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In Missouri, those on death row used to be put to death with a three-drug combination, but now, authorities have decided to use a large dose of propofol as the means to the end.

Propofol slows one’s brain and nervous system activity. Originally, it was used in hospitals as a general anesthesia during medical procedures.

Last November, Dr. Murray was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for killing pop icon Jackson, after administering a cocktail of the aforementioned propofol and mild sedatives. Among other things, it was ruled that Dr. Murray was amiss in giving Jackson the powerful drug in an unmonitored environment. It was also determined that he should have known not to mix the already lethal anesthetic with any other drugs.

Dr. Murray lost his medical license and is currently serving a four-year sentence at L.A. County Jail, with other fallen stars singer James DeBarge and ex-Met baseball player Lenny Dykstra. As for Missouri and its new drug of choice, 19 inmates are reportedly on deck to receive it.

Who wants to be on death row in Missouri?

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The costumes, which range from 50 to 100 pieces, were created by Jackson’s longtime costume designers and will be on display in Europe, Asia, and South America before going to the highest bidders in December, according to celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien.

The auction pieces will spark warm memories for many of Jackson’s fans and will feature such memorable items as the right-handed crystal studded glove, the red and black “Beat It” jacket worn during his “Dangerous” early nineties tour, the black spandex outfit from his “Scream” video and the breakaway suit he sported during his “Bad” tour in the late 80′s.

The exhibit is set to open on May 18 in Santiago, Chile, at the Museo de la Moda and will wind up back in the States in Beverly Hills, Calif., on December 2.  According to Julien, many of Jackson’s garb were actually signed by him.

A portion of the traveling auction will benefit the Guide Dogs of America and the Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

Jackson’s untimely death at age 50 in June 2009 was the result of a lethal cocktail of sedatives and an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.  The superstar’s personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray is currently serving a four-year prison term for the conviction of involuntary manslaughter.

For more information about the exhibit, visit Julien’s Auction’s, www.juliensauctions.com.

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The Purchase, N.Y.-based company on Thursday announced its deal with the estate of Michael Jackson to use the late pop star’s image for its new global marketing push. The nature of the promotion will vary by country, but will include special edition cans bearing Jackson’s image, a TV ad in some markets and chances to download remixes of some of Jackson’s most famous songs.

Pepsi, which first partnered with Jackson in 1983, did not disclose the terms of its deal with the singer’s estate.

The promotion is part of a global marketing blitz planned for the year ahead by Pepsi, which is looking to revive its brand and win back market share from The Coca-Cola Co. Next week, Pepsi is also launching a TV ad featuring singer Nicki Minaj and announcing details of its partnership with Twitter to stream concerts online.

The broader “Live For Now” campaign is intended to amplify the company’s longstanding ties with pop culture, said Brad Jakeman, who oversees the creative strategy for Pepsi’s carbonated drinks around the world.

Pepsi has a lot riding on its new push. Although the company has a diverse portfolio of brands including Frito-Lay, Quaker Oats and Tropicana, it’s often judged by the performance of its namesake cola. And in 2010, Pepsi was knocked out of the No. 2 spot among sodas in the U.S. by Diet Coke, with Coke remaining in the No. 1 position, according to the industry tracker Beverage Digest.

Last month, Pepsi also reported that volume in its key Americas beverages unit slipped by 1 percent in the first three months of the year.

The Jackson promotion is one aspect of Pepsi’s strategy to reverse that slide. Consumers in the U.S. and China will be the first to get a taste of the campaign in coming weeks, which is timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of “Bad,” the singer’s multiplatinum album. The campaign will spread to about two dozen countries by fall.

In the U.S., the company is rolling out collectible 16-ounce blue cans that bear an image of Jackson striking one of his iconic poses. Consumers will be able to scan codes on the cans with their phones to download remixed tracks from “Bad.”

In the Chinese market, consumers will also see a TV ad featuring Jackson’s music. Contests will also let consumers win tickets to a Michael Jackson-inspired show by Cirque du Soleil and leather jackets inspired by the singer’s style. The global campaign builds on Pepsi’s deal with the singer’s estate last year to use his image in a commercial that premiered during the “The X Factor” TV show last year.

Although Pepsi is banking on the nostalgia Jackson can evoke, the partnership also resurrects painful memories.

In 1984, Jackson’s hair famously caught fire while filming a commercial for Pepsi at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The blaze happened after a spark from a pyrotechnics display landed on the singer’s head. Jackson suffered severe burns and many trace his addiction to painkillers to the incident. Pepsi gave Jackson $1.5 million as a result.

Other music partnerships have led to controversy for Pepsi as well. In 2002, conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly ran a segment criticizing Pepsi for an ad featuring the rapper Ludacris. The company pulled the ad the next day, but ran into trouble a few months later when it ran ads featuring Ozzy Osbourne, who is known for peppering his speech with swear words. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons urged a boycott and the issue was resolved after Pepsi agreed to donate $3 million to charity.

The partnership with Nicki Minaj hasn’t yet raised many eyebrows, even though her lyrics also contain profanity and sexual content. Jakeman noted that Minaj’s song “Moment for Life” was selected for the ad because of specific lyrics that perfectly captured the Pepsi ethos of living in the moment.

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The superstar couple met back in 1991, six years after Houston ended her year-long relationship with Jackson’s brother Jermaine.  At the time, Jackson was 33 and Houston was 28.

“They met because they were two of the biggest recording artists on the planet and mixing in the same circles. They instantly connected as kindred spirits, because they understood each other’s massive fame,” says Fiddes, a British martial arts expert.

Even though Jackson was reportedly still disturbed by the fact that his brother had an affair with Houston, he decided to pursue one with her nonetheless. “He was furious when he heard she had also slept with Jermaine but this didn’t stop him [from] holding a candle for her his whole life,” says Fiddes.

