Dr Conrad Murray: Trial timeline

Dr Murray was raised on the Caribbean island of Grenada by his maternal grandparents (photo: Houston Chronicle)

Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, has been convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of the pop superstar.

BBC News looks back over the events that led to the court case, his conviction and sentencing.

1983 Conrad Murray graduates from Texas Southern University in Houston with a degree in pre-medicine and biological sciences. He continues his medical studies in Nashville, Tennessee, before completing his training in California and the University of Arizona where he studies cardiology.

2000 Dr Murray opens a practice in Las Vegas, expanding with a second clinic in Houston in 2006. Serving both ends of the community, he also provides medical care to deprived areas.

2006 Dr Murray meets Michael Jackson after treating one of his children in Las Vegas, and the pair strike up a friendship.

May 2009 Dr Murray is hired by promoters AEG Live, at Jackson's request, as the star's personal physician ahead of his This Is It 50-date concert comeback in London. He is put on a salary of more than $150,000 (£96,000) a month.

Jackson was rehearsing for his 50-date London residency when he died

25 June 2009 Dr Murray finds Jackson unconscious in the bedroom of his Los Angeles mansion. Paramedics are called to the house while Dr Murray is performing CPR, according to a recording of the 911 emergency call. He travels with the singer in an ambulance to UCLA medical centre where Jackson later dies.

28 June 2009 Los Angeles police interview Dr Murray for three hours. His spokeswoman insists he is "not a suspect".

22 July 2009 The doctor's clinic in Houston is raided by officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) looking for evidence of manslaughter.

28 July 2009 Dr Murray's home is also raided. The search warrant allows "authorised investigators to look for medical records relating to Michael Jackson and all of his reported aliases". A computer hard drive and mobile phones are seized, and a pharmacy in Las Vegas is later raided in connection with the case.

29 July 2009 Court documents filed in Nevada show that Dr Murray is heavily in debt, owing more than $780,000 (£501,000) in judgements against him and his medical practice, outstanding mortgage payments on his house, child support and credit cards.

29 August 2009 Jackson's death is ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles coroner, who says the cause of death was "acute propofol intoxication". A cocktail of drugs - also including sedatives Midazolam and Diazepam, the painkiller Lidocaine and the stimulant Ephedrine - were detected in his body.

21 November 2009 Court documents reveal that Dr Murray bought five bottles of propofol in May 2009, at around the same time he was hired as Jackson's physician. The papers show that the doctor spent $853 (£515) to purchase the drug in Las Vegas, and then transported it to Los Angeles. The DEA says he has not broken any laws in doing so.

8 February 2010 Dr Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter. He pleads not guilty and is released on $75,000 (£48,000) bail. The judge says he can continue to practice medicine, but bans him from administering anaesthetic agents, "specifically propofol".

14 June 2010 Judge Michael Pastor refuses a request to bar Dr Murray from practising medicine in California.

25 June 2010 Michael Jackson's father, Joseph, files a wrongful death lawsuit against the physician.

8 December 2010 California medical board allows Dr Murray to keep his medical licence.

4 January 2011 Preliminary hearings begin. Prosecutors allege that Dr Murray "hid drugs" before calling paramedics on the day Jackson died. They also state that he did not perform CPR properly and omitted to tell paramedics that he had given Jackson propofol.

11 January 2011 Dr Murray is ordered to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter. He faces up to four years in prison if found guilty.

25 January 2011 The doctor officially enters a plea of not guilty. "I am an innocent man," Dr Murray says in court.

3 March 2011 The trial is delayed to allow both sides more time to prepare.

April 2011 Jury selection begins. Because of the high-profile nature of the case, 500 people are called to the preliminary selection process. Potential jurors face a 30-page form, which asks questions such as "have you ever considered yourself a fan of Michael Jackson?"

2 May 2011 The trial is delayed again, as Dr Murray's lawyers ask for extra time to prepare for new prosecution witnesses.

25 July 2011 Rehearsal footage from Michael Jackson's This Is It tour cannot be used as evidence, the judge rules.

30 August 2011 Michael Jackson's dermatologist is barred from giving evidence at the trial. Dr Murray's lawyers had planned to argue that Arnold Klein had administered the singer with painkillers for "no valid reason" but prosecutors said they were attempting to transfer responsibility for his death away from Dr Murray. Testimony from five other doctors who treated Jackson is also disallowed.

