Items studied after Jacko case raid

Jul 23 2009

Investigators probing the death of Michael Jackson are examining documents seized when they raided the offices of the singer's doctor.

Officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration spent two-and-a-half hours at Dr Conrad Murray's clinic in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday and left with 21 documents and a "forensic image" of a computer hard drive, the medic's lawyer Ed Chernoff said.

He added: "The search warrant authorised law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believe constituted evidence of the offence of manslaughter."

Dr Murray served as Jackson's personal physician and was with him when he died.

The doctor has been quizzed twice by police in Los Angles as part of their investigation, but has not been considered as a suspect. A third interview is expected to take place later this week

Before the raid by federal drug agents, Mr Chernoff said investigators were seeking more information from his client and additional medical records.

The lawyer added: "The coroner wants to clear up the cause of death, we share that goal.

"Based on Dr Murray's minute-by-minute and item-by-item description of Michael Jackson's last days, he should not be a target of criminal charges."

The cause of Jackson's death at the age of 50 on June 25 has yet to be determined and the coroner's office in Los Angeles is expected to release the results of a post-mortem and toxicology tests next week. The Jackson family ordered a second private autopsy and are also awaiting those results.

Speculation has grown that they will show Jackson was on strong medication at the time of his death. The powerful anaesthetic propofol was reportedly found at Jackson's home by investigators.