LOS ANGELES — With a criminal charge looming, Michael Jackson’s doctor is negotiating his surrender to Los Angeles authorities, his attorney said today.
A statement from attorney Ed Chernoff said he was negotiating with the district attorney’s office for Dr. Conrad Murray’s surrender but there has been no agreement on the specifics.
“When the agreement is complete we will report further,” Chernoff said.
Miranda Sevcik, a spokeswoman for Murray and Chernoff, declined further comment.
Murray is set to be arraigned Friday at a Los Angeles courthouse, a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press. The person declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The possible charge was not disclosed. However, two law enforcement officials have told the AP that prosecutors plan to charge Murray with involuntary manslaughter, alleging he gave Jackson a powerful anesthetic that led to his June 25 overdose death at a rented mansion on the west side of Los Angeles.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney, would not confirm nor deny that Murray would appear Friday afternoon at the courthouse.
Murray, who has a practice in Houston, came to Los Angeles last weekend and has been strategizing with his team of defense attorneys.
Police have been investigating Murray since Jackson’s death at age 50. The doctor told detectives he’d given the singer a powerful anesthetic and other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac star to sleep. Jackson died soon thereafter, and investigators have been gathering evidence to try to show Murray was negligent in administering the drugs.
Murray maintains that nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him.
On Wednesday, a judge in Las Vegas found Murray in default on a nearly $132,000 debt related to office medical equipment and services.
Murray had no lawyer in the case. He has long-standing personal and professional debts, and faced near foreclosure last summer on his Las Vegas country club home.
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