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CNN Live Event/Special
AC360 Special Presents Michael Jackson: The Final Days
Aired September 29, 2013 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
It's been more than four years since Michael Jackson's death, four years since Katherine Jackson lost her son and his children lost the father. And the question still remains, who is responsible for the death of Michael Jackson? The family believes concert promoter AEG Live is to blame. AEG Live says it was Jackson's own decisions that led to his death.
After months of testimony from those closest to the superstar, the decision now rest in the hands of 12 Californian jurors.
Don Lemon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What day is today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. What does Christmas mean? What does Christmas mean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is your family?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and me and people who love you.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a side of Michael Jackson the world had rarely seen until now.
For months a jury inside this courtroom has watched private home videos. Seen personal photos and listened to expert testimony and from family and friends. Now it's up to jurors to decide whether AEG Live is responsible for the death of Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson's mother Katherine and his children filed an 18-page complaint against AEG Live the company behind his planned this is it concert.
Before the trial began I spoke to Jackson family attorney, Kevin Boyle, about the family's lawsuit.
Why is Mrs. Jackson and the kids and the family suing AEG?
KEVIN BOYLE, JACKSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: Well, what I can tell you about the lawsuit is, it's very simple. And it's that AEG defendants are negligent in their hiring, retaining or supervising of Dr. Conrad Murray, which led to the death of Michael Jackson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter.
LEMON (voice-over): Conrad Murray, the doctor found guilty in the pop icon's death, is appealing his involuntary manslaughter conviction. He was convicted of giving Michael Jackson a deadly dose of propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic.
If a jury decide that Murray isn't solely responsible for Jackson's death and that AEG Live is also liable, it could cost the concert promotion company a lot of money.
CNN's Alan Duke has been covering this case since Jackson's death.
ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Jacksons hired an expert, a CPA who had worked with major artists for decades to estimate what would Michael Jackson possibly be with a reasonable certainty have earned had he not died June 25th, 2009, from touring and merchandise sales just on the "this is it tour" would have been $1.5 billion.
MARVIN PUTNAM, AEG LIVE ATTORNEY: This isn't his final days.
LEMON: AEG live attorney Michael Putnam believes it is about one thing and one thing only. Did they negligently hire Murray? As the trial got under way he told me that the company never even employed Murray.
PUTNAM: Had he been hired by AEG he wasn't hired negatively. There were no indications in any measures that there was a problem with Dr. Conrad Murray. To be a negligently hire, it isn't that you hired but you have to hire knowing that there was a problem. And AEG Live had no indication at any point that there was a problem with Conrad Murray.
LEMON: CNN legal contributor, Sonny Hostin has been following the care.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: AEG Live defense is pretty interesting. Listen, we didn't pick Conrad Murray. Michael Jackson picked Conrad Murray. Michael Jackson had a history of drug abuse. He had a history of this kind of behavior and he single handedly chose the person that would help him with his addiction.
LEMON: I spoke with AEG's president and CEO Randy Phillips three years ago about similar allegations. And that interviewed, Phillips said He said the decision to hire Conrad Murray and pay him $150,000 per month was solely Michael's choice.
RANDY PHILLIPS, PRESIDENT, CEO, AEG LIVE: He stared at me with this very deep stare and he said, you don't understand. My body is what fuels this entire venture. And, like Barack Obama, I need my own physician with me 24/7, OK. That's not negotiable.
LEMON: Phillips believed Michael had a very personal reason for taking on the scheduled 50 concerts.
PHILLIPS: I said, why now? Because I would been chasing him to come out of retirement, to get on the stage and perform live for three years. This was, you know, like a mission of mine, a quest. And he said to me, very interesting -- it was very poignant -- he said, I'm doing it now because my kids are old enough to appreciate what I do.
LEMON: Michael's children have played a major role in this case. His oldest son, Prince, took the stand in June.
DUKE: Prince Jackson made an impact on the jury perhaps most importantly in humanizing the loss of Michael Jackson as a father. He described life, the birthday party, he described the fun and he described the sadness and the jury listened very closely.
