Michael Jackson's death is unlikely to result in murder charges against any of the performer's doctors, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the evidence being assembled by a multiagency investigation.
“There's nothing I have been told that would suggest a murder charge. It's just so remote and so unsupported by the facts as they've been gathered," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the probe is continuing.
Investigators target Michael Jackson's... Coroner's investigator visits Jackson'...The official's assessment seemed designed to lower expectations for a quick conclusion to the investigation and to tamp down speculation that there was a clear criminal culprit in the unexpected death of one of the world's most famous men.
“There's a lot of hysteria out there," the official said.
Some of the speculation about criminal conduct has been fueled by members of Jackson's family. His father, Joe, recently told ABC News, “I do believe it was foul play." The singer's sister La Toya was quoted in a British tabloid calling her brother's death a murder and alleging, “It was a conspiracy to get Michael's money."
The official said that three weeks into the case, investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department, the county coroner's office, the district attorney's office and the Drug Enforcement Administration remain “so far away" from concluding their investigation.
Widespread reports about the imminent arrest of one or more of Jackson's physicians are wrongheaded, he said.
“They are not suspects," he said of several doctors who were ordered to turn over Jackson's medical files to authorities. “They are repositories of medical history. . . . There's been a high level of cooperation."
He also discounted reports that the singer's death might have been a suicide attempt, saying there was no evidence to suggest that.
