Jackson family in court as doctor accused over death

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's doctor was guilty of a string of failings leading to the pop icon's sudden death, prosecutors said Tuesday as the physician appeared in court charged with manslaughter.

In a pre-trial hearing attended by Jackson's mother Katherine and sister LaToya, LA deputy district attorney David Walgren said Dr. Conrad Murray failed to call 911 quickly enough and did not tell paramedics what he had done.

The doctor, accused of administering an overdose of powerful sedatives, also performed emergency resuscitation wrongly, said Walgren, who has suggested that Conrad's lawyers will try to claim Jackson injected himself with an overdose.

"In the opinion of our medical experts they will show an extreme deviation from expected standard of care," Walgren told the Los Angeles Superior Court at the start of a two-week hearing expected to hear from some 35 witnesses.

Katherine Jackson, his sister LaToya and brother Jackie were all in court to hear the prosecution argue why Murray should go to a full trial for the late King of Pop's death on June 25, 2009.

Walgren told the court that Murray gave Jackson the powerful sedative propofol every night for nearly two months to help him sleep, as he prepared for a string of comeback concerts in London.

Among the first witnesses was Jackson's former personal assistant Michael Williams, who told how he received a voicemail at 12:13 p.m. from a "frantic" Murray, telling him to rush back to the estate Jackson was renting.

After ordering two security guards to return to the house as well, he described the heartbreaking moments when Jackson's children learned of their father's death.