Conrad Murray’s CNN interview on the Fifth Anniversary of Michael’s Death. Part 2. IS HE CRAZY?

This is part 2 of the post about Conrad Murray’s interview with Don Lemon of CNN who had the exceptional grace of giving the criminal doctor a platform to speak right on the fifth anniversary of his patient’s death.

We start where we left Murray talking about his phone calls (made at the time when Michael Jackson was dying).

WHAT MURRAY NEVER TALKS OF

MURRAY:  When I came back into the room after I had gone away, called my office, made some calls.  Whatever calls I was making was to make sure that my registration in England was complete, because I had to be his physician over there, and I didn’t want to go practice without having registration.

And it was just about getting that done, the time zone, the differences.  We were taking care of that.  So part of the telephone calls to my office were related to that situation.  I was away from him for – remember, it was 11:25, 11:30.  But that was way beyond any medicine that I give him would have had any effect at all.

Part of the calls was about registration in the UK? This subject was just a fraction of what kept Murray busy on the night Michael Jackson died.  The other, much bigger part was about something Murray never talks of.

On June 25^th Murray did talk a little about the UK registration with his personal assistant Stacey Ruggles. According to Ruggles he “directed her to draft a letter to the London Medical Board indicating his pending arrival and what facilities may be available to him, if needed” (from Det. Myers’ testimony).

The conversation lasted for precious 8 and a half minutes at the crucial time of 10:34-10:43am when Michael’s breathing was already slowing down, however Conrad Murray was not in the least perturbed – according to his assistant “he did not appear to her to be distracted or tired”.

Murray’s UK registration was discussed with AEG lawyer Kathy Jorrie on Friday, June 19th [screenshot from Murray’s trial]

The rest of the planning of Murray’s visit was done on Friday, June 19^th when Kathie Jorrie, AEG’s attorney was taking care of his invitation to work in the UK called Certificate of Sponsorhip.

So on June 25^th Conrad Murray had something totally different on his mind and no, it wasn’t the care for his patient Michael Jackson, of course.

The other two top urgent subjects were his patient Robert Russell who was threatening to file a lawsuit as Murray had dropped him without referring him to any doctor after an operation on his heart.

And the second matter was a cancellation insurance policy for AEG.

The time after 11:18am was evidently devoted to settling the matter of a possible lawsuit – Murray spoke for whole 32 minutes with his Las Vegas office and immediately thereafter sent a 3 minute voicemail to Robert Russell (by that moment Michael had already died).

And the time before 11:18am was spent on the insurance issue for AEG which Murray promised to facilitate by providing his MJ medical records to the insurer. Michael’s medical records for 5 years had always been the insurers’ requirement, and Murray indeed had some records for three years since December 2006 when he treated MJ for an occasional flu.

All previous day Murray had been receiving those records from his assistant Stacey Ruggles, but on the night of June 25^th, innocent as those records were, Michael Jackson refused to release them. He was of the opinion that in spring that year the insurance policy had already been obtained and the matter should be left at that.

But in spring the number of shows was 10 and now it was 50, and the cost of production was higher and though AEG shifted all production expenses to Michael Jackson’s shoulders they also wanted a policy for the maximal sum offered to them by the insurers ($17,5 mln), and to get that the insurer set a new medical examination in London, and the medical records were also one of their  requirements and this is what Michael Jackson was now refusing to meet.

The insurance broker Bob Taylor was bombarding Murray with emails and all eyes of the AEG executives were on Murray as their last hope.

The previous night June 24^th Paul Gongaware wrote to Bob Taylor at 19:08:

• “Dr. Murray copied here. We need to do this at MJ’s house. Dr. Murray can comment on the availability of the records.”

At 20:32 the same evening Bob Taylor replied:

• “I await hearing from Dr. Murray” 

About six hours later at 1:54am, which was already past midnight of June 25^th, Bob Taylor sent an urgent email to everyone involved including Conrad Murray:

• “The consultation in London is critical”.

June 25th, 5:54am Re: Artist Insurance “Hi Conrad” [screenshot from Murray’s trial]

Four hours later, at 5.54am Bob Tarlor emailed Murray thanking him for calling him the previous evening (June 24) and reminding him that they were “dealing with the matter of great importance” and Murray’s “urgent attention will be greatly appreciated”. 

He expected Murray to send him the medical records the same night.

In none of his so-called candid and honest interviews Murray speaks of the mad urgency of those medical records and of his apprehension that his whole contract with AEG depended on how successfully he would fulfill this task.

After two months of keeping him on tenterhooks AEG made a contract with him at last but did not sign it yet, so the price of Michael’s consent to release the records actually amounted to the payment of $300,000 for the two months Murray had spent with MJ.

And now Michael was refusing him.

Given the strong feeling of all parties about that insurance it is a shame none of us ever paid attention to the fact that during that sleepless night of June 25 Murray was actually discussing business with Michael Jackson. 

And since the insurance subject wasn’t an easy one and the wills of Murray and Michael Jackson evidently clashed I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Jackson couldn’t fall asleep because of that discussion too.

