Michael Jackson's family attorney is calling on Los Angeles prosecutors to charge the King of Pop's personal physician, DR. CONRAD MURRAY, with second-degree murder instead of manslaughter.
Murray is accused of administering the dose of anaesthetic drug Propofol to the King of Pop that led to his passing last June (09).
The Thriller superstar's death was declared a homicide by the Los Angeles county coroner's office and the medic has been identified in search warrants as a suspect in a manslaughter investigation.
Prosecutors are reportedly preparing to charge Murray with manslaughter after months of investigations, but the grieving Jackson clan is demanding authorities take a firmer stand against the doctor's actions.
Their family lawyer Brian Oxman appeared on U.S. TV's The Early Show on Wednesday (03Feb10) to blast Murray, claiming he should have known not to administer Jackson - who had previously sought treatment for an addiction to prescription medication - with such a powerful drug to help him sleep.
He said, "(Murray's actions) rose to the level of such recklessness you would say this was a second-degree murder charge...
"That (manslaughter charge) is just a slap on the wrist, and a slap in the face, because Michael Jackson was someone who we knew was in danger of being brought to his knees, brought his death, by the use of these medications."
Jackson checked into a rehabilitation centre in 1993 to help ween him off painkillers prescribed to him after suffering second-degree burns to his scalp when filming for an explosive Pepsi commercial went wrong.