Both artists were so smitten by each other that Houston practically moved into the Neverland ranch. Although their relationship reportedly lasted a mere two weeks, Jackson was so enamored with Houston that he actually thought about sealing the deal and making her his wife.  Fiddes, who spoke to Jackson three days before he sucumbed to his unexpected death in 2009, also reveals that his former employer never quite got over Houston when she ended their relationship.

Interestingly enough, two weeks later Houston would go on to meet R&B singer Bobby Brown, marry him, and live a tumultuous lifestyle that included alcohol and drug addiction.

Apparently, Jackson’s torch for Houston was quite evident when the megastars met again in 2001 during his Madison Square Garden concert in New York City.  “They were both a mess, to be honest. They shared what would be their final hugs and Michael begged Whitney to get off the drugs that were destroying her life.  The two of them whispered that they loved each other as they hugged. The emotion was written all over their faces,” Fiddes contends.

Ironically, both Jackson and Houston died unexpectedly under drug-related circumstances.  Jackson passed away nearly three years ago from a cocktail of drugs including a lethal dose of the sedative propofol.  Although Houston was found drowned in a bathtub this February, a coroner’s report documented cocaine as well as other narcotics, which were found in her system that contributed to her death.

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The French Chateau-style showplace property sits on more than an acre and boasts 7 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, wine cellar, theater, a spa and gym, large swimming pool, an elevator and 14 fireplaces.  Jackson had been leasing the property at a monthly rental fee of $100,000 from December 2008 until his untimely death.

The items that were in the home at the time of Jackson’s death from a lethal dose of propofol, which was administered by his physician Conrad Murray, were removed and auctioned off last December.  The realty company, the Agency, which Umansky co-founded, will reportedly not stage the home.

The uncle of social scene “It” girl Paris Hilton, tells Yahoo! News, “You have the chance to live in the same home that an icon lived in.  If you look at Elizabeth Taylor’s home, it sold for more money because it was Elizabeth Taylor’s home,” explained Umansky. “It’s a beautiful home on a great piece of land.”

Umansky told Yahoo! News that he has a special connection to the home because his wife Richards had been friends with Jackson for more than 30 years.  Umansky maintained a friendly relationship with the legendary performer.

Jackson was said to have really loved the home.  According to Umansky, “He loved the master bedroom and he loved the grounds. He was happy there.  And I personally think there’s some great energy in the house and I see it as a major positive. I’m excited to be selling it.”

For those who are trying to pull a fast one by acting like a prospective buyer just to get a peek at the former digs of the King of Pop, be forewarned: Only pre-approved buyers who have been subjected to a financial disclosure process will be allowed to inspect the property.

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Conrad Murray’s lawyer asked for his release pending appeal of his involuntary manslaughter conviction, but Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said he saw little chance that Murray would prevail in getting his case overturned.

Pastor made it clear that his view of Murray had not softened since he gave him a tongue-lashing and the maximum four-year sentence in the superstar’s death. He suggested Murray hurt his own chances for freedom in a documentary interview broadcast after the trial saying use of the powerful anesthetic propofol in the home was appropriate.

Jackson died in 2009 of an overdose of the drug that Murray administered in his bedroom as a treatment for insomnia. Expert witnesses testified they never heard of anyone administering the drug outside a hospital.

“I didn’t tell Dr. Murray to give an interview for a documentary,” the judge said. “When he did, I listened to it and saw it and I was concerned about his attitude toward the use of propofol in the home. … What he believes scares me.”

Pastor also believes Murray, who was born and raised in the Caribbean, would pose a flight risk if he leaves jail. He said the doctor could go to a foreign country that might allow him to practice medicine, and anyone encountering him as a patient would be in danger.

“He was raised in Trinidad and has seven children by five women in different parts of the country, which does not reflect well on his stability,” Deputy District Attorney David Walgren argued during the hearing.

Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan petitioned for Murray to be released on bail, his own recognizance or under house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet. He and appellate attorney Valerie Wass said Murray should be free during his appeal.

The judge, however, said the defense has not shown there is any substantial legal question likely to result in reversal of the verdict.

“No trial is perfect,” the judge said, but nothing cited by Flanagan rises to the level of legal error.

Flanagan and Wass said the appeal issues would include Pastor’s refusal to sequester the jury and his decision to allow broadcast of the trial. Pastor said he is confident those rulings and others were legally sound.

He also said he would not reconsider the bail request in the future.

“This is my last statement on this matter,” he said.

Under current sentencing guidelines, Murray is likely to serve about half of his four-year term.

Outside court, Flanagan said Murray had lost at least 30 pounds since he went to jail Nov. 7. He said he is held in a single, five-by-eight foot cell with few chances to exercise or go outside.

Murray is considered a high-risk prisoner because of his notoriety.

Wass said she visited Murray and found him in remarkably good spirits.

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Dr. Conrad Murray would be a danger to the community and a flight risk if he was released on bail or on his own recognizance with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, Deputy District Attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil said.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a trial focusing on use of the anesthetic propofol as a sleeping medication for the superstar. Jackson died of an overdose of the drug in June 2009.

Murray’s four-year jail sentence is the highest term that could be imposed for that crime.

Prosecutors said the sentence was appropriate under the circumstances and noted it was unlikely Murray would serve more than half that time.

“Michael Jackson died because of a totality of circumstances directly attributable to the defendant,” the motion said. Murray had practiced “a form of highly dangerous and experimental medicine that directly resulted in Mr. Jackson’s death,” it added.

“Based on his failure to accept responsibility for the decisions he made, his complete lack of remorse and lack of insight into the danger of his criminally negligent conduct, he remains a danger to the community,” the motion stated.

It noted that he has many contacts outside the state and out of the country and could flee if released.

The motion also said Murray has not established the existence of any substantial legal question that might result in reversal of his conviction.

His lawyer, J. Michael Flanagan, said in a motion last month that Murray knows he cannot work as a doctor but would find other employment. He suggested the sentence and Murray’s mode of confinement is extremely severe for a man with no prior criminal record.

