Tension mounted Friday as the jury in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray began deliberating over whether he is guilty of the star's 2009 death.
The seven men and five women have to reach a verdict on a sole charge of involuntary manslaughter against the 58-year-old Murray, accused of giving Jackson an overdose of the powerful sedative propofol to help him sleep.
The jury began considering its verdict after a day of drama Thursday, when prosecution and defense lawyers presented their closing arguments at the trial, which began on September 27.
In a powerful summary, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said the 58-year-old medic caused the star's death through negligence and greed, depriving his children of their father and the world of a "genius."
Defense attorney Ed Chernoff then took the floor to claim that Murray was "a little fish in a big dirty pond," alleging that key witnesses conspired to agree on a story after Jackson died at his LA mansion on June 25, 2009.
Outside the court, fans carrying placards including "Straight to jail and throw away the key" and "One way ticket to jail" gathered from early morning to await the verdict, which could come later Friday.
"I think it will happen... because the jury has heard enough, we have all heard enough, I think we're all ready to get it done with," said Tami Capps, from Oklahoma.
"I think this jury... knows enough that they will come to a verdict today," Capps, one of a handful of Jackson fans who won a seat in court in a daily lottery if the verdict is given, told HLN television.
Murray faces up to four years in jail and could lose the right to practice medicine if convicted over Jackson's death from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, combined with other sedatives administered to help him sleep.
Walgren, summing up an "overwhelming case" against Murray, said Thursday that the medic invented lies to cover his tracks -- namely about the timeline on the day Jackson died, or not telling paramedics what drugs he had given.
Murray above all wanted to protect his $150,000 a month salary for looking after Jackson, Walgren said, describing how the doctor agreed to treat the star's insomnia with the anesthetic propofol against all medical advice.
"Conrad Murray in multiple instances deceived, lied, obscured, but more importantly, Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence," Walgren told the jury.
The defense has argued that Jackson was a desperate drug addict who caused his own death by taking more medicines while Murray was out of the room at the star's rented mansion in Los Angeles.
Murray's lawyer Chernoff hammered away at that theme in his closing argument -- but also questioned the integrity of key witnesses, including Jackson's chief bodyguard Alberto Alvarez.
Chernoff suggested that Alvarez cooked up a story about what exactly happened with other witnesses, possibly to earn more money from media hungry for a good story.
The defense lawyer also said that Jackson was under a huge amount of pressure from concert promoters AEG Live, who he suggested conspired to implicate Murray because it would deflect responsibility from them.
"He was just a little fish in a big dirty pond," he said of Murray, who had been hired just two months before Jackson's death.
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