The conversation must have taken place in the period between Bob Taylor’s email at 5:54am and Murray’s text message about MJ’s refusal sent at 11:17am. The five hours between these two points were the time when Murray was making his arguments and Michael kept refusing him – most probably because he was afraid that the records about his toe nails or insomnia would eventually find their way into the media.

And you know what? When Murray says that at some point Michael left the room that night (without wheeling the IV stand of course) I think I can even believe him. To stop the discussion he didn’t want to hear any more Michael could indeed leave for another room in order to cool off.

The  route between the two bedrooms [screenshot from Murray’s trial]

Whatever it was but the conversation between Murray and Michael did take place.

We know it for sure because at 11:17 that morning Murray sent a reply to the insurance broker about Michael’s refusal. The text is rather long and must have taken some time to type it:

Murray’s message on June 25th, 11:17am “Authorization was denied.”

Date: Thu, 25 June 2009 11:17

Dear Bob

I’m in receipt of your email. I spoke with Mr. Jackson and requested his authorization for release of his medical records in order to assist you to procure a cancellation insurance policy for his show, however, authorization was denied. I therefore suggest that someone from AEG should consult kindly with Mr. Jackson as to it’s relevance for he is of the opinion that such a policy is already secured in the US.

As far as the statements of his health published by the press let me say they’re all fallacious to the best of my knowledge.

Sincerely Conrad Murray

Sent from my iPhone

There was so much telephone activity going in the morning of June 25th that I finally realized the need to visualize the amount of time Murray spent on issues other than his patient and the scraps of time left for Michael as a result.

To do so I marked Murray’s actions on a clock – of course only those we know of and can be fully certain of. This is why the time he left MJ to go to the bathroom is not marked as for all we know Murray could have spent the whole of his time away from Jackson.

On the picture below Murray’s correspondence with the insurance broker is marked red, the telephone conversations with his assistant, patients, etc. are marked gray and Murray’s information to the police that at around 7:30am MJ urinated and filled a jug (which later showed traces of propofol) is marked blue.

Since propofol was already in the urine and the collected amount was more than 700cc, it is clear that propofol had been administered to Michael for a long time before that and this is why I put an arrow pointing backwards to the time when the drip of propofol evidently started.

The last two dotted lines are not connected with Murray – they show when Alvarez, the bodyguard was finally asked to call 911 (at 12:22pm) and how soon the paramedics arrived (at 12:26pm).

When you see a clock like this it immediately strikes you how much precious time was wasted by Murray on outside acitivities and how little attention this so-called doctor was paying to a human life.

It also shows us how easy it was to save Michael if Murray had simply regularly checked up his vital signs or at least paid some attention to him. If the problem had been detected immediately, just four minutes later professional help would have arrived and Michael Jackson would be alive now.

Looking at this clock will anyone dare claim that it wasn’t the doctor’s guilt?

And then another thought suddenly struck me.

Was it for this type of care that Murray demanded $5000 per night?

 

This clock shows Conrad Murray’s telephone activity on the night Michael Jackson died

What was happening to Michael Jackson at the time when Murray was busy with all of the above is described in the appellate court ruling which recently denied Murray’s appeal and summed up the possible scenario of Michael Jackson’s death as follows:

• Under this scenario, appellant would start the infusion, by drip at about 9:00 a.m., and it would run until about 12:00 noon. Shafer explained that during the infusion, there would be an accumulation of Propofol  in the body.  Initially, the level of Propofol would rise quickly to a concentration that was high enough that the amount of drug that the liver was metabolizing would be about the same as the amount running into the patient. Thereafter the Propofol would begin to fill up in the organs. Between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., he estimated that Mr. Jackson’s breathing would have slowed and from 11:00 to 11:45 a.m., Mr.Jackson’s breathing would have slowed to the point of apnea. Around 11:30 or 11:45 a.m., the flow of oxygen into Mr. Jackson’s lungs would stop and about 10 to 15 minutes later, Mr.Jackson’s heart would stop [11:40 -12:00]. Mr. Jackson would have died with the infusion running. As a result, the level of Propofol in the blood would be high, because there would be no opportunity for the rapid metabolism of Propofol.

The paramedics conclusions were even more pessimistic – from the signs they observed Michael had probably died earlier, in the period from 11:20 to 12:00. The appellate court ruling said about it:

• Paramedics believed that appellant’s statement that Mr. Jackson had recently experienced cardiac arrest was inconsistent with their observations of Mr. Jackson’s appearance and condition. They never saw any sign of life in Mr. Jackson and estimated the time of the arrest was anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour before they had arrived.  http://ru.scribd.com/doc/202964566/Conrad-Murray-Criminal-Appeal-Ruling

For five years since Michael Jackson’s death the media has not made a single serious analysis of these facts pretending they don’t see any of them. Instead they prefer to discuss the idea that Michael was treated to propofol before. But why all this focus on propofol if this so-caller doctor simply neglected his patient?