Murray is being held in solitary confinement and is chained to a table when he meets with his lawyers, according to Flanagan, who said Murray is extremely sorrowful about Jackson’s death.

Flanagan conceded that Murray made some medical misjudgments but said he never intended harm to Jackson.

With Murray’s appeal expected to take more than a year to move through the courts, the attorney said it would be unfair to keep him jailed in the interim. His appeal has not yet been filed. Conceivably, he could serve his entire sentence before the appeal is decided.

A hearing on the motion was set for Friday.

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Included in the grounds for appeal, Murray contends that he did not receive a fair trial, citing:

Improper exclusion of defense evidence and witnesses that resulted in violating the defendant’s State and constitutional rights to due process, to present a defense and to the effective assistance of counsel.

Murray, who is asking to be released without bail less than a year into his 4 year sentence, says that, if released, he will live with his child’s mother, Nicole Alvarez – and would be willing to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

In an attempt to gain a sympathetic ruling, Murray’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, revealed that he is being held in a “maximum security” area, where he is housed in solitary confinement and transported around jail with his hands chained to his waist. Not mentioned by the attorney, was Murray’s widely-reported suicide attempt and his stay under suicide watch soon after he began serving his sentence.

Using Murray’s phone records, testimony from police and Murray’s current and former girlfriends to create a detailed timeline, prosecutors were able to prove that Murray was on the phone throughout the morning of Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009. Jackson’s former bodyguard, Alberto Alvarez, testified that the doctor instructed him to place medicine vials in bags before calling 911 on that fatal day.

Detective Orlando Martinez testified that Murray described a nearly 10-hour ordeal of trying to get Jackson to sleep, allegedly giving him a valium pill and two other sedatives intravenously before yielding to the singer’s demands for propofol.

Jackson called the powerful drug his “milk,” and coroner’s investigators discovered several vials of it in a bag labeled “Baby Essentials” in his closet. Dr. Christopher Rogers, chief of forensic medicine for the Los Angeles County coroner, is convinced that medical malpractice played a large — if not malicious — role in Jackson’s death:

Jackson had a strong heart and was mostly healthy. The care was substandard [and] there were several actions that should have been taken.

With the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death continuing to be suspicious, support and funds are severely limited, according to Chernoff:

[Murray] has exhausted virtually all of his available resources.

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Alejandra was able to cash in on Randy’s unpaid child support payments to the tune of  more than $600,000, because Randy failed to pay $1,200 a month for years.

In response, Randy is suing because, he claims, they — along with Michael Jackson — had an agreement, where if Alejandra agreed to live in the Jackson family compound, Randy would be free of child support.

TMZ reports:

Randy says the Jackson family provided Alejandra with food, utilities, maids, cooks, security guards, telephones, gardeners, maintenance, use of numerous expensive cars, etc. Randy says, in short, she’s gotten way more than the $600k he owes her.

Alejandra has been quite a thorn in the Jackson family’s side. Besides having two children each with both Randy and Jermaine, back in 2010, Alejandra sought a legal team to force family matriarch Katherine Jackson to pay for her and her children after Katherine ordered her out fo the family compound that year. At the time, Alejandra’s son reportedly tormented Michael’s son Blanket with a stun gun, so Katherine decided it was time for Alejandra and her family to move and relocated her to a condo.

Can anybody say, “Triflin’?

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The request for payments from Conrad Murray was withdrawn Wednesday during a brief court hearing, just days before a judge was scheduled to consider how much the former cardiologist should pay to members of Jackson’s family or his estate.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told the judge handling the case that he was withdrawing the restitution request after speaking with Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and attorney for his father, Joseph. Walgren also consulted with an attorney for the singer’s estate and a court-appointed attorney representing the interests of Jackson’s three children, a transcript of the proceedings shows.

Murray remains in jail after being convicted in November of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to serve four years in jail, but his incarceration will be cut in half due to overcrowding and California’s budget crunch.

Jackson’s estate estimated the singer would have earned at least $100 million if he had performed his “This Is It” concerts planned for London’s O2 arena. Murray might have also been found liable for Jackson’s funeral expenses, which totaled more than $1.8 million. Murray’s attorneys said he had nowhere near the money to pay either amount, and he filed paperwork last month indicating he is indigent.

Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ruled that the family was waiving its right to restitution permanently, although two separate cases pending in a Los Angeles civil court seek damages for the King of Pop’s June 2009 death. Katherine Jackson is suing concert giant AEG Live, which was promoting Jackson’s planned series of comeback concerts, claiming they failed to properly supervise Murray.

Joseph Jackson is suing AEG Live, alleging negligence by the entertainment promoter in his son’s death, and he is suing Murray for wrongful death in the case.

Murray’s attorney, J. Michael Flanagan, said he was pleased to have the restitution issue resolved. Flanagan said during Wednesday’s hearing that he intends to seek bail for Murray while he appeals his conviction, according to the transcript, but he was told to put the request in writing.

The fate of Joseph Jackson’s civil case remains unclear. A California bar court in Los Angeles recommended Friday that the Jackson family patriarch’s attorney, Brian Oxman, be barred from practicing law because of conduct on other, unrelated cases. Oxman filed Joseph Jackson’s lawsuit in federal court on the one-year anniversary of the singer’s death, but a judge later ruled it should be heard in state court. Oxman is the only attorney who has been listed on the case so far and has been a vocal antagonist against Murray and AEG Live.

Reached by phone, Oxman declined to comment on the recommendation, which still must be approved by the California Supreme Court.

The disciplinary court found that Oxman and his wife, who is also his law partner, mixed clients’ and personal funds in an effort to evade creditors and sanctions imposed against Oxman. He had been disciplined previously, which the court cited among its reasons for seeking the revocation of his law license.

