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BB King: estate attorney dismisses claim that bluesman was poisoned
(about 5 hours later)
Related: 'We all have the blues': tributes pour in after BB King dies aged 89
Related: 'We all have the blues': tributes pour in after BB King dies aged 89
Two BB King heirs who have been most outspoken about the blues legend’s care in his final days are accusing King’s two closest aides of poisoning him.
Attorneys for BB King’s estate have ridiculed claims by two of the blues musician’s heirs that he was poisoned and police have said there is no active homicide investigation.
Las Vegas police homicide detectives are investigating, Lieutenant Ray Steiber said on Monday. He declined to provide details.
Three doctors determined that King was appropriately cared for in his final days and received 24-hour care and monitoring by medical professionals “up until the time that he peacefully passed away in his sleep”, attorney Brent Bryson said on Monday.
Daughters Karen Williams and Patty King allege that family members were prevented from visiting while King’s business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, hastened their father’s death.
Daughters Karen Williams and Patty King have alleged family members were prevented from visiting while King’s business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, hastened their father’s death.
“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” Patty King and Williams said in identically worded sections of affidavits provided to the Associated Press by their lawyer, Larissa Drohobyczer.
Toney is named in King’s will as executor of an estate that, according to court documents filed by lawyers for some of King’s heirs, could total tens of millions of dollars.
“I believe my father was murdered,” they say.
Johnson was at BB King’s bedside when he died on 14 May in hospice care at home in Las Vegas at age 89. No family members were present.
Toney and Johnson each declined to comment.
“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” Patty King and Williams say in identically worded sections of affidavits provided by their lawyer, Larissa Drohobyczer. “I believe my father was murdered,” they say.
“They’ve been making allegations all along. What’s new?” said Toney, who worked for King for 39 years and had power-of-attorney over his affairs.
An autopsy was performed on Sunday. Test results would take up to eight weeks to obtain and should not be affected by the fact that King’s body had been embalmed, said Clark county coroner John Fudenberg.
Toney is named in King’s will as executor of an estate that according to court documents filed by lawyers for some of King’s heirs could total tens of millions of dollars. Johnson was at BB King’s bedside when he died on 14 May, in hospice care at home in Las Vegas at the age of 89. No family members were present.
Fudenberg issued a statement on Monday saying there was no immediate evidence supporting the murder allegations, and Las Vegas police Lieutenant Ray Steiber told the Associated Press there was no active homicide investigation.
The allegations come days after a public viewing in Las Vegas drew more than 1,000 fans and mourners and a weekend family-and-friends memorial drew 350. A Beale Street procession and memorial are scheduled for Wednesday in Memphis, Tennessee, followed by a Friday viewing and Saturday burial in King’s hometown of Indianola, Mississippi.
Toney and Johnson each declined to comment on the accusations, though Toney said: “They’ve been making allegations all along. What’s new?” Toney worked for King for 39 years and had power of attorney over his affairs.
Clark County coroner John Fudenberg said on Monday the investigation should not delay King’s final trip home to the Mississippi Delta. Fudenberg said an autopsy was performed on Sunday and King’s body was then returned to a Las Vegas mortuary.
A week before King’s death a judge in Las Vegas dismissed a request from Williams to take over as guardian. A 29 April petition alleged Toney had blocked King’s friends from visiting him and had put her family members on King’s payroll. It also alleged that large sums of money had disappeared from King’s bank accounts.
Test results will take up to eight weeks to obtain, the coroner said, and should not be affected by the fact that King’s body had been embalmed.
But Clark county family court hearing master Jon Norheim said on 7 May that police and social services investigations in October and April uncovered no reason to take power of attorney from Toney.
Drohobyczer said she represented Williams, Patty King and most of King’s nine other adult children and heirs.
The allegations come days after a public viewing in Las Vegas drew more than 1,000 fans and mourners, while 350 people attended a weekend family-and-friends memorial. A Beale Street procession and memorial are scheduled on Wednesday in Memphis, Tennessee, followed by a Friday viewing and Saturday burial in King’s hometown of Indianola, Mississippi.
“The family is sticking together … to oust Ms Toney based on her illegal conduct, conflicts of interest and self-dealing,” Drohobyczer said. She alleged that Toney hastened King’s death by “misconduct, or by failing to properly attend to his medical needs”.
An affidavit from Patty King, who used to live at King’s home, said she saw Johnson administer to King two drops of an unknown substance on his tongue during evenings for several months before his death, and that Toney never told her what the substance was.
Attorney Brent Bryson, representing King’s estate, called Drohobyczer’s claims ridiculous.
“I hope they have a factual basis that they can demonstrate for their defamatory and libelous allegations,” Bryson told the Associated Press.
Three doctors determined that King was appropriately cared for, Bryson said, and King received 24-hour care and monitoring by medical professionals “up until the time that he peacefully passed away in his sleep”.
“This is extremely disrespectful to BB King,” Bryson said. “He did not want invasive medical procedures. He made the decision to return home for hospice care instead of staying in a hospital. These unfounded allegations have caused Mr King to undergo an autopsy, which is exactly what he didn’t want.”