Katherine Jackson - AEG lawsuit : NEWS Only (No discussion)

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson: Tell me 'what really happened to my son'


By Kate Mather
July 19, 2013, 11:37 a.m.
An emotional Katherine Jackson testified for the first time Friday in her lawsuit against entertainment giant AEG Live over her son Michael’s death, saying she wanted to know “what really happened to my son.”

The 83-year-old matriarch held attorney Brian Panish’s hand as she made her way to the witness stand, where the lawyer and court bailiff helped her into her seat. She adjusted her purple-and-white patterned jacket as the microphone was moved closer.

Katherine Jackson admitted she was nervous – it was the first time she had ever spoken to a jury, she said. She also said it was difficult to speak in public about such a private matter.

FULL COVERAGE: AEG wrongful death trial

“The most difficult thing is to sit here in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son,” she said, later adding. “A lot of the things that have been said are not the truth. And he’s not here to speak for himself.”

“Are you here to speak for your son Michael?” Panish asked.

“I’ll try my best,” she replied.

Katherine Jackson, 83, and her grandchildren -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- claim AEG Live negligently hired and controlled the physician who gave the singer a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol in 2009, days before his "This Is It" tour was to open in London.

AEG says it was Jackson who hired Dr. Conrad Murray, and that any money the company was supposed to pay the doctor was an advance to the singer. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death and is serving jail time.

The pop star’s mother spent much of the morning talking about raising her nine children with husband Joe in a four-room house in Gary, Ind. Money was tight, she said, particularly when her husband couldn’t find work at the steel mill. Katherine Jackson recalled making her children’s clothes, cutting coupons from newspapers — even picking vegetables she would preserve.

Katherine Jackson said that both she and her husband came from musical families and that their talents were passed on to their children. She recalled going to sleep at night — she and Joe in one of the bedrooms, her sons sharing a triple bunk-bed in the other — and waking up to the children “harmonizing and singing.”

Michael, she said, “was born that way.”

“When all the kids were dancing around, he was in my arms and he couldn’t be still. He was dancing to the music,” she said. “And when he started to talk, he would still dance.”

Her washing machine, she said, used to rattle to a rhythm. She recalled finding her seventh children standing next to the machine, “dancing, sucking on the bottle, to the squeaking of the washer.”

The jury laughed. “He just loved music,” Katherine Jackson said. “He loved to dance.”

Katherine Jackson said she and her children would listen to country music — something her father played when she was a girl — and her older sons began singing in competitions at local high schools. Michael was about 5, she said, when he sang at his own school program.

She said she went to the school with her father-in-law to watch her son sing “Climb Ev'ry Mountain.”

“I was so nervous when he walked out on the stage because he was always shy,” she said. “And he started singing the song and he sang it with such clarity. … Joe’s father sat there and cried like a baby. He looked around, and I was crying too.”

“He got a standing ovation for his performance, and he wasn’t nervous, and I was shocked,” she continued, saying she thought he “felt more at home when he was on stage.”

Michael joined his brothers’ group soon after, she said, and the boys would rehearse at home, pushing the furniture back toward the walls of the living room and dancing in the middle of the floor. They kept singing at local contests, only losing once, she said with a chuckle.

“I think they were sick of seeing the Jacksons win,” she said.

Panish showed videos and photos of the Jackson 5, featuring a young Michael smiling as he sang and danced with his brothers. The attorney asked Katherine Jackson what type of suits her son wore in one black-and-white photo.

“Homemade suits,” she responded, drawing laughter.

The boys’ careers took off – they singed a record deal with Motown in 1968 -- and Katherine Jackson talked about moving to California with her family. Girls swarmed their home, she said. “I got so tired of it,” she laughed.

Michael didn’t let the fame go to his head, she said. Katherine Jackson told stories earlier in the morning of her son as a child, crying because one of his other brothers was sick. “Michael has always been sensitive and loving,” she said.

Panish showed a photo of Michael as a toddler, smiling at the camera. He asked what it showed.

“It shows him as a sweet little boy to me,” Katherine Jackson said. “My baby.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...ckson-testifies-20130719,0,3038890,full.story

 

[Paris78]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Michael Jackson's Mother Begins Testimony

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES July 19, 2013 (AP)
Michael Jackson's mother told jurors Friday that she is suing the promoter of her son's ill-fated comeback concerts to find out the truth about his death.
Katherine Jackson, 83, testified that it has been difficult to listen to some of the testimony during the 12-week trial, explaining that she's a private person by nature.
"I leave the spotlight for my children," she said. "A lot of the things that have been said are not the truth. He's not here to speak for himself."
The Jackson family matriarch sued AEG Live LLC for negligence, claiming it failed to adequately investigate the doctor who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving the singer an overdose of anesthetic in 2009.
AEG denies it hired the doctor or bears any responsibility for the singer's death.

Katherine Jackson has been a courtroom fixture during the civil trial, sitting in the front row as witnesses described her son's creativity and interactions with AEG Live executives.
On the witness stand, she said an email written by Paul Gongaware, a top AEG Live executive, that described her son as lazy was especially hurtful.
"My son is not lazy. You don't get to be the biggest," she said, pausing, "by being lazy."
Much of her early testimony recounted the Jackson family story, from her roots in Alabama to her children's upbringing in Gary, Ind.
Videos of Michael Jackson performing at the Academy Awards and doing the moonwalk for the first time were also shown.
Numerous photos of Michael Jackson and his siblings were shown to jurors, including a picture of two of his brothers on a Little League squad and early photos of the singer with his brothers when they performed as the Jackson 5. Katherine Jackson smiled when several of the pictures were displayed.
She was expected to be the final witness called to the stand by her lawyers. AEG Live's defense was expected to begin next week.

 

[ivy]

Michael Jackson’s mother testifies in wrongful death trial, calls lawsuit the ‘most difficult’ thing she’s ever experienced
Katherine Jackson is suing for some $1 billion or more claiming the promoter behind her son's ill-fated 'This Is It' comeback concerts knowingly set up a dangerous conflict of interest with the doctor convicted of overdosing her son.

BY NANCY DILLON / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2013, 2:29 PM
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APRIL 27, 2011 FILE PHOTO.
MATT SAYLES/AP

Katherine Jackson said none of the acccusations made against her son in court have been true.
Michael Jackson's mom testified before a jury for the first time Friday and called her wrongful death lawsuit against concert giant AEG Live the "most difficult" endeavor of her 83 years.

"The most difficult thing is to sit here in this court and listen to all the bad things they've said about my son," she said in her soft, barely audible voice. "None of the things are the truth."

She lamented her son was "not here to speak for himself" after his overdose death on June 25, 2009.

AEG has denied any wrongdoing in the death of Michael Jackson.
JOEL RYAN/AP

AEG has denied any wrongdoing in the death of Michael Jackson.

"I want to know what really happened to my son," she said.

Katherine is suing for some $1 billion or more claiming the promoter behind Michael's ill-fated "This Is It" comeback concerts knowingly set up a dangerous conflict of interest with the doctor convicted of overdosing her son.

AEG has denied any wrongdoing, saying it was Michael who personally hired Dr. Conrad Murray and secretly begged for the surgery-strength anesthetic that killed him.

Rebbie Jackson, sister of the late singer Michael Jackson, leaves the courthouse on Friday.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Rebbie Jackson, sister of the late singer Michael Jackson, leaves the courthouse on Friday.

Katherine wore a blue floral jacket and glasses as she recounted her family's early days in Gary, Indiana, for the jury of six men and six women.

She said Michael shared a mattress on a triple bunk bed with his brothers, wore second-hand shoes from the Salvation Army and danced to everything, including the rhythmic sound of the family's "old and rusted" washing machine.

"He'd be down there dancing, sucking his bottle to the squeaky old washer," she said with a laugh.

AEG claims Michael Jackson personally hired Dr. Conrad Murray and begged for the surgery-strength anesthetic that killed him.
REUTERS POOL/EPA

AEG claims Michael Jackson personally hired Dr. Conrad Murray and begged for the surgery-strength anesthetic that killed him.

She smiled and wiped her mouth as her lawyer Brian Panish showed a video montage of early home movies and Jackson 5 performances on TV.

Hits including "ABC" played on the courtroom speakers.

"As a mother, when you saw Michael perform like that, how did you feel?" Panish asked.

"I felt very proud," she said.

Murray's lawyer Valerie Wass was in court Friday and said she's considering advising her client to offer testimony in the months-long case.

"All along I've advised him to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but we've both been following the trial closely, and it's a situation we're constantly evaluating," Wass told the Daily News. "I don't see how it could incriminate him to tell the truth."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...l-death-trial-article-1.1403661#ixzz2ZWOqWG9g

 

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson Paints Loving Portrait of Michael at Wrongful Death Trial
By HOWARD BREUER AND ANDREA BILLUPS
07/19/2013 at 02:30 PM EDT
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Michael Jackson Wrongful Death Trial: Katherine Jackson Testifies
Katherine Jackson
PA PHOTOS/LANDOV

PEOPLE MAGAZINE
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Jackson family matriarch Katherine Jackson defended the good heart of her son Friday at the wrongful death lawsuit she and her family brought against the promoters of Michael Jackson's last and ill-fated world tour.

"The most difficult thing is to sit in this court and listen to all the bad things they’re saying about my son. A lot of those things are just not the truth,” Jackson, 83, told the court before describing her family's meager start and early musical history.

"I know my son was a very good person," she said. "He loved everybody. He was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the entertainer who gave the most to charity.”

Anticipation for her testimony was high as fans have turned out at the courthouse over the past few weeks to show her love and support as the mother and grandmother appeared at the public trial on behalf of her late son.

Keep up with your favorite celebs in the pages of PEOPLE Magazine by subscribing now.


"Michael was always sensitive and loving,” Jackson said as a photo of Michael as a toddler was shown to the court. “Yes, he was born that way. Even in my arms, he couldn't keep still. He was dancing to the music."

Katherine has been a determined motherly presence in the Los Angeles courtroom where attorneys for her family claim the tour promotion company, AEG Live, was negligent when it hired Dr. Conrad Murray to supervise the medical care of Michael.

The singer died in a overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol in June 2009. Murray is serving a four-year prison term for manslaughter in the case.

AEG has denied wrongdoing and claims Michael is the one who hired Murray and desperately sought the drugs for sleep that eventually killed him.

Already two of Michael's children have testified in the trial. His oldest son, Prince Jackson, 16, painted his father as loving, devoted and playful in emotional testimony in June, which included a family Christmas video clip.

Videotaped testimony of daughter Paris, 15, who is recovering from a suicide attempt in a residential treatment facility, was also shown to the court.

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Michael Jackson's mother says she thought her son could do a series of comeback concerts, but not the way they were planned by a concert promoter.

Katherine Jackson told jurors Friday that she called the CEO of promoter AEG Live LLC to express her concerns before his death in June 2009.

She did not offer additional details.

The Jackson family matriarch tearfully described Friday finding out about her son's death. She is expected to be the final plaintiff's witness in her case against AEG Live, which is now in its 12th week.

Katherine Jackson also told the jury she had heard from her other children about concerns that Michael Jackson was abusing prescription medications, but he seemed fine when they tried to intervene.

AEG Live denies any wrongdoing.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information.

 

[ivy]

Jackson's mother says concert schedule worried her
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FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas, Calif. Jackson is expected to be the final witness Friday, July 19, 2013, in the plaintiff’s case against AEG Live LLC. The Jackson family matriarch is suing the company, claiming it failed to adequately investigate the doctor convicted of giving her son an overdose of anesthetic in 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File).
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FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas, Calif. Jackson is expected to be the final witness Friday, July 19, 2013, in the plaintiff’s case against AEG Live LLC. The Jackson family matriarch is suing the company, claiming it failed to adequately investigate the doctor convicted of giving her son an overdose of anesthetic in 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
Associated Press ANTHONY McCARTNEY 19 minutes ago
CelebritiesArts & EntertainmentAEG Live

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's mother tearfully described finding out about her son's death Friday and said she expressed concerns about his comeback concert schedule to the promoters of the tour.

Katherine Jackson said she called the CEO of promoter AEG Live LLC to express her view that her son could have done 50 shows, but not if they were spaced closely together.

"He couldn't do every other night like AEG wanted him to do at first," Katherine Jackson said.

She said she called AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips and her son's manager, Tohme Tohme, to express her concerns about the "This Is It" schedule.

She didn't describe any additional details about the calls. Katherine Jackson is expected to be the final plaintiff's witness in her case against AEG Live, which has lasted 12 weeks. The defense case is scheduled to begin next week.

Katherine Jackson has been a courtroom fixture during the civil trial, sitting in the front row as witnesses described her son's creativity and interactions with AEG Live executives.

The Jackson family matriarch sued AEG Live in 2010 for negligence, claiming it failed to adequately investigate the doctor who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving the singer an overdose of anesthetic in 2009.

AEG denies it hired the doctor or bears any responsibility for the singer's death.

She said she also heard from her other children that Michael Jackson was abusing prescription medication, but she didn't know what to believe. She said she visited him in Las Vegas a few years ago to ask him about it.

"He promised, he kept saying, 'I'm OK,'" she told the jury.

"Sometimes the mothers are the last to know," she said.

She said she told her son, "I don't want to hear on the news that you're not here anymore."

Katherine Jackson did not say when the meeting with her son occurred.

Under questioning by AEG Live defense attorney Marvin S. Putnam, she said it had been difficult to see and hear unflattering descriptions of her son.

"It hurts to sit here and listen to all these things," Katherine Jackson said. "To listen to how sick my son was and nobody was trying to help him."

She said an email written by Paul Gongaware, a top AEG Live executive, that described her son as lazy was especially hurtful.

