This article sites other court cases of convictions that were overturned that may relate to the Conrad Murray Manslaughter trial. Interesting read.
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LoginMichael Jackson's Doctor Needs to Read This
Maybe there are some hints here for Michael Jackson's doctor to use when he faces the jury. Michael Jackson's deathbed doctor interrupted CPR and delayed calling 911 while he frantically stashed drug vials, a witness told investigators.
Jackson died June 25 of a homicide caused by an overdose of the surgery-strength anesthetic propofol, according to the coroner's ruling. Murray admits giving Jakson propofol to help him sleep but has pleaded not guilty to a single charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Maybe these previous cases will give the doc hope.
In the early 1920s, Dr. Linder was convicted of selling one morphine tablet and three cocaine tablets to a patient who was addicted to narcotics.
The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, declaring that providing an addicted patient with a fairly small amount of drugs is an acceptable medical practice “when designed temporarily to alleviate an addict’s pains.” (Linder v. United States.)
In 1962, the Court heard the case of a man who had been sent to the clink under a California state law that made being an addict a criminal offense. Once again, the verdict was tossed out, with the Supremes saying that punishing an addict for being an addict is cruel and unusual and, thus, unconstitutional. (Robinson v. California.)
Six years later, the Supreme Court reaffirmed these principles in Powell v. Texas. A man who was arrested for being drunk in public said that, because he was an alcoholic, he couldn’t help it.
He invoked the Robinson decision as precedent. The Court upheld his conviction because it had been based on an action (being wasted in public), not on the general condition of his addiction to booze. Justice White supported this decision, yet for different reasons than the others.
