A second police interview with the doctor caring for pop star Michael Jackson the day he died yielded no information suggesting the physician committed a crime, the Los Angeles Timesreported today.
The Timessaid an unnamed source close to the police investigation told the newspaper the second interview with Dr Conrad Murray revealed "no red flag" indicating criminal wrongdoing or the cause of death.
"Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy," a spokeswoman for the law firm representing Murray said in a statement that was issued last night after the second interview.
Dr Murray, who rode in the ambulance from Jackson's home to a hospital after the singer had suffered cardiac arrest on Thursday, helped police "identify the circumstance around the death ... and clarified some inconsistencies," said the statement from the law firm Stradely, Chernoff & Alford.
The second meeting between police and Dr Murray, who has offices in Houston and Las Vegas, lasted three hours.
Also today, White House adviser David Axelrod told NBC news television show "Meet the Press" that President Barack Obama had written to Jackson's family expressing his condolences.
Jackson's father yesterday urged fans not to despair because the singer "will continue to live on in each and every one of you," and Jackson's family sought a second autopsy beyond the official one, conducted on Friday, amid reports about the 50-year-old singer's reliance on prescription drugs.
The celebrity website TMZ.com, which first broke the news of Jackson's death, reported that the second autopsy took place at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.
The singer of hit songs like "Thriller" and "Billie Jean" died suddenly on Thursday in a Los Angeles hospital and since then, mystery has shrouded his death.
Questions have centred on what brought on his heart failure. Jackson had not performed in years, but was rehearsing for a series of sold-out, comeback concerts in London starting in July. He was said to be in good health and had passed a physical examination before beginning rehearsals.
But according to media reports, Jackson was injected with narcotic painkiller Demerol before he went into cardiac arrest, and Murray was trying to revive him when paramedics arrived.
The official autopsy failed to determine what killed the singer, pending toxicology tests that could take four to six weeks and might reveal the presence of any drugs in his system.
Reuters
Reuters