LEMON: The kids saw their father as he lay lifeless in his bedroom. Since their father's death, Prince, Harris and Blanket's lives have gradually become more open to the public. After years of hiding behind masks and being guarded from the media by their father.
DUKE: There's no question that all who saw Michael with his three children during the years he had them that he was a loving, caring, attentive father carrying his children with him to meetings, traveling the world with them. It was pretty clear in the testimony that they were his world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good night, daddy.
LEMON: Jackson's attorneys introduced pictures and videos into evidence giving jurors a rare look at Michael and his children behind the scenes. Also on the witness list, daughter Paris Jackson. But then --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: More breaking news this hour.
LEMON: More drama in the Jackson family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of pop icon Michael Jackson was rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles.
DUKE: Paris Jackson was supposed to come into court and testify in person. However, just over a month into the trial and before she would be called, she tried to kill herself.
HOSTIN: There's no question about that, that his daughter, Paris Jackson, was absolutely devastated by his death, so much so that she tried to kill herself.
LEMON: While Paris underwent treatment throughout the summer, jurors continued to find out more about Michael's last few months. DUKE: This jury has had a front row seat literally to a very intimate show revealing the pain and life and the joys of being Michael Jackson or in his family.
HOSTIN: The best defense sometimes, lawyers think, is blame the victim. But it has to be part of the defense here and it has to be Michael Jackson was addicted to drugs way before we got involved with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael, Michael.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael.
LEMON: The defense tried to paint Michael Jackson as a drug addict.
They brought out a long parade of doctors, who had given Michael painkillers or had used propofol on Michael Jackson.
PUTNAM: Mr. Jackson was a grown man. And, as a grown man, he knew precisely what he was doing, because there's a certain assumption of risk here, as there often is with an adult and an addict.
And so, that's why the drug abuse could be brought up. And related to that, many people in Mr. Jackson's life have indicated that one of the reasons for his ongoing addiction, one of the places where it became really, really a problem for him was in 1993, around the time of the first accusations about him and the young boy, and then again later in mid-2000, around the time of his trial.
LEMON: Fame, drugs, manslaughter, coming up, the Jacksons are forced to relive the painful memories of losing the pop icon they loved.
BOYLE: No one in the world is happy about having a family member dying and having to pursue a lawsuit about it, and particularly when children are involved. It's just not a happy thing.
LEMON: But next --
911 OPERATOR: He's unconscious? He's not breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's not breathing, sir.
LEMON: The day the world lost an icon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's on the bed, sir. He's on the bed.
911 OPERATOR: OK, let's get him down to floor. I'm going to have him do a CPR right now, OK?
LEMON: And the events that led to his death.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LEMON (voice-over): As the sun rose above the exclusive Los Angeles hills, inside Michael Jackson's mansion, the entertainer began the morning of June 24, 2009, doing what he loved, preparing for a show.
TRAVIS PAYNE, CHOREOGRAPHER: Now do it slow.
He and I would start about noon or 1:00 at his home. We'd dance a few hours and stretch.
You have to have a full attitude. You have a half-attitude. Do the full one.
LEMON: Travis Payne was Michael Jackson's longtime choreographer.
PAYNE: We were on a journey with Michael that was going to return him to the stage, you know, that he loved so much. And I know that we were eight days away from leaving for London.
LEMON: The stage is where Michael was most at ease. On stage, there was no one better. Since age 5, he had electrified audiences around the world with hit songs like "I Want You Back. " And the world appeared ready to welcome him back.
It had been 12 years since Jackson's last major performance. The king of pop was poised to regain his throne.
MICHAEL JACKSON, SINGER: This is it. I mean, this is really it. This is the final -- this is the final curtain call.
LEMON: According to the contract with concert promoters AEG, Michael was to perform 50 concerts at the O2 Centre in London over a nine- month period.
M. JACKSON: I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear.
LEMON: But was Michael physically up to the challenge? Both Michael and AEG had a lot on the line.
JIM MORET, "INSIDE EDITION": It was his comeback. It was his renaissance, his rebirth on stage. After so many years being out of the spotlight, a lot of people were wondering if he could pull this off.
MICHAEL JACKSON: This is it, and see you in July.