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The good doctor had patients, such as Michael Jackson and Liz Taylor, that were the absolute envy of many in his profession. But how times have changed.  Due to his legal and financial troubles, Dr. Klein has reportedly resorted to auctioning off memorabilia from those very same patients who helped put him on the map.

Bonhams & Butterfields, one of the most prestigious auction houses in the world, is offering hundreds of items from Dr. Klein’s collection, including a “Princess Leia” wig that Carrie Fisher wore to a party (worth $200), the hat that covered Michael Jackson’s head when he left a hospital burn unit (worth $10,000), and an invitation to Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth wedding (worth $350).

Before his mishaps, Dr. Klein, 66, lived like his A-list clientele.  The doctor’s office was a place of pomp and circumstance with such pricey touches as $1 million art from Andy Warhol.  Dr. Klein lived lavishly in three multimillion-dollar homes that were more like palaces, with each painstakingly decorated with the finest furnishings and artwork valued at $7.2 million.  He hobknobbed with the best of them, took lavishly decadent vacations, got chauffered around in his fleet of creme-de-la-creme vehicles, and had his meals prepared by personal top chefs.  At his peak, Dr. Klein made as much as $25,000 per day, which came mostly from cosmetic procedures, such as botox and lip augmentations.

But by the time Jackson passed away in 2009, Dr. Klein’s practice had already begun to dissolve due to allegations that he had made the pop king dependent on the drug demerol.  Dr. Klein also went public with Jackson’s medical information and sex life, which should have been kept confidential.  As a result of all of the hoopla surrounding Dr. Klein’s unprofessional public displays, his clientele began to fall by the wayside and he soon found himself being hounded by creditors.  The Los Angeles Times even recently reported that actress Carrie Fisher, one of his few remaining true blues, had to loan Dr. Klein $150,000 so that he could hire a bankruptcy attorney.

Now, all of Dr. Klein’s homes are being sold off, and according to his bankruptcy filing, he owes $12 million in debts. The Bonhams & Butterfields auction of the  “Collection of Dr. Arnold Klein”  will take place on January 23 in Los Angeles.

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The changes approved by Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff mean attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain will no longer pay the costs from their share of the estate.

The men had been paying fees for entertainment legal counsel provided by members of Branca’s firm, and McClain had been incurring expenses for the use of a recording studio founded by Marvin Gaye.

Those expenses significantly diminished their 10 percent share of Jackson’s post-death earnings.

Branca and McClain have been collecting closer to 7 percent of the estate earnings since it became a “massive entertainment business enterprise,” court filings state.

Estate attorneys sought the change, saying the executors spend more time than they anticipated on Jackson’s affairs. The men have overseen numerous Jackson-themed projects, including the licensing of music, video games and a touring Cirque du Soleil show that will eventually become a Las Vegas fixture.

The men agreed in February 2010 to accept 10 percent of the gross entertainment-related earnings of the estate, minus money generated by Jackson’s 50 percent interest in the Sony-ATV music catalog and earnings from “This Is It,” a film compiled from the singer’s final rehearsals.

The exclusions are huge revenue generators for the estate – the Sony-ATV catalog includes publishing rights to music by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and other stars. The executors also have been excluded an interest in Jackson’s music, which has sold briskly since his death on June 25, 2009, at age 50.

Since then, the estate has earned more than $310 million.

The percentage covers Branca’s work on the estate and McClain’s producing services.

Under the deal approved Monday, Branca’s firm Ziffren Brittenham LLP will now receive 3 percent of entertainment-related income generated by Jackson’s estate in 2011 and future years.

Estate attorney Howard Weitzman said the firm was performing work that would cost more than $2 million a year if it was being handled by another firm, and court filings state that a traditional entertainment estate would include additional managers and attorneys who would receive up to 30 percent of the estate’s overall revenue.

There was no estimate for how much McClain’s billings might be. He bought and restored Gaye’s former Los Angeles studio in 1997, christening it Marvin’s Room, and Jackson and other top singers have recorded music there.

The estate benefits Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and the singer’s three children, Prince, Paris and Blanket, who received an initial $30 million payment earlier this year.

Attorneys for Katherine Jackson and the children had no objection to the changes approved by Beckloff. Meg Lodise, who represents the children’s interest, said, “It is quite clear that what they’re proposing is going to be fair to the estate.”

Weitzman told Beckloff that the estate has recently resolved creditors’ claims worth at least $11 million and is working to resolve any other valid outstanding debts. Jackson died with an estimated $400 million in debts, but renewed interest in his music and career have fattened the estate’s accounts, which listed $90 million in cash on hand according to a September court filing.

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Among the highlights: A kitchen chalkboard where Jackson’s children wrote “I love daddy,” which sold for $5,000, and an armoire upon which Jackson wrote a message to himself on the mirror that fetched $25,750.

The auction also included furniture, artwork and other items from the rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive, where Jackson lived as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts in London before his death in June, 2009.

The headboard from the bed where Jackson died at age 50 was removed from the auction at the family’s request, but the rug that was beneath the bed sold for $15,360. The estimate had been $400 to $600.

Julien’s Auctions re-created the mansion inside its Beverly Hills showroom and invited fans to fill the space where the bed would have been with a tribute to the late King of Pop. Julien promised to deliver all of the tribute items to Jackson’s children and family matriarch Katherine Jackson.

“Michael Jackson has the greatest fans in the world. I can see why he lived for them,” Julien said. “They came out every day this week to bring gifts. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen as it relates to a celebrity and their fans.”

Julien’s Auctions has conducted auctions for dozens of celebrities, including Cher, Barbra Streisand, William Shatner and Slash.

Jackson commissioned the company to sell the contents of his Neverland Ranch before the auction was called off in early 2009. Julien’s also sold Jackson’s famous “Thriller” jacket for $1.8 million earlier this year.

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Paris talks to Ellen about the loss of her father, how she felt about wearing masks as a toddler, and memorable advice her father gave her.

