As Michael Jackson Death Probe Begins, Attorney Recalls Famous Client

As an autopsy began today to determine the exact cause of Michael Jackson's sudden death yesterday at age 50, police plan to question his personal physician further.

The unidentified physician's car was towed yesterday from Jackson's home and impounded, amidst concern among the legendary pop singer's circle that he may have been having medication issues, reports CNN.

The doctor's car could contain "medications pertinent to the investigation" into what caused Jackson's death, says detective Agustin Villanueva of the Los Angeles Police Department.

It likely will be six to eight weeks before toxicology tests are completed and the final autopsy determination is made, the news agency reports. The autopsy also is expected to look into whether Jackson might have had a heart condition.

But his death is already being investigated by the LAPD's robbery and homicide unit, reports ABC News.

"There is no immediate indication of a crime," an unidentified police official tells the television news network. However, police say the pop singer was "heavily addicted" to Oxycontin, a powerful painkiller, and received "daily doses" of both Oxycontin and Demerol, ABC reports, citing an unidentified "senior law enforcement official briefed on the initial investigation of his death."

The TMZ celebrity website is reporting that unidentified family members say Jackson took a daily shot of the Demerol prescription painkiller and received one yesterday at 11:30 a.m., notes the On Deadline blog of USA Today.

Jackson was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center yesterday after suffering an apparent heart attack at his rented mansion in Los Angeles. He was in full cardiac arrest and not breathing when an ambulance picked him up, according to numerous media accounts. Medical personnel may have tried to resuscitate him for more than an hour before he was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m.

According to a just-released 911 tape, an unidentified caller seeking help yesterday said Jackson's personal physician was with him and that he was lying on a bed and not breathing, reports the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, a lawyer who helped Jackson win acquittal four years ago in a criminal case alleging that he had sexually molested a teenage boy, described a troubled and childlike Jackson in an interview last night with a CNN reporter, according to the Am Law Daily.

Meeting his client for the first time, New York criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman recounts, he was startled to have Jackson collapse in hysterical tears on his shoulder as he tried to impress upon the naive superstar the seriousness of the charges he then faced. Touching Jackson's back in an attempt to comfort him, Brafman felt only bones.

Afterward, Brafman recalls, he told lead counsel Mark Geragos: "‘I think we can win this case, but the question is whether Michael Jackson can live through this ordeal."

Additional coverage:

CNN: "Battles over Jackson's kids, assets may loom"

People: "Michael Jackson Autopsy Underway"

Forbes: "Jackson's Death Focuses Attention on Cardiac Arrest"

Time: "Michael Jackson's Mysterious Medical Past"

Miami Herald (Leonard Pitts Jr.): "'Thriller' was greatest triumph, greatest tragedy"