LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, has been granted temporary guardianship of the three children left behind by the pop star, who died of undetermined causes last week at the age of 50.
The judge scheduled a hearing for Aug. 3 on whether Mr. Jackson’s mother can become the children’s permanent legal guardian, the court’s public information director, Allan Parachini, said. Ms. Jackson, 79, had also petitioned to be named administrator of the children’s estates, but Judge Beckloff did not grant that request, Mr. Parachini said.
Mr. Jackson left behind three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7.
Ms. Jackson filed another petition Monday seeking control of her son’s estate, according to The Associated Press, which cited as its source an unnamed person close to the proceedings. Mr. Parachini said he did not yet know if such a petition had been filed.
The doctor who cared for Mr. Jackson as he lay stricken told investigators he did not give the singer any medication that would explain his sudden death and described a vigorous effort to revive him, his lawyer said on Monday.
The doctor, Conrad Murray, 56, said he discovered Mr. Jackson, 50, unconscious after he checked on him, as he periodically did, said Edward Chernoff, a Houston lawyer who accompanied Dr. Murray to the interview with police investigators.
Dr. Murray, Mr. Chernoff said, began a “desperate” effort to save Mr. Jackson, doing chest compressions so vigorously that he apparently cracked one or more of his ribs in the process, though that had no bearing on his death, Mr. Chernoff said. He said the CPR was performed correctly. “It was desperate,” Mr. Chernoff said. “Somebody you did not expect to be in that condition all of a sudden is not breathing.”
It is still unclear what caused Mr. Jackson to slip into unconsciousness. Dr. Murray, who has offices in Las Vegas and Houston and met the singer a few years ago, said that when he discovered the singer’s still body he immediately ordered a member of the staff to call 911, according to Mr. Chernoff. Mr. Jackson arrived at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in cardiac arrest and was declared dead a short time later.
Dr. Murray, who was interviewed for three hours Saturday by Los Angeles police detectives, also told investigators that, contrary to news media reports, he did not give the 50-year-old singer the powerful painkillers Demerol or OxyContin, Mr. Chernoff said.
Mr. Chernoff, citing the police investigation, declined to say what medication Dr. Murray may have given Mr. Jackson in the time since he became his physician in May; they had become friends a few years ago when Dr. Murray treated one of Mr. Jackson’s three children for a minor problem on short notice when the singer was visiting Las Vegas, Mr. Chernoff said.
Though Dr. Murray is a cardiologist, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Chernoff said, was not known to have heart trouble and selected Dr. Murray, who was to accompany Mr. Jackson on a series of concerts beginning this summer in London, based on their friendship.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has said Mr. Jackson, who in the 1990s told an interviewer he had abused prescription drugs, was taking medication, but officials there have declined to identify it or say whether it may have been a factor in his death.
Dr. Murray told investigators Mr. Jackson was in good physical condition with no ailments or complaints that would explain his sudden death. He said he had recently listened to Mr. Jackson’s heart but the singer had not undergone a cardiac stress test recently because there were no abnormalities that would suggest it was necessary.
“There was nothing he could think of,” Mr. Chernoff said.
Rumors about Mr. Jackson’s health before he died continued to circulate on Monday. One London tabloid newspaper, The Sun, claimed that the autopsy found that Mr. Jackson, who was 5 foot 10, weighed only 112 pounds at the time of his death, and he had nothing in his stomach but pills.
But the assistant chief coroner of Los Angeles, Ed Winter, said details in The Sun about Mr. Jackson’s condition did not come from either the private or the county autopsy. "I don’t know where that information came from, or who that information came from,” Mr. Winters told reporters. “It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false."
Family members told the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday that Mr. Jackson was physically fit and training “like a boxer” for the concerts, which were expected to be something of a comeback after several years without touring.
Police officials have said that they are not conducting a criminal investigation and that they interviewed Dr. Murray to help piece together the final hours of Mr. Jackson’s life. The investigators described the physician as a cooperative and helpful witness.
The coroner’s office said that there were no signs of foul play in Mr. Jackson’s death but that it would take four to six weeks to complete the tests that would help determine the cause.
Members of the Jackson family, who arranged for a second, independent autopsy to be perfo