"My son is not lazy. You don't get to be the biggest," she said, pausing, "by being lazy."

She broke down as she described the day her son died. She said she was told by another of her son's managers, Frank Dileo. "I just started screaming," she said, crying and clutching a tissue in one of her hands.

Katherine Jackson said her granddaughter Paris Jackson was inconsolable at the hospital and was looking skyward saying, "'I can't live without you'" and "'I'm going with you.'"

Her attorney, Brian Panish, concluded his questioning by playing a montage of clips of Jackson's children while music of his song "Speechless" played.

Putnam asked her about her decision to sue AEG Live in September 2010. She said she didn't discuss with her children or her grandchildren before filing the lawsuit.

"This was your decision alone," Putnam asked.

She said it was.

 

[ivy]

Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 1m
I've got to get back to the courtroom. Will try to post more before we go in session.
It's been difficult to get a signal today.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3m
Mrs. Jackson described the family’s TV breaking down and not having money to fix it. Music filled the house instead.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
She said every year she’d buy ¼ or ½ a cow for food. “That’s how we would survive.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
She also described the family’s hardscrabble years as they struggled to scrape by. “I picked vegetables, I canned food,” Mrs. Jackson said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
She described moving the family to Gary Ind. after marrying Joe Jackson.
They moved into a home on Jackson street, a coincidence.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 6m
She was then shown photo of Michael Jackson when he was 2. He was smiling. “It shows him as a sweet little boy to me,” she said. “My baby.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7m
Instead, she said Michael Jackson would the candy and play “Store Man,” a game in which he was merchant.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8m
She said Michael Jackson would save money to buy candy at the Little League field. But he didn't eat it all.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8m
The team was named after the mayor at the time, who sponsored the team, Katherine Jackson said.
The mayor was in the photo, next to her sons
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
Panish also showed a photo of the Jackson’s home in Gary, Ind. & pics of Jermaine and Tito on their Little League team, the Katz Kittens.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
Another photo was of Mrs. Jackson when she was in high school. She seemed embarrassed, and told the lawyer to take it down.
Panish did.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
One of the images was was a picture of Mrs. Jackson with her father and her son Michael.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 10m
After this, Panish moved into a long series of questions about the family’s biography. Panish showed Katherine Jackson several family photos
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 11m
Katherine Jackson: “It makes me feel bad because I know my son was a very good person,” she said.
She mentioned his charitable giving.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 11m
Panish asked Mrs. Jackson about having to sit in court and hear a lot of questions she didn’t like.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 12m
“A lot of the things that have been said are not the truth,” Mrs. Jackson said, adding about her son, “He’s not here to speak for himself.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 12m
Katherine Jackson said it was her first time she's testified in front of a jury, and the case has been difficult on her.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 12m
Panish asked Katherine if she was a private person. She said yes. “I leave the spotlight for my children,” Mrs. Jackson said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 13m
Some updates from the morning session in Jackson vs. AEG Live coming up. Link to our latest story is here: http://yhoo.it/12BRHJR
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 16m
Defense attorney Marvin S. Putnan is doing the questioning for the concert promoter. I'll get some limited updates out shortly.
(Corrected)
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 29m
Plaintiff's attorney Marvin S. Putnan is doing the questioning for the concert promoter.
I'll get some limited updates out shortly.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 29m
We're on the lunch break in Jackson vs AEG Live.
Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish finished his initial question, AEG has taken over.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 31m
Jackson's mother says concert schedule worried her http://yhoo.it/12BRHJR
My updated @AP story on Katherine Jackson's testimony today.
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 2h
We're about to go back into court. Here's another story link http://yhoo.it/16OQqAe _ it should update throughout the day.
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 2h
Mrs. Jackson explained that when MJ named his son Prince, it wasn’t a King of Pop reference. It was a family name.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 2h
Katherine Jackson She was born in Alabama. Her father’s name was Prince and she described his singing talents.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 2h
So far, much of Mrs. Jackson's testimony has been biography. She has mentioned how hard the case has been, cited an AEG Live email once.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 2h
Plaintiff’s attorney Brian Panish did the questioning of Mrs. Jackson. He escorted her to the witness box, helped her with the microphone.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 2h
We're on a short break in Jackson vs AEG Live trial.
My story so far on Katherine Jackson's testimony is here: http://abcn.ws/130rhBk
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Just a note to followers, I'll post stories and updates when possible. I can't tweet or send anything out from inside the courtroom.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Katherine is sitting in her usual front seat row, with nephew Trent next to her. She’ll take the witness box once court resumes.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
We’re about to go in session in Jackson vs AEG Live trial. Katherine Jackson is in court and will be testifying this morning.

 

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson Breaks Down On Witness Stand Testifying About Son Michael Jackson’s Death

Posted on Jul 19, 2013 @ 13:21PM | By Jen Heger - Assistant Managing Editor

katherine-michael-jackson-square-getty

The frail looking Jackson family matriarch, 83-year-old Katherine Jackson, broke down in tears on the witness stand on Friday as she testified about the day her son, Michael Jackson, died — a key moment in her wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live, the concert promoter which she contends is responsible for his death.

With the help of an attorney and a bailiff in the courtroom, Katherine Jackson was assisted to the witness stand.

According to the Los Angeles Times Jackson said,

“The most difficult thing is to sit here in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son. A lot of the things that have been said are not the truth. And he’s not here to speak for himself.”

PHOTOS: Paris Jackson Testifies In Videotaped Deposition

“Are you here to speak for your son Michael?” Panish asked.

“I’ll try my best,” she replied.

On the day Michael Jackson was declared dead at the UCLA Medical Center, according to Katherine, the singer’s daughter, Paris was screaming next to his body, “Daddy, I want to go with you.”

Michael’s then doctor, Conrad Murray was “pacing the floor,” in the hospital, and Katherine testified she had never seen him before.

PHOTOS: Shocking Evidence Found In Michael Jackson’s Bedroom

Paris, 15, has had the hardest time dealing with her father’s death, compared to siblings, Prince Michael, and Blanket. Jackson’s only daughter, has a pair of her father’s pajamas, and never wants them washed because “she wanted his scent,” Katherine told jurors.

Having recently attempting suicide, Paris was recently released from the UCLA Medical Center, and is now getting residential treatment at an undisclosed facility.

Recounting the day Michael died, Katherine became extremely emotional. “Do you miss your son?” Jackson’s attorney Brian Panish asked.
Choking back tears, Katherine said: “There are no words.”

Katherine Jackson is expected to be on the witness stand for the remainder of the day.

 

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson on stand: 'When I lost Michael, I lost everything'
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A 2005 photo of Michael Jackson and his mother, Katherine Jackson, outside a courthouse in Santa Maria, Calif. (Carlo Allegri / Getty Images / June 1, 2005)
By Kate Mather
July 19, 2013, 2:04 p.m.
Katherine Jackson wept on the witness stand Friday as she described her relationship with her son Michael, saying that when he died, she “lost everything.”

The 83-year-old matriarch said she and her seventh child were “very close,” saying “a mother wouldn’t want a better son than Michael.”

He took care of her “every need, my every way,” Katherine Jackson said, for example by remodeling her Hayvenhurst home, covering the walls of a room with enlarged pictures of their family.

He also wrote her poetry, she said. After Michael Jackson died, his older brother Jermaine found another handwritten poem to his mother and had it framed. Katherine Jackson said she cried when she read the words.

“All my success has been based on the fact that I wanted to make Mother proud,” the poem ends. “To win her smile of approval.”

When attorney Brian Panish asked how she had been affected by her son’s death, Katherine Jackson broke down.

“When a mother loses a child,” she said, crying. “No one knows until it happens to them. That’s the worst thing that could happen to a person, losing a child.

“I lost my mother, my father and my sister … but when I lost Michael, I lost everything,” she said.

Katherine Jackson and her grandchildren -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- claim AEG Live negligently hired and controlled the physician who gave the singer a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol in 2009, days before his "This Is It" tour was to open in London. AEG Live was promoting and producing the comeback tour.

AEG says it was Jackson who hired Dr. Conrad Murray, and that any money the company was supposed to pay the doctor was actually part of an advance to the singer. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death and is serving jail time.

Katherine Jackson, a Jehovah’s witness, said she was out in “field service” — going door to door to share her faith — and returned home to a message from her husband on that June 2009 day. One of the fans who had gathered outside Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch had called Joe Jackson, saying someone had left on a gurney “completely covered up,” she testified.

“Later on I got a call to come to the hospital, so I thought maybe he was just sick,” she said.

Katherine Jackson said she arrived to find Jackson’s staff and a man she later learned was “packing back and forth.” Someone took her to a room where she waited, she said, until her son’s manager approached.

“Frank DiLeo came and told me that Michael had a reaction, and I said, ‘Well how is he?’ ” she said. “And nobody said anything.”

“I said, ‘Did he make it? Did he make it?’ and Frank said no,” she said, her voice breaking.

Katherine Jackson continued to cry on the stand as she described her reaction. “I just started screaming.”

Jackson said she was then taken to another room, where she was attended to by nurses and later met with her grandchildren. Paris Jackson, she said, was particularly emotional.

“She was screaming, looking up at the sky and said, ‘Daddy, I want to go with you.' ” Katherine Jackson said.

When it came time to leave the hospital, the family matriarch said, her granddaughter turned to her.

“Grandma, where are we going?” she recalled Paris asking. “And I said, ‘You’re going home with Grandma.”

Katherine Jackson now shares guardianship of the three children. Paris, she said, has “had the hardest time” with her father’s death.

“My nephew and I and Paris and her brothers … went everywhere trying to find this special heart, and it was a broken heart,” Katherine Jackson said. “When she got it, she went to the morgue and she hung one heart around her father’s neck.”

Paris kept the other half, her grandmother said.

Paris also kept a pajama shirt of her father’s, Katherine Jackson said, putting it on a pillow on her bed. She hung photos of him in her bedroom, later covering a wall with more pictures.

“I was wondering how could she do that because I didn’t want to see him,” Katherine Jackson said. “Every time I saw him I felt so sad.”

Katherine Jackson acknowledged that Paris had received medical help following her father’s death, including a hospital stint. The girl has said “that she wanted to go where Daddy was,” she testified.

Though her grandsons are more subdued, Katherine Jackson said, they also miss their father. The youngest, Blanket, keeps his hair long -- he “doesn’t want to cut it because that’s the way Michael liked it,” she said.

Katherine Jackson said her son changed after his children were born, describing his songs “more loving, more meaningful.” “It just changed his life,” she said of fatherhood.

Panish showed a video of photos of the children set to a recording of Michael Jackson singing “Speechless,” a song Katherine Jackson said her son wrote in 45 minutes about being a father. The video showed the children laughing, dancing, playing with a puppy.

“Mrs. Jackson, do you miss your son?” Panish asked when the video ended.

“Words can’t explain,” she said.

 

[ivy]

Jackson's mother weeps in court, blasts critics
(AFP) – 14 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson's mother Katherine broke down in tears Friday recalling the day her son died, as she testified against tour promoters AEG Live whom she blames over his 2009 death.
Taking the stand 12 weeks into a civil trial, she also lashed out at critics who described the star as a "freak" and said AEG Live should have done more to help the late singer, clearly ill in the weeks before he died.
"When I lost Michael, I lost everything," the 83-year-old said, repeatedly wiping away tears as she was questioned by her lawyer Brian Panish in the Los Angeles courtroom where the wrongful death trial started in late April.
"Michael and I were very close. Michael was the the type of son every mother would want," she added, describing him as "very shy."
Jackson accuses AEG Live of pushing her son too hard as he rehearsed in Los Angeles for a series of "This is It" comeback concerts in London and of negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray to look after him.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 over Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, administered to help the 50-year-old singer with chronic insomnia.
Jackson's 16-year-old son Prince testified last month his exhausted father warned AEG Live was going to "kill" him as he rehearsed for the marathon concert tour.
Katherine Jackson echoed this Friday, saying the tour promoters failed to properly supervise Murray and to respond to clear signs her son was seriously ill in the weeks and days before his death.
"My son was sick... and they knew he was sick, and nobody said 'call the doctor.'" she testified, adding that she didn't know who Murray was until after Jackson'w he was sick, and nobody said 'call the doctor.'" she testified, adding that she didn't know who Murrays death.
"That doctor was for his children, I didn't know who it was," she said, adding: "My son needed another doctor."
In tense exchanges with AEG's lawyer Marvin Putnam, who also questioned her, she repeatedly lashed out at critics of her son.
"It's hard for me sitting in court and listening to people call my son a freak, saying he was lazy," she said, staring intently at Putnam.
"He was not a freak," she added.
Putnam asked her about testimony by tour director Kenny Ortega earlier in the trial, who used the word "lazy" in the sense that Jackson was reluctant to rehearse.
"He knew what he was doing. He didn't need that much rehearsing," she said, adding that, in June 2009, her son "was sick and couldn't rehearse."
In recent days, Jackson lawyer Panish has focused on financial details, calling an accountant expert witness, Arthur Erk, who testified Jackson could have earned up to $1.5 million with the London concerts and a subsequent world tour.
Emotions have also spilled over outside the courtroom: on Tuesday this week a shouting match erupted in the hallway as lawyers spoke to reporters about the day's hearing.
Panish and his AEG rival attorney Marvin Putnam have repeatedly clashed during the trial. Putnam is expected to begin presenting his case next week, once Katherine Jackson has testified to wrap up the Jackson case.
Paris Jackson, 15, was originally expected to be among witnesses called at the Jackson v AEG trial, which is expected to last through August.
But she is now unlikely to do so, after being rushed to the hospital after trying to commit suicide at the family home in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles, last month.
She had previously been treated for depression and remains under medical supervision. Her testimony has been heard during the trial, in the form of video of a deposition she gave in March.
Katherine Jackson's testimony caps nearly three months of hearings in a downtown LA courtroom a stone's throw from where Murray was convicted in 2011.