When Ellen asked the teen to recall any memorable advice Paris’ famous father gave her, she revealed Jackson’s haunting words, “‘If I die tomorrow, always remember what I told you.’ and I took his advice,” said Paris. “And I remember everything that he told me.”

Read more at AOL.com

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While they may be mini-celebs with multimillion-dollar trust funds reportedly waiting for them when they turn 30 – their father’s estate earned $445 million in the past two years alone, according to Forbes – the kids are leading relatively normal lives.

The children do indeed sound like average kids. Michael Jackson’s mom Katherine holds the fort down at 81 years of age!  Prince and Paris attend a private school and are enjoying the social side of life.  Blanket, described as “shy” is home schooled and  has taken to cooking. Only time will tell but things sound like they are off to a great start.

What are your thoughts on the future of Michael Jackson’s kids? What would you want them to know the most about their dad? Post your ideas below.  See the entire story in People magazine.

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Dr. Conrad Murray was sentenced Tuesday, three weeks after a jury convicted the cardiologist of involuntary manslaughter. The judge chastised him for a “horrific violation of trust” in caring for Jackson.

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Prosecutors had urged the judge to sentence the doctor to the maximum, arguing his treatment of Jackson with a powerful anesthetic ended the life of the King of Pop and left his three children without a father.

Attorneys for the 58-year-old Murray argued that probation was a more appropriate sentence, given his lack of a criminal history and the fact he will lose his medical license.

Murray could serve half of the four years because of overcrowding in California jails.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Michael Jackson’s family told a judge Tuesday that they were not seeking revenge but want the doctor who killed the superstar to receive a stiff sentence that serves as a warning to opportunistic doctors.

“The Bible reminds us that men cannot do justice, they can only seek justice,” the family said in a statement read by attorney Brian Panish. “That is all we can ask as a family, and that is all we ask for here.”

The statement went on to say, “We are not here to seek revenge. There is nothing you can do today that will bring Michael back.”

Panish did not specifically request the maximum term of four years in jail for Murray but said the cardiologist should be punished in a way that reminds physicians that they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder.

Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor was expected to sentence Murray later in the day after hearing from lawyers on both sides of the case.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial that presented the most detailed account yet of Jackson’s final hours but left many questions about Murray’s treatment of the superstar with an operating-room anesthetic as he battled chronic insomnia.

Prosecutors want Pastor to sentence Murray to a maximum four-year term that likely would be cut at least in half due to jail overcrowding. Defense attorneys want probation for the cardiologist, saying he will lose his ability to practice medicine and likely face a lifetime of ostracism.

Several members of Jackson’s family, including mother Katherine and siblings LaToya, Jermaine, Randy and Rebbie, attended the sentencing.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren also asked Pastor to consider statements Jackson’s mother, Katherine, made to probation officials who prepared a report for the sentencing.

He said Katherine Jackson said she thinks about her son every morning and that his children also think about their father daily.

“`Their world collapsed when he left,’” Walgren quoted Katherine Jackson as telling probation officials.

Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff highlighted the accomplishments of Murray.

“I do wonder though to what extent the court considers the entirety of a man’s book of life, as opposed to one chapter,” he told the judge.

The doctor decided not to directly address the court.

Chernoff again attacked Michael Jackson, as he and his team frequently did during the doctor’s trial.

“Michael Jackson was a drug seeker,” Chernoff said.

Jackson’s death in June 2009 stunned the world, as did the ensuing investigation that led to Murray being charged in February 2010.

Murray told detectives he had been giving the singer nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts. Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Murray acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.

Murray declined to testify during his trial but did opt to participate in a documentary in which he said he didn’t consider himself guilty of any crime and blamed Jackson for entrapping him into administering the propofol doses. His attorneys contended throughout the case that Jackson must have given himself the fatal dose when Murray left the singer’s bedside.

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Murray’s statements to advocate that he receive the maximum term. They also want him to pay restitution to the singer’s three children – Prince, Paris and Blanket.

It’s unlikely that Murray can pay any sizable sum, including the $1.8 million cost of his funeral. He was deeply in debt when he agreed to serve as Jackson’s personal physician for $150,000 a month, and the singer died before Murray received any money.

Prosecutors said the relationship of Jackson and Murray was corrupted by greed. Murray left his practices to serve as Jackson’s doctor and look out for his well-being, but instead acted as an employee catering to the singer’s desire to receive propofol to put him to sleep, prosecutors said.

“The defendant has displayed a complete lack of remorse for causing Michael Jackson’s death,” prosecutors wrote in a filing last week. “Even worse than failing to accept even the slightest level of responsibility, (Murray) has placed blame on everyone else, including the one person no longer here to defend himself, Michael Jackson.”

Murray’s attorneys are relying largely on 34 letters from relatives, friends and former patients to portray Murray in a softer light and win a lighter sentence. The letters and defense filings describe Murray’s compassion as a doctor, including accepting lower payments from his mostly poor patients.

“There is no question that the death of his patient, Mr. Jackson, was unintentional and an enormous tragedy for everyone affected,” defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo. “Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pall of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson.”

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Murray, found guilty of administering a fatal dose of the drug propofol to Jackson in 2009, faces up to four years in state prison.

The prosecution also recommended that Murray be ordered to pay restitution to Jackson’s children and pay requisite fines, which totals nearly $102 million…

Read more abc7.com.

“I would hate to put blame on Michael as an individual,” Dr. Conrad Murray told the “Today” show in the interview done days before the doctor’s conviction.

“I only wish maybe in our dealings with each other he would have been more forthcoming and honest.to tell me these things about himself,” he said.

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Interviewer Savannah Guthrie asked: “Do you think he lied to you?”

“Definitely,” Murray said.

“About what?” she asked.

“Certainly he was deceptive by not showing me his whole medical history, doctors he was seeing, treatments that he might have been receiving.” Murray answered.

“Did you really not know he had an addiction problem?” Guthrie asked.

