Image copyright Reuters Image caption Prince was found dead at his Minneapolis-area estate in April 2016

No criminal charges will be brought over the death of US musician Prince in April 2016, prosecutors say.

The singer, 57, died from an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl, an opioid many times more powerful than heroin.

Prosecutors in Minnesota said counterfeit pills containing the drug were found inside his home but they were unable to determine the source.

They said they had found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing.

Prince was found unresponsive in a lift at his Paisley Park Studios, in the state of Minnesota, on 21 April 2016.

The prosecutors announced their findings on Thursday following a two-year investigation into the pop icon's death.

The attorney of Carver County, Mark Metz, said evidence showed Prince thought he was taking the prescription drug, Vicodin, when in fact he was taking a counterfeit Vicodin pill laced with potentially deadly fentanyl.

"In all likelihood Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him," Mr Metz told reporters.

Evidence showed that Prince had experienced significant pain for a number of years, and hundreds of painkillers of various types were found at his house.

Some of the drugs were prescribed by a doctor in his bodyguard's name to protect the singer's privacy, Mr Metz added.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Attorney Mark Metz (R) effectively closed the investigation into Prince's death on Thursday

But he said there was "no evidence that the pills that killed Prince were prescribed by a doctor".

It was also revealed on Thursday that the doctor in question had paid a $30,000 fine as part of a civil settlement over accusations of illegally prescribing painkillers to Prince. However, investigators said this was not the drug that killed the popstar.

A singer, songwriter, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Prince recorded more than 30 albums. His best known hits include Let's Go Crazy and When Doves Cry.

He was a prolific writer and performer from a young age, reportedly writing his first song when he was seven.</s>Minnesota prosecutors are planning an announcement in their two-year investigation into Prince's death from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Carver County Attorney Mark Metz was scheduled to announce a charging decision at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, including whether anyone would be charged.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.

Search warrants released about a year later showed that authorities searched his home, cellphone records of associates and his email accounts to try to determine how he got the drug.

Authorities found numerous pills in various containers around Prince's home, including some counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl.</s>Prosecutors in the Minnesota county where Prince died will announce a decision Thursday on criminal charges following a two-year investigation into the musician's death from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Carver County Attorney Mark Metz was scheduled to announce at 11:30 a.m. Thursday whether anyone would be charged.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate in suburban Chanhassen on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.

A confidential toxicology report obtained by The Associated Press in March showed high concentrations of fentanyl in the singer's blood, liver and stomach. The concentration of fentanyl in Prince's blood was 67.8 micrograms per liter, which outside experts called "exceedingly high." The report noted that fatalities have been documented in people with blood levels ranging from 3 to 58 micrograms per liter.

Search warrants unsealed about a year after Prince died showed that authorities searched his home, cellphone records of associates and his email accounts to try to determine how he got the drug. Authorities found numerous pills in various containers stashed around Prince's home, including some counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl. The source of that fentanyl was never determined.

While many who knew Prince over the years said he had a reputation for clean living, some said he also struggled with pain after years of intense performances. Documents released by authorities last year paint a picture of a man struggling with an addiction to prescription opioids and withdrawal, and they also show there were efforts to get him help.

Associates at Paisley Park told investigators that Prince had been "going through withdrawals, which are believed to be the result of the abuse of prescription medication," according to an affidavit unsealed in state court last year.

Just six days before he died, Prince passed out on a plane, and an emergency stop was made in Moline, Illinois. The musician had to be revived with two doses of a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

The day before his death, Paisley Park staffers contacted California addiction specialist Dr. Howard Kornfeld as they were trying to get Prince help. Kornfeld sent his son, Andrew, to Minnesota that night, and the younger Kornfeld was among those who found Prince's body. Andrew Kornfeld was carrying buprenorphine, a medication that can be used to help treat opioid addiction.

Documents also alleged Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, a family physician who saw the musician twice before his death, told authorities he prescribed the opioid painkiller oxycodone to Prince but put it under the name of Prince's bodyguard and close friend, Kirk Johnson, "for Prince's privacy." Schulenberg's attorney has disputed that.

A laboratory report obtained by The Associated Press notes that one of the pills found in a prescription bottle with Johnson's name contained oxycodone.

Oxycodone, the generic name for the active ingredient in OxyContin, was not listed as a cause of Prince's death. But it is part of a family of painkillers driving the nation's overdose and addiction epidemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 2 million Americans abused or were addicted to prescription opioids, including oxycodone, in 2014.

Prince did not have any prescriptions for fentanyl.

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti. More of her work at: https://apnews.com/search/amy%20forliti</s>MINNEAPOLIS — The prosecutor in the Minnesota county where Prince died said Thursday that no criminal charges will be filed in the musician’s death, effectively ending the state’s two-year investigation into how Prince got the fentanyl that killed him.

Carver County Attorney Mark Metz’s announcement on no criminal charges came just hours after documents revealed that a doctor who was accused of illegally prescribing an opioid for Prince had agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation. Prosecutors alleged Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg wrote a prescription for oxycodone in the name of Prince’s bodyguard, intending it to go Prince.

Metz said the evidence shows Prince thought he was taking Vicodin, not fentanyl. He said there’s no evidence any person associated with Prince knew he possessed any counterfeit pill containing fentanyl.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound on April 21, 2016. His death sparked a national outpouring of grief, and prompted a joint investigation by Carver County and federal authorities.

An autopsy found Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. State and federal authorities have been investigating the source of the fentanyl for nearly two years, and have still not determined where the drug came from or how Prince got it.

While Carver County said it was ending its role in the case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office had no immediate comment on the status of its investigation.

But a law enforcement official close to the investigation told The Associated Press that the federal investigation is now inactive unless new information comes forward. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the case remains open.

Federal prosecutors and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alleged Schulenberg, a family physician who saw Prince at least twice before he died, violated the Controlled Substances Act when he wrote a prescription in the name of someone else on April 14, 2016.

The settlement, dated Monday, does not name Prince or make any references to the Prince investigation. However, search warrants previously released say Schulenberg told authorities he prescribed oxycodone to Prince on April 14 and put it under the name of Prince’s bodyguard and close friend, Kirk Johnson, “for Prince’s privacy.”

Schulenberg’s attorney, Amy Conners, has disputed that and did so again on Thursday, saying that Schulenberg settled the case to avoid the expense and uncertain outcome of litigation.

Oxycodone, the generic name for the active ingredient in OxyContin, was not listed as a cause of Prince’s death. But it is part of a family of painkillers driving the nation’s overdose and addiction epidemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 2 million Americans abused or were addicted to prescription opioids, including oxycodone, in 2014.

A laboratory report obtained by The Associated Press notes that one of the pills found in a prescription bottle in Paisley Park that bore Johnson’s name tested positive for oxycodone.

“Doctors are trusted medical professionals and, in the midst of our opioid crisis, they must be part of the solution,” U.S. Attorney Greg Brooker said in a statement Thursday.

The settlement notes that the agreement “is neither an admission of facts nor liability by Dr. Schulenberg.” And in a separate letter to Schulenberg’s attorneys, prosecutors say Schulenberg is not currently a target of any criminal investigation.

Under the settlement, Schulenberg also agreed to stricter requirements for logging and reporting his prescriptions of controlled substances for two years, and give the DEA access to inspect those records.

It’s illegal for a doctor to write a prescription for someone under another person’s name. Anyone convicted of doing so could lose their DEA registration — meaning they could no longer prescribe controlled substances — and could face discipline from their state medical board.

The settlement says the DEA won’t revoke Schulenberg’s registration, unless he does not comply. It’s unclear whether the state medical board will take action. His license is currently active and he has no disciplinary action against him.

A confidential toxicology report obtained by the AP in March showed high concentrations of fentanyl in the singer’s blood, liver and stomach. The concentration of fentanyl in Prince’s blood alone was 67.8 micrograms per litre, which outside experts called “exceedingly high.”

Prince did not have a prescription for fentanyl. Search warrants unsealed about a year after he died showed that authorities searched his home, cellphone records of associates and his email accounts to try to determine how he got the drug. Authorities found numerous pills in various containers stashed around Prince’s home, including some counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl.

While many who knew Prince over the years said he had a reputation for clean living, some said he also struggled with pain after years of performing at an intense level. Documents unsealed last year paint a picture of a man struggling with an addiction to prescription opioids and withdrawal, and they also show there were efforts to get him help.

Associates at Paisley Park told investigators that Prince was recently “going through withdrawals, which are believed to be the result of the abuse of prescription medication,” according to an affidavit.

Just six days before he died, Prince passed out on a plane, and an emergency stop was made in Moline, Illinois. The musician had to be revived with two doses of a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

The day before his death, Paisley Park staffers contacted California addiction specialist Dr. Howard Kornfeld as they were trying to get Prince help. Kornfeld sent his son, Andrew, to Minnesota that night, and the younger Kornfeld was among those who found Prince’s body. Andrew Kornfeld was carrying buprenorphine, a medication that can be used to help treat opioid addiction.</s>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prince thought he was taking a common painkiller and probably did not know a counterfeit pill he ingested contained fentanyl, a Minnesota prosecutor said Thursday as he announced that no charges would be filed in the musician's death.

Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said Prince had suffered from pain for years and was addicted to pain medication. While some of the superstar's associates might have enabled his drug habit and tried to protect his privacy, "We have no direct evidence that a specific person provided the fentanyl to Prince."

"In all likelihood, Prince had no idea that he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him," Metz said.

Metz's announcement came just hours after the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that a doctor who was accused of illegally prescribing an opioid for Prince agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a civil violation of a federal drug law. Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg allegedly wrote a prescription for oxycodone in the name of Prince's bodyguard, intending for the potent painkiller to go Prince. That prescription was not linked to Prince's death.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound on April 21, 2016. His death sparked a national outpouring of grief and prompted a joint investigation by Carver County and federal authorities.

An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. State and federal authorities have been investigating the source of the fentanyl for nearly two years.

"My focus was lasered in on trying to find out who provided that fentanyl, and we just don't know where he got it," Metz said. "We may never know. ... It's pretty clear from the evidence that he did not know, and the people around him didn't know, that he was taking fentanyl."

"There is no doubt that the actions of individuals will be criticized, questioned, and judged in the days and weeks to come," Metz said. "But suspicions and innuendo are categorically insufficient to support any criminal charges."

After the announcement, the U.S. Attorney's Office said it also had no credible evidence that would lead to federal criminal charges. A law enforcement official close to the investigation told The Associated Press that the federal investigation is now inactive unless new information emerges. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the federal case remains open.

Federal prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration alleged Schulenberg, a family physician who saw Prince at least twice before he died, violated the Controlled Substances Act when he wrote a prescription for someone else's name on April 14, 2016.

The settlement, dated Monday, does not name Prince or make any references to the Prince investigation. However, search warrants say Schulenberg told authorities he prescribed oxycodone for Prince under the name of his bodyguard and close friend, Kirk Johnson, "for Prince's privacy."

Schulenberg's attorney, Amy Conners, has disputed that and did so again Thursday, saying that Schulenberg settled the case to avoid the expense and uncertain outcome of litigation.

Oxycodone, the generic name for the active ingredient in OxyContin, was not listed as a cause of Prince's death. But it is part of a family of painkillers driving the nation's addiction and overdose epidemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 2 million Americans abused or were addicted to prescription opioids, including oxycodone, in 2014.

A laboratory report obtained by The Associated Press noted that one of the pills found in a prescription bottle in Paisley Park that bore Johnson's name tested positive for oxycodone.

"Doctors are trusted medical professionals and, in the midst of our opioid crisis, they must be part of the solution," U.S. Attorney Greg Brooker said in a statement Thursday.

The settlement noted that the agreement "is neither an admission of facts nor liability by Dr. Schulenberg." And in a separate letter to Schulenberg's attorneys, prosecutors said Schulenberg is not currently a target of any criminal investigation.

Under the settlement, Schulenberg also agreed to stricter requirements for logging and reporting his prescriptions of controlled substances for two years, and to give the DEA access to those records.

A confidential toxicology report obtained by the AP in March showed high concentrations of fentanyl in the singer's blood, liver and stomach. The concentration of fentanyl in Prince's blood alone was 67.8 micrograms per liter, which outside experts called "exceedingly high."

Prince did not have a prescription for fentanyl. Search warrants unsealed about a year after he died showed that authorities searched his home, cellphone records of associates and his email accounts to try to determine how he got the drug. Authorities found numerous pills in various containers stashed around Prince's home, including some counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl.

While many who knew Prince over the years said he had a reputation for clean living, some said he also struggled with pain after years of intense performing. Documents unsealed last year paint a picture of a man struggling with an addiction to prescription opioids and withdrawal symptoms. The papers also show there were efforts to get him help.

Just six days before he died, Prince passed out on a flight, and the private plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois. The musician had to be revived with two doses of a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

The day before his death, Paisley Park staffers contacted California addiction specialist Dr. Howard Kornfeld. The doctor sent his son, Andrew, to Minnesota that night, and the younger Kornfeld was among those who found Prince's body. Andrew Kornfeld was carrying buprenorphine, a medication that can be used to help treat opioid addiction.

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com . More of her work at: https://apnews.com/search/amy%20forliti .

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>There could finally be criminal charges made in the case of music star Prince’s death in 2016.

And they could come as early as Thursday.

The news comes in the form of a statement released Wednesday by the Carver County Attorney in Minnesota, according to Blast.

“Carver County Attorney Mark Metz will announce his charging decision on Thursday, April 19, 2018, whether any person(s) will be charged following the investigation concerning the death of Prince Rogers Nelson,” the statement reportedly read. “County Attorney Metz will articulate the legal status of these matters (during Thursday’s press conference) but County Attorney Metz will not take media questions following the announcement.”

Prince died at the age of 57 on April 21, 2016, at his Paisley Park estate.

A toxicology report from the autopsy, obtained by The Associated Press, shows he had what was deemed “exceedingly high” concentration of fentanyl in his body when he died.

Fentanyl is synthetic opioid that is many times more powerful than heroin.

According to a timeline from ABC News of the final weeks of Prince’s life, the singer had been seeing Michael Schulenberg, a Minnesota primary care physician, who had written out prescriptions for him — in one case a prescription for an opioid in the name of Prince’s friend, Kirk Johnson, with the intention that the drug go to Prince.

The day before Prince’s death, his representatives also had reached out to Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a Mill Valley addiction specialist who is a nationally recognized expert in treating opioid addiction. Because Kornfeld couldn’t immediately travel to Minnesota, he sent his son Andrew in his place.

It was Andrew Kornfeld who discovered Prince’s unresponsive body the morning of April 21, 2016, when he arrived at Paisley Park for a meeting on how to proceed with his treatment.

Six days before Prince died, he also fell ill and passed out on his private plane while returning to Minneapolis from performing in Atlanta, where he had told his audiences he had been feeling “under the weather.”

His plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Ill., where paramedics scrambled to revive him on the tarmac, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The singer recovered after receiving two shots of naloxone, an overdose antidote increasingly being used and often referred to by its brand name Narcan.

Following Prince’s death, authorities announced they were investigating the source of the drugs the singer ingested that caused his death.

The Associated Press reported that some of the dozens of pills taken from Paisley Park were counterfeit drugs that contained fentanyl. But the source of those drugs hadn’t been determined.

In other Prince news, his official memoir will reportedly be released later this year.</s>CHASKA, Minn. — Carver County Attorney Mark Metz will announce Thursday whether anyone will be charged in connection to Prince’s death in April 2016.

Prince, whose full name is Prince Rogers Nelson, was found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park, his home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The cause of death was an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl, according to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s office. He was 57.

The Carver County press release says that Metz will “articulate the legal status of these matters” but will not take questions on Thursday, nearly two years after the star’s death.

Federal prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration had opened an investigation into how Prince obtained the prescription medication, the agencies have said.

None of the medications found in Prince’s home were prescribed to him, according to court documents unsealed in April 2017. Some bottles of opioid painkillers in his home were prescribed to his former drummer and longtime friend Kirk Johnson, and other medications were found in vitamin bottles and envelopes, search warrants showed.

The famed recording artist and larger-than-life figure had a complicated history with opioids, the addicting painkillers. The day before he died, his team had called an opioid addiction specialist in California seeking urgent help for him, an attorney working for the specialist and his son said in 2016.</s>MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors in the Minnesota county where Prince died will announce a decision on criminal charges Thursday following a two-year investigation into the music superstar’s death from an accidental fentanyl overdose. Carver County Attorney Mark Metz scheduled a news conference for 12:30 p.m. ET to announce whether anyone would be charged.

You can watch the news conference on CBSN in the video player above.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate in suburban Chanhassen on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.

A confidential toxicology report, obtained in March by The Associated Press, showed high concentrations of fentanyl in the singer’s blood, liver and stomach. The concentration of fentanyl in Prince’s blood was 67.8 micrograms per liter, which outside experts called “exceedingly high.” The report noted that fatalities have been documented in people with blood levels ranging from 3 to 58 micrograms per liter.

Search warrants unsealed about a year after Prince died showed that authorities searched his home, cellphone records of associates and his email accounts to try to determine how he got the drug. Authorities found numerous pills in various containers stashed around Prince’s home, including some counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl. The source of that fentanyl was never determined.

While many who knew Prince over the years said he had a reputation for clean living, some said he also struggled with pain after years of intense performances. Documents released by authorities last year paint a picture of a man struggling with an addiction to prescription opioids and withdrawal, and they also show there were efforts to get him help.

Six days before he died, Prince passed out on a plane and an emergency stop was made in Moline, Illinois. The musician had to be revived with two doses of a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The day before his death, Paisley Park staffers contacted California addiction specialist Dr. Howard Kornfeld as they were trying to get Prince help. Kornfeld sent his son, Andrew, to Minnesota that night and the younger Kornfeld was among those who found Prince’s body. Andrew Kornfeld was carrying buprenorphine, a medication that can be used to help treat opioid addiction.

This week, a Minnesota doctor accused of illegally prescribing an opioid painkiller for Prince a week before he died agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation, according to documents made public Thursday. The settlement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, dated Monday, does not name Prince or make any references to the Prince investigation, but search warrants previously released say Schulenberg told authorities he prescribed oxycodone to Prince on April 14 and put it under the name of Prince’s bodyguard and close friend, Kirk Johnson, “for Prince’s privacy.” Schulenberg’s attorney has disputed that.

Federal prosecutors and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alleged Schulenberg, a family physician who saw Prince at least twice before he died, violated the Controlled Substances Act when he wrote a prescription in the name of someone else on April 14, 2016.

The settlement notes that the agreement “is neither an admission of facts nor liability by Dr. Schulenberg.” And in a separate letter to Schulenberg’s attorneys, prosecutors say Schulenberg is not currently a target of any criminal investigation.</s>Minnesota prosecutors have opted not to chase criminal charges over Prince's death from an accidental overdose.

The Purple Rain icon passed away in April, 2016 and autopsy results subsequently found he had "exceedingly high" levels of painkiller Fentanyl in his system at the time of his death. However, according to prosecutors, Prince was unaware he was taking Fentanyl. The singer reportedly obtained counterfeit Vicodin pills that were laced with the powerful opioid.

On Thursday (19Apr18), Carver County Attorney Mark Metz revealed there is no credible evidence on how or who Prince obtained the painkillers from, so prosecutors cannot move forward with criminal charges.

It was also revealed Prince had no prescriptions in his name and the Vicodin he took was not prescribed by a doctor.

Metz went on to state there was "no conspiracy to murder Prince", but the actions of those around him could be seen as suspicious. However, "suspicions and innuendo are categorically insufficient" to file charges, he added.

Last year (17), it was reported the late singer had medicine prescribed to him under his bodyguard Kirk Johnson's name. An official affidavit taken by Detective Christine Wagner also indicated Dr. Michael Schulenberg, who was at Paisley Park on the day of Prince's death, admitted he gave the singer Oxycodone in April, 2016, when his plane made an emergency landing in Illinois after he suffered a medical emergency on a flight home from a concert. He also told a detective he put that prescription in Johnson's name that day "for privacy" reasons.