 

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson breaks down in court, tells jury her son 'was not a freak'
Maria Elena Fernandez NBC News
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41 minutes ago

Image: A courtroom sketch of Katherine Jackson
Mona Edwards / Reuters
A courtroom sketch depicts the testimony of Katherine Jackson, mother of late pop star Michael Jackson, at Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday.
For 12 weeks, Katherine Jackson has sat patiently in the Los Angeles courtroom where she is suing her late son's concert promoters and listened to other people describe him, his last weeks alive and his sudden death.

Finally given the turn to speak on Friday, Jackson told the court, "My son is not a freak."

"The most difficult thing is to sit here in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son," the demure 83-year-old mother and grandmother said as she began her long-anticipated testimony in her case against AEG Live.

Wearing a purple floral blazer and purple shirt, Katherine Jackson watched as footage of the King of Pop performing songs, moonwalking, and dancing from a young age until adulthood, played on a video screen before the jury. Even as a baby, her son was "dancing around," pretending his bottle was a microphone. "He was born that way, dancing around. He wouldn't be still."

Katherine also spoke of all the things Michael Jackson had done for her over the years — remodeling her house, taking care of her, plastering a room in her house with wall-to-wall family photos. They also showed a video of Neverland and Katherine described the property. She said her grandchildren "loved Neverland."

Katherine then admitted Michael suffered pain from "bad burns," back injuries, and he suffered from vitiligo. She said she knew Michael took pain pills, and she heard from her other children that Michael was abusing prescription medication, but she didn't know what to believe. She said she visited him in Las Vegas a few years ago to ask him about it.

"He promised, he kept saying, 'I'm OK,'" she told the jury. "Sometimes the mother is the last to know."

She said no one could ask for "a better son than Michael," and did say that she was financially dependent on him, adding, "he gave me everything."

When she got the call that Michael had been taken to the hospital on June 25, 2009, she just thought he was sick. She said the first time she met Conrad Murray, the physician who administered Jackson's lethal dose of propofol, was at the hospital the day her son died.

"My son needed another doctor," a physician other than Murray, she testified.

"They told me, 'he didn’t make it, he didn’t make it," Katherine recalled. "I just started screaming," she said, crying and clutching a tissue in one of her hands. Katherine said she was then put in a room with two of Michael's children, Prince Michael ("Blanket"), 11, and Paris, 15. Paris kept looking skyward saying, "I can't live without you. I'm going with you," according to Katherine's testimony.

Wiping her face with a tissue, Katherine said the adjustment has been hard for Paris, who put photos of her father all over her room. "I thought she was the bravest. She had a very hard time at first."

On cross examination, Katherine admitted it was her choice alone to bring this lawsuit against AEG. She said it was hard sitting in court "listening to people call her son a freak ... it hurts to sit in court and hear all these things. It’s hard for me listening to how sick my son was.

"He was not a freak."

Jackson and her grandchildren are suing AEG Live, alleging the entertainment company that promoted Michael Jackson’s last concerts failed to pick up on warning signs that could have saved his life. The suit also alleges that AEG didn’t properly investigate Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death in 2011 and sentenced to four years in prison.

AEG denies hiring Murray; the company says Jackson hired the physician, and says it wasn’t responsible in any way for his death.

The King of Pop died while rehearsing for "This is It," a 50-show series in London, three weeks before the tour was to start. He had last toured in 1997. Katherine testified that she had called AEG Live to express her view that her son could have done 50 shows, but not if they were spaced so closely together.

"He couldn't do every other night like AEG wanted him to do at first," she said.

Other family members, including Michael’s son, 16-year-old Michael Jackson, Jr., known as "Prince," have taken the witness stand during the trial, describing the night his father died. The teen recalled that while preparing for the 2009 tour, his father would sometimes come down the stairs and be "freezing cold" and "not strong enough." Jackson looked "malnourished," his son said.

On the day of his father's death, Prince Jackson testified that he found his father "hanging halfway off the bed and his eyes were rolling back in his head. "Murray was doing CPR. My sister was screaming the whole time saying she wants her daddy. I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs crying." When they got to the hospital, he told his sister, "Angels were watching over us," and tried to remain optimistic, but then Murray delivered the news that their father had suffered a heart attack.

Videotaped testimony of Paris Jackson, who is recovering from a suicide attempt at a residential treatment facility was also shown to the jury of six men and women will decide the case. Katherine Jackson is expected to be the final plaintiff's witness in the case.

This report contains additional reporting from NBC News staff writer Elizabeth Chuck and E! Newsproducer Claudia Rosenbaum.

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Edward Lawrence ?@EdwardLawrence 2m
When AEG Attorneys started the cross Katherine Jackson turned to judge saying this was too much & she needed a break. Recessed until Mon
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Edward Lawrence ?@EdwardLawrence 4m
Katherine Jackson cried on the stand. She was talking about her son, Michael growing up. She testified AEG pushed her son too much

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Michael Jackson's mom: 'I want to know what really happened'
By Alan Duke, CNN
updated 5:03 PM EDT, Fri July 19, 2013
Watch this video
Paris Jackson's deposition
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Jackson matriarch Katherine Jackson: "A lot of the facts that have been said are not the truth"
NEW: Michael Jackson's "not here to speak for himself," his mother says
NEW: "My son was a very good person," Jackson's mother testifies
Expert says Jackson would have earned $1.5 billion from touring and sponsorship

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's mother told jurors she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live "because I want to know what really happened to my son."
Katherine Jackson is the final witness as her lawyers conclude their wrongful death case against the pop icon's last concert promoter in a Los Angeles court Friday.
"The most difficult thing is to sit here in the court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son," Jackson testified.
The 83-year-old matriarch of the world's most famous entertainment family sat on the front row in the small courtroom for most of the 51 previous days of testimony.
"A lot of the facts that have been said are not the truth," she said. She said contrary to what an AEG Live executive wrote in an e-mail as Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts in 2009, her son was not lazy.
Who\'s who in Jackson trial Who's who in Jackson trial
Paris Jackson deposition played in court
But she especially objected to an e-mail from AEG parent company's general counsel that called Jackson "a freak" on the same day his company's top executives were going to his house to sign the "This Is It" tour contract.
"He's not here to speak for himself," his mother said. She said she would "try my best" to speak for the pop icon.
Jurors leaned forward and listened closely during Jackson's testimony and as her lawyer showed them video of her son performing as a child.
The lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson and on behalf of the singer's three children contends AEG Live is liable for the death of Jackson because it hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray. The doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
AEG Live argues it was Jackson, not their company, who chose and controlled Murray, who admitted giving Jackson nightly infusions of a surgical anesthetic the coroner ruled killed him. Its executives had no way of knowing about the dangerous treatments Murray was giving Jackson in the privacy of his bedroom, AEG Live lawyers contend.
"Why are you hear?" Jackson lawyer Brian Panish asked Katherine
"Because I want to know what really happened to my son," she said. "And that's why I am here."
Panish asked Jackson how it made her feel to have been asked probing and personal questions about her family by AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam during a dozen hours of deposition testimony.
"It makes me feel real bad, because my son was a very good person," she said. "He loved everybody, he gave to charity, he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for giving to charity."
Putnam faces the challenge of not appearing unkind to Katherine Jackson while also trying to discredit her testimony.
"Forget it," she said as she stopped before answering Putnam's question about why she initially included, and later dropped show director Kenny Ortega as a defendant in her lawsuit.
"Forget what ma'am?" Putnam asked.
Jackson remained silent for about a minute, staring back at Putnam.
Would it help to reread the question, he asked.
"No, it wouldn't be helpful," Jackson answered curtly.
The judge finally ordered the question stricken from the record because the answer involved privileged discussions with her lawyers.
If jurors decide that AEG Live is liable in Jackson's death, they could award damages based on the loss of the mother's and children's relationship with him and the amount of money he was unable to earn because his life was cut short.
The wrongful death trial is about to get a lot uglier, if defense lawyers live up to the promise of their opening statements.
AEG Live lawyers this week brought up the child molestation charges against Jackson and the 2002 incident in which the pop star "dangled" his infant son on a Berlin hotel balcony.
Touring till 66?
Paris Jackson made another appearance in the trial this week -- via a video of her deposition in March. Jurors saw a clip of AEG Live lawyer Putnam asking the 15-year-old what her father told her about his "This Is It" tour:
Putnam: "Did he explain to you how long the tour was going to last?"
Paris: "I assume a long time since it was a world tour, but those usually last a long time"
Putnam: "How did you understand it was a world tour?"
Paris: "Because he told us."
Putnam: "What did he tell you?"
Paris: "That we were going around the world on tour."
Certified public accountant Arthur Erk, who has managed and audited the business affairs of many top artists, testified Wednesday that he is "reasonably certain" that Jackson would have performed 260 shows around the world as part of his "This Is It" tour. He would have earned $890 million over the three years of concerts in Europe, Asia, South America, North America and Australia, Erk said.
Jackson would have earned at least $1.5 billion from touring, endorsements and sponsorships had he not died preparing for his comeback tour, Erk said.
AEG Live's unprecedented sellout of 50 shows scheduled for London's O2 Arena in 2009 and 2010 proved there was "pent-up demand" to see Jackson live, despite controversies that had tarnished his reputation in the years since his last tour in 1998, Erk said.
An e-mail from AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said fans bought all 750,000 tickets put on sale for 31 shows in March 2009 in just two hours. Enough buyers were registered to sell out another 100 shows, Phillips wrote.
"Dude, we're going to sell out a ridiculous amount of tickets," AEG Live Co-CEO Paul Gongaware wrote in an e-mail. "We've got to get Mikey to add more shows."
Jackson's manager quickly approved another 19 shows, bringing the total to 50.
"Ten million tickets for the rest of the world? They would have gobbled up those tickets in seconds," Erk said.
AEG Live lawyer Sabrina Strong challenged Erk's estimate, asking if any other act has ever made as much money on a tour. "No," he said. "This would have been a record-breaking world tour."
Jackson would have done another 195 shows over four more world tours before retiring from the road at age 66, Erk predicted.
Putnam called Erk's estimates "a creation, a fabrication" which suggests Jackson would have made more after age 50 that he did in the three tours during the "height of his fame."
Jackson never intended to perform after the 50 shows in London, Putnam said.
AEG Live showed jurors a video clip of Katherine Jackson's deposition, in which she said her son would joke that he "didn't want to be moonwalking on stage at 50."
"Michael said that quite a few years back and he was joking," his mother explained in her testimony Friday. "I thought it was funny and most of us said things like that. I used to think 50 was very old."
In fact, Jackson was 50 when he signed a three-year contract with AEG Live for his comeback tour, which would have likely included his famous moonwalk dance steps as he performed "Billie Jean."
"We announced that we're going to have one tour in London, that's what was announced, and it was called 'This Is It,' meaning in London, this show is it," he said. "This show is it. This is the last thing he's ever going to do. As a result of this being his final performance ever, to be at the O2 in London, there was enormous response, understandably, and therefore we sold 50 shows."
With the Jackson case ending -- which Putnam called "ridiculous" -- "now we're going to start to show what actually occurred here," he said.
No Conrad Murray testimony
AEG Live's defense team confirmed Wednesday that they would not be calling Murray to testify.
"I have no intention of calling him myself, unless it's requested, your honor," Putnam said, replying to the judge's question about his plans.
Until now, AEG Live lawyers have suggested they might call Murray, who is serving a four-year jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter, to the witness stand.
Murray's lawyer gave the Jackson and AEG Live lawyers a sworn statement from the doctor before the trial began stating that he would invoke his constitutional protection against self-incrimination by refusing to answer questions if subpoenaed.
See you in September
Jurors, who were told when the trial started in April that it could end sometime in August, appeared unfazed when Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos told them this week that it is likely to extend into mid-September. Putnam estimated this week that he needs about 30 days in court to present his defense after the plaintiffs rest.
The jurors often have laughed and smiled in reaction to testimony and the interplay between Jackson lead lawyer Brian Panish, the judge and the AEG defense team.
For example, when Palazuelos ordered Panish to turn around and face the bench while AEG attorney Sabrina Strong cross-examined Erk, jurors seemed amused. Panish, whose seat was just in front of Strong's lectern, had been looking directly up at her at close range.
There were no laughs in the hallway after court on Tuesday when Panish and Putnam exchanged words. The two lawyers were standing about 15 feet apart, each talking to reporters, when they began directing their words at each other. The court clerk interrupted the heated conversation, threatening to summon deputies.
Palazuelos lectured the lawyers in her chambers the next morning and imposed new rules that bar them from speaking to journalists in the hallway.

