Katherine Jackson's Lawyers Claim Dr. Conrad Murray Was A Slave To His Debts

Dr. Conrad Murray was an absolute mess when he was offered $150,000 a month to work on Michael Jackson’s This Is It tour. Between his house payments, his student loan payments, his credit card payments and the child support he owed for eight kids by seven different women, he was allegedly about to lose his home and his business. Then, this offer came along, and he supposedly ignored all of his medical duties by giving MJ all the drugs he wanted in order to keep that arrangement in tact. At least that’s what Katherine Jackson’s attorneys claimed during the multi-billion dollar AEG wrongful death lawsuit today.

According to Fox News, lawyers for the Jackson family are trying to make the case that AEG should have done a background check on Dr. Murray and quickly realized he wasn’t fit to look after the now deceased pop star. Not surprisingly, however, the defense doesn’t see things the same way. AEG’s litigators are countering the claims by arguing Dr. Murray was never officially hired by anyone but MJ. Since MJ was the one who picked his doctor, he’s the one ultimately responsible for how that decision turned out, at least in their estimation.

With billions of dollars at stake as well as plenty of emotional baggage, this case could last months. Dr. Murray is expected to be called as a witness, as well as pretty much everyone else greatly involved with MJ’s life. We’ll keep you updated as it progresses forward. Until then, feel free to make up your own mind as to whether Jackson himself or AEG is more responsible for the singer’s death.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.