24 September 2011 The jury is finalised. Half of the chosen panelists are Caucasian, five are Hispanic and one is African-American. The jurors have a wide range of professions, including a bus driver, paralegal and a bookseller.

27 September 2011 Opening arguments take place in the televised trial. Prosecutors say Dr Murray acted with "gross negligence" and gave Jackson a lethal dose of propofol. The defence claim Jackson administered too much of the sleeping aid himself.

The doctor maintained his innocence throughout the trial

29 September 2011 Jackson's bodyguard, Alberto Alvarez, testifies that on the night Jackson died, Dr Murray ordered him to pick up vials of medicine before phoning for an ambulance. "In my personal experience, I believed Dr Murray had the best intentions for Mr Jackson," Mr Alvarez said.

30 September 2011 Paramedics tell the court that, as they tried to revive Jackson, Dr Murray failed to inform them that he had given the star propofol.

4 October 2011 Dr Thao Nguyen, an emergency room cardiologist says she and a colleague tried to resuscitate Jackson for more than an hour at Dr Murray's insistence but believed the efforts were futile.

6 October 2011 A recording of Jackson bemoaning his unhappy childhood is played to jurors. In the audio, recorded six weeks before the star's death, the star appears to slur his speech as he tells Dr Murray about his plans for the This Is It tour.

8 October 2011 Dr Murray reveals in a recorded interview with police that, on the night of 25 June, he injected Jackson with several sedatives but the pop star remained wide awake. He is heard telling detectives: "He's not able to sleep naturally".

12 October 2011 Dr Murray's defence backs out of claims Jackson swallowed a fatal dose of propofol when he was alone. Prosecution witness Dr Christopher Rogers, the medic who carried out the singer's post mortem, said it was more likely that Dr Murray mistakenly gave him too much.

13 October 2011 Jackson fans continue to line up against the courtroom wall from 7:30am in the hope of winning a draw for one of the few seats in the public gallery.

20 October 2011 The prosecution's final witness, propofol expert Dr Steven Shafer, tells the court that Dr Murray made 17 flagrant violations when administering the drug to Jackson. Dr Shafer said the drug should never be used to treat insomnia.

24 October 2011 After a short break in the trial, Dr Murray's lawyers call their first witnesses. Dr Allan Metzger, a friend of Jackson's for over two decades, testifies the singer had requested anaesthetics from him as a sleep aid.

26 October 2011 Nutritionist and holistic nurse Cherilyn Lee tells the court she warned Jackson about using the sedative propofol to help him sleep. She told him: "No one who cared or had your best interest at heart would give you this". After refusing to supply Jackson with the drug in April, she never saw him again.

27 October 2011 Dr Murray weeps in court as former patients praise his medical skills and describe him as kind and generous. "The reason I came here to help Dr Murray is I know his love, his compassion, his feeling for his patients, every one of them and I just don't think he did what he's accused of doing," Gerry Causey, from Utah, tells the court.

28 October 2011 It is likely Jackson was addicted to the painkiller Demerol, defence witness Dr Robert Waldman tells the trial. Dr Waldman says records from Jackson's dermatologist show he had large doses of the drug in the months before his death and that insomnia is a symptom of Demerol withdrawal.

31 October 2011 Witness for the defence Dr Paul White concedes during cross-examination that Dr Murray deviated from accepted medical standards in his care for Jackson. He admits the drug is not usually used to treat insomnia, describing it as "complete off-label use of the drug".

1 November 2011 Dr Murray tells Judge Michael Pastor he will not testify in his own defence. He says he made his decision "freely and explicitly".

3 November 2011 The case against Dr Murray goes to the jury following closing statements. The prosecution concludes by saying the doctor's care of Jackson had been "bizarre". The defence maintains Dr Murray was not responsible and that the singer caused his own death while his doctor was out of the room. "If it was anybody else, would this doctor be here today?" defence lawyer Ed Chernoff says.

7 November 2011 Dr Conrad Murray is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after nine hours of jury deliberations. The doctor was remanded in custody without bail until he receives his sentence.

29 November 2011 Dr Conrad Murray is sentenced to four years in county jail. Judge Michael Pastor says the evidence in the case showed him guilty of a "continuous pattern of lies and deceit".