 

[ivy]

NEWS/ Katherine Jackson Testifies at Michael Jackson Wrongful Death Trial
by Lily Harrison and Claudia Rosenbaum Today 2:29 PM PDT

Katherine Jackson, William Hall
Courtesy of Caesars
Katherine Jackson took the stand today in the wrongful death trial of her late son, Michael Jackson.
"The most difficult thing is to sit here in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son," the 83-year-old told a jury on the 12th week of testimony in her case against AEG.
She was in court wearing a purple floral blazer and purple skirt and watched various footage of her son performing songs, dancing from a young age until adulthood and show off his famous moonwalk on a video screen.
NEWS: Paris Jackson testifies in MIchael Jackson wrongful death trial
She spoke about all the things that Michael had done for her over the years—remodeling her house, taking care of her, etc. She also addressed the fact that Michael's children "loved Neverland."
Katherine then admitted that Michael suffered pain from "bad burns," back troubles, and his struggles with Vitiligo. She said that she knew about Michael taking pain pills, but claimed that she didn't know if he had an addiction problem.
"Sometimes the mother is the last to know," she told the courtroom.
The Jackson matriarch stated that no one could ever as "for a better son than Michael."
She broke down in tears as she spoke about first learning of her son's tragic death, saying, "They told me ‘he didn't make it, he didn't make it.'"
NEWS: Jury seated for Michael Jackson wrongful death trial
Prince Jackson, Katherine Jackson
Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil
Katherine said that the family put her in a room and brought Paris and Blanket in to keep her company. Paris, she said, kept telling her grandmother, "Daddy I want to go with you, I can't live without you."
Wiping her face with a tissue and attempting to control her tears, admitted that the adjustment has been especially difficult on Paris.
"I thought she was the bravest," she told the jury of her granddaughter. "She had a very hard time at first."
During cross-examination, Katherine said it was painful to sit in court and hear what others were saying about Michael.
"It's hard for me listening to how sick my son was," she said. "He was not a freak."
When asked if she understood that all of the witnesses called so far to the stand had been called by her attorney, she said simply, "yes."
An eyewitness tells E! News that she began to appear confused and tired after a long day of questioning and was dismissed in the afternoon. Katherine's testimony will reconvene on Monday.

http://www.eonline.com/news/440823/...m_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

 

[ivy]

Testimony by Jackson's mother to resume on Monday
Comments (0) | Print | Email
Source: Music News
Originally published: Jul 19, 2013 - 2:46 pm

FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas, Calif. Jackson is expected to be the final witness Friday, July 19, 2013, in the plaintiff’s case against AEG Live LLC. The Jackson family matriarch is suing the company, claiming it failed to adequately investigate the doctor convicted of giving her son an overdose of anesthetic in 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
zoom
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Questioning of Michael Jackson's mother has been suspended after a judge determined she needed a break for the weekend.

Katherine Jackson testified for about 10 minutes in an afternoon session before Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos questioned whether she could continue.

The Jackson family matriarch was undergoing cross-examination by an attorney for AEG Live LLC.

The 83-year-old woman is suing the concert promotion company, claiming it did not properly investigate the doctor who was convicted of causing her son's death.

An AEG attorney had been asking Katherine Jackson questions about who she had consulted before filing the lawsuit in September 2010.

Her attorney Brian Panish told the judge that his client had only slept for about three hours on Thursday night.

 

[ivy]

Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 31m
Katherine Jackson will resume testifying at 9:30 a.m. PDT on Monday. I'll be back in court then.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 32m
Shortly after that, the court broke for lunch.
I've covered the afternoon session with Mrs. Jackson in earlier tweets.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 32m
Panish noted that they'd addressed the issue when Ortega was on the stand.
The judge sustained the objection.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 33m
She looked down and said she forgot whether she had been informed.
Putnam asked other questions about Ortega, and Panish objected.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 34m
Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson about suing Kenny Ortega. He asked her whether she was informed when he was dismissed from the case.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 34m
Katherine Jackson: "My son needed another doctor, not Dr. Murray."
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 36m
She added, "To listen to how sick my son was and nobody was trying to help him."
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 37m
She also mentioned that an AEG executive had called her son a "freak."
"It hurts to sit here and listen to all these things," she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 38m
Katherine Jackson said she closed her ears to some things said during the trial, including Gongaware's explanation of his "lazy" remark.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 39m
Putnam asked whether Mrs. Jackson said heard Gongaware's explanation that her son didn't like to rehearse.
She said no.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 40m
Putnam asked her about things that were said in the case that weren't true. She cited the Gongaware "lazy" email.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 40m
Katherine Jackson said she didn't discuss it with her grandchildren either. Or Joe Jackson, _ she told jurors he doesn't live with her.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 41m
She said she didn't consult with her children before filing the case.
Putnam: "This was your descision alone?" "Yes," Mrs. Jackson replied.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 42m
Putnam only had a few minutes, and he asked Katherine Jackson about who she consulted with before filing her lawsuit.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 43m
Panish finished his questioning of Katherine Jackson, and AEG Live defense attorney Marvin Putnam took over.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 43m
Katherine Jackson: “He’s 11 but he’s going to cut it sooner or later,” she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 43m
Panish showed a picture of Blanket with long hair. Mrs. Jackson said he doesn’t want to cut it because that’s the way his dad liked it.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 43m
Mrs. Jackson said Paris got a necklace that was a broken heart. She placed one piece of it in her father’s casket and kept the other half.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 43m
Panish: “It’s OK, we’re going to get through this.” Katherine Jackson said she told Paris she was “going home with grandma.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 44m
She said when they left to go to Hayvenhurst, Paris Jackson asked where they were going. Katherine wiped her face with a tissue.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 44m
Mrs. Jackson said she was screaming, and her son’s children were crying. They kept going to the hospital morgue to try to see their dad.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 44m
Katherine Jackson said she had to ask who he was. Frank Dileo told her. It was Dileo who later told her that her son had died.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 44m
She said she was scared because it wasn’t clear who had been taken from the house. She went to the hospital and saw Murray pacing.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 45m
She was out doing “field service” for the Jehovah’s Witnesses on the day her son died. She said Joe called her saying there was trouble.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 45m
Panish asked about Conrad Murray, who Katherine Jackson said she never knew about until after her son’s death.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 45m
She said she and her nephew Trent would watch movies with Michael Jackson in his bedroom at the Carrolwood mansion.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 45m
(AEG Live has said no one was allowed in Michael Jackson’s bedroom.)
“Every time I went there, I went into his bedroom,” she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 45m
Panish asked whether Katherine Jackson ever visited the Carrolwood Drive mansion. She said yes, and she went into his bedroom.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
She said she called AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips and Tohme Tohme and told them he couldn’t do the shows the way they had them scheduled.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
Katherine Jackson: “He couldn’t do every other night like AEG wanted him to do at first.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
It was then that Panish asked Mrs. Jackson about whether her son could perform the 50 scheduled “This Is It” shows.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
She said she thought it was funny, but it was just a joke. She said 50 isn’t that old, and you necessarily don’t feel old at 50.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
He moved on, asking her about a deposition clip that was played in which she described her son saying he didn’t want to be on stage at 50.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
Katherine Jackson looked pained as she described her son as humble.
Panish asked if she was OK. She said yes.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 47m
Panish then asked Mrs. Jackson about losing her son and she started to break down. “That’s the worst thing that can happen to a person.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 47m
“He gave me everything,” she said. Panish asked about gifts. Cars, jewelry and a mobile home were mentioned as MJ's gifts to his mom.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 47m
He then asked whether she was financially dependent on her son. “Michael took care of me, my every need, my every want,” she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 47m
Panish then read a poem that Michael Jackson wrote for his mother. She said it made her cry when she first received it.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 48m
She said she didn’t notice that her son was especially thin, but added that he was wearing a jacket at the party.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 48m
It wasn’t actually their anniversary, she said. “I think Janet just named it that so we could have a party,” she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 48m
Panish asked Mrs. Jackson about seeing her son at a party in May 2009. It was billed as a 60th anniversary party for her and Joe Jackson.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 48m
She mentioned speaking to him again about it when he was living in Las Vegas. “He promised, he kept saying, ‘I’m OK,’” Mrs. Jackson said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 49m
“When we went out there, Michael was fine,” Katherine Jackson said. She said she could never prove that he had a problem.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 49m
She said she went to his house one time because her children were pushing for an intervention. She didn’t want to go, she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 49m
Mrs. Jackson said she knew he was taking pain pills. She said she dropped in on him unannounced and never saw any signs of misuse.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 49m
Panish asked whether she ever saw her son abuse medications. She said she didn’t, but she heard about it from her other children.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 49m
She said her son trusted his doctors and mentioned Dr. Allan Metzger was one of his primary care physicians.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 50m
She mentioned that Michael Jackson’s scalp had been burned, he had back pain. She also mentioned his Vitiligo.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 51m
The questioning then turned to darker issues, with Panish asking Mrs. Jackson about her son’s pain and medical conditions.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 51m
Mrs. Jackson said her grandchildren loved Neverland. Strangers didn’t believe them when they said they had giraffes and elephants as pets.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 51m
The Neverland video also showed the train station, which Michael Jackson named Katherine in honor of his mother.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 52m
It also featured the candy stand. Mrs. Jackson said that her son finally had his candy stand, an allusion to his childhood game.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 52m
After this, Panish showed a clip of Neverland Ranch, complete with music that played at the property. The video showed the rides, zoo.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 52m
Panish: “Did he get the door slammed in his face?”
Katherine Jackson: “Lots of times. They never knew who it was.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 52m
Katherine Jackson said she didn’t recognize him until he said, “It’s me mother.” They then went out and knocked on people’s doors.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 53m
He also wore a disguise when they went out to speak to people about being Jehovah’s Witnesses, Katherine Jackson said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 53m
One time was on the set of his short film “Ghost.” She visited the set and was greeted by a white man. It was MJ, in makeup.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 53m
She recounted a couple incidents in which her son Michael disguised himself and she didn’t realize it was him.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 53m
Mrs. Jackson said he surprised her by fixing up that room in that way. He also put up a plaque with a poem to his mom that's still there.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 54m
She discussed her son remodeling Hayvenhurst for her, and taking family photos and blowing them up to hang in his dance rehearsal space.
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Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 54m
Panish asked whether success got to her son’s head. “No,” she replied. “Michael was the most humble person around.”
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 54m
She mentioned that Michael lived at the family home at Hayvenhust until he was 30 years. He practiced dancing in a room above the garage.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 55m
Michael Jackson would write notes about how many records he wanted to sell from each album. She said his notes would come true.
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Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 55m
Panish then asked her about MJ’s practice of writing notes. He “wrote notes to himself all the time,” she said.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 55m
Katherine Jackson said her grandson Prince is a better student than Michael was, though. Panish played a clip from “The Wiz.”
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 55m
She told the jury that her son liked art and that some of his drawings had been sold. She mentioned his songwriting as well.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 55m
“My son is not lazy,” Katherine Jackson said. “You don’t get to be the biggest” _ she paused for several seconds _ “by being lazy.”
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 55m
Panish asked Katherine Jackson whether her son sat around and watched TV. No, she said.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 56m
It was a friend’s pit bull that they were watching, and the dog bit off a chunk of Randy’s arm, Katherine Jackson said.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 56m
Katherine Jackson also related why her son disliked dogs. She said it was because one badly bit his brother Randy when they were children.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 56m
Michael Jackson kept the rat in the inside breast pocket of his coat and was feeding it.
Katherine Jackson said she didn't like that.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 57m
Katherine Jackson: “Michael liked that song because he liked rats.” She mentioned him bringing one to a Beverly Hills restaurant.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 57m
Panish also played a clip of Jackson performing the song “Ben” at the Academy Awards. He was introduced by Charlton Heston.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 57m
He also played a clip from 1983’s “Motown 25” performance by the Jackson 5.
It was the first time MJ performed the Moonwalk.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 58m
Panish played a few video clips of the brothers performing and Michael Jackson dancing, singing as a youngster.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 59m
Sometimes, Mrs. Jackson said the girls would stay so late she would drive them home at night.
There was some laughter at that.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 59m
She said there were always a lot of female fans around their Hayvenhurst home. “I got so tired of it," she said.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 59m
Mrs. Jackson related some anecdotes of “Jackson Mania,” as her attorney Brian Panish described it.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 1h
“My dream was to live in California,” Katherine Jackson said.
She said she wanted to get away from cold Midwestern winters.
Expand
Anthony McCartneyAnthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 1h
She described seeing California depicted in news reel footage during WWII.
It was a lot of convertibles, palm trees, she said.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 1h
Mrs. Jackson described the family moving to California after signing with Motown Records. It was a place she’d wanted to live for years.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 1h
Finally had a chance to go back over my notes. Updates on Katherine Jackson's testimony coming up...
Expand
Alicia Rancilio ‏@aliciar 3h
FOX: Production on season five of #Glee has been delayed. New season to premiere Thursday, September 26.
Retweeted by Anthony McCartney
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Putnam was talking more slowly than normal. He asked Mrs. Jackson about dates of the suit, Conrad Murray trial.
She didn't recall them.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Panish said after Mrs. Jackson left that it might help if the questions are posed more slowly on Monday.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Putnam's questions centered on Katherine Jackson's discussions before filing her lawsuit. She'd been asked about this before lunch.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Her testimony is expected to wrap up on Monday. Panish said that Putnam indicated he had "hours" of questions.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish had told the court Mrs. Jackson would only testify for about an hour Friday afternoon.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
I'll have an updated story out soon. The judge conferred with Mrs. Jackson after she had difficulty answering several questions from Putnam.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
We're done for the day in Katherine Jackson vs AEG Live. Mrs. Jackson testified for about 10 mins before judge recessing for the weekend.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 4h
I've got to get back to the courtroom. Will try to post more before we go in session.
It's been difficult to get a signal today.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Mrs. Jackson described the family’s TV breaking down and not having money to fix it. Music filled the house instead.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
She said every year she’d buy ¼ or ½ a cow for food. “That’s how we would survive.”
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
She also described the family’s hardscrabble years as they struggled to scrape by. “I picked vegetables, I canned food,” Mrs. Jackson said.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
She described moving the family to Gary Ind. after marrying Joe Jackson.
They moved into a home on Jackson street, a coincidence.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
She was then shown photo of Michael Jackson when he was 2. He was smiling. “It shows him as a sweet little boy to me,” she said. “My baby.”
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Instead, she said Michael Jackson would the candy and play “Store Man,” a game in which he was merchant.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
She said Michael Jackson would save money to buy candy at the Little League field. But he didn't eat it all.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
The team was named after the mayor at the time, who sponsored the team, Katherine Jackson said.
The mayor was in the photo, next to her sons
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Panish also showed a photo of the Jackson’s home in Gary, Ind. & pics of Jermaine and Tito on their Little League team, the Katz Kittens.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Another photo was of Mrs. Jackson when she was in high school. She seemed embarrassed, and told the lawyer to take it down.
Panish did.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
One of the images was was a picture of Mrs. Jackson with her father and her son Michael.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
After this, Panish moved into a long series of questions about the family’s biography. Panish showed Katherine Jackson several family photos
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Katherine Jackson: “It makes me feel bad because I know my son was a very good person,” she said.
She mentioned his charitable giving.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Panish asked Mrs. Jackson about having to sit in court and hear a lot of questions she didn’t like.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
“A lot of the things that have been said are not the truth,” Mrs. Jackson said, adding about her son, “He’s not here to speak for himself.”
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Katherine Jackson said it was her first time she's testified in front of a jury, and the case has been difficult on her.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Panish asked Katherine if she was a private person. She said yes. “I leave the spotlight for my children,” Mrs. Jackson said.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Some updates from the morning session in Jackson vs. AEG Live coming up. Link to our latest story is here: http://yhoo.it/12BRHJR
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Defense attorney Marvin S. Putnan is doing the questioning for the concert promoter. I'll get some limited updates out shortly.
(Corrected)
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Plaintiff's attorney Marvin S. Putnan is doing the questioning for the concert promoter.
I'll get some limited updates out shortly.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
We're on the lunch break in Jackson vs AEG Live.
Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish finished his initial question, AEG has taken over.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5h
Jackson's mother says concert schedule worried her http://yhoo.it/12BRHJR
My updated @AP story on Katherine Jackson's testimony today.
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7h
We're about to go back into court. Here's another story link http://yhoo.it/16OQqAe _ it should update throughout the day.
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7h
Mrs. Jackson explained that when MJ named his son Prince, it wasn’t a King of Pop reference. It was a family name.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7h
Katherine Jackson She was born in Alabama. Her father’s name was Prince and she described his singing talents.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7h
So far, much of Mrs. Jackson's testimony has been biography. She has mentioned how hard the case has been, cited an AEG Live email once.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7h
Plaintiff’s attorney Brian Panish did the questioning of Mrs. Jackson. He escorted her to the witness box, helped her with the microphone.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7h
We're on a short break in Jackson vs AEG Live trial.
My story so far on Katherine Jackson's testimony is here: http://abcn.ws/130rhBk
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8h
Just a note to followers, I'll post stories and updates when possible. I can't tweet or send anything out from inside the courtroom.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8h
Katherine is sitting in her usual front seat row, with nephew Trent next to her. She’ll take the witness box once court resumes.
Expand
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8h
We’re about to go in session in Jackson vs AEG Live trial. Katherine Jackson is in court and will be testifying this morning.

