'Everyone loves Michael Jackson, so it will be tough to find a jury without bias,' lawyer Shawn Chapman Holle.

Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, faces a steep uphill battle in fighting off the involuntary-manslaughter charges lodged against him Monday (February 8) in Los Angeles. That's according to L.A.-based attorney Shawn Chapman Holley, who told MTV News that the combination of the doctor's discussions with police following Jackson's death in June and the reported admission that he supplied the singer with the surgical anesthetic that the coroner's office has said caused his demise make for a very difficult defense. 

"I'm not surprised by the charge, no," said Chapman Holley, who worked as part of the defense team for O.J. Simpson, as well as representing Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, the Kardashian sisters, Reggie Bush and Tupac Shakur. (Chapman Holley is not involved in the Murray case.) "It's really the only thing it could have been. It's the only charge under the heading of homicide that does not require an intent element."

The district attorney's office charged Murray on Monday, saying that the Houston-based cardiologist "did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson." An arraignment was taking place at press time, where Murray was expected to turn himself in and enter a not-guilty plea. If convicted, Murray faces a possible four-year state prison term. 

"There's no question in my mind that he didn't intend for Jackson to die or be hurt," Chapman Holley said. "A murder charge would require that intent, but it becomes involuntary manslaughter when a defendant did something that posed a high possibility of death or grave injury. The issue will be whether or not administering the drugs he administered in the manner he did was likely to cause death or serious injury."

Chapman Holley predicted that Murray's legal team will mount a spirited defense based on a lot of expert medical testimony, which will include physicians who will say that what Murray did should not have caused injury or death and that his actions were not unreasonable. They will also likely bring up allegations that Murray was not the first physician or medical worker to provide Jackson with propofol or other sedatives. Murray has reportedly told investigators that he provided Jackson with the powerful anesthetic propofol several times in the hours leading up to the 50-year-old singer's death in June as part of a nightly regimen of anesthetics and sedatives that the singer allegedly used to combat chronic insomnia.

One of the hardest factors for Murray's defense team is the fact that the doctor spoke to investigators several times in the days after Jackson's death, a move Chapman Holley said might have been ill-conceived. "You usually don't want your client to talk to the police in order to not be locked into a timeline," she said, suggesting that by giving investigators a minute-by-minute account of what he was doing prior to Jackson's death, Murray might have committed himself to an account of events that he will not be able to deviate from. "People who feel like they didn't do anything wrong naturally want to talk to the police, but it's almost always not a good idea from a criminal-law standpoint. You lock yourself into that timeline, and the police are trying to build a case against you, so they act real nice, but really they just want to hear what happened as they're gathering evidence against you."

Another complicating factor will be finding a jury to try the case, which Chapman Holley said might actually be the most time-consuming part of the trial, which she predicted would likely last a month. "I'm not a doctor, but based on what I've heard, [what Murray did] sounds crazy. A jury won't know either, so you'll have these doctors coming in to testify of the risks of doing this, and while his experts will say there was not a tremendous risk, the DA's experts will say there was," she said. "Obviously, it did cause his death, but that's not the question here. You have to look at what the person did and what they knew at the time. It's almost like the outcome [of Murray's actions] are not irrelevant, but not really important to the case. Plus, everyone loves Michael Jackson, so it will be tough to find a jury without bias."

'He's definitely going to be treated differently,' retired NYPD detective Derrick Parker says of Wayne's prison stint.

Lil Wayne's life revolves around a daily regime of "SportsCenter," studio time and sweets. But on Tuesday (February 9), the Cash Money lyricist will be formally sentenced to prison after he struck a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors stemming from a 2007 arrest in New York on gun charges. After he officially enters his plea, the rapper is expected to then turn himself in immediately to begin a one-year jail sentence.

Not since Tupac has such an accomplished and relevant MC faced an impending prison term. But will the lithe New Orleans rapper survive the daunting conditions at the notorious Rikers Island facility?

"Lil Wayne is gonna be OK," retired NYPD detective and noted "hip-hop cop" Derrick Parker told MTV News. "While he's in jail, it's a matter of fact they may not put him with the general population because of who he is and his popularity. They might lock him down and let him come out with a supervisor and stuff like that [when he's] in the main area — but he's definitely going to be treated differently."

According to Parker, the way Wayne will be handled will depend on safety concerns for the rapper as well as an effort to maintain as much normalcy at the facility as possible — it won't resemble pampered treatment by any means. Parker said despite Wayne's small physical stature and his propensity to signal a particular gang affiliation in his rhymes, the rapper won't have much to fear in terms of extortion, bullying or worse.

Parker compared Wayne to former New York Giants football player Plaxico Burress, another celebrity who was convicted on gun charges in New York. However, Wayne could be better prepared for life behind bars — Burress hired a jail coach to assist him with acclimating to prison, something Wayne wouldn't even consider.

"Wayne is from the streets, from the Magnolia Houses in New Orleans, so I'm sure those guys have been in jail or locked up at some point," Parker said. "So being in prison is no big deal to them. Plaxico isn't built for that — he's the type of guy that's never been locked up like that before. He's gonna need a coach or someone to tell him what to expect, since he's not used to that."

But what exactly can Wayne expect? Fortunately, he won't have to cut his trademark tresses.

"The days of doing that are over," retired corrections officer Charles Reid told MTV News. "They can't make inmates do that anymore — it's within their rights to maintain any kind of hairstyle."

Wayne will have a few comforts of home while he's away. He will be able to watch network television — not cable, however. And he'll be able to watch DVD movies. He told Rolling Stone recently he plans to take an iPod in with him to assist with writing music, but a source close to the prison facility told MTV News that would not be allowed.

