Police have ‘twisted’ Jacko’s final hours, says his doctor

The doctor facing possible manslaughter charges over Michael Jackson's drug death hit back today at the police account of the singer's last hours.

Dr Conrad Murray's lawyer accused Los Angeles detectives of twisting his client's version of the events leading up to Jackson's death.

Much of the blow-by-blow details included in a search warrant unsealed yesterday was "police theory", said lawyer Ed Chernoff.

Murray also denied telling police he left Jackson alone after administering a powerful anaesthetic and returned to find his patient had stopped breathing at 11am on 25 June.

Through his lawyer, he also said he did not leave the star's bedroom to make several phone calls.

Speculation that the doctor will face criminal charges grew today after it was revealed that the Los Angeles Coroner's office has ruled that the 50-year-old singer's death was a homicide caused by a cocktail of drugs used to treat Jackson's chronic insomnia.

Investigators had requested that a search warrant detailing the death inquiry should be kept under wraps because they were afraid its release would "jeopardise the integrity of the investigation and give the targets opportunity to hide, destroy and/or alter other material evidence".

The decision to make the search warrant affidavit public suggested that a decision on a manslaughter prosecution could be imminent.

Forensic tests found that a lethal dose of propofol hospital anaesthetic acted with at least two sedatives to cause Jackson's death, a law enforcement source said.

The coroner's office refused to comment on the report.

The police inquiry is focusing on whether Murray was criminally negligent in administering drugs to Jackson in the hours before his collapse.

According to court papers, Murray said he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for about six weeks with a nightly dose of 50 milligrams of propofol via an intravenous drip. But he said he feared Jackson was forming an addiction to the anaesthetic, which is normally used in hospitals only, and was attempting to wean his patient off by lowering the dose to 25 milligrams and adding the sedatives lorazepam and midazolam. That combination succeeded in helping Jackson sleep two days prior to his death, so the next day, Murray told detectives he cut off the propofol — and Jackson fell asleep with just the two sedatives.

Then around 1.30am on 25 June, starting with a 10-milligram tab of Valium, Murray said he tried a series of drugs instead of propofol to make Jackson sleep.

The injections included two milligrams of lorazepam around 2am, two milligrams of midazolam around 3am and repeats of each at 5am and 7.30am respectively. But they did not work.

Murray told detectives that around 10.40 am he gave in to Jackson's "repeated demands/requests" for propofol, which the singer referred to as his "milk". He administered 25 milligrams — a relatively small dose — and finally, Jackson fell asleep.

Murray remained with the sedated Jackson for about 10 minutes, then left to go to the lavatory, said investigators. He claimed that no more than two minutes later, he returned — and found Jackson had stopped breathing.