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Jevohah's witnesses don't celebrate birthdays or other dates. They celebrate one day, that's Jesus last supper.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"I searched and found the true religion: Jehovah Witness," Mrs. Jackson testified.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She was raised Baptist, then became Lutheran and wasn't satisfied with that. When old enough to understand started searching.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"I was always close to God," Mrs. Jackson said. "II raised my children the best I can with spiritual guidance."
Expand
ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Michael would spend his money with candy and cookie, Mrs. Jackson said. He would set up a store to sell them.
Expand
ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Here's a picture of Jackie and Tito's baseball team. pic.twitter.com/rFvqnp95C8
View photo
ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She said she enjoyed having a large family and lived in a cul de sac near little league field. Jackie and Tito played baseball.
Expand
ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"I know how to prepare a potato every way you can think of," Mrs. Jackson said.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Panish: Are you a good cook?
Mrs. Jackson: The kids think so
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She said they didn't want to go on welfare. "We picked vegetables, fruits, keep in the freezer and that's how we survived."
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"I had to live payday to payday," Mrs. Jackson explained. "The money was scarce, we had to eat."
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson: I made a lot of clothes, watch the newspaper, bought a lot of things on sale, went down to Salvation Army to get shoes.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Panish: Did you always have a lot of money?
Mrs. Jackson: No, not at all
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She took a job, between Randy and Janet, since there was a 5 year gap. She was a clerk at Sears and Roebuck.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson said that sometimes she would wake up to them harmonizing singing. Joe worked in a steel mill, was sometimes laid off 2-4 weeks
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson said they had bunk beds. Jackie was the oldest, he got his own bunk. Randy was baby, slept in Katherine and Joe's room.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She raised 9 children:
Rebbie
Jackie
Tito
Jermaine
LaToya
Marlon
Michael
Randy
Janet
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
They bought a house on Jackson Street. "It was a coincidence," she said. It looked like a garage in a way. It was a 4 room, 2 bedroom house.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson married Joseph Jackson when she was 19 and he was 21. They lived in Gary, Indiana.
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ABC7 Court NewsABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Michael would spend the day with Make a Wish foundation.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson said Michael loved all children, especially those who had something wrong with them: orphans, hospitals for disable children.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson said she had polio as a child, Infantile Poliomyelitis. "I wore a brace on left leg from age 7 to 9," she said. "I was shy."
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"My father taught us to play the guitar," Mrs. Jackson said. Her sister played the cello. "We always had music around the house."
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Here's a picture of Katherine and her father with Michael Jackson. It was shown to the jury. pic.twitter.com/HAZ1XVhwwP
View photo
ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She said her mother would open the windows and his song rang over the valley.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson testified the musical talent came from her grandfather on her mother's side, Columbus Brown.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson said MJ named his son Prince because of her family. "He loved my father," she said.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Panish: When you learned MJ was going to name his son Prince, were you happy?
Mrs. Jackson: Very!
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs Jackson: My son was a very good person. He gave to charity, is on the record for giving to charity. I'm so nervous, I'm so sorry.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Panish: How does he make you feel that they said they were going to say you son was a bad person?
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"I want to know what really happened to my son and that's why I am here," Mrs. Jackson said.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Panish asked if she was here to speak on his behalf. "I will do my best," she answered.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"They are not true," she said. "He's not here to speak for himself."
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
"The most difficult thing is to seat there in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son," Mrs. Jackson explained.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She said she's a little hard time hearing. Mrs. Jackson testified she's a private person, she's always in the background of her children.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Panish: Did you get a lot of sleep last night?
Mrs. Jackson: No
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Mrs. Jackson said this is the first time she's testified in court and she is a little nervous.
Expand
ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
She said her date of birth is May 4, 1930, which makes her 83 years old.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
At 9:40 am PT, Katherine Jackson took the stand and was sworn in. She states her full name: Katherine Esther Jackson.
Expand
ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Brian Panish takes her hand and leads her to the witness stand. Her fingers are curled as she takes the oath.
Expand
ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 1h
Katherine Jackson arrived at 9:27am PT. She was wearing a purple and blue abstract print jacket.

 

[ivy]

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Jackson's mother blames promoter for not helping 'sick' son


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A courtroom sketch depicting the testimony of Katherine Jackson, mother of late pop star Michael Jackson, is pictured during Katherine Jackson's negligence suit against AEG Live at Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, California July 19, 2013. REUTERS/Mona Edwards
By Dana Feldman
LOS ANGELES | Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - The mother of late pop star Michael Jackson testified Friday in her wrongful death lawsuit that concert promoter AEG Live failed to get her son proper medical attention when he became sick while preparing for a comeback tour in 2009.

Katherine Jackson, 83, broke down when recalling the death of her famous son and later asked to suspend her testimony after growing distressed under cross-examination. It was the first time Jackson had taken the stand in the trial in which she and Michael's children are suing AEG Live.

The "Thriller" singer died at age 50 in June 2009 in Los Angeles from an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol while preparing for a series of shows in London.

The lawsuit alleges that AEG hired Dr. Conrad Murray as his personal physician. Murray was caring for the singer as he rehearsed for the shows and the doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering the propofol that killed Jackson.

Katherine Jackson's testimony on Friday ranged from a tearful recollection of learning her son had died to accounts of her family's humble beginnings in a four-room house in Gary, Indiana. She described Michael as a musically inclined baby who wanted to dance with his brothers.

Under cross-examination from AEG attorney Marvin Putnam, she grew frustrated and confused and ultimately asked to stop shortly after a lunch break. She returns to the stand on Monday.

When Putnam asked why she filed the lawsuit in 2010, she responded: "I want to find out what happened to my son."

"My son was being pressured," she added. "He asked for his father. My son was sick. Nobody said 'Call the doctor. What's wrong with him?' Nobody said that."

When Putnam said he did have a doctor, Jackson said: "My son needed another doctor, an outside doctor, not Dr. Murray."

Katherine Jackson's lawyer, Brian Panish, said later that his client had slept only three hours and accused the defense counsel of trying to mock her.

"If they want to continue to attack her, bring it on," Panish told reporters.

Michael Jackson had shown signs of physical distress as he prepared for his planned 50-date comeback concert "This Is It." Kenny Ortega, who was to direct the shows, has said that less than a week before Jackson's death, he turned up at rehearsals chilled, incoherent and psychologically troubled.

AEG Live has said it did not hire or supervise Murray and argues that Jackson had prescription drug and addiction problems for years before entering into any agreement with the company. AEG Live representatives have said they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.

'MR JACKSON WAS SICK'

The Jackson family matriarch has been a courtroom fixture since the trial began in late April, but said she was nervous on the stand because it was her first time testifying before a jury. She had also faithfully attended nearly all the hearings during the criminal trial of Murray.

Dressed in a purple print dress and purple jacket, Jackson told the court repeatedly that it was hard to sit there every day and listen to "to all the bad things they say about my son."

"All I heard was that he was lazy. Mr. Jackson was sick and couldn't rehearse," she said.

Jackson said she was very close to her son and that she depended on him financially at the time of his death. He fixed up the family house, gave her cash, cars and other gifts. "Michael took care of me," she told the court.

Jackson's will named Katherine Jackson and his three children as his only beneficiaries.

Jackson said she was unaware that her son had abused medication and that "sometimes the mother is the last to know." The family had a reunion in May 2009, and she said Michael had looked "OK."

"Then I saw he was thinner. I didn't notice at first because of how he was dressed. He had a jacket on," she said.

Michael's oldest son, Prince, 16, has already testified. The younger children Paris, 15, and 11-year-old Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, were not expected to testify. Michael's nephews T.J. and Taj Jackson, sons of brother Tito Jackson, have testified.

The family testimony has opened a window into Michael Jackson's character and his final days, in which they said he was a happy family man.

The trial, which started in April and was supposed to last three months, is expected to wrap up in September.

(Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Doina Chiacu)

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 3m
Mrs. Jackson will resume testimony on Monday at 9:30 am PT, with more cross examination. We hope to see you then! Have a great weekend!
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 4m
At this point, Mrs. Jackson spoke quietly to the judge and judge decided to end the day short, since she was too tired to continue.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 5m
Mrs. Jackson said "yes." Putnam understood she was answering yes to him. "I'm not saying yes for you," she responded. Everyone laughed.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 5m
Putnam asked if she provided any documents to her attorneys to give to them (defendants)?
Panish: Objection -- attorney-client privilege
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 6m
Mrs. Jackson: Before the Conrad Murray trial? I don't remember