What difference would it have made if it had been Murray’s favourite Lorazepam instead?  The breathing arrest can happen due to benzodiazepines too, so what does it matter which drug provoked it, if the real reason for Michael’s death was that Conrad Murray was simply not looking?

No matter which drug it was, Murray was so busy with his telephone calls that he wouldn’t have noticed it anyway.

“HE HAD BEEN USING PROPOFOL BEFORE ME”

LEMON:  So do you take any responsibility in Michael Jackson’s demise, in his death?

MURRAY:  You know, I am very remorseful that Michael has passed away. Michael was a friend. And he touched me in so many ways, that I felt like a father figure to Michael, though I wasn’t old enough to be his dad.  I felt as though I was protecting Michael all the time.  I did.

LEMON:  People say they don’t seem – that they don’t think that you have shown any remorse.  Do you – is there – would you like to apologize to anyone?  Would you – what would you like to say?  Because they – why – as a physician, as Michael’s physician, you were responsible for him while you were administering drugs.  You were responsible for the drugs that were brought into his home.  You were his personal physician.

MURRAY:  I think you ask a good question. First of all, I met Michael Jackson with a stash of Propofol.  And the investigation will also show that there are doctors who could have testified that he came to them with a sports medicine bag filled with Propofol, vials. The history of the civil trial shows that he had been using Propofol for decades, long before I came on the scene. I met Michael Jackson in 2006.

I repeat – whether Michael used or didn’t use Propofol is not the point. Even if Murray’s information was correct (which it is not) during those alleged decades when Michael was supposedly treated to it he was still alive. For decades he was alive, while it took just 2 months of Murray’s “care” for Michael to die.

This is why propofol per se is not even an issue. The issue is that Michael would be alive now if Murray hadn’t come on the scene. Propofol is a very safe drug and millions of people are given it during operations and minor procedures requiring light sedation. When administered carefully and professionally it can be given  even on a prolonged basis, for example to patients in intensive care units.

And it wasn’t propofol that killed Michael Jackson. It was the doctor who killed him – through his neglect, ignorance, greed and lack of skill. And incredible arrogance too.

“IT WASN’T FOR MONEY”

Now Murray says that it wasn’t for money that he agreed to the job. What a novel statement indeed. Why didn’t Don Lemon remind Murray of the initial sum he asked for his services – wasn’t it a modest sum of $5 million if my memory serves me right?

This made me recall a statement from a patient and friend of Conrad Murray who evidently knew his motives very well:

“The money was one of the main reasons Murray decided to go on tour with Jackson, says Rev. Floyd Williams, 80, who is Murray’s friend and patient.

Murray had developed a booming concierge business — he was jetting off to see patients in New York and Washington while building his practice in Las Vegas.

Three years ago, Murray joined the Freemasonry, the international fraternal society that dates back to the early 17th century. His friends say this new network galvanized his growing side business.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530242,00.html#ixzz1tjDR1PNU

Conrad Murray in the  freemasonry regalia

No matter what Murray expected of it, but his “freemasonry” wasn’t a real one as his branch of freemasons is not accepted by the regular freemasons (I’ve checked it).

However within that local community of freemasons some helpful connections to bigwigs with good money could indeed be made.  What’s much more important though is that Murray was choosing this concierge medical business over his regular work and was on a constant hunt for rich patients.

But in his interview with Don Lemon Murray presents to us a sweet and lovely version that he agreed to the job with Michael because, you won’t believe it, he could read books with Michael Jackson.

Isn’t it great to find that besides attending strip clubs Murray also likes reading books?

LEMON:  But you didn’t have to stay.  You didn’t have to take the job.

MURRAY:  You know, I did not have to take Michael’s job. And Michael convinced me that I was working so hard saving lives as an acute interventionalist in cardiology, saving lives daily, and working long hours.  He wanted me to take some time off and travel, read some books with him, and just meet a bunch of high-powered kings and queens around the world. But I give Michael a sense of confidence and protection that he never had.  And he was not about to lose that.

LEMON:  Are you saying you did it out – it wasn’t for the money that you were making?

MURRAY:  Oh, gosh, no…

LEMON:  It was out of the goodness of your heart?

MURRAY:  …Not at all.

LEMON:  Not everybody is going to believe that.

MURRAY:  No. First of all, I have taken care of Michael Jackson for years, out of the goodness of my heart, by giving all of my services for him and his children basically free.

LEMON:  Were you ever paid?

MURRAY:  Michael Jackson refunded me for medicines, but I have never been paid for my services.

LEMON:  All right, stand by, Dr. Murray.  There’s lots more to talk about. When we come right back, we are going to talk about your trial and whether justice was served. We are going to take you inside this trial and show you information that you have never seen.

Indeed, there’s still a lot more to talk about – for example, the fact that in his testimony at the AEG trial Prince Jackson said that Michael was worried that AEG was not paying him, however Murray refused to take money from him, and Michael had to pass some rolls of banknotes through his children knowing that Murray would not be able to refuse them.

