A California judge ruled that Dr. Conrad Murray could continue to practice medicine while awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop star Michael Jackson.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor refused June 14 to overturn a previous decision by a different judge and add the prohibition against practicing medicine to Murray’s bail conditions, a condition requested by the California Medical Board.
“I simply don’t have the ability to revisit the actions of one of my colleagues,” Pastor said, referring to a judge’s decision earlier this year to allow Murray to continue practicing medicine.
Jackson supporters and protesters showed up to the courthouse with the hopes that they’d see Murray stripped of his medical license.
“I don’t care who I see or who I don’t see,” Jackson fan, Sheila Barhaas, told the Associated Press. “I’m just out here to be here for him and to support him —to show that people care and that he deserves justice.”
Murray, a cardiologist, continues to work in Houston and Las Vegas. His lawyers argued that a decision to ban him in California may lead to similar restrictions in Texas and Nevada.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s parents placed each other at fault over the pop star’s death.
“In Michael’s final months alive I said to many times that I couldn’t get through to him—and that she needed to help her son,” Joe Jackson told the British paper News of the World. “I had begged her to go over and stay with him, but she insisted he needed his privacy and gave him the slack she thought he needed.”
Katherine Jackson responded through her lawyer, Adam Streisand, who told ABC News: “Joe Jackson’s statements and conduct toward Mrs. Jackson are outrageous. The world knows Mrs. Jackson has always been a loving and caring mother and grandmother, and she had a very special relationship with Michael. The world also knows who Joe Jackson is and he seems bent on never letting us forget.”
A preliminary hearing for Murray’s manslaughter trial is set for Aug. 23. In February, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains free on $75,000 bail.