There's no dispute as to the dates of Murray's criminal trial, Panish said.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 6m
Putnam: Is there anything you thought about other than the discussion with your attorneys that you consider in deciding to bring lawsuit?
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 7m
Putnam: Is it fair to say the criminal trial didn't play in this lawsuit?
Panish: Objection, attorney/client privilege.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 8m
Mrs. Jackson was at the criminal trial almost every day.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 8m
Putnam asked if it was before or after the criminal trial of Dr. Murray. She said she did not remember.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 8m
Putnam: Bringing lawsuit, hadn't spoken with grandchildren or children before filing the suit?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 9m
Panish told court Mrs. Jackson was sleeping over lunch hour, since she got very little sleep last night, and will be probably 1 hour in pm.
Expand
ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 10m
The attorneys stipulated that Mrs. Jackson dropped the lawsuit against Kenny Ortega. Then there was lunch break.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 10m
Putnam asked if she sued Kenny Ortega as well. She said she doesn't' remember, there was a list of people in the suit.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 12m
"My son was on prescription drugs, that doesn't make it true about other drugs they said he was on," Mrs. Jackson said.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 12m
Putnam questioned the fact that Mrs. Jackson's attorneys didn't deny the fact that her son had problems with drugs.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 12m
Putnam: It was very hard hearing all the bad things said about your son for the past 40 years?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 12m
"My son is dead, so anything about him said that is bad, it hurts," Mrs. Jackson explained.
Expand
ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 12m
Mrs. Jackson: I don't remember who sent it, I know it is hard to seat here and listen to it. He's not a freak.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 12m
Putnam asked if this was sent by someone who is not a party to this lawsuit, sent to AEG Live.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 13m
Putnam asked what was untrue and bad things said in the trial. Mrs. Jackson said 'they called him freak, having a chance to meet the freak.'
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 13m
"I want the truth on what happened," Katherine testified.
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 13m
Putnam: He didn't like 2 rehearse in prior tours. "Michael didn't have to rehearse a lot, he knew the moves, he helped create them" she said
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ABC7 Court News ?@ABC7Courts 15m
"He was not lazy," Mrs. Jackson said. "Mr. Jackson was sick, he couldn't rehearse."
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Putnam said Gongaware explained lazy was because her son was late for rehearsal.
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Mrs. Jackson: The doctor was for his children but I didn't know who he was. Later I heard it was Dr. Murray.
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Putnam asked about Dr. Murray: "My son needed another doctor, a real doctor," Mrs. Jackson said.
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Putnam then asked: But the witnesses called were by your attorney, right? Mrs. Jackson responded yes.
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Mrs. Jackson: It hurts to seat here in court and hear how sick my son was and no one was trying to help him.
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"Why he didn't take a dime home? Because he was giving it to charity."
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"This week I had to listen how broke his was, he didn't take a dime home," Mrs. Jackson said.
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Mrs. Jackson said it was hard for her to be sitting here in the courtroom and listening people "call my son a freak, saying he is lazy."
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Mrs. Jackson: My son was sick and Kenny Ortega said nobody gave him a cup of tea. Nobody said call the doctor, let's see what's wrong w/ him
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"I heard stories and I heard from my grandson he was being pressured, that he was asking for his father, that Joe would know what to do."
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"I wanted to find out, I think I owe it to my son to find out what really happened to him," Mrs. Jackson said.
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"My life is as private as much as I can keep it private," she said. She said she was nervous being in front of people she doesn't know.
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Putnam asked her if she gave interviews to Dateline, 20/20, Oprah (after my son died). She said yes.
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"My family is famous, I was always on the background," Mrs. Jackson explained.
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Putnam asked her that despite being very private person she brought on this lawsuit and has lived a very public life for the past 40 years.
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She never talked to MJ's children about it, discussed with her children after, but not with Joe.
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She doesn't remember when it was filed, brought it on her behalf and the children. It was her choice to bring this lawsuit.
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Putnam: You initiated this lawsuit against AEG Live?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes
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Putnam asked if Katherine saw all the exhibits that were going to bed shown in court today. She said yes.
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Panish finished direct examination. AEG's Marvin Putnam did cross examination.
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Panish: Mrs. Jackson, do you miss your son?
Mrs. Jackson: Words can't explain
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"Words could not describe the love for his children," Mrs. Jackson described.
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Mrs. Jackson said MJ's writing changed, he was more loving and meaningful, he wrote from his heart more.
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"Michael was one of the best fathers," Mrs. Jackson said. "You'd be surprised what a good father he was."
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Blanket doesn't want to cut his hair. Daddy loved his hair, so he doesn't want to cut it.
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Panish asked how Paris is affected. "Oh My God! She wanted to go where daddy was," Mrs. Jackson said.
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Paris took MJ's pajama top, didn't want anyone to wash it. She sat it on her bed.
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Prince is affected by not spending time with his father, Mrs. Jackson said.
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Mrs. Jackson said Paris was looking for a special heart. She found a broken heart, hung one part in Michael's neck and she put on the other.
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Paris' whole room is a collage of picture just like MJ had, Mrs. Jackson said.
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Paris had 5 big pictures of Michael in her room and Mrs. Jackson said she wondered how she could do that, she saw them and felt so sad.
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Panish asked about the adjustment without their father. She said the two boys I can say fine. Paris is having the hardest time.
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When they left, Paris said 'grandma, where are we going?' Mrs. Jackson told her 'you are going home with grandma.'
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"I went down to the morgue, never wanted to see Michael like that," Mrs. Jackson testified, crying.
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Mrs. Jackson: They were there hugging and saying 'Daddy, I love you!'
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"Paris was saying 'dad I want to do with you (crying), I can't live without you' that's what she kept saying."
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Mrs. Jackson didn't see the children until later. "I was crying so hard," she said.
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"Michael had a reaction," they told Mrs Jackson. "I said how is he? Did he make it? Did he make it? And Frank said no," she recalled, crying
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Mrs. Jackson: Nobody wanted to tell me, I was seating and waiting, I guess they were back debating.
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Mrs. Jackson said she saw many people who worked with Michael at the hospital, like Frank DiLeo. Dr. Murray was pacing back and forth.
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"Later on I got a call to go to the hospital, I thought he was just sick," Mrs. Jackson said.
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She said she had been out on field service and she said one of the fans said they brought someone out on a gurney completely covered up.
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Mrs. Jackson didn't know who Conrad Murray was until after MJ died. She didn't know MJ had died when she arrived at the hospital.
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Mrs. Jackson said she didn't think her son could do 50 shows every other night as was planned. She called Randy Phillips and Dr. Tohme.
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She said he was joking when he said he didn't want to do the Moonwalk at age 50. "He used to think that 50 was really old."
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Mrs. Jackson said she lost the best thing ever as she wiped out tears.

She said she heard about the This Is It tour through Grace Rwamba.
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"When a mother loses a child," Mrs. Jackson said crying "that's the worse than can happen to a person."
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Mrs. Jackson: That's the worse thing that could happen. When I lost Michael I lost everything. He was the most loving, very, very humble.
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As to how she's affect by the loss of love, support:
Mrs. Jackson: No one knows until it happened to some
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Panish: Did he give you money?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes, cash. Michael never wrote checks
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Panish: Did he give you gifts?
Mrs Jackson: All the time. He gave me everything, the necessities of life, gifts, cars, jewelry, mobile homes
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Panish: When you received that, how did it make you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: I cried
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"Mother, My Guardian Angel" -- by Michael Jackson pic.twitter.com/ElcO7ITREY
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Handwritten note from Michael to Katherine Jackson. pic.twitter.com/KddXYIiCqz
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Panish: How did that make you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: It made me cry for one thing... I felt very loved.
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Poem Michael wrote to his mother. pic.twitter.com/Trv1J3itVr
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"Michael and I were very close," Mrs. Jackson said. He was the son -- a mother wouldn't want a better son than Michael. He was very shy."
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Mrs. Jackson: At time time to me Michael looked ok. Later, I saw he was thin, he was dressed in jacket and all, I didn't notice he was thin.
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Picture of Katherine Jackson's 60th anniversary in May 2009. pic.twitter.com/9LjmzJWxMx
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Mrs. Jackson: Sometimes a mother is the last to know... and sometimes you are embarrassed.
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She went to MJ's Las Vegas home and talked to him about drug abuse. Michael said "Mom, I'm okay, I'm okay."
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The other children told her it would mean much more if she went. "When we got there, Michael was fine," Mrs. Jackson said.
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She said she tried an intervention because she heard from the other kids but didn't think he was abusing drugs.
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Mrs. Jackson: I know he was taking pain medications. Many times I went to his room unannounced and I never saw him that way.
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Panish: Did you ever see Michael abuse drugs or medications?
Mrs. Jackson: No, I never saw
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He didn't talk much about his insomnia, Mrs. Jackson said. He couldn't sleep at all at night when he was at home.
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He had back injury too, she said. He had vitiligo, a disease that turns the skin white. "He just wanted to get it over with" she explained.
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Mrs. Jackson: He took that money from Pepsi settlement and donated it to the children's burn center.
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Mrs. Jackson said Michael had been burned, badly burned, and was in a lot of pain. He had a balloon under the scalp.
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One lady once told Grace 'don't they have great imaginations,' she said.
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The kids would go to Chuck & Cheese and other kids would ask do you have animals? They would say elephant, giraffes, Mrs. Jackson recalled.
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Katherine said the children loved Neverland.They were homeschooled.
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Panish: Did it have a train station?
Katherine: Yes
P: What is it called?
Mrs. J.: Katherine
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In the movie theater, Katherine said they had special chair for sick children who couldn't seat in regular seats.
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Mrs. Jackson said Michael made the ranch available to people. He opened it to disable children, would invite classes of children.
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"He finally got a candy store," Mrs. Jackson said.
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In 1988, Michael purchased Neverland. Panish showed video of it, the animals, roller coast, poem written by Michael, movie theater.
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Michael was involved in the Jehovah Witness for a while, did "filed service." He had to disguise himself, wore a fat suit.
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Mrs. Jackson: I was seating at the set, a white male man came to me and I said I'm here to see my son. He said 'mom, it's me!'
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Panish: Did MJ like music videos?
Mrs. Jackson: Oh yes. They were like short movies, Thriller. He invited me down while doing movie "Ghost."
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Panish showed video of the room. "He gave this to me," Mrs. Jackson said. Even the ceiling has pictures. "Everything is covered."
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Plaque to Katherine Jackson pic.twitter.com/ykKiZjKBfI
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He then got all the pictures and put them on the wall instead of wallpaper. He said 'here's your surprise,' she said.
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"The way you see Hayvenhurst is the way he rebuilt it," Mrs. Jackson said. He had a room upstairs he didn't want anyone to go in.
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But by that time houses had gone up to millions of dollars, so he decided to rebuild the house.
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MJ continued to live with Mrs. Jackson until her was 30. "When he became 18, he wanted to buy me a house," she testified.
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The sequined silver jacket MJ was using in Billie Jean was Katherine's. He went into her closet, got it before the show, never gave it back.
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He used to practice all the time, Mrs. Jackson said. He has a room over the garage where he danced two hours straight without stoping.
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Panish showed video of the first time MJ did the Moonwalk (Billie Jean song). Jurors smiled.
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He wanted to be known as MJ, not little Michael or little Jackson, Mrs. Jackson explained.
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She said he'd write where he wanted to be at certain time, how he wanted an album to sell. He was still living at home in Hayvenhurst.
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Panish: When Michael was 21, did he write down what his goals were?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes, Michael wrote notes to himself
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Katherine said Michael and Quincy Jones got along very well, worked together in various projects: Thriller, Bad, Off the Wall.
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Jurors were highly entertained at this point. Some smiled, some pursed their lips as if they were trying not to smile.
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MJ was a straight A student. He liked movies, Katherine named a few: The Wiz, Sidney, 12 Angry Men. Panish show snippet of The Wiz.
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"My son was not lazy," Mrs. Jackson said. "That is the biggest lie around."
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Katherine said Michael didn't seat and watch TV. She said it's very hard for her to seat and watch them talking about Michael being lazy.
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Michael was a very good artist, Mrs. Jackson said. He did a lot of art in school and some of this pictures have been sold. He'd write songs.
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Despite that, Michael got a chocolate Labrador for the children, named Kenya. They had a turkey, a parrot, ferrets, mice, cats.
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Michael didn't like dogs, Mrs. Jackson said. She recalls one day of a dog bite and Michael been afraid ever since.
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Mrs. Jackson said MJ liked rats. One time they went to Beverly Hills to have dinner and he kept putting crumbs in his pocket to feed the rat
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Panish: Were you nervous about it?
Mrs. Jackson: I was a little bit, but he did well
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Special performances surprised Mrs. Jackson. When he was 14 he sang solo in the Academy Awards shows. "I was very proud of him," she said.
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Panish: As mother, when you saw MJ perform like that, how did you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: I felt very proud
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Panish showed video of their early life in Gary, Indiana, dancing at 5, Motown, audition, ABC song, TV show, Motown 25.
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"They'd come and stay all day and sometimes they stayed so late I had to drive them home," Mrs. Jackson remembered.
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Mrs. Jackson explained the Jacksonmania that happened at this time. Shes said there was so many girls around the house she got tired of it.
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Jackson 5 started making records when they signed with Motown. The first 4 singles became number one records, Mrs. Jackson recalled.
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"I had always wanted to live in California," Mrs. Jackson explained, since Gary, Indiana was so cold and snowed.
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They signed with Motown in 1968. The boys moved first to California, Katherine came four months later.
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Mrs. Jackson: When Gladys Knight and Temptations would ask for us to be on stage with them and they got paid that way.
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Mrs. Jackson said she made the suits. She said they were called "Homemade suits" (the jury laughed) pic.twitter.com/LlTIwqBSrQ
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Jackson 5: The boys rehearsed at the house. "We saved money to buy amplifiers," Mrs. Jackson said. pic.twitter.com/97UJ3wehza
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Panish: How did that make you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: I cried

Jackson 5 lost a contest once to a boy who lived next door and won that year.
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Mrs. Jackson: Michael was 5 and the sang Climb Every Mountain. He started singing, my father and I cried like a baby.
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Originally, the name was Jackson Brothers Five, but the name was too long, so they cut it short to Jackson 5.
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Michael won every contest. When the other kids knew the Jacksons were coming they were Oh my God!, Mrs. Jackson said.
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There was not a lot to do in Gary, Mrs. Jackson said. So the high school had events and the boys would win every time there was a contest.
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They were very young, they danced and sang. Michael was 5 years old, they went on to contests at school, then professional.
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The children would sing and dance, she said. "We always had music in the house."
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Mrs. Jackson: We had an old TV, TV would break, had a TV man take it aways and sometimes didn't have money to get it back.
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The children loved the Temptations and imitated them all the time, Mrs. Jackson said. Panish asked if they had television in the house.
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MJ would be dancing to the squeaking noise. "He was dancing and sucking in bottles," Mrs. Jackson said.
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Mrs. Jackson told a story when she had a Maytag with roller that squeezes water out. It was old and rusty and it would make a squeaky noise
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Panish asked when MJ showed he loved music. "He was born dancing," Mrs. Jackson said. "He was in my arms and couldn't be still, was dancing"
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Michael was always sensitive and loving, Mrs. Jackson said. One day, when his brother was sick, Michael was holding his hand and cried.
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Michael was born Aug 21, 1958. As to this photo: "It shows my sweet little boy to me," Mrs. Jackson said. pic.twitter.com/eFYPVjZMaB
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Picture of Katherine Jackson during her high school years. "Oh my God, that's me," a shy Mrs. Jackson said. pic.twitter.com/nF3u9OfvSE
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Some became Witnesses, Michael, Rebbie and LaToya. The others are not. Her husband wasn't a witness, so they didn't stop holidays right away

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52- July 19 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

http://ktla.com/2013/07/19/katherine-jackson-testifies-in-lawsuit-against-aeg/#axzz2ZWwmxJFe

video shown at court today. It has previously unseen footage of Michael and his kids

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/enterta...chael-jacksons-home-movies-and-family-photos/

 

[PrɛttyღBµʈʈɇrƒℓу]

Michael Jackson’s Mother Denounces ‘The Biggest Lie’ About Her Son


By Lesley Messer
@lesleymesser
Follow on Twitter

Jul 20, 2013 3:35pm

Katherine Jackson said her son, Michael Jackson, was a loving father and a doting son, and said it is hard to hear what she believes are misconceptions of the King of Pop, who died in 2009 at the age of 50 after being given a lethal dose of the drug propofol.

“The most difficult thing is to sit there in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son,” she said on the stand Friday her family’s wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live, the company that was promoting the world tour Michael Jackson was preparing for when he died. “[They] call my son a freak, saying he is lazy.

“My son was not lazy,” Jackson, 83, continued. “That is the biggest lie around.”

Home Movies and Family Photos Give an Intimate Look Into Michael Jackson’s Life

In addition to being a singer/songwriter, Michael Jackson was a very good artist, his mother said, adding that some of his work has been sold. And of course, “he was born dancing,” she said. “He was in my arms and couldn’t be still, was dancing.”

She also described Michael as a philanthropist who took joy in helping others, including his family. When asked if he ever gave her gifts, Jackson responded, “All the time. He gave me everything, the necessities of life, gifts, cars, jewelry, mobile homes.”

Prince Jackson Details His Life with His Dad, Michael Jackson

However, she did not think he was physically able to complete the grueling world tour he had planned, and added that she called AEG Live’s CEO Randy Phillips and Jackson’s former manager, Dr. Tohme Tohme, about it. She said she didn’t know Conrad Murray, the doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, until after Michael had died.

“When a mother loses a child,” she said, crying, “that’s the worst than can happen to a person.”
“Michael and I were very close,” she added. “He was the son — a mother wouldn’t want a better son than Michael.”


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/enterta...ther-denounces-the-biggest-lie-about-her-son/

 

[ivy]

Jacksons vs AEG - Day 53- July 22 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Jacksons vs AEG - Day 53- July 22 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Use this thread to post any and all news stories from day 53 of Katherine Jackson vs. AEG trial.

Daily news threads are merged into the main News thread in the stickies

Please help the staff by posting all the news stories as well as tweets from media you see.

Please Don't post updates or tweets from Fans in news thread

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 53- July 22 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Michael Jackson's mom faces cross examination in death trial
By Alan Duke, CNN
updated 1:33 AM EDT, Mon July 22, 2013
Katherine Jackson: Michael's mother, 82, was deposed for nine hours over three days by AEG Live lawyers. As the guardian of her son's three children, she is a plaintiff in the wrongful death lawsuit against the company that promoted Michael Jackson's comeback concerts. Katherine Jackson: Michael's mother, 82, was deposed for nine hours over three days by AEG Live lawyers. As the guardian of her son's three children, she is a plaintiff in the wrongful death lawsuit against the company that promoted Michael Jackson's comeback concerts.
HIDE CAPTION
Key players in Jackson wrongful death trial

>>
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Katherine Jackson "lost her temper a little bit" under questioning Friday, lawyer says
Jurors appeared to pay close attention, leaning forward and often smiling as Jackson testified
Young Michael Jackson was "a sweet little boy," his mother says
Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyer hints he may be willing to testify in the trial

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's mother faces more questioning Monday from a lawyer for the concert promoter she's suing in her son's death.
Katherine Jackson became "confused and tired" when AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam asked her "some pretty complex questions very fast" during his cross examination Friday, her attorney said.
"She was trying to answer the questions the best she could," Jackson lawyer Brian Panish said. "I think maybe she lost her temper a little bit and she tried to restrain herself in a very Christian-like way."
The judge adjourned court two hours early Friday when Jackson told her she needed to rest, but she resumes her testimony in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday morning.
Katherine Jackson: 'I want to know what really happened'
Paris Jackson's deposition
She is the lead plaintiff -- along with Michael Jackson's three children -- in a wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live. The suit contends the agency is liable in his death because it hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who is serving a prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the pop icon's death.
AEG Live lawyers, who will begin presenting their defense once Katherine Jackson's testimony ends, promised in opening statements 12 weeks ago to show the jury "ugly stuff" to prove that Michael Jackson was responsible for his own death.
Jackson testified that she filed the lawsuit "because I want to know what really happened to my son."
Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, from an overdose of a surgical anesthetic administered by Murray, just two weeks before his "This It It" concerts were set to premiere at AEG's O2 Arena in London.
His mother testified that she believed her son could have completed the 50 scheduled shows concerts "if they had been spaced out."
She called AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips because she was worried that the schedule didn't give him enough rest between shows.
"I told him Michael can't do those shows, you have to change the schedule," she said. "If they spaced them out, he could have done a million shows."
Humble beginnings
Last week, jurors appeared to pay close attention, leaning forward and often smiling, as the matriarch of one of the world's most famous entertainment families recounted how she and her husband raised nine children in a tiny Gary, Indiana, home. They saw rare home videos of the Jacksons and heard songs Michael wrote for his children.
"I want the jurors to just recognize that there's people involved in this case," Panish said, explaining the significance of the mother's testimony. "We've seen a lot of testimony about numbers and e-mails, but there are people behind it all."
The testimony was perhaps more intimate and revealing than a Barbara Walters television special. As with a Walters interview, there were tears.
Katherine Jackson's family moved to East Chicago, Illinois, just three years after she was born in rural Barbour County, Alabama, in 1930, she said. She wore a brace on her left leg as a child because she suffered from polio.
Musical talent ran in her family, including a great-grandfather known as "a very good singer." She played the clarinet in the high school band.
She was 19 when she married Joe Jackson, a 21-year-old steel mill worker. The couple bought a four-room house, about the size of a garage, that was coincidentally located on Jackson Street in Gary, she said.
The two oldest girls slept on a couch in the living room, while the boys slept on bunk beds in one of the two bedrooms, she said. The closeness may have contributed to their music careers. "I would wake up to the boys harmonizing and singing," Jackson said.
The growing family lived "payday to payday," stretching the money by dressing the children in homemade clothes, getting shoes from the Salvation Army, watching newspaper ads for sales and driving into the country to pick vegetables, she said.
"I knew how to cook a potato in every way," Jackson joked, when asked if she was a good cook.
Jackson took a sales clerk job at the Sears Roebuck store in Gary just before her youngest child, Janet, came along, she said.
Young Michael was "a sweet little boy," she said, always "sensitive and loving." His mother recounted how 3-year-old Michael held Randy's hand and cried because his younger brother was sick.
His mother saw early signs of her son's talent. He would kick while in her arms when he heard music, she said. "When he started to walk, he was dancing."
Michael's earliest dancing was to the rhythm of a rusty old washing machine. "He was down there dancing while sucking the bottle to the squeaking of the washer," she said.
He would "save his pennies and nickels" to buy candy, which he used to set up a store. "He liked to play 'store man,' " she testified.
While the family had an old television set, it would often break down, she said. Her children first started singing for entertainment when there was no money to pay the TV repairman.
The brothers took their singing beyond the home by entering school talent shows. "It had got so that they won all the contests," she said. "They would see the Jacksons coming and say 'Oh, my God, they're going to win again.'"
Their mother initially named their group "The Jackson Brothers 5," but a woman who was composing an ad for an appearance shortened it to "The Jackson 5," she said.
Michael's first public performance came when he sang "Climb Every Mountain" in a school program when he was just 5, she said.
"He started singing the song, and he sang it with such clarity, not flat or anything. I sat there and cried. He got a standing ovation."
Although Jermaine was initially the lead singer, Michael got the job after his mother forced her husband to listen to him sing, she said.
Singing gigs started to pay after Motown artists Gladys Knight & the Pips and The Temptations began hiring them as opening acts whenever they were performing near Gary, she said. Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. signed the Jackson 5 to a contract, and their first four singles became No. 1 hits, she said.
The family moved to Los Angeles just as "Jackson mania" was breaking out, she said. "There were so many girls around he house I got so tired of it," she said.
Jurors saw a clip of 14-year-old Michael singing "Ben" at the Oscar Awards in 1973. "He liked that song because he liked the rats," his mother said.
She then told a story about discovering her son had a mouse in his pocket during dinner at a Beverly Hills restaurant. "I was very upset with him."
'Everything went dark'
Jackson described when she learned her son had died at the emergency room at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center.
"Everything went dark and I just started screaming," she said.
Then the children -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- were told.
"Paris was screaming, looking up at the sky saying 'Daddy, I want to go with you, I can't live without you,' " she testified. "Paris looked at me and asked 'Grandma, where are we going?' I told her 'You're going home with grandma.' "
Paris has had "the hardest time" since her father's death, she said.
"One of my grandchildren told me that she would tell them that she wants to go where her daddy was," she said.
Now 15, Paris has been in a psychiatric facility for treatment since a suicide attempt on June 5.
Jackson lawyers punctuated their presentation with a montage of home videos of Michael Jackson with his children, using a recording of his song "Speechless." Jackson said her son wrote the song about a father's love for his children -- and the lack of words to express it -- in just 45 minutes.
"Mrs. Jackson, do you miss your son?" Panish asked her as he concluded his direct questioning
"Words can't explain," she replied.
Cross examination by AEG team
Putnam's questioning of Katherine Jackson began when he inquired whether it was her personal decision -- or someone else's -- to file the wrongful death lawsuit.
It was hers alone, she said. She did not discuss it with her husband or grandchildren.
"I've heard a lot of stories," she said. The trial may bring her answers, she hoped.
"I want to know the truth, what happened to him," she said.
Jackson appeared upset, complaining about the suggestions by an AEG Live lawyer last week that her son was broke when he died.
"Because he gave it to charity," she said. "It hurts to sit here and listen to all those things."
She complained to Putnam that AEG Live executives did not call "an outside doctor" to help her son after show director Kenny Ortega told them he needed urgent help in his last days.
"My son needed another doctor, not Dr. Murray," she said.
Jackson then recalled an e-mail written by a top AEG executive referring to Michael Jackson as "the freak" just hours before their company signed the pop icon to a huge concert deal.
"They called him a freak," she said. "They were making fun of him -- 'Finally get a chance to meet the freak.' "
"My son is dead," she said. "He's not here to talk for himself."
Dr. Conrad Murray testimony?
The doctor who was convicted in Jackson's death is "following the trial closely" from the jail where he is serving a four-year sentence, his lawyer, Valerie Wass, said Friday. She was in the courtroom to hear Jackson's testimony.
She surprised reporters afterward by hinting that Murray may be willing to testify in the trial, despite earlier signing a statement saying he would not since his appeal is still pending.
"It's been his intention all along to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege, but it's something we're re-evaluating on a daily basis, and it's possible he might want to testify," Wass said. He might "be willing to testify about certain aspects of the case."
AEG Live's defense team told the judge last week they have no intention of calling the doctor as a witness. Jackson's lead lawyer said Friday he's not "sure Conrad Murray is going to add much."
"I don't see how he could be incriminated by telling the truth at this point," Wass said. "We're considering it. We're both discussing the issue."

 

[ivy]

ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 1m
Katherine Jackson on the stand. Session about to begin. We'll bring you all the details as soon as possible.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 1m
Judge told attorneys none of the steps have been taken yet, which means it's probably very unlikely they'd be able to get Dr. Murray in.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 2m
Putnam responded on Friday he has no intention of calling him. Judge said there are several steps needed to bring an inmate to testify.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 4m
Judge Yvette Palazuelos asked AEG attorney Marvin Putnam again on Friday whether he intends to call Dr. Murray to testify.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 5m
@lozie49 Thank you! Exciting day in the UK!!!! We're all anxiously waiting for the Royal baby too!
View conversation
ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 6m
@_ValeJackson_ The latest estimate is mid-September. AEG attorney told judge he wants to conclude his case by the end of August.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 6m
@THENOTORIOUSSS Session was set to begin about 20 minutes ago. It has not yet started.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 7m
They wanted to call Rwamba today, but they said she has a medical condition (lupus) that may prevent her from coming.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 9m
The only witnesses remaining for the Jacksons are Kenny Ortega (who needs to come back for cross) and nanny Grace Rwamba.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 9m
What are your thoughts so far about the trial?Jacksons' attorney, Brian Panish, said he's ending his case in chief.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 10m
Our reporter Miriam Hernandez is in the courtroom. We are in the overflow room, where a lot of fans are.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 11m
@ElkeHassell We also hope you had a great weekend too! Thank you for following us! ;-)
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 14m
For all the latest news, watch @ABC7 and go to http://www.abc7.com
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 14m
Here's our Friday's story on Katherine's testimony: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/entertainment&id=9178213 …
View summary
ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 16m
Session has not started yet. As a reminder, we can't live tweet, per judge's ruling. We'll bring you all the coverage as soon as we can.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 17m
Mrs. Jackson spent a few hours on the stand on Friday detailing the humble beginning of MJ's life and how he rose to fame.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 17m
Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine, is set to take the stand again today to resume cross examination.
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ABC7 Court News ‏@ABC7Courts 19m
Hello from the courthouse in downtwon LA. Day 53 of Jackson Family vs AEG trial just about to begin. This is Week 13 of the trial.

 

[ivy]

Re: Jacksons vs AEG - Day 53- July 22 2013 - News Only (no discussion)

Michael Jackson's mother says she doesn't believe he had any responsibility for his death
Jackson's mother says son didn't cause own death

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 3 minutes ago in Lifestyle

Michael Jackson's mother says she doesn't believe her son bears any responsibility for his own death.


Katherine Jackson was responding Monday to a question from attorney Marvin Putnam, who represents AEG Live LLC, the promoter of her son's ill-fated "This Is It" concerts.

The 83-year-old Jackson family matriarch is suing AEG Live claiming it failed to properly investigate the doctor who was later convicted of causing her son's death in June 2009.

AEG Live denies it hired the doctor or bears any responsibility for Michael Jackson's death.

