Prosecutors announced the charge today against Dr Conrad Murray, a Houston cardiologist who was with Jackson when he died on June 25 last year. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
Murray's attorney Ed Chernoff says Murray will plead not guilty.
Jackson hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances in London.
Officials say the singer died in Los Angeles after Murray administered the powerful general anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep.