now part of the furniture of American airports - an accepted irritant to most fliers here.

What many will hope to be the biggest change will be co-ordination between US security agencies. Abdulmutallab's father reported his suspicions about his son and his intentions to the CIA well before the bombing. But once again, dots were not connected and other relevant agencies remained in the dark about the man who would try and turn himself into a human bomb.

"Yes," the defendant replied.

He told the court the bomb was a "blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims".

"The US should be warned that if they continue to kill and support those who kill innocent Muslims, then the US should await a great calamity... or God will strike them directly," he said.

Abdulmutallab was representing himself, with a standby lawyer appointed by the court to assist with his defence.

He sacked his original legal team, also appointed by the court, in September 2010.

"We wanted to continue the trial, but we respect his decision," said standby lawyer Anthony Chambers outside the court on Wednesday.

US Attorney General Eric Holder welcomed the guilty plea, saying it showed the courts were "one of the most effective tools we have to fight terrorism".

In a statement, he said: "Our priority in this case was to ensure that we arrested a man who tried to do us harm, that we collected actionable intelligence from him and that we prosecuted him in a way that was consistent with the rule of law.

"We will continue to be aggressive in our fight against terrorism and those who target us, and we will let results, not rhetoric, guide our actions."

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen, said it was behind the attack on 25 December 2009.

US investigators have said Abdulmutallab told them he was working for AQAP and had received the bomb from them, as well as training.

US and Yemeni officials have linked Abdulmutallab to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, whom he is said to have met while in Yemen before the attack.

Continue reading the main story Formed in January 2009 by a merger between al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen Based in eastern Yemen Led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, a Yemeni former aide to Osama Bin Laden. Deputy leader is Saudi ex-Guantanamo inmate Said al-Shihri Aims to topple Saudi monarchy and Yemeni government, and establish an Islamic caliphate Came to prominence with Riyadh bombings in 2003, and 2008 attack on US embassy in Sanaa Says it was behind an attempt to blow up US passenger jet in December 2009 Awlaki was killed last month by a US drone strike in Yemen.

Abdulmutallab flew from Nigeria to Amsterdam, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit, which was carrying 279 passengers and 11 crew.

He was already on a US watch list, but not a no-fly list.

Passengers had to put out the fire after the bomb failed to detonate fully, the court heard on Monday.

Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities in 2009 to warn them about his son.

Abdulmutallab was denied a request to ban statements he made while being treated for burns at a hospital, as well as other material, from appearing at trial.

During the first day of his trial, on Monday, prosecutor Jonathan Tukel showed the court a picture of the remains of the burnt underwear which contained the explosive device.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) analysts found the high explosive pentaerythritol (PETN) inside the device. Officials say he planned to detonate it using a syringe filled with chemicals.

The bomb was not detected when Abdulmutallab passed through airport security in Lagos and Amsterdam.

The court was also shown a video of Abdulmutallab explaining his suicide mission.

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Knox trial judge says she may be guilty but no proof

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Amanda Knox pauses while speaking during a news conference at Sea-Tac International Airport, Washington after landing there on a flight from Italy October 4, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Anthony Bolante

By Deepa Babington

ROME | Thu Oct 6, 2011 12:38pm EDT

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian judge who presided over Amanda Knox's murder appeal has told local media the American student may have been guilty but had to be acquitted because of doubts over evidence linking her to the killing of Meredith Kercher in 2007.

Knox, 24, flew home to a hero's welcome in Seattle on the U.S. west coast on Tuesday after an appeals court in the Italian city of Perugia overturned her 2009 conviction for the murder of her British roommate.

"They're free for not having committed the crime," Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann told the daily La Stampa.

"But this is the truth in court, not the real truth. And that could be different."

He told the daily Corriere della Sera: "They could have been responsible but there is no proof. Perhaps they knew what happened that night. We do not know."

Hellmann was one of an eight-member panel of lay and professional judges who on Monday acquitted Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of the murder.

The acquittal raised more questions than answers about who committed the crime, and prosecutors have said they will appeal to reverse the verdict.

Rudy Guede, an Ivorian drifter who was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a separate trial, is now the only person serving time for the murder, although prosecutors say he could not have killed Kercher by himself.

Her half-naked body was found with over 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, and prosecutors say the lack of signs of struggle on her body show her assailants pinned her down while another stabbed her in the neck.

"Certainly Rudy knows what happened and hasn't said it," Hellmann said. "Perhaps the other two defendants also know, because, I repeat, our decision to acquit was the result of truth determined by the trial."

A MYSTERY FOREVER?

Hellmann said a forensics review that cast doubt on police evidence that traces of DNA belonging to Kercher and Knox were found on a kitchen knife and Sollecito's DNA was on the victim's bra clasp was crucial in undermining the prosecution's case.

"The law says that a small doubt, as long as it is reasonable, is enough to acquit," he told La Stampa. "And we were coherent with our convictions."

A report by the panel of judges on the reasons behind the acquittal is due in the coming weeks.

Knox was initially sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito to 25 years in a case that drew attention the world over.

In the United States, a massive public relations effort by the Seattle student's family aided her image and cast her as an innocent victim of a convoluted judicial system in a distant foreign country.

The grieving family of Kercher, a Leeds University student from Coulsdon, south of London, said after the acquittal that they felt they were "back to square one" and have asked who killed their beloved "Mez" if Knox and Sollecito were innocent.

Hellmann said that the family may never find out.

"Unfortunately the truth will remain unsolved, from the court process point of view," he told La Stampa. "We cannot find someone guilty without proof."

(Editing by Mark heinrich)

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MP's wife guilty of kitten theft

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 16:04 GMT Jason Pegg, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Christine Hemming was caught stealing something precious

The wife of a Liberal Democrat MP has been convicted of stealing a kitten from the home of her husband's lover.

Christine Hemming, 53, whose husband John is MP for Birmingham Yardley, was found guilty of burglary at Birmingham Crown Court.

She was filmed on CCTV removing the kitten, called Beauty, from the Birmingham home of Emily Cox last year.

Mrs Hemming was released on bail to reappear at the court on 28 October for sentencing.

She had denied burglary and said she could not remember taking the four-month-old kitten.

The kitten was owned by the four-year-old daughter the MP had with Ms Cox.

It has not been found since it was filmed being removed on 29 September 2010.

'Arguing on phone'

Mrs Hemming, from Moseley, Birmingham, married Mr Hemming in 1981 after they met at a conference in Bridlington.

She told the three-day trial her husband had had 26 liaisons since they married and that he finally left their marital home three days before the theft.

Mrs Hemming said she had only learned that her husband had a "love child" with Ms Cox from members of the media in April 2005.

She told the court she was dropping off post at the house in Church Road, Moseley, after arguing with her husband on the phone and did not know there was a cat there.

The 53-year-old told the court on Wednesday: "Everything just got out of hand.

"I didn't mean to enter the property.

"I left holding a kitten - there is no doubt about that - but I have no recollection of picking the kitten up."

She also said she had tried to return the animal when she realised she had it by slotting it under the fence of a house in a street in Ms Cox's neighbourhood.

Earlier in the trial, the court was read a police transcript in which Mrs Hemming admitted taking Beauty.

'Unsure of motive'

She told officers she went to Church Road after her husband ended a telephone call to her, saying there was someone at the door.

She said: "I looked in and then it was open so I thought, 'Oh yes, this is great, this is where he's going to get his post sent to - I bet there's bits lying around here that I might be able to use in the divorce'.

"Then this kitten comes up to me and rubs itself against my legs and basically I thought: 'Not only has he replaced me, he's replaced our cats'."

Mr Hemming and Ms Cox were at home at the time Mrs Hemming entered the house, the CPS said

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Mrs Hemming entering the house.

Ms Cox told the court that she had not involved herself in Mr and Mrs Hemmings' relationship because she did not think it was any of her business.

Speaking after the verdict, Jason Pegg, crown advocate for the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service said: "This case was in its simplest terms house burglary in which something precious and personal was stolen namely, a kitten.

"On the evening of the 29 September last year, John Hemming and his young daughter were at the family home of Emily Cox when Christine Hemming entered the house without permission and stole a four-month-old kitten.

"Close-circuit television cameras which were installed on the house captured the moment when Mrs Hemming approached the house, entered the house and finally left the house with the kitten under her arm.

"We're still unsure what the motive behind the burglary was but whatever it might be, a crime was committed and today Mrs Hemming has been convicted of that crime."

Mr Hemming said he wanted to talk to Ms Cox and his wife before commenting.

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Man pleads guilty in MLK Day Parade bomb case

SPOKANE - A man with important ties to white supremacists pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he planted a bomb on a route of parade of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Spokane, wash., targeting minorities.

Kevin Harpham, 37, reached an agreement with federal prosecutors for a range of penalties recommended 27 to 32 years in only a few days in jail before his trial in District Court.

The pipe bomb was loaded with lead sinker procumbent in a chemical and could have caused massive losses, prosecutors said.

Harpham said the US District Court judge Justin Quackenbush that it took it about a month to build the bomb. He admitted placing the device on the route of the parade in the attempt to commit a hate crime.

The backpack bomb was discovered by workers for parade and off before it could explode.

"This community was terrorised on 17 January, when this happened," U.S. Attorney Mike Ormsby said after the hearing. "I hope that the healing that must occur as a result can begin."

Harpham acted alone, said Ormsby.

"There is no evidence to suggest that someone else has participated in this event", he said.

Ormsby praised the various agencies of law enforcement which has gathered evidence leading to the arrest of Harpham March 9. No there was no particular tip that led officers to Harpham, said Ormsby. On the contrary, it is the evidence of the bomb itself, he said.

The detonator was a remote starter purchased on the Internet. The shrapnel that would have mutilated victims was weighed lead purchased from Wal-Mart. The DNA of Harpham was on the handle of the backpack that held the bomb. After his arrest, agents have found photos in a digital camera that included images of Harpham at the parade, photos of young black children walking collection and a Jewish man who wore a yarmulke.

A key was the discovery of a considerable number of postings by Harpham, using a pen name, over a period of years on a white supremacist called Vanguard News Network Web site.

"He says other separatist and white supremacy, it is", said assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Harrington.

The bomb was planted "to continue his racist beliefs", Harrington told the judge.

The judge asked Harpham if he placed the bomb in an effort to hurt people because of their race, colour or national origin.

"Yes," Harpham replied.

Ormsby said that Harpham offered no explanation of why he chose to commit a hate crime now.

The plea agreement charged Harpham attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and hate crime to place the bomb in an effort to target minorities. Harpham spoke clearly when he said "guilty" to each of the two leaders.

He will be sentenced on 30 November.

"Incidents fueled by hate like this have no place in a civilized society," said Thomas Perez, Deputy U.S. Attorney General for civil rights. "Fortunately, no one is hurt by this man's depraved act."

Public defender, Roger Peven, issues outside the hearing room has not responded and was not available for comment later.

Harpham, originally was charged with committing a hate crime with a firearm in a crime of violence, try to use a weapon of mass destruction and to possess an unregistered explosive device unauthorized. He could face life in prison.

A resident of Addy, Harpham is a veteran of the army which has extensive ties with white supremacist groups, but no records of past crimes.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, tracks hate groups, said that Harpham made over 1,000 assignments on the Vanguard News Network. The Centre also said that Harpham belonged to a neo-Nazi group called the National Alliance.

Harpham served from 1996 to 1999 in the U.S. Army in what is now joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma. His lawyers have said that Harpham had not been used recently.

He remained in prison, County of Spokane without bail since his arrest.

Federal prosecutors will be argued for a sentence of 32 years. Counsel for the Harpham will seek to 27 years. If Quackenbush recommends a sentence more or less, the case could still go to trial. Under this agreement, Harpham remain on probation for the rest of his life once he leaves prison.

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