The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, didn’t die of a drug overdose; he was killed. This morning, one of Jackson’s physicians, Dr. Conrad Murray, was officially indicted in Jackson’s death in Los Angeles, charged with involuntary manslaughter for administering the pop star a lethal cocktail of powerful drugs (mostly painkillers), including the now-infamous industrial-strength anesthetic propofol.

Actress Brittany Murphy died just before Christmas 2009 at her Hollywood home from multiple drug intoxication and pneumonia (possibly complicated by iron deficiency anemia). Coroner officials said Murphy went into sudden cardiac arrest soon after taking drugs (including the painkiller Vicoprofen and the antidepressant Sarafem), and that her death was accidental.

But for an example of pharmaceutically-induced death, actor Heath Ledger’s demise is one for the books. He died from an overdose of prescription drugs, a combination of painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine. Ledger’s death was officially classified as an accident.

All three stars died of drug overdoses, and died in essentially the same way. Yet Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide, while the deaths of Brittany Murphy and Heath Ledger were accidents.

Why? It’s important to realize that the description of these deaths as “accidents” reflect a legal definition provided by a coroner—not the common definition of “accident.” The accidental death is also a common Hollywood euphemism: with a few notable exceptions (such as River Phoenix and Chris Farley), celebrities rarely die of drug overdoses any more; instead they die of “accidents.” Stars keep earning money long after they’re dead from residuals, and their estates prefer to put as positive a light on the demise as they can.