Meanwhile, Dr. Schulenberg has reportedly reached a $30,000 (£21,300) settlement with U.S. federal authorities for writing the prescription. He was accused of violating the Controlled Substances Act, according to The Wrap.</s>An attorney for Carver County, Minn., announced today that no charges will be brought in connection with Prince's death and that the musician likely had no idea the vicodin pills he overdosed on were laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl.

"There is no evidence that any person associated with Prince knew that Prince possessed counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl," attorney Mark Metz said during a news conference. "Prince likely had no idea he was taking fentanyl pills that could kill him.

"There is no evidence that the pill or pills that actually killed Prince were prescribed by a doctor."

Metz said local, state and federal investigators were unable to determine who supplied Prince with the counterfeit vicodin pills and that for this reason, no charges could reasonably be filed.

"There is no doubt that the actions of individuals around Prince will be criticized and judged in the days and weeks to come," he said. "But suspicions and innuendo are not sufficient in bringing criminal charges."

Because the investigation has concluded, Metz said, case evidence such as crime scene photos will now be released.

Prince was found dead of an opiate overdose on April 21, 2016, in an elevator within Paisley Park, the home and recording studio he built in Chanhassen, Minn. The complex has since been converted into a museum.

Earlier today, Michael Schulenberg, who became Prince's physician in the weeks prior to the star's overdose, reached a $30,000 settlement with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Schulenberg was alleged to have prescribed controlled substances to one person despite knowing they were intended for another. The settlement doesn't include an admission of guilt, and in addition to the $30,000, he has agreed to increased monitoring of prescriptions he issues.

Documents from an investigation into Prince's death, made public last year, revealed that controlled substances had been found hidden in vitamin bottles throughout the Paisley Park complex. They also showed Schulenberg and Kirk Johnson, who was Prince's close friend and bodyguard, were the main subjects of the investigation.

Metz said Thursday that Schulenberg had written prescriptions for medications such as the opioid percocet. He said that all of the prescriptions were made out in Johnson's name in order to protect Prince's privacy. But the attorney stressed that it wasn't percocet that killed Prince.

"I repeat, Prince did not die from taking the prescribed percocet," Metz said. "The evidence that Schulenberg provided Prince the percocet in Johnson's name is not germane" to the investigation.

This February, Carver County's Metz had announced that the criminal investigation into Prince's death was still active and that he opposed releasing autopsy reports to heirs of Prince's estate because of that investigation. On March 22, however, a court in nearby Anoka County ruled in favor of releasing the report to the heirs' legal team so that it could assess whether grounds for a civil case of wrongful death existed.

Despite strict guidelines around sharing the autopsy's findings with any outside parties, a copy of it was obtained and reported out by The Associated Press within a week. Though it had been known for some time that Prince had died of an accidental overdose of the synthetic opiate fentanyl, the confidential report revealed that the concentration of the painkiller was "exceedingly high."

In a strangely timed announcement ahead of Metz's news conference, the Prince estate released and archival recording of "Nothing Compares 2 U" from 1984, along with footage of Prince rehearsing the track. The song, written by Prince, became a hit for Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor in 1990.

Since his death, the tight control Prince maintained over every aspect of his career has disintegrated. Because no will was found, there's been a tumultuous process of determining his heirs and the proper administration of his legacy and works. As the AP reported Sunday, those heirs have yet to receive any money from Prince's estate, though the functionaries attached to its management have earned millions. One previous collaborator released a song, "Deliverance," he had recorded with Prince about 10 years ago, prompting court action against the engineer, George Ian Boxill, who had released it.

Twins Stadium, home of the Minnesota Twins, recently began selling Prince-branded merchandise such as baseball caps. "The biggest thing for us is just celebrating Prince and doing it in the right way," the Twins' marketing and promotions manager Mitch Retelny told NPR in an interview in February.

A memoir, announced the month before his death for which the artist had reportedly already written some 50 pages, is expected to publish sometime this year, according to a recent interview its editor gave to Variety.
Prosecutors in Minnesota say nobody will be charged over the death of Prince, who accidentally overdosed on counterfeit fentanyl pills.