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| FILE - In this March 5, 2009 file photo, US singer Michael Jackson announces at a press conference that he is set to play ten live concerts at the London O2 Arena in July 2009, in London. A Los Angeles jury reached a verdict Wednesday Oct. 2, 2013, in Katherine Jackson's long-running negligence case against AEG Live LLC, which accuses the concert promoter of being responsible for hiring the doctor convicted of killing her son in 2009. |
LOS ANGELES
(AP) -- A jury reached a verdict on Wednesday in a case claiming the
promoter of Michael Jackson's comeback concert was negligent in hiring
the doctor who killed him.
The panel of six
men and six women began deliberating on Sept. 26, more than five months
after the start of the trial that offered an unprecedented look into the
superstar's private life.
Jackson's mother
sued concert promoter AEG Live LLC over the hiring of Dr. Conrad Murray,
who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson an
overdose of the anesthetic propofol in 2009.
Katherine Jackson claimed AEG Live should have done a thorough background check on Murray.
The company denied hiring Murray and said he had been picked by the singer as the doctor for his upcoming shows.
The
case provided the closest look yet at Jackson's drug use and his
battles against chronic pain and insomnia. It also took jurors behind
the scenes in the rough and tumble world of negotiations with one of the
world's most famous entertainers looking to solidify his legendary
status after scandal interrupted his career.
Witnesses said he saw the "This Is It" concerts as a chance for personal redemption after being acquitted of child molestation.
But
as the opening date of the shows approached, associates testified that
he had bouts of insecurity and agonized over his inability to sleep.
They said he turned to the drug propofol and found Murray, who was
willing to buy it in bulk and administer it to him on a nightly basis
even though it is not meant to be used outside operating rooms.
Testimony at the civil trial showed that only Jackson and Murray knew he was taking the drug.
In
his closing argument, AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam told jurors that
the company would have pulled the plug on the shows if they knew he was
using the anesthetic.
"AEG would have never
agreed to finance this tour if they knew Mr. Jackson was playing Russian
roulette in his bedroom every night,"
Brian
Panish, a lawyer for the Jackson family, countered that AEG Live was
negligent by not looking far enough to find out what it needed to know
about Murray. He claimed in his closing argument that the lure of riches
turned the company and Murray into mercenaries who sacrificed the pop
star's life in a quest to boost their own fortunes.
Panish asked jurors: "Do people do things they shouldn't do for money? People do it every day."
He
said a $150,000-a-month contract to care for Jackson was a lifeline to
help Murray climb out of his financial troubles, which included $500,000
in debt. AEG Live, meanwhile, had only one interest - launching a world
tour for the King of Pop that would yield untold millions in profits,
the lawyer said.
AEG Live's lawyers framed the
case as being about personal choice, saying Jackson made bad choices
about the drug that killed him and the doctor who provided it. They said
he was the architect of his own demise and no one else can be blamed.
Putnam said Jackson insisted on hiring the cardiologist, despite objections from AEG Live.
"It was his money and he certainly wasn't going to take no for an answer," the lawyer said.
Putnam
portrayed AEG Live and its executives as victims of deception by
Jackson and Murray. He showed brief excerpts from the "This Is It"
documentary to show that Jackson appeared in top form just 12 hours
before he died.
"AEG Live did not have a
crystal ball," he said. "Dr. Murray and Mr. Jackson fooled everyone.
They want to blame AEG for something no one saw."
Murray
was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for causing Jackson's
death and is due to be released in October after serving a two year
jail sentence.
Jurors heard testimony from
more than 50 witnesses, including Jackson's mother and his eldest son,
Prince, as well as days of testimony from AEG executives who were
repeatedly asked about emails in which they discussed Jackson's missed
rehearsals and described Murray's pay as a done deal.
They
also heard about Jackson's close relationship to many of his doctors,
including Murray, who he first met in Las Vegas in 2007.
Katherine
Jackson called the case a search for the truth about the death of her
son and the trial featured potentially embarrassing revelations for both
sides. AEG's executives had their emails picked apart, revealing
concerns that Jackson wouldn't be able to perform the shows as planned,
that a lawyer at their parent company referred to Michael Jackson as
"the freak," and that Jackson was derided even though the company had
invested more than $30 million in his shows.
AEG
Live, meanwhile, laid out Jackson's medical history, presenting
testimony about his use of drugs, including the powerful painkiller
Demerol, for pain stemming from an accident that occurred decades ago
while he was filming a Pepsi commercial. Jackson had no trace of that
drug in his system when he died.
The lawyers
called witnesses who recounted Jackson's use of propofol dating back to
the 1990s. In 1997, two German doctors administered the anesthetic to
help the singer sleep between shows in Munich.
A
few years later, Jackson requested the anesthetic from a dental
anesthesiologist who refused, as did another doctor who testified that
Jackson kept a box of propofol in his bedroom at Neverland Ranch.
On
the issue of possible damages, expert witnesses for the company said
any estimate of Jackson's future earnings were speculative, and they
showed the panel that the singer was deeply in debt and consistently
spent more than he earned.
In the verdict
form, jurors were first asked to decide the central question of the case
- whether AEG Live hired Murray to treat Jackson. During the trial,
they heard evidence that AEG had drafted a contract that was signed by
Murray. But there were no indications that it was signed by AEG Live or
Jackson.
Attorneys for the singer's mother
argued that Jackson's signature was not necessary, but the company's
attorneys said the contract required his consent to be binding.
Jackson's
mother and his three children are supported by his estate, which
provides a comfortable lifestyle for them and erased hundreds of
millions of dollars in debts by debuting new projects and releasing new
music featuring the King of Pop.