Reid, who worked at Rikers Island for 21 years as an officer and an investigator, said Wayne's days would continue to be regimented, but in a much different way. He suggested the rapper may have to succumb to some work conditions, whether in sanitation or the mess hall, for example. Reid also noted that different wings of the prison carry different types of criminals, but guessed that Wayne would be housed in a dormitory area and not even be confined to a cell.

"Like a hospital, where there's maybe 20 to 25 beds in an open ward, or it maybe bunk beds," Reid said of Wayne's possible lodgings. "Where he has a nightstand to keep his personal belongings."

Due to the short nature of Wayne's sentence — one year, which could mean 10 months, including the possibly of early release after serving 80 percent of good time, possibly putting him back onstage in a little as eight months — the rapper could very well spend his entire term at Rikers Island.

It won't be known for sure if Wayne will be transferred upstate until he enters the New York corrections system and is processed. (A representative for the Corrections Department did not return several inquiries made by MTV as of press time.)

"I think he's gonna go in there and do his time and do it quietly," Parker said. "If he does it with good behavior, that will be a plus for him — then he'll be out and putting out a new album."

Gene McDaniels -Aged 75 and one of America's first solo black break through artists is making a bid to return to the US album charts with a host of worldwide singing stars after 40 years.

Gene McDaniels is pure class. Inherent talent, a tremendous background including gospel, jazz and pop with ample experience in all of those fields.

A unique song stylist and dynamic big voiced baritone, whose 1960s recordings defied pigeon-holing, appealing as they did to fans of R&B, pop and easy listening music. His music successfully crossed many musical barriers and has seen him with seven top ten records as either artist, producer or writer.With his history, big voice and beautiful song's this is bound to be a piece of musical history. The album a collection of duets will be recorded over the coming months with a release date later in the year.

The list of collaborators has yet to be confirmed but discussions have started with Clive Davis about producing the album.Gene Mcdaniels had hits in the late 50's & early 60's with such titles as '100 Pounds of Clay', 'Another Tear Falls' and 'Tower of Strength'.McDaniels also attained the top spot on the US chart as a songwriter and producer in 1974 when Roberta Flack reached number 1 with Feel Like Makin' Love, which won a Grammy that year.

In 1986 Gene received an award at BMI's Annual 'Million Airs' function for creating, producing and publishing 'Feel Like Making Love' - which had achieved over three million playback performances. The song went on to reach four million and continues to grow, having been recorded on hundreds of different artists' albums. Flack also recorded his 'Reverend Lee' about a preacher who was unconventional. 'Compared To What' is a modern day jazz standard written by Gene for jazzmen Les McCann (an old friend) and Eddie Harris. That song has appeared in some eight major films including 'Casino' starring Robert DeNiro and was featured in an international Coca-Cola campaign. Gene published his own and personal friends' music through his first music publishing firm Sky Forest Music BMI, in New York City and thus started a new career writing and producing films using a body of work personally created and developed by himself.

In recent years McDaniels has been writing music for feature film soundtracks. Alex Field (Alex Field Management) his London based manager, has confirmed that Mr McDaniels is currently selecting song's to be used on his duets album and is looking forward to recording.

The Chemical Brothers are set to play their first gigs in nearly eighteen months with the announcement of two headline shows at London’s Roundhouse (May 20th and 21st) and a Saturday night headline gig at Sonar in Barcelona (June 19th). 

The Chemical Brothers return to the Roundhouse will be the latest in a long line of heroic shows, from playing to the largest crowd at Glastonbury ever assembled (2000), a historic sell out show at London’s Olympia (2008) and in 2007 becoming the first electronic act ever to play Trafalgar Square, Tom & Ed's live shows have never been anything less than staggering. This time around, with the promise of something very special up their collective sleeve, get ready for The Chemical Brothers’ most incredible gigs yet.

Tickets are available from Friday 12th February @ 9am from

MAY
20th Roundhouse, London
21st Roundhouse, London

JUNE
19th Sonar Festival, Barcelona

The Smoking Hearts will be stamping their mark on the British music scene on March 8th of 2010 with the release of debut album Pride Of Nowhere. Storming out of rural England, The Smoking Hearts unleash a whirlwind combination of relentless punk rock and cutting rock’n’roll.

With Pride Of Nowhere, the band deftly call upon their arsenal of screaming vocals, ruthless guitars and thunderous beats. The resulting effect is 13 ferocious blasts that shout out loud 'be who you want to be'. Pride Of Nowhere is a record full of anger and frustration at a world that demands conformity and mindless ritual. It tells the story of five reprobates who like to have fun, rock out, and have a good time all the time. Taking digs at the common work environment 'we hope you all choke on your nine to five', and former loves 'looks like The Ritz but she’s The Bates Motel', The Smoking Hearts also highlight their philosophies of life with lyrics like 'We’ll raise a toast to the ones that hate us most'.

Recorded on a farm in Bedfordshire with Nick Mailing (Quireboys/Trashlight Vision) and Mastered by Russ Russell (Napalm Death/The Wildhearts) over the course of just 14 days (and nights), this 13 song opus clocks in at a frantic 29 minutes and 25 seconds.

Graceful is definitely not a word to describe The Smoking Hearts. Live shows have seen guitar headstocks smashed and drum kits sprawled across stages. It is not uncommon to find half the band on the floor with the crowd and, on occasion, half the crowd on stage with the band.

In their short career as a band, The Smoking Hearts have travelled thousands of miles, opening shows for the likes of Gallows, Bring Me The Horizon, Winnebago Deal and The Supersuckers, as well as some iconic acts such as Misfits and Skid Row.

Pride Of Nowhere is a record for many states of mind - these are songs that will inspire attitudes to party, drink, fight. But ultimately it is the anti-thesis of sitting around and letting things happen to you; it has everything to do with making life happen for yourself.