As Michael Jackson's father moved Sunday to assert control over his son's estate, his attorney said that the family has not been able to locate a will for the pop icon and that Jackson's mother will seek custody of his three children.
"That's who Michael would have wanted to have the children. She loves them dearly," lawyer L. Londell McMillan told CNN outside the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles before the BET Awards. He said the children are in "great care" and in a "loving environment" with their grandmother, Katherine, at the family's Encino estate.
Asked about the will, McMillan said the family has heard "reports of one . . . but none has been presented to the family at this time."
As camps began to form for what could be extended battles over Jackson's children, his money and his legacy, the doctor who treated Jackson the day he died defended himself Sunday. Dr. Conrad Murray, through his lawyer, denied reports that he had injected Jackson with powerful painkillers before his death.
"There was no Demerol. No OxyContin," said Murray's attorney, Edward Chernoff.
The lawyer, who was present during Murray's three-hour interview with Los Angeles Police Department detectives Saturday, said Jackson was already unconscious when the doctor "fortuitously" entered the bedroom of the performer's Holmby Hills mansion.
The 50-year-old pop star "wasn't breathing. He checked for a pulse. There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR," said Chernoff, a Houston criminal defense attorney.
The lawyer's claim was consistent with the account of a source close to the investigation who told The Times that the doctor was cooperative and that there was no immediate indication of wrongdoing.
Jackson family members, however, continued to express doubts Sunday.
Asked about doctors and others around Jackson before his death, his father told CNN: "I have a lot of concerns, but I can't get into that." His lawyer, McMillan, added, "We'll have more to say about that at a later point."
The conflicting statements came on an evening in which the music industry honored Jackson's legacy at the BET Awards. Outside, the elder Jackson made a public claim for control of his son's affairs.
Appearing on the red carpet with a publicist and McMillan, Jackson told CNN that he and his wife alone were in charge of their son's estate and legacy. The 80-year-old patriarch declared in a statement read by the publicist that the couple "have the personal and legal authority to act, and solely Katherine and I have authority for our son and his children."
