It's been four years since Michael Jackson died, but the legal wrangling following his death continues. A jury has now been empaneled in the lawsuit brought by Jackson's mother and children against AEG Live, the promoter of his final "This is It" tour, and one potential key figure at that trial will likely be Dr. Conrad Murray.

Murray, who served as Jackson's doctor, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death in 2011, and on Friday he phoned TODAY from his jail cell to talk with Savannah Guthrie, with his lawyer Valerie Wass in the studio. 

All along, Murray has denied being responsible for Jackson's death, and maintains that assertion today: "(I take) not any responsibility as it relates to his death," said Murray. "I am sorry that I lost Michael as a friend and as a patient. ... I have lost a very dear friend and a dear person to me, and it's going to remain with me for the rest of my life, but I'm not going to accept responsibility for anything I did not do."

At this new trial, lawyers for the Jackson family are likely to argue that AEG Live is liable because they hired Murray. In theory, the company would have had a financial interest in ensuring the singer was healthy and able to perform as contractually obligated, which may have created a conflict in their oversight of Dr. Murray. 

As Guthrie pointed out, there appeared to be clear negligence in that the drug that killed Jackson -- the singer died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication that brought on cardiac arrest -- was found in the room after Murray left Jackson unattended. "I met Michael Jackson with his own stash of medication," insisted Murray. "I tried to get rid of the propofol from Michael Jackson. He might not have liked the approach that I took, but nonetheless the circumstances were to actually get him away from that agent."

Wass spoke up to say that when Murray left Jackson alone in the room on the night he died, the singer was on a saline drip. "Jackson was not on a propofol drip," she said and added that however Jackson gained access to the propofol that killed him, it was never determined whether it came from "his own sources" or from Murray.

Murray says being in prison "has been one of my most horrendous experiences. ... I have only survived because of the loving hope and the support that I get from various individuals and I would especially like to say that my girlfriend Nicole Alvarez has been just tremendous."

Murray may be released in a few months due to prison overcrowding, and is appealing his conviction. Opening statements in the trial are set for Monday.

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Kevork Djansezian / AFP / Getty Images

Conrad Murray has one less legal woe to worry about -- for now.

Conrad Murray can rest somewhat easier. Joe Jackson's wrongful death suit against the cardiologist convicted of manslaughter in the death of son Michael Jackson was dismissed at his request on Monday, E! News has confirmed.

"I was pleased that Joe Jackson's case against my client has been dismissed," Murray's attorney, Valerie Wass, told E! News. "It was always my opinion that Joe Jackson lacked standing to bring this action, and that eventually the case would be dismissed."

Jackson family drama still rages, more than three years after Michael's death

The case was dismissed without prejudice, however, meaning Joe can refile the same allegations if circumstances allow.

The 84-year-old Jackson family patriarch sued Murray in June 2010 and refiled that November, adding concert promoter AEG Live and a Las Vegas pharmacy as plaintiffs, before the now former doctor was put on trial for involuntary manslaughter and subsequently convicted. He is currently serving a four-year jail sentence.

AEG, meanwhile, successfully petitioned to be dropped as a defendant in Joe's lawsuit in February.

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In his complaint, Joe maintained that Murray, as well as several pharmacy suppliers, were negligent in failing to provide Michael Jackson with adequate care, treatment, diagnosis, and resuscitation equipment, resulting in the pop icon's death caused by an overdose of the anesthetic propofol administered by Murray.

"As a result of that failure, Jackson was deprived with the loss of companionship of his son," the suit charged.

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Joe, who was not named in his son's will, has stayed out of the ongoing family squabble over whether the document is legal and he did not weigh in when his estranged wife temporarily lost custody of Michael's three children. Katherine Jackson was later reinstated and is currently sharing guardianship of Prince, Paris and Blanket with their cousin, T.J. Jackson.

Katherine sued AEG and This Is It director Kenny Ortega for fraud and negligence in September 2010, claiming they over-worked and failed to provide proper medical care for her son.

(Reporting by Baker Machado and Claudia Rosenbaum.)

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David Mcnew / AP file

Conrad Murray in 2010

Conrad Murray, the doctor found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, has invited Jackson's mother Katherine to visit him in jail.

According to Valerie Wass, a lawyer for Murray who recently spent several hours with the doctor, Murray wants to get the message out to Katherine Jackson that he would welcome the chance to answer any questions she has. 

"Although I am not permitted to see the news in jail, there are times when intermittent snippets are seen before a channel change occurs.  I recently saw Katherine Jackson in one of those snippets. She appeared to be extremely sad.  I also heard she is having a difficult time.  I've been told that she has a desire to speak with me before she departs this life," Murray said in a statement obtained by NBC News. "Seeing that she is up in age, and in questionable health, and the fact that she is the mother of a very dear departed friend, it would give me great pleasure to sit with her one to one and answer any questions she might have if it would put her at peace.  I would do that truly out of concern for her and altruistic love and concern for others."

Wass said that Murray has had no direct communication with the Jacksons since he began serving out his four-year jail sentence.

Murray is appealing the conviction, a process that has been "slowed down somewhat by procedural hurdles," according to his attorney.

At the time of Murray's sentencing, the Jackson family issued a statement saying, "We're going to be a family. We're going to move forward. We're going to tour, play the music and miss him."

As of this writing, there's been no statement as to whether Katherine Jackson will visit Murray in jail.

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Dr. Conrad Murray received a maximum four-year sentence on Tuesday for his role in the death of Michael Jackson, and the deputy district attorneys who prosecuted Murray, David Walgren and Deborah Brazil, appeared on TODAY exclusively Wednesday with their reactions to the sentence.

The sentence came after the judge proffered a 24-minute dressing down of Murray, and the harsh tone did not come as a surprise to the prosecution. "He (the judge) had sat through the trial, had heard all of the evidence, he was one of the most informed people in regards to the facts of the case, and I think being aware of all the facts and all the evidence, he was rightfully offended by the actions of Conrad Murray and was expressing that," Walgren said.

Although Murray received the maximum sentence of four years, he is unlikely to serve anything close to that amount of time, a fact that the prosecution does not find disappointing. Brazil told Savannah Guthrie, "The judge clearly sent a message to Dr. Murray as well as any other physician by imposing the maximum sentence. The actual time spent behind bars is not a reflection of the seriousness of Conrad Murray's conduct."

Walgren agreed: "I think he certainly deserves the full weight of the punishment and he certainly deserves the full four years ... How much time he actually serves at the end of the day will be up to the sheriff."

Although the facts of the case were presented at trial, Murray gave the prosecution and judge fodder from outside the courtroom in the form of a documentary about the case, and accompanying interview with Guthrie -- an action that might have ultimately hurt him at sentencing Tuesday. "I certainly don't think it helped him," Walgren said. "I think the fact that in that interview he expressed a complete lack of remorse, a complete lack of personal responsibility, he blamed it again on Michael Jackson rather than himself ... that he Conrad Murray was the victim and not Michael Jackson, I think it showed a complete failure to recognize what he did."

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NBC News

The doctor who was convicted in the overdose death of Michael Jackson was sentenced to the maximum four years in prison Tuesday in a finale to the tormented saga of the King of Pop.

Dr. Conrad Murray sat stoically with his hands crossed as Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor repeatedly chastised him for what he called a "horrific violation of trust" while caring for Jackson.

Read the full story here.

Al Seib / AP

Dr. Conrad Murray listens as the jury returns with a guilty verdict in his involuntary manslaughter trial Monday, Nov. 7 in a Los Angeles courtroom.

In an interview scheduled to air Friday as part of an MSNBC documentary, Dr. Conrad Murray insists that Michael Jackson “begged and pleaded” to get propofol, an anesthetic drug Murray administered to Jackson to help him sleep. “He asked me, ‘Please, please Dr. Conrad ... I need some milk so that I can sleep. If I don't get any sleep today, I cannot perform, I cannot do anything.’”