 

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson returns to witness stand confused and with memory problems
Maria Elena Fernandez NBC News
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8 minutes ago

Katherine Jackson arrives at the world premiere of "Michael Jackson ONE" by Cirque du Soleil" in Las Vegas in 2012.
Ethan Miller / Getty Images
Katherine Jackson in Las Vegas in June 2012.
Appearing sometimes confused and citing memory problems, Katherine Jackson faced cross-examination for a second day in the Los Angeles courtroom where she is suing the concert promoters in charge of what would have been Michael Jackson's last tour.

Repeating her testimony from Friday that she was not aware her son was a drug addict, Katherine said that she never saw her son under the influence of drugs and never saw him “loopy, or out of it," even on the telephone. But, after her other children told her they believed he was addicted to prescription drugs and Michael denied it to her, she participated in an intervention at the Neverland ranch in 2002.

“I knew he was taking them (pain pills) but I didn’t know he was abusing them,” Katherine told the jury. She said Michael was upset when the family staged the intervention "because when we got there, there was nothing wrong with him.” The intervention, she added, didn't really take place because he was upset and yelled at them and she became embarrassed to be there, she testified.

Katherine Jackson, 83, and Michael Jackson's three children have sued AEG Live claiming the entertainment company that promoted the King of Pop's last concerts failed to pick up on warning signs that could have saved his life. As part of the lawsuit, the Jackson family also alleges that AEG did not properly investigate Conrad Murray, the doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the superstar's death in 2011 and sentenced to four years in prison.

Jackson died while rehearsing his 50-show comeback tour in London, three weeks before the tour was to start. His two eldest children have also testified at the trial, 16-year-old Michael Jackson, Jr. known as "Prince," who testified about his relationship with his dad and the harrowing day he lost his father; and his sister, Paris, 15, who offered videotaped testimony. Paris is currently being treated in a hospital after a suicide attempt in June. On Friday, her grandmother testified that Paris tried to kill herself "because she wanted to be with daddy."

On Monday, Katherine testified that she did not believe her son was responsible for his death. When questioned by AEG lead counsel Marvin Putnam, she "did not remember" if she attended Murray's manslaughter trial and assisted the prosecution in that case.

Katherine also said she did not know that her son used Propofol and that he gave Murray money "because he felt bad for [him] because he didn't have no money--not because he had hired him." Despite the fact that she is “83-year-old and may not remember everything clearly,” Katherine testified that she distinctly remembers that AEG hired Murray--not her son. She had no idea the doctor spent six nights a week at her son's home.

Katherine could not recall if she had a bank account in 2010 and said she was surprised to learn that her son was having financial problems before his death. “I heard that from different people,” she said. “I heard for years that Michael Jackson was broke but he wasn’t.”

 

[ivy]

Jackson's mother resumes testimony in LA courtroom
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FILE - In this June 29, 2013 file photo, Prince Jackson, left, and Katherine Jackson arrive at the world premiere of "Michael Jackson ONE" at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The Jackson family matriarch tearfully testified in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday, July 19, 2013, about her son, Michael Jackson's death and her concerns about the pace of his planned comeback concerts. She is suing concert promoter AEG Live LLC, claiming it failed to properly investigate the doctor who administered a fatal dose of anesthetic to her son in June 2009. (Photo by David Becker/Invision/AP, File).
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FILE - In this June 29, 2013 file photo, Prince Jackson, left, and Katherine Jackson arrive at the world premiere of "Michael Jackson ONE" at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The Jackson family matriarch tearfully testified in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday, July 19, 2013, about her son, Michael Jackson's death and her concerns about the pace of his planned comeback concerts. She is suing concert promoter AEG Live LLC, claiming it failed to properly investigate the doctor who administered a fatal dose of anesthetic to her son in June 2009. (Photo by David Becker/Invision/AP, File)
Associated Press ANTHONY McCARTNEY 23 minutes ago
CelebritiesArts & Entertainment

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's mother testified Monday that she does not believe her son had any responsibility for his own death.

Katherine Jackson was responding to a question from attorney Marvin Putnam, who represents AEG Live LLC, the promoter of her son's ill-fated "This Is It" concerts.

Katherine Jackson, 83, is suing AEG Live, claiming it failed to properly investigate Dr. Conrad Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving the singer an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.

Putnam told jurors during opening statements in the negligence lawsuit in April that the case centered on personal responsibility — specifically Michael Jackson's decision to ask Murray to administer propofol as a sleep aid while he prepared for his shows.

AEG Live denies it hired the doctor or bears any responsibility for Michael Jackson's death.

Katherine Jackson said she believes AEG Live hired Murray, not her son. She said she never heard of the cardiologist until her son died, and indicated that she felt Murray bore responsibility for her son's death.

"Even though he asked for it, he could have said no," Katherine Jackson said of Murray.

She said she asked prosecutors to drop a $100 million restitution claim against Murray because he has several children.

"His money should go to the children," she said.

Putnam also asked Katherine Jackson about her son's payments to her over the years. She said he directly paid many of the expenses on her home and would occasionally give her cash as a gift.

Katherine Jackson said she didn't keep track of the payments and appeared to grow annoyed at the questions.

"What does this have to do with the death of my son," she asked Putnam.

The attorney also asked about Katherine Jackson about conversations she had with her son about prescription drug use.

She said she asked him about it when he lived in Las Vegas and he denied he was abusing prescription medications.

"I'm a mother, quite naturally he denied it," she said. "He wouldn't want me to think that."

She said she was aware her son took medications for pain in his back and scalp after he sustained injuries over his career. She said she never saw signs that her son was abusing medications, including when she and several of her children went to the singer's Neverland Ranch for an intervention.

Her son was fine but upset that they thought he had a problem.

Katherine Jackson began her testimony on Friday. She tearfully described learning about his death and told jurors that he had been her primary means of financial support throughout his life.

"Michael took care of me, my every need, my every want," she said Friday. "He gave me everything."

 

[ivy]

nthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 19m
I hope to have some additional tweets out soon. I need to power up my computer for the afternoon session.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 20m
Story link I just tweeted covers several pieces of Mrs. Jackson's testimony this morning, including comments on Murray, prescription meds.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 20m
Katherine Jackson tells civil jury she doesn't think her son has any responsibility for his death: http://yhoo.it/19dY9hs
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 23m
Katherine Jackson: "They’ve been saying for years, last 15 years that Michael Jackson is broke."
She said she knew that wasn't true.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 25m
Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson whether she was aware of her son’s financial difficulties before his death. She said yes.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 25m
Katherine Jackson: “My son took care of me. He paid for everything. Food. Shelter. Clothing.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 26m
Putnam asked about Mrs. Jackson’s assistant, Janice Smith, questioning whether she logged payments from MJ. Answer was no.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 26m
Mrs. Jackson said her son paid for most of her expenses directly. He gave her cash, but she didn’t keep records of it.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 26m
Katherine Jackson’s attorney Brian Panish objected to the questions, but the judge allowed them. Panish said Mrs. Jackson doesn’t use email.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 26m
Putnam asked whether Katherine Jackson turned over emails or records of her son’s payments to her.
She said no.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 27m
He’d barely started on the discovery questions on Friday, so he picked up there today, asking Mrs. Jackson about her records.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 27m
Putnam asked two lines of questions _ about how she came to file the lawsuit and what documents she turned over in discovery.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 27m
Putnam started out his questioning by asking Mrs. Jackson if she remembered his some of his questions from last week.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 28m
Court got started about 25 minutes late due to a late juror. AEG Live defense attorney Marvin S. Putnam is doing the questioning today.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 46m
We're on the lunch break in Jackson vs AEG Live. I'll have a story out shortly, some updates from the morning session.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Katherine Jackson is already in the witness box, will resume testifying in a few minutes. She will be cross-examined by AEG Live.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3h
Jackson vs. AEG Live trial start is going to be delayed by about 15 minutes this morning due to late juror.

 

[ivy]

Katherine Jackson: Michael Jackson denied using prescription drugs
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Katherine Jackson
Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas in 2011. (Matt Sayles / Associated Press / April 27, 2011)
By Jeff Gottlieb
July 22, 2013, 12:21 p.m.
Katherine Jackson testified Monday that her pop star son denied he was using prescription drugs when she asked him about rumors she had heard.

Testifying for the second day in her family's wrongful-death suit against entertainment giant AEG Live, the family matriarch said the conversation occurred as she was getting ready to leave her son's house in Las Vegas, where Michael Jackson lived from 2006 to 2008. She said she told Michael that she had heard he was using prescription drugs and that she didn't want him to end up "like all the others."

Speaking in a soft, muffled voice that was sometimes difficult to hear through the courtroom sound system, Katherine Jackson, when asked a question by AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam, said her son sometimes didn’t remember things. Several times she told Putnam that she didn't want to answer a question.

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson | 1958-2009

Jackson and the pop star’s three children are suing AEG Live, arguing that the company is complicit in Michael Jackson’s 2009 death because it hired and supervised Conrad Murray, the Las Vegas physician who administered a fatal dose of a strong anesthetic as the singer prepared for his “This Is It” comeback tour. AEG contends it was Michael Jackson who hired Murray.

On the stand Monday, Katherine Jackson said she knew her son was using prescription pain pills for burns he suffered to his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial and for a back injury and said that she figured he would deny any drug abuse because he didn't want her to worry.

"If a child goes out to play and does something real ugly, and a parent asks them about it, he’s gong to deny it,” she said.

FULL COVERAGE: AEG wrongful-death trial

“If you knew your son was gong to deny it, why did you ask him?” Putnam asked

“I’m not answering that question ... because to me it doesn’t make sense," Jackson said.

"I didn't know he was gong to deny it, but he did.”

 

[ivy]

Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 3m
I’ve got to get back to court. I’ll have additional updates later today.
My latest story is available here: http://yhoo.it/19dY9hs
View summary
Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 4m
(cont) ... that she received from conversations with her attorneys.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 4m
Putnam was allowed to question her about her knowledge of Murray’s doctor visits, as long as Mrs. Jackson didn’t relay any info ...(cont)
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 4m
Katherine Jackson’s brow was furrowed through this questioning. Panish objected, saying Putnam was trying to get into attorney-client issues
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 4m
She said she didn’t know anything about her son’s doctors. Putnam asked if she discussed with her grandchildren, and she said no.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 4m
Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson whether she knew that Conrad Murray was staying at her son’s mansion 6 nights a week in 2009.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
We’ll see if the interview gets played after the lunch break. Panish said he didn't review it on the brief morning break.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
Putnam indicated the Dateline interview was done 8 weeks before Katherine Jackson filed her lawsuit in September 2010.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
“At the time I hadn’t heard it,” Katherine Jackson said. “I thought that maybe Michael had hired him. I said it not knowing the facts.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 5m
Katherine Jackson said he now understood that AEG Live had hired Murray, but she hadn’t heard that before.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 6m
Judge told Putnam to hold off on playing the Dateline interview for the jury until it could be reviewed.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 6m
Putnam wants to play the Dateline interview, but Panish objected, saying he hadn’t seen it.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 6m
Katherine Jackson: “I may have said it once and you’ll probably bring that up.” (Her statement was during a Dateline interview.)
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 6m
Putnam then asked her about an instance in which Mrs. Jackson said she thought her son Michael hired Conrad Murray.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 6m
Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson whether she knew about the payments to Murray before the trial. She said no.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7m
Katherine Jackson corrected him, saying it wasn’t stacks. She said the money was because her son felt bad for the doctor.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7m
Putnam asked about Prince Jackson’s testimony that he’d given Murray money that his father handed him. Putnam called it “stacks of hundreds”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7m
She said she knew her son had doctors for his children. She said she didn’t know if that was Murray or not.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7m
Putnam then asked Mrs. Jackson whether she believed her son hired Conrad Murray. She said she didn’t think he hired the doctor.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 7m
Katherine Jackson had her head down during some of the questions.
“Even though he asked for it, he could have said no,” she said of Murray.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8m
She said she remembered hearing about him asking for the drug, but she didn’t recall testimony about him discussing it with other doctors.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8m
The lawyer asked about what Mrs. Jackson recalled hearing during the criminal trial about her son’s use of propofol.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 8m
Putnam asked about Murray’s criminal case, and whether Mrs. Jackson helped the prosecutor, David Walgren.
She said she didn’t remember.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
(She responded to the second question after an objection from Panish, which the judge overruled.)
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson if she agreed that she never believed her son was responsible for his death. “Correct,” she replied.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
That’s when Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson whether she thought her son bore any responsibility for his death. “No, I don’t,” she replied.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
When they returned, Putnam asked about Mrs. Jackson whether she’d heard about various claims of damages. She said yes.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
Panish objected and said it was improper to ask Katherine Jackson about the estimates. The attorneys went into a sidebar with the judge.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 9m
“You can talk to my lawyer about that,” Katherine Jackson said of the damages estimates. Putnam cited figure of $1.5-$1.7 billion.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 10m
Putnam then asked Mrs. Jackson about the amount of damages she was seeking from AEG Live.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 10m
Katherine Jackson said she never discussed it with her son because she knew he wasn’t broke.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 10m
Putnam again asked about the stories she’d heard. “I’d heard for years that Michael Jackson was broke, and he wasn’t,” she said.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 10m
She said through the years, she heard about people taking money from her son. “Stealing, I should say.”
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 11m
Katherine Jackson said she was aware of people trying to make deals on her son’s behalf. She said her son would sometimes tell her about it.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 11m
At one point, Mrs. Jackson told Puntam, “I think I answered that.” Judge allowed multiple questions about what she knew of MJ’s finances.
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Anthony McCartney ‏@mccartneyAP 11m
Putnam asked several more questions about what Katherine Jackson knew about her son Michael’s financial situation. There were objections.