PLAYING THE AEG TUNE

LEMON:  This is the fifth anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, and now the man who was convicted of his involuntary manslaughter, Dr. Conrad Murray, is back with me exclusively.  This is his first and only exclusive American interview since he got out of prison. He has agreed no question is off-limits and he is going to answer everything honestly 

So, I wanted to talk to you.  You talked a little bit about why you took the job and stayed on, even though you knew that Michael had some issues.  Did you identify with him?  What did you see in Michael Jackson that drew you to him and that someone, Michael, who was scared of his own pain, maybe?

MURRAY:  Like a fan, like somebody who got to know Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson lived a life of pain for so many years, decades, his entire life, his existence.  And after I learned about all of the pains that he had fathomed, I could not help but be sympathetic to this man.  I could not help but to be empathetic.  I could not help but to wear his shoe, and I could not help but to listen to him.

LEMON:  But do you think that cloud – you said as a fan.  Did that cloud your judgment, because, in the end, it seemed that you did him more harm than good, no?

“It seemed that you did him more harm than good?” What an understatement!

MURRAY:  Never, because I was hired to take – to make sure that Michael Jackson stayed healthy. But I was also – I agreed with AEG and the – those who were taking care of Michael’s finances that I would show up in about four weeks and wind my practice down gently, easily.  However, they – I was hustled to California because the show was off track.  It was going nowhere.

LEMON:  Because of – was this because of Michael Jackson’s health?

MURRAY:  Because of Michael’s performance.

LEMON:  Performance.

MURRAY:  He was not rehearsing.  He was not doing anything.

LEMON:  Because he couldn’t sleep?

MURRAY:  And AEG has already spent $40 million.

LEMON:  Why wasn’t he rehearsing or doing anything?

MURRAY:  I have no idea.

LEMON:  So they thought it was – had something to do with his health or medically?

MURRAY:  I’m not sure what AEG was thinking.

LEMON:  OK.

MURRAY:  But, clearly, they knew something.

First of all AEG didn’t spend $40 mln, second, Murray’s soap opera about how sympathetic and empathetic he was for Michael’s life of pain is simply disgusting, and third, Michael Jackson was rehearsing.

No comment on the first two lies but as regards rehearsals I can’t help reminding everyone of the basic facts.

Murray’s contract officially started on May 1, 2009 (in his appeal he even stated that it was in April), so he came on the scene when the rehearsals had not yet even begun. This alone turns Murray’s version that he was hustled to California because the “show was not going anywhere due to Michael’s not rehearsing” into an outrageous lie.

At the beginning of May the dancers’ casting was still under way and Kenny Ortega had just joined the team. When the dancers began learning the routine Michael was training at home with Travis Payne, working out with Lou Ferrigno and rehearsing at CentralStaging in Burbanks, only separately from the dancers.

According to the owner of the studios Michael was working very hard. Paul Gongaware said the same in his email of May 27, 2009:

• The Kid is healthy and rehearsing every day. He was still there at dance rehearsals at 9pm last night when I left.

Travis Payne testified under oath that during the whole period of time Michael missed no more than 4 or 5 rehearsals.

Then why is Murray saying now that Michael didn’t rehearse and this is why the show was “off track”?

Because he is falling over himself to please his employer AEG by this statement. AEG needs a pretext to explain why their production was so slow and ineffective and why it started so terribly late – two and a half months before the beginning of the tour which was nothing for a project of that scale.

The real reason for the late start was most probably Kenny Ortega who was busy with another project and joined them only in May. However all of them prefer to present Michael as the guilty party and now Murray also joined them and is singing the same tune, which speaks volumes about where his real interests lie.

We remember that the conflict between Ortega/AEG and Michael Jackson indeed revolved around the fact that Michael was not willing to attend every rehearsal. He was sparing himself before the 50 concerts AEG involved him into and for the most part scheduled at a mad pace with only one day of rest between the shows.

However all talk whether MJ wanted or didn’t want to rehearse is irrelevant in principle as producers should be able to make a show using a double only, because the stars are under no obligation to rehearse. It is their show and they can simply sit and watch the process of building the performance as if it were a house. This is what Michael Jackson actually said to Ortega – please build the house first and I will come and paint the front door.

It is a universal rule not to require the stars to rehearse because the ultimate responsibility for the show is on their shoulders anyway. They decide for themselves whether they need rehearsals or it is better to spare their voice and body before the tour starts. Enrique Iglesias and Celine Dion didn’t rehearse and their directors were close to a heart attack, so what of it?

Randy Phillips: My problem with him he didn’t work as hard as I thought he needed to work

Kenny Ortega and Randy Phillips were also hysterical. Randy Phillips did not even think it necessary to hide his thoughts that Michael wasn’t working hard enough.

And though they absolutely had no right to, they still drove Michael into a mad race of rehearsals for two months non-stop with only one day off per week. Those rehearsals were actually another tour made even before the tour started!

The above was just a reminder of what is well known to us, however now Murray’s interview reveals something novel and adds a totally new aspect to the whole story.

MURRAY’S ADMISSION

I hope you’ve noticed that Murray made a groundbreaking admission in his interview with Don Lemon.

For the first time ever Murray admitted that he was hired by AEG.

The fact is indisputable of course as even the suspicious jury at the AEG trial agreed that Murray had been hired by AEG, but the fact that Murray confirms it now is an added plus though what he says about the timing and circumstances of his hire is a big surprise.

And from what he says it follows that he agreed with AEG to start a month later than he did, but at the last minute AEG changed the arrangement and he had to comply:

“I was hired to take – to make sure that Michael Jackson stayed healthy. But I was also – I agreed with AEG and the – those who were taking care of Michael’s finances that I would show up in about four weeks and wind my practice down gently, easily.  However, they – I was hustled to California because the show was off track.”

This is a totally new turn to Murray’s story as his previous tale had it that he was hired by MJ. AEG also insisted that Michael’s doctor was none of their business and they had nothing to do with his choice or hire.

Remember their mantra that “they were not responsible for what the star was doing in his free time of which they knew nothing” which was so heavily publicized by the press? Randy Phillips even claimed that he first heard of Murray in June 2009 only.

And now Murray says that from the very start of it he was in an agreement with AEG and a certain person who “took care of Michael’s finances”. This person could be only Tohme Tohme who worked for Michael until the end of March/beginning of April and this places the talks between Murray and AEG into that period of time too.

All this admirably fits in with Tohme’s own revelations in Randall Sullivan’s book where he described the AEG-Michael Jackson negotiations over Murray and his salary, and that after a long argument with MJ who was very firm on this issue, AEG finally agreed to cover the cost of Murray’s salary themselves.

Yes, the salary of $150,000 to Murray was to be paid by AEG and not by MJ as they are lying to us now.

And all of the above also fits in with Randy Phillips reckless revelation made only once  – in a CNN interview where he said that they had spent a lot of money to take Dr. Murray out of his practice.

Here is LunaJo’s video from which these screenshots were made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6aXrIVVOxs

At 3:55 Randy Phillips says:

• “My problem with him is that he didn’t like to work as hard as I thought he needed to work”.

And at 10:40 he makes his ground-breaking revelation about Murray:

• “We spent a lot of money to take Dr. Murray, Conrad Murray out of his practice”. 

You can even see the look of doubt on his face evidently betraying a passing thought “Is it okay to reveal it?”

At the time no one really paid attention to Randy Phillips’ statement as it went totally against the general AEG concept that they “knew nothing” about Murray, however Murray’s current revelations about his prior agreements with AEG are giving an added weight to Randy Phillips’ words and make them sound sensible enough.

However it is well-known that AEG didn’t pay Murray the $300,000 promised for the two months of his so-called work with Michael Jackson, so what big sum of money did Randy Phillips talk about then?

The possible answer to this question will take us to another fact never mentioned by Murray in his ‘candid’ interviews and it is Murray’s malpractice insurance which he obtained about a month before MJ’s death.

WHO PAID FOR MURRAY’S MALPRACTICE INSURANCE?

A series of articles published prior to Murray’s trial disclosed that the malpractice insurance was indeed purchased by Conrad Murray approximately at the end of May – beginning of June 2009:

The doctor has been fighting with his malpractice insurer, Medicus Insurance Co., in a Houston court since August 2010. Peckham [Murray’s lawyer] said he still contends the policy, purchased a month before Jackson’s death, should cover Murray’s legal bills.

http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/119939-Murray-Documentary-quot-Michael-Jackson-and-the-Doctor-quot/page59

The press stated that Murray wanted the insurance policy to cover his defense costs in the coming trial, however the Medicus Insurance Company argued that the policy didn’t cover general anesthesia cases and was effective for Texas only:

Medicus Insurance Co. argues that Dr. Conrad Murray’s medical malpractice policy doesn’t cover his defense costs because the cases stem from alleged criminal wrongdoing, according to documents filed Wednesday in state court in Houston. Murray’s policy, which was purchased roughly a month before Jackson’s death in June 2009, did not cover incidents involving general anesthesia, the company argues.

The company’s lawsuit states that Murray’s policy only covers the doctor’s actions in Texas. The company filed its case after Murray asked the insurer to pay for his defense in the California court cases and medical board hearings in other states, according to the complaint. Murray is due back in Los Angeles next week for a hearing in the criminal case, and prosecutors are expected to lay out some of their evidence against him during a preliminary hearing in January.

http://thegrio.com/2010/10/21/jackson-doctors-legal-bills-issue-in-texas-court/

The timing of purchase of the malpractice insurance a month prior to Michael’s death coincided very well with AEG’s then decision to “bring the doctor into the fold” and finally make a contract with him after a long period of “stalling” him (to which they confessed in one of their emails).

The AEG contract stated that obtaining the malpractice insurance was Murray’s obligation. AEG’s desire to protect themselves against any financial claims in case their employee Murray harmed his patient is no surprise for us of course, however it also suggests that they were not quite sure of Murray’s competence and skill.

