Michael Jackson’s father will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the late King of Pop’s personal physician within the next three months, according to reports.
Brian Oxman, a lawyer for Joe Jackson, told media outlets Tuesday he has already mailed a notice to Dr. Conrad Murray informing that he'll be filing the civil suit within 90 days.
The suit will argue the amount of powerful anesthetic that Murray administered to Jackson prior to his death “was reckless, and it amounts to second-degree murder,” Oxman told Reuters.
“The continuous administration of drugs over six weeks -- he (Murray) gave him propofol every night -- that is Russian roulette, that is loading six bullets into a gun with only six chambers,” Oxman told the wire service.
In addition, Oxman accuses Murray of waiting too long to dial an ambulance, an error that he says could have sealed the King of Pop’s fate.
"The bottom line is, had paramedics gotten there earlier and had they been called right away, chances are he could have been revived," Oxman told The Los Angeles Times in a separate interview.
Murray is currently free on $75,000 bail after pleading not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in criminal court.
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News of Joe Jackson's civil suit comes after documents leaked to The Associated Press revealed Michael Jackson’s logistics director, Alberto Alvarez, had told investigators that Murray delayed calling 911 and stopped performing CPR on Jackson to hide vials of drugs.
Last week, Murray’s lawyer disputed the claim, saying Alvaraz did not mention the vials in an earlier statement to investigators.
On Tuesday, a Murray spokesman told Reuters he had not yet received Oxman’s notice, and would not comment on the lawyer's new allegations until he had seen the papers.
Los Angeles officials have ruled Jackson’s June 25 death a homicide caused by “acute propofol intoxication.”
Oxman said he is required by law to give Murray 90 days notice before filing a wrongful death lawsuit, a deadline that hits up on another requirement that the civil suit be filed within a year of Jackson’s death.
He acknowledged the 90 days deadline was the reason Jackson’s father has decided to move forward on the suit, but also said it has taken until now to gather required evidence.
"Having records, instead of just speculation, has been very important and hard to do, but we (now) finally have the records so we can tell what happened," Oxman told the Times.
