Michael Jackson's physician was on Monday charged with involuntary manslaughter by federal prosecutors in connection with the death of the legendary pop star last summer.

Charges against Dr Conrad Robert Murray, 56, were filed at the Airport Branch of Los Angeles Superior Court this morning. The count said that Murray "did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson.....in the commission of an unlawful act, not amounting to a felony; and in the commission of a lawful act which might have produced death, in an unlawful manner, and without due caution and circumspection."