But the real surprise of this insurance is where Murray found the money for it. The malpractice insurance is a very costly pleasure and even successful doctors do not always go for it:

Due to the increasing cost of Physician malpractice insurance and huge premium amounts, physicians hesitate to buy it.

http://www.malpracticelawyer.org/physician-malpractice-insurance.html

Since Murray’s malpractice insurance was obtained in Texas I looked up the approximate sum Murray was to pay there. It turned out that in the year 2004 the average medical insurance premium in Texas was more than $67,000. The average premium in California was almost half the sum , however despite all his debts Murray still preferred to pay more and this only added to the intrigue of it.

The average medical insurance insurance in Texas is more than $67,000. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27241006/Medical-Malpractice-Insurance-Premiums

But the biggest intrigue of it all is how Could Murray could afford that insurance at all. Murray faced extreme financial problems at the time which were well summed up by this Daily Telegraph article:

07 Nov 2011

When Michael Jackson offered him a lucrative dream job, Dr Conrad Murray was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and close to losing his home.

The cardiologist had clinics in Las Vegas and Houston but was facing court judgments over unpaid bills for medical equipment and office rent, as well as decades-old student loans and child maintenance for some of the seven children he had fathered by six women.

During his trial defence, lawyers had little trouble finding patients ready to praise him for going the extra mile to look after them, and numerous people described how he happily treated those too poor to pay. But, while his medical record had not a stain on it, the suave doctor’s private life was in a mess.

When not treating patients, he consorted with strippers, paid to put girlfriends up in Las Vegas hotel rooms, and left a string of illegitimate children and demands for payment in his wake.

By the time Jackson died, Murray was $100,000 behind on mortgage payments on his 5,268 sq ft home near the 18th hole of a Las Vegas golf course in Las Vegas.

He had bought it with a $1.66 million loan in 2004, and it was eventually repossessed and sold for just $800,000 earlier this year.

When he started work for Jackson, on a salary of $150,000 a month, Murray had also just been ordered to pay $363,000 for equipment at his Las Vegas clinic and two other lawsuits claiming he owed another $240,000 were pending.

He had also just been ordered to repay $71,000 in student loans dating back to the 1980s.

The doctor’s previous financial problems had included filing for bankruptcy in California in 1992, and racking up $44,000 in demands for unpaid tax in California and Arizona between 1993 and 2003. He also owed a former business partner $68,000 over an energy-drink distribution venture in Trinidad and Tobago.

In 1994 he was arrested over an allegation of domestic violence against a girlfriend in Arizona but was not convicted.

The twice-married doctor fathered his seventh child in March 2009 with actress Nicole Alvarez, 29, who he met in a Las Vegas club. She played the role of “Hot Chick” in a 2008 film called “Days of Wrath”.

Murray paid her $2,500 monthly rent on a flat in the seaside California city of Santa Monica and impressed her by taking her to meet Michael Jackson. He now shares the flat in Santa Monica with her.

Miss Alvarez was one of four women Murray was in phone contact with on the day Jackson died. He phoned her from the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Earlier, at the moment he noticed his patient had stopped breathing, he was on the phone to Sade Anding, a cocktail waitress at a Houston steakhouse.

According to Miss Anding the first thing Murray said to her when they met was: “You are too beautiful to be waiting on people at a place like this.” She said Murray lied to her, telling her he was divorced with only two children.

A few hours before Jackson died Murray had also sent a text to a Las Vegas stripper, and during the day he received two phone calls from another Las Vegas stripper which he didn’t answer.

Full text: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/8867855/Dr-Conrad-Murray-profile.html

Let us put two and two together. Given Murray’s huge debts it is highly unlikely that Murray could pay the required $70,000 himself, and considering Randy Phillips’ revelation on how much they spent on Conrad Murray the probability that it was AEG who paid for his malpractice insurance as an advance against his salary is very high.

And this points to much stronger ties between Murray and AEG than their official stories tell us and Murray’s much dependence on them too. In fact the whole of their relations looks very much different now.

THE JOB THEY GAVE HIM

So Murray was in AEG’s employment from the very start of it and felt so subordinate to them that he dropped his office a month earlier than planned. If this story is true the real reason why they summoned him so early wasn’t the rehearsals of course, which had not even started yet, but the nasty gossip circulating right at that time that MJ was “taking drugs”.

Murray was evidently considered by AEG as a highly effective tool to fence MJ from any “enablers” as he was supposed to monitor Michael during the night.

So when Leonard Rowe who saw Michael just twice writes in his book that he approached Michael’s managers and personally Randy Phillips with his tales of Michael’s “drug taking” and urged for an “intervention” and they answered him that they had everything under control, they were not lying – they indeed kept everything under their control as during the daytime they had people to spy on Jackson and during the night it was Conrad Murray’s job to do the same.

In a way Michael’s and AEG’s goals coincided, though their intentions were the opposite ones – he wanted a doctor to take care of his sleep (and give him propofol in case of need) and they wanted a doctor to monitor him so that he didn’t take drugs. Since everyone was thinking of Demerol and other narcotics, and propofol is absolutely none of it, Murray was probably even not suffering from the qualms of conscience stemming from this contradiction.