“Michael Jackson and The Doctor,” which premieres on MSNBC Friday at 10 p.m. ET, chronicles the trial from the points of view of Murray and his defense team. Murray, who chose not to take the stand during the trial, talks about the day Jackson died and shares details of his relationship with the pop star.

On the morning of the day Jackson died, Murray says that Jackson appeared “hysterical.” “He looked to me like the ‘Thriller’ image,” said Murray, referring to Jackson’s costume in the 1982 music video.

Murray says Jackson considered him his “one friend.”

“I think in many ways, there were some mirror images in our lives,” says Murray. “I’ve seen him cry so many times. He lived a life greater than a hundred years of pain of any human.”

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Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician, was convicted Monday afternoon of involuntary manslaughter in the singer's June 25, 2009, death.

The seven-man, five-woman panel had to be unanimous on their decision to either convict or acquit Murray of the charge. They began deliberating Friday and did not meet over the weekend. Overall they deliberated for about nine hours.

After the verdict was announced, Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor lifted the gag order that had been imposed during the trial.

The Houston cardiologist, 58, faces a sentence of up to four years in prison. He could also lose his medical license.

Read the full story.

AP file

Michael Jackson in 1993

In the end, the music is all that remains.

Dr. Conrad Murray has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. Whether he serves years in jail or just days, nothing can bring the singer back. There seems to be no doubt that both Jackson and Murray made some incredibly dumb decisions.

You feel for Jackson -- pushing himself to take on a 50-date concert extravaganza, and with dreams of opening the world's largest children's hospital. He must have felt there weren't enough hours in the day. No wonder he couldn't sleep, and no wonder he became increasingly desperate to somehow force his body to do so, even if it meant taking the surgical anesthetic propofol.

Murray is a little more of a mystery. He must have thought he'd landed the job of a lifetime, the job of anyone's lifetime, being asked to serve as the personal physician to the legendary singer, earning a reported $150,000 per month. Did that make him think that he had to give the singer anything he asked for?  Surely he figured that if he didn't provide the magic "milk," an increasingly desperate Jackson would simply fire him and hire someone else who would.

That's understandable, but it's not forgivable. Personal assistants can do what it takes to fulfill the requests of their celebrity clients, but we hold our doctors to a different standard. Time and time again during the trial other doctors took the stand and said that, in Murray's place, they would have told Michael Jackson "no." No, I can't give you propofol to sleep, it's a drug used for operations, not to be given in one man's bedroom. No, I realize you think it's what you need, but we're going to have to find another way.

No one but Jackson and Murray were in that room on June 25, 2009, and the real story of what happened there will never be known. Those of us who are just onlookers, merely fans of Jackson's incredible career, don't have to live daily with the pain that his three children do. Sure, they're rich and famous and set for life, but the son known as Blanket isn't even 10 yet. Would many of us trade a lifetime with our father, however many years we were allotted, for luxury goods and cash?

The Murray trial will soon slip into history, like Jackson's earlier court cases and headlines. It'll forever be a part of his life story, but it'll never outshine the real legacy, his music. Walk away from a television covering the Murray trial and find a radio or a CD or MP3 player playing Jackson's music. The hypnotic opening beats of "Billie Jean," the haunting notes of "Thriller," the jazzy tune of "Black or White," the soaring notes of "Man in the Mirror."

Turning on Jackson's music after hearing more of the endless details of the Murray case is like walking into a cool lake after a slog through a mud puddle. For those of us who grew up with it, our own life memories flash through our head when we hear it. School dances choreographed to "Thriller," dramatic breakups spent humming "She's Out Of My Life," the early days of "Rock With You" and even "ABC." They're a part of our culture, almost inescapable. Whatever Jackson did with the rest of his life, he gave us that.

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