Sheen's stolen Mercedes found hundreds of feet down a cliff

From wire reports

LOS ANGELES -- Actor Charlie Sheen's stolen Mercedes was found overturned hundreds of feet down a cliff near his Sherman Oaks home early Friday, but there's no evidence anyone was in the car when it went into the ravine, police said.

Police got an emergency call around 4 a.m. from an OnStar-style alert system that calls emergency officials when there is a problem with the vehicle that may require assistance, Officer Wendy Reyes said.

At about the same time, Sheen called police to say his four-door Mercedes-Benz had been stolen, Officer Bruce Borihanh said.

Police and firefighters found the car 300 to 400 feet down a cliff, upside-down in the brushy ravine. They searched the area on foot and with an infrared-equipped helicopter but found nobody in or around the car, Borihanh said.

Sheen, 42, was arrested after a Christmas Day domestic disturbance at his Aspen home. An arrest affidavit quoted his wife as saying the actor pinned her on a bed while holding a knife to her throat.

Sheen denies threatening his wife. He's scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Aspen on domestic violence charges. He and his wife also are seeking modification of an order that prevents them from communicating with each other. She has said they love each other and want to reconcile.

Jackson doc tries to surrender, but no charges yet

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's doctor wanted to seek his day in court Friday by surrendering before being charged in the singer's death, but prosecutors upstaged the plan by announcing that no case would be filed until next week.

District attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons released the plan less than two hours before Dr. Conrad Murray and his attorneys were going to show up at an airport-area courthouse in an effort to force the prosecution's hand while avoiding having the physician arrested and handcufffed.

Gibbons' statement did not mention Murray, but said information on charges will be released after the case is filed on Monday.

Murray's attorneys have said they expect the Texas cardiologist to be charged with involuntary manslaughter for administering drugs to Jackson before his death on June 25. It was not immediately clear if Murray would return to Houston, where he has a practice, or remain in Los Angeles through the weekend.

Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff spoke Thursday with prosecutor David Walgren and was told to be at the courthouse at 1:30 p.m. PST Friday, only to have the county sheriff's department, which handles court security, publicly say hours later that it was called off, defense team spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik said earlier Friday.

"What does it take to surrender in L.A.?" Sevcik said. "I feel like Ed should show up in the courthouse with a big white flag."

Walgren declined to comment Friday.

"It seems ridiculous to us that it's been dragging on this long," Sevcik said. "We've been here all week long, for God's sake. What's the holdup? To us this is showmanship and we are just done."

In the seven months since Jackson's sudden death at 50 while rehearsing for a major comeback concert series, Murray has largely stayed out of view. His lawyers have spoken very little. And prosecutors and investigators have been tightlipped.

Sevcik said prosecutors told Murray on Thursday he'd face one count of involuntary manslaughter.