In a situation like this it still remains to be seen which of the sides was more interested in hiring Conrad Murray.

If you come to think of it for AEG executives Murray was their only choice as he was the only one who had Michael’s medical records since the time he returned from Ireland, and from this point of view Murray had no rivals.

Michael Jackson, on the contrary, made several attempts to get rid of Murray or at least have a professional anesthesiologist in addition to him. He asked nurse Lee if she knew how to handle propofol, he invited Dr. Adams to join Murray and Dr. Adams was even willing, only Conrad Murray put a stop to it, and the last time Michael asked for a proper anesthesiologist was during his talk with Arnold Klein just two weeks before his death.

Previously these Michael’s attempts baffled us as they contradicted Murray’s story that he was hired by Michael as his favourite doctor and the best thing that ever happened in Michael’s life, however in view of these new findings it looks like Murray wasn’t Michael’s primary choice – he probably just mentioned Murray as the only doctor he had since his arrival from Ireland and this was enough for Tohme and AEG to grab him as they were after his medical records in the first place.

Besides being instrumental for the insurance Murray’s main job was to stand vigil on Michael on a nightly basis as during the daytime there were other people to do the spying. Tohme said it himself that he had built a wall around Michael, and when Tohme was fired AEG took over and placed Michael under so much control that they put their man to spy on him even in his dressing room.

Firing Grace Rwaramba was also part of the picture. She was dismissed not by Michael, but by Paul Gongaware of AEG. They evidently suspected her of being Michael’s “enabler” after listening to all those nasty stories about her from various “insiders” who were not at all helping, but only aggravating the situation.

And while all this crowd was catching some non-existing flies on the wall, they did not notice the elephant in the room – Michael Jackson’s real and huge problem with insomnia and the fact that all their clumsy efforts to “help” by building fences around him, isolating him from friends, playing tough love and putting him in a straight jacket were only exacerbating his anxiety and nervousness, and the insomnia resulting from it.

When Michael was not nervous he could sleep as his several weeks’ stay at the Cascios’ house in 2007 proves it.

This talk has distracted us from the original interview (so there will have to be part 3 of it, I am afraid), but there is still one more point which I am simply obliged to mention as while AEG put all their trust in their favorite guy Conrad Murray, it seems that this guy successfully cheated on them too.

And it isn’t propofol that I am talking about. It is a totally different matter which actually turns Murray’s tales fully upside down and forces us to step on a somewhat crazy territory. The story is indeed crazy but we still need to look into it.

THE CRAZY TERRITORY

You remember that sometime after Michael’s death there were rumors that Conrad Murray spent his time in a strip club on the night Michael Jackson died? He was allegedly there before midnight and the story was told by a stripper who also claimed that she had once been to Michael Jackson’s house and even saw Michael deep in his sleep.

Stripper Claims She was at MJ’s House with Murray

6/29/2010 5:00 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

TMZ has learned … Joe Jackson’s lawyer will interview a stripper who not only claims Dr. Conrad Murray was at a strip club hours before Michael Jackson died, but that she was at Michael Jackson’s house after being invited by the doctor.

The stripper — who claims she was working at Sam’s Hof Brau on June 24, 2009 — claims Dr. Murray was at the club drinking just before midnight.

Now we’ve learned Brian Oxman, who is repping Joe in his wrongful death lawsuit, has spoken with the stripper’s “rep” who has scheduled a meeting.  Among the topics — the stripper claims weeks before Jackson died, Dr. Murray invited her to Jackson’s home in Holmby Hills.  She claims she went late one night — after the club closed — and Jackson was there, however he was in a deep sleep.

In Oxman’s letter of intent to sue Dr. Murray, he accused the doc of drinking at Sam’s Hof Brau before treating MJ.

Dr. Murray’s reps have strongly denied he was at the club on June 24.  And, they say, Murray doesn’t drink.

http://www.tmz.com/2010/06/29/stripper-michael-jackson-dr-conrad-murray-strip-club-joe-jackson-house-drinking-death-died/

The story was naturally brushed aside as some lurid gossip and no one recalled the episode ever since. However during the AEG trial Brian Panish produced a very strange email from Randy Phillips and Phillips confirmed that it was indeed him who wrote it.

The email was sent out after Michael Jackson’s death to Amy Pascal, the Chairwoman for Sony Pictures with whom they were cooperating over the rehearsal footage. In the email Randy Phillips said that Dr. Murray is crazy and that a week before Michael’s death when they thought Murray was caring for Michael he was actually spending the nights away from him.

This is what he said to Brian Panish under oath on June 10, 2013:

Q.  Did you write to Amy Pascal about where Dr. Murray had been during the week before Michael’s death?
A. To Amy Pascal about where Dr. Murray had been? Yes, there is an email to an Amy Pascal who is the Chairwoman for Sony Pictures, yes.
Q. And you wrote to her and said Dr. Murray is crazy, right?
A. That is what I wrote.
Q. And you said that: “Remind me to tell you about where Conrad had been the nights and the week before Michael’s death when he was supposed to be caring for Michael.”  Correct?
A. When was that email written?
Q. Did you write that email, sir?
A. After Michael’s death, yes. After tons of news reports.
Q. Did you write that email?
A. Yes, I did.