“Absolutely not,” said Murray. “Did not have a clue.”

Murray was convicted Monday of involuntary manslaughter for supplying the insomnia-plagued Jackson with the powerful operating-room anesthetic propofol to help him sleep as he rehearsed for his big comeback.

During the interview, Murray was shown video of bottles of medications from other physicians arrayed on Jackson’s bedside table, suggesting Murray’s suspicions should have been raised.

“I cannot prevent Michael from seeing other doctors for whatever reason,” the doctor said.

“You must have realized the reason he hired you was to give him this drug, propofol,” Guthrie said.

“No, not at all,” Murray replied. “I met Michael with propofol. This was not something I introduced to Michael.”

Experts testified at Murray’s trial that propofol should not have been administered in Jackson’s home, but the doctor disagreed.

Murray revealed Jackson was under the influence of propofol during a recording found on the doctor’s cell phone. Murray said the recording, in which the heavily drugged Jackson talked in a slurred voice about his goal of building a major children’s hospital, was made by accident.

Murray, 58, described Jackson as “a desperate man, desperate” during his final hours.

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Hundreds of tearful fans left cards, flowers, balloons and handwritten notes in front of the three-story home resembling a French chateau, while dozens of reporters jumped at any development in the death investigation. Anyone coming in or out of the property was bombarded with questions.

Now, as Dr. Conrad Murray sits in a jail cell awaiting sentencing for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death, the contents of the home – including the queen-size bed where Jackson took his last breath – sit neatly on display, just as they were, awaiting the auction block.

“We want to preserve the history of these items,” said celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions, which next month will sell the various antique furnishings, paintings and sculptures that surrounded the King of Pop in his final days.

Located on a leafy corner in the posh Holmby Hills neighborhood, the Carolwood home where Jackson lived from December 2008 until his death is separately up for sale. The house and its furnishings were leased to Jackson while he and his family lived there.

A note from one of the children remains on a chalkboard inside the home’s sprawling kitchen, where three barstools were lined up against the center island – a perfect breakfast spot for the kids. “I (heart) Daddy. SMILE, it’s for free,” the chalk note reads in childlike scrawl. The chalkboard will be sold as-is, and is expected to fetch more than $400.

At the very moment on Monday that Murray was hearing his guilty verdict, reporters were eerily taking a private preview tour of the three-story home where the pop star lived and died.

The bedroom shown in evidence photos at Murray’s criminal trial was actually considered a “medication room” by the Jackson team. Murray was convicted of supplying an insomnia-plagued Jackson with the powerful operating-room anesthetic propofol to help him sleep as he rehearsed for a series of comeback concerts in London.

The room looked perfect, like a hotel room awaiting its first guest. There was no sign that anyone had struggled there with insomnia or drug addiction, certainly no sign that anyone had died.

Jackson maintained an adjacent bedroom that he regarded as his inner sanctum – a private place only for him.

It is in this second bedroom that the pop star wrote a message to himself on the mirror of an antique armoire. “TRAIN, perfection, March April. FULL OUT May,” it reads. Jackson was to begin his London concert run in July.

His private bedroom included a bathroom larger than most living rooms and two massive walk-in closets.

Among the items for sale in the medication room, where evidence was collected for Murray’s trial, are upholstered chairs smudged with Jackson’s makeup and Jackson’s death bed, which looks out to an expansive backyard surrounded by tall trees. The yard is anchored by a large swimming pool and a pool house, where the singer’s son Prince carved his name on a beeswax candle.

The medication room, on the top floor, leads to another walk-in closet and bathroom, where Jackson’s makeup still remains on a small silk-covered stool beneath the vanity.

Curving staircases on each side of the mansion’s most famous room lead down to the kitchen and the elegant foyer, where a grand piano sits topped with crystal candlesticks.

Katherine Jackson’s attorney, Perry Sanders Jr., said he is aware of the Carolwood auction and has “done everything we can to ascertain that items from this address are not being auctioned using Michael’s name and likeness to enhance the items’ value.”

Photos of the house and the items available for sale are featured in a limited-edition auction catalog, which is being sold for $100. But the catalog and auction are discreetly titled “100 North Carolwood Drive” and the words “Michael Jackson” do not appear anywhere in the catalog.

The home and its decor are reminiscent of Neverland Ranch, Jackson’s famous estate near Santa Barbara, said Martin J. Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions.

“He loved it because it was like Neverland,” Nolan said. “It was a very happy place where he spent his final days.”

Julien’s Auctions sold collectibles from the Neverland Ranch in April of 2009.

Like Neverland, the Carolwood house features its own movie theater – this one outfitted entirely in burgundy velvet with loveseat-style sofas and a fresco of a cloud-dotted sky on the ceiling.

Built in 2000 and designed by architect Richard Landry, the house at 100 North Carolwood is dominated by 18th and 19th century French decor. The walls are lined with various watercolor and acrylic paintings and sculptures fill nooks in the den and family rooms

Although up for sale, the 54,885-square-foot home will not be auctioned. The house has six bedrooms and 10 fireplaces. It also has a wine cellar, fitness center and formal dining and sitting rooms. The price was not disclosed but similar homes in the area are listed at $18 million and up.

Highlights from the furnishings sale will be on view at a free exhibition at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, Calif., beginning Dec. 12. The auction is set for Dec. 17.

Celebrity home tours still regularly pass by the property. On the day of Murray’s conviction, a tour guide could be heard telling passengers, “This is the home of Michael Jackson, where he passed away.”

The siblings said that Michael’s security would not allow them to see him and that they were unable to reach him by phone in an interview with The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph.

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The New York Post reports:

“We tried many, many times — interventions and everything else. We couldn’t get to him. He had a fortress around him.

“It’s a sad, ugly scene with people like that, when they see you coming they run the other way. People want to continue staying on that payroll. They don’t want you to rock the boat.”

Michael’s elder brother Tito, 58, said he got into physical fights with his brother’s security team who blocked him from seeing the star.

Read More At The New York Post

Tito and Rebbie Jackson said Tuesday the family was aware of Michael’s drug problem.

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Tito Jackson says his late brother’s security team acted as if he was the U.S. president and kept his family away. He says he got into physical fights with security personnel and was sometimes barred from his brother’s gated property.

The two Jacksons are in London to promote Wednesday’s premiere of a documentary about his life.

Their mother Katherine Jackson canceled her trip to London to attend the final days of the Los Angeles trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, accused of manslaughter in the pop star’s death.

Kathy Jorrie, who works for concert giant AEG Live, testified at the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray that she questioned some of the doctor’s requests, which also included the possibility of hiring a second doctor to assist him.

“Dr. Murray told me Michael Jackson was perfectly healthy, in excellent condition,” Jorrie testified.

She said Murray told her not to worry about Jackson’s condition.

“He’s great,” she recounted the doctor telling her in a conversation the day before Jackson’s death.

Murray asked for a CPR machine in case one wasn’t available at the concert venue at London’s O2 arena, Jorrie explained.

Prosecutors allege Murray caused Jackson’s death by providing him with a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol and other sedatives without the proper lifesaving equipment or skills.

Other testimony came from Jackson’s former personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, who recounted a 35-second phone conversation with Murray on the day Jackson died.

“He said `Get here right away, Mr. Jackson had a bad reaction. Get somebody up here immediately,’” Williams told the jury.

He said the doctor never told him to call 911 or described Jackson’s condition.

Williams said he arrived at Jackson’s mansion just as the singer was being loaded into an ambulance. He saw Murray, who he described as “frantic.”

Earlier in the day, a promoter told jurors that Jackson appeared strong during one of the final rehearsals for the highly anticipated comeback concerts.

Paul Gongaware, an executive for AEG Live, said Jackson seemed engaged and energetic during the rehearsal just two days before he died.

Prosecutors called Gongaware to demonstrate the importance of the concerts and in an apparent attempt to show that both the singer and his physician were deeply engaged in preparations for the show before Jackson died on June 25, 2009.

Gongaware also testified that he saw Murray at one of Jackson’s rehearsals after people affiliated with the planned concerts complained that the singer had been missing some of the sessions.

Prosecutors wrapped up their direct questioning of Gongaware before defense attorney Ed Chernoff briefly questioned the executive.

Under the cross-examination, Gongaware acknowledged AEG is being sued by Jackson’s mother for negligent supervision of Murray when he worked with Jackson.

Jorrie also testified about drafting a contract for Murray to work as Jackson’s personal physician.

At one point in negotiations, Murray requested his contract be modified to allow him to hire another physician in case he was tired or unavailable while Jackson was performing in London, she testified.

“He wanted to make sure that there was somebody else available to be of assistance,” Jorrie said.

In opening statements Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Murray delayed summoning emergency crews and lied to doctors and medics when he failed to reveal he had been giving Jackson the medications to try to help the entertainer sleep.

Chernoff claimed Jackson gave himself a fatal dose of medication in a desperate attempt to get some sleep.

He said Murray had been trying to wean Jackson off propofol, but the entertainer kept requesting it on the day he died.

“Michael Jackson started begging,” Chernoff said. “When Michael Jackson told Dr. Murray, `I have to sleep. They will cancel my performance,’ he meant it.”

Prosecutors rejected Murray’s version and told jurors the Houston-based cardiologist also had a tremendous stake in Jackson appearing in the concerts.

The doctor had initially asked to be paid $5 million a year for working with Jackson, but Gongaware said he immediately rejected the proposal. Instead, Murray accepted an offer to become Jackson’s doctor for $150,000 a month – a sum he was never paid because his contract hadn’t been signed before Jackson’s death.

Murray has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison and have to relinquish his medical license.

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Muhammad also said Murray was sweating and very nervous as he worked to resuscitate Jackson while another bodyguard dialed 911.

Jackson’s personal assistant Michael Amir Williams told jurors earlier that he received the doctor’s first distress call, but that Murray only described a “bad reaction” and never asked him to call 911.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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She suspects a conspiracy behind his demise, a plot by his business advisers and doctors to work him to death with the “This Is It” concerts and then profit off his estate. She calls Dr. Conrad Murray, who’s facing trial for manslaughter in Jackson’s death, the “fall guy.”

She also offers insights into their relationship and how he cared for his three children, Paris, Prince and Blanket.

On her theory of what happened the night he died: “I believe that when Michael walked in that house that night, whatever it was that greeted him, he knew that his end was upon him. And as soon as he had passed, some of the very people he had expressed suspicions about now controlled his estate.”

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The book is coming out right when Michael Jackson is back in the news due to the trial of his doctor, Conrad Murray.

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The Huffington Post reports:

Fed up with the rumors and mystery surrounding Michael’s life and death, Jackson decided to pen a heartfelt book, “You Are Not Alone, Michael: Through a Brother’s Eyes.” Partly a look at their family’s early years in Gary, Ind., and the phenomenal success of The Jackson 5, the memoir also delves into Michael’s final days and all the questions surrounding his death.

“You Are Not Alone” doesn’t hold back, with mentions of Michael’s chimpanzee Bubbles, the child abuse allegations against Michael, and the singer’s marriage to Lisa Marie Presley all thrown into the mix. The book comes as Michael’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, goes on trial Tuesday in Los Angeles for the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson.

Read More At The Huffington Post

Murray is charged with causing Michael Jackson’s death by administering an overdose of a surgical anesthetic, and Prince was called to Michael Jackson’s room during the overdose.

Michael Jackson Saw Salvation In Dangerous “Milk” Drug

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The New York Post reports:

Prince Jackson, 14, who witnessed the scene in the bedroom where the pop legend died, said he did not want to testify in the trial but would if needed, to get justice for his father, TMZ reported.

Sources close to the teenager told the website he was “nervous” and worried that he might “mess up” if prosecutors called him to give evidence.

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Jackson’s child-molestation case and his debt will not be mentioned during the case, amongst other details and testimonies by people close to Jackson,  reports TheDailyBeast.com.

There will be no intensive digging into Jackson’s past financial woes, as that would be a “salacious … battle of the accountants,” according to the judge. The jury will not get to see estate documents showing the entertainer was more than $400 million in debt when he died, nor the multimillion-dollar contract Jackson signed with AEG–Concerts West for a series of up to 50 comeback concerts in London.

Read more at TheDailyBeast.com

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Jackson saw the anesthetic known as propofol as his salvation. On June 25, 2009, it became the King of Pop’s death potion.

How he overdosed in his mansion on a drug intended for hospital use is at the center of the manslaughter trial this week of the doctor he hired to be his highly paid personal physician for the “This is It” tour.

Testimony about the drug is expected to dominate the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, a Houston cardiologist who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The prosecution claims Murray was grossly negligent in giving Jackson propofol at home without proper lifesaving equipment available and then left the room long enough to find his patient not breathing when he returned.

His defense team claims the singer, desperate for sleep, swallowed an additional dose of the drug when his doctor was out of the room.

Getting to the truth of it will come down to sometimes technical testimony from an array of medical experts, pathologists and even the police officers and paramedics who inspected Murray’s equipment in the bedroom where Jackson went into cardiac arrest.

The defense theory, based on evidence that a trace amount of propofol – .13 milligrams – was found in Jackson’s stomach, may be a hard sell.

The drug is administered intravenously, usually during surgery. Scientific witnesses may be asked to explain how it could have gotten into his stomach. Some doctors say ingesting it orally is almost unheard of.

“It’s an odd, on-the-edge defense theory,” said Dr. Gil Tepper, chief of staff at Miracle Mile Medical Center in Los Angeles. “It would not put you to sleep and it would move through the system very rapidly, causing awful diarrhea.”

There are few authoritative studies and few statistics on deaths caused by the drug. It remains uncertain if the judge will allow a Chilean doctor’s study of students who voluntarily drank the drug or a study of pigs who received it rectally.

The prosecution has a key expert witness, as well as forensic experts from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office who are considered at the top of the field.

The defense boasts an advantage in one of its lawyers, J. Michael Flanagan, who says he is the only California attorney ever to try a propofol death case.

Flanagan represented one of a pair of nurses charged with killing a cancer patient who died after propofol was allegedly given without proper authorization by an anesthesiologist. Flanagan’s client was acquitted and the other nurse pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.

Abuse of the drug is said to occur among medical professionals but rarely among patients.

In anesthesia, propofol is known as something of a wonder drug. Tepper said it’s ideal for short term procedures such as colonoscopies or cataract surgery. Patients report feeling energized when they come out of it and there is no grogginess.

“But it’s absolutely not recommended as a sleep aid,” said Tepper. “You would never reach restful sleep and you would have to have constant monitoring.”

In a hospital setting, Tepper said the doctor would have heart and blood oxygenation monitors as well as surgical equipment to do intubation if the patient stops breathing. Witnesses have said no such equipment was in Jackson’s bedroom.

“It’s a very dangerous drug,” said Dr. Mark Schlesinger, head of anesthesiology at Hackensack University Medical Hospital in New Jersey, who said he has administered it thousands of times in his 25-year career. “The difference between unconsciousness and no longer breathing is a very slim margin of safety.”

In the hands of a trained anesthesiologist, he added: “It’s a wonderful drug and a very safe drug. It’s not the drug that kills somebody. It’s the way it is used.”

Murray was not the first doctor to give Jackson the drug as a sleep aid, although others have not been publicly named.

Jackson’s reliance on propofol was first disclosed to The Associated Press days after Jackson’s death. Cherilyn Lee, a nurse nutritionist who treated Jackson with vitamins, said he pleaded unsuccessfully with her to get the drug he knew as Diprivan. He said his doctor told him it was safe and he described falling asleep as soon as the drug dripped from an IV into his vein.

“I said, `Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication,’ and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes … , “`You’re going to take it and you’re not going to wake up.’”

Lee, who said she treated him from January to April 2009, is on the trial witness list. She said she never saw Jackson use other drugs.

“He wasn’t looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs,” she said. “This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest.”

Murray, who had been consulted by Jackson in his Las Vegas office, was promised $150,000 a month when he signed on as Jackson’s personal physician six weeks before he died. He closed the doors of his offices there and in Houston to devote himself to the singer.

An autopsy report showed that Jackson was generally healthy, indicating his key problem was insomnia. Murray has told police he administered other drugs known as benzodiazepines, which are also used as sleep aids. But when they did not work, Jackson demanded propofol.

Murray told police he was trying to wean him from the drug and gave him a minimal dosage, then left the room for five minutes to use the bathroom. However, cell phone records suggest he was making phone calls for a longer time. His actions after he found Jackson not breathing are also central to the case.

In the two years since Jackson died, doctors have been known to refer to propofol as “The Michael Jackson drug.” Some fear a backlash for its use.

Dr. Lawrence Koblinksy, head of forensic science at John Jay College in New York, said the situation of a famous man demanding propofol is an anomaly and should not cast doubt on its effectiveness in hospitals.

“If you have a drug that is wonderful, just because a celebrity dies doesn’t mean you take it off the market,” he said.

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Jermaine was quoted as saying that a private jet financed by a friend was on standby to whisk his late brother to the Gulf emirate if the 2005 court case ended with a conviction.

Bahrain does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Jermaine says his brother did not know about the escape plan but Michael would have “done it in a heartbeat” because “why should he go to jail for something he didn’t do?”

The singer was found not guilty on all charges.

He later spent a year in the emirate as a guest of a son of Bahrain’s king.

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