Latoya Jackson believes her brother was murdered
Michael Jackson's sister La Toya believes her brother was murdered.
"I am thankful to the investigators for uncovering the truth to the world," she said in the statement released Tuesday to ABC News. "And I look forward to the day that justice will be served to all the parties involved in my brother's homicide."
La Toya Jackson, 53, spoke out a day after it was revealed that the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled the King of Pop's death a homicide.
A shocking police affidavit described the details of the tormented superstar's last night alive - and revealed Jacko's personal doctor injected him with "lethal levels" of the dangerous anesthetic propofol.
Dr. Conrad Murray has been the chief target of a manslaughter investigation into his death but has not been charged.
The homicide ruling makes it likely that the physician could soon face charges.
A Jackson family lawyer, Londell McMillan, said the reports reaffirm the "very sad reality that there was a tragic and gross violation of duty and care for Michael Jackson."
The affidavit from LAPD Detective Orlando Martinez included Murray's admission to cops that he plied the superstar with an array of powerful sedatives before his death on June 25.
It also revealed new details about Jackson's last hours - and what happened after Murray discovered he had stopped breathing.
Some of the first people Murray called after the singer died were Jackson's oldest son, 12-year-old Prince Michael, and an aide, Michael Emir Williams, according to the affidavit.
Murray's attorney Ed Chernoff dismissed the affidavit, which was included in the search warrant for Murray's offices in Houston and Las Vegas last month, as a "police theory."
He said Murray never told cops he found Jackson not breathing at 11 a.m. or waited just 10 minutes after administering propofol before leaving to attend to personal business.
In fact, Murray never told cops he left Jackson's side to make personal phone calls, the attorney said.
The affidavit said:
* Murray treated Jackson for insomnia for six weeks and admitted giving him nightly intravenous doses of 50 milligrams of propofol.
* Jackson, 50, had been given propofol by other doctors and referred to it as "milk."
* Jackson had also taken lidocaine, which he referred to as "anti-burn" and is a drug used to restore heart rhythms.
* Jackson was prescribed drugs under various aliases ranging from Jack London to Bryan Singleton and had meds he used prescribed to members of his entourage.
Murray, in the affidavit, claimed he feared Jackson was getting hooked on propofol so he began lowering the dosage and mixing in other powerful sedatives like lorazepam and midazolam.
Two days before Jackson's death, the doctor gave the singer only the substitute sedatives, he insisted.
On the day Jackson collapsed and died, Murray first gave Jackson Valium - known generically as diazepam - at 1:30 a.m. When that didn't work, the doctor said, he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2 a.m.
Within an hour, Jackson was still awake, so Murray said he gave him midazolam.
Still, Jackson could not sleep.
Over the next hours, Murray said, he plied the singer with various other sedatives.
Finally, at 10:40 a.m., Murray caved in after Jackson asked for the "milk." And Jackson was doomed.
Once the pop star was asleep, Murray told cops he left "to go to the rest room" and left Jackson alone for "two minutes maximum," according to the document.
Murray has insisted - ever since Jackson was found unconscious eight weeks ago at his rented Los Angeles mansion - that he did nothing wrong. In a video last week, he said he "told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail."
A search of "Jackson's bedside revealed numerous bottles of medications" prescribed by Murray, the singer's dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, and other doctors, the affidavit states.- New York Times
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