Now after Randy Phillips said it I looked at it with different eyes.

First of all this email discloses that Randy Phillips expected Conrad Murray to stay with Michael every night and their stories that it was “none of their business what MJ was doing in his spare time” are complete fiction. It was very much their business as it was actually following their expectations or even instructions that Murray was supposed to be there at night.

Secondly, the email suggests that after Michael’s death AEG made some enquiries about Murray’s activity and found that for a week prior to his death Murray had been away from Michael’s home (at least for part of the night).

And thirdly, the place where Murray spent his time must have been something extraordinary as the context suggests that Amy Pascal will have a shock once she learns about it. This last point reminds us of the stripper and her story about the club Murray allegedly attended on the night Michael Jackson died and where he allegedly drank.

There is no reason to doubt Randy Phillips’s email, however the idea they Murray abandoned Michael when on duty still sounds crazy and impossible, so the only conclusion we can make is agree that we know nearly nothing of what really happened during those nights, and that all Murray’s stories are just stories and we can’t be sure of anything he says.

Can it be true that Murray was indeed absent from Michael as Randy Phillips claimed it, at least for part of his time?

Despite the fact that the idea looks absurd the very same thing was said by one more person and it was no other but Murray’s own lawyer – Matt Alford who is actually Ed Chernoff’s partner in the Houston law firm Stradley Chernoff & Alford, the man who was barely heard of during the trial.

Initially Matt Alford was also handling Murray’s case. Whether Murray told him one thing and Chernoff the other, but this is what Matt Alford said in one of his early interviews:

Ed Chernoff and Matt Alford are partners in a Houston law firm

Murray stayed at his own place in Los Angeles on most nights.

But when asked, and only on occasion, he spent the night at Jackson’s rented Holmby Hills home, one of the doctor’s attorneys, Matt Alford, told FOXNews.com in an earlier interview.

On June 24, Jackson finished up a rehearsal at the  Staples  Center and asked Murray to stay the night. The next day around noon, Murray went to check on Jackson and found him lying on his bed unconscious, but with a weak pulse, the doctor’s attorneys say.

Murray performed CPR for about 30 minutes and tried to call 911, but could not call out on the landlines, which had been turned off for security reasons. He could not use his cell phone because, his attorneys have said, he did not know the exact address of the house. After performing CPR on Jackson, who lay on his bed, for approximately 30 minutes, and after yelling out for someone else in the home, he left the pop star to try to find someone who could call 911. He found a chef in another part of the house. The chef then found a bodyguard, Alberto Alvarez, and while Murray rushed back to Jackson’s room and continued CPR, Alvarez called 911. The time was 12:21 p.m.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530242,00.html#ixzz1tjDR1PNU

As you see the second part of Murray’s story is absolutely the same as we know it now, while the first one is absolutely not.

Besides Murray’s visits to Michael’s house at his request only, it also claims that on the night Michael died Murray went to check on him only around noon time (after leaving him for half the night on propofol?).

Actually Matt Alford’s account made me recall what I myself always wondered about – why did Michael have to call Murray and ask him to come for the night? If it was Murray’s obligation to be there every weekday except Sunday he should have simply arrived there by a special hour and that would be it.

And when you come to think of it people like Michael’s chef saw Murray only in the morning and simply assumed that he had stayed there at night. And at none of the trials we heard from any of the bodyguards who were on duty during those nights. And the video recordings which registered everyone’s movements around the house were also accidentally erased by some policeman. Not much to raise a row about it but still a little strange…

In August 2009 Matt Alford said that “Murray’s story never changed”:

“Dr. Murray told the truth from the very first interviews with the police,” said Matt Alford, one of Chernoff’s partners and a ranking member of the defense team. “His story has never changed.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/08/19/jacksons-last-man-standing-dr-conrad-murray-dont-scapegoat-me.html

Since the time Matt Alford said it we have never heard of this lawyer again (as he didn’t take part in the trial), while Murray’s story has changed a hundred times and is still changing depending on the new ideas entering his crazy mind.

So as a very minimum let us agree that Randy Phillips did say that Murray was absent on some nights in the week prior to Michael’s death. And that Matt Alford also said that Murray was there only when Michael asked for it. And that he said that on June 25th Murray checked on Michael only around noon, which by the way perfectly fits in with the picture on our clock.

Let us also agree that Conrad Murray is so incredible a liar that there are simply no words to describe it. And considering the flexibility of his stories he is also probably a madman with a deep pathology to his personality. And that it is evidently due to his special knack for telling lies that he managed to deceive so many women and father so many children while all these women didn’t know of each other’s existence.

And let us also agree that if we, the public and the media go on listening to Conrad Murray’s crazy stories all of us are at a risk of going crazy too. So what’s the point of listening?