LEMON: But there were questions about whether Jackson was ready.
Kenny Ortega, the director for This Is It, called a private meeting at Jackson's home. AEG CEO Randy Phillips attended the meeting.
PHILLIPS: Kenny was concerned that he wasn't coming to enough rehearsals, that he was taking it a little too nonchalantly. And Michael explained that he needed Kenny to build the house and then he would come in and paint the front door.
LEMON: On the afternoon on June 24, Jackson arrived at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Rehearsals for This Is It often ran late into the night. On the surface, the man many say was born to perform never looked better.
But beneath the surface concerns from the very moment the concert tour was announced. Jackson was pushing himself to the brink.
RODNEY JERKINS, RECORD PRODUCER: I was thinking how is he going to do these shows?
LEMON: Record producer Rodney Jerkins.
JERKINS: 50 dates at 50 years old? That's a lot of dates. And I was, you know, I kept saying, I just hope he gets a physical trainer, someone to really work him out, to make sure he's healthy and prepared.
LEMON: JerMaine Jackson says his little brother was ready.
JERMAINE JACKSON, BROTHER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: I mean, he could have did 200 shows there.
LEMON: I talked to Jermaine following a band rehearsal.
JERMAINE JACKSON: I felt that he could do it because of the way the shows were spaced out, and it wasn't, like, every day.
See, like, when we first started, we were doing one-nighters where you go -- every day, you're in a different place. You're riding a bus and you're sleeping on top of each other. That's tough. But this was an -- and you didn't have to take the stage down. You were in one location.
PHILLIPS: I think, that night, he finally accepted down deep in whatever the inner reaches of an artist's soul are that he could do this.
When we walk to our cars. And he put his arm around me at the Staples Center and he said, thank you for getting me here. Now, I know I can do it and take it from here.
LEMON: But hours later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's not breathing, sir.
911 OPERATOR: OK. And he's not conscious either?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's not conscious, sir.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
LEMON: A 50-year-old man in distress. That man is Michael Jackson.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Jackson, the king of pop.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Taken to the hospital and there were rumors. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was apparently administered CPR in the ambulance.
LEMON: Fans around the world hoped and prayed, but the music megastar would not survive.
JERMAINE JACKSON: My brother, the legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 2:26 p. m.
The Los Angeles County coroner would rule Jackson's death a homicide, the cause of death, acute propofol intoxication, propofol, a powerful anesthetic administered by Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, on June 25, 2009.
Murray would be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Coming up, what happened in the final hours of Michael Jackson's life? And who was responsible?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): On September 27, 2011, Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, would go on trial.
Outside the Los Angeles criminal courthouse, Jackson's international stardom took center stage. Inside courtroom 107, a jury of seven men and five women took their seats.
HLN's Ryan Smith was watching.
RYAN SMITH, HLN ANCHOR: This is the death of Michael Jackson. And it's not just that he's a famous star. It's that someone lost their son, you know their brother, their father.
LEMON: District attorney David Walgren laid out the prosecution's case.
DAVID WALGREN, PROSECUTOR: Michael Jackson trusted his life to the medical skills of Conrad Murray. That misplaced trust in the hands of Conrad Murray cost Michael Jackson his life.
LEMON: To help prove their case, prosecutors presented two very different portraits of the pop legend, from a vibrant singer, dancer and entertainer on stage to a completely different person behind the scenes.
Then, midway through opening arguments, a stunning moment: the voice of Michael Jackson as he'd never been heard before.
M. JACKSON: When people leave my show, I want them to say he's the greatest entertainer in the world.
LEMON: Jackson sounded fragile, impaired, incapable. And that's just what Kenny Ortega feared.
Ortega was directing the most anticipated show in decades, with a star he feared wasn't up to it. But Murray insisted he was in charge of Jackson's health.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said I should stop trying to be an amateur doctor and psychologist and be the director and allow Michael's health to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those were the words of Conrad Murray?
LEMON: And on June 25, that meant helping Jackson get to sleep.
(on camera): Based on the affidavit, Dr. Murray's efforts to get Jackson to sleep began with a 10-milligram tablet of Valium around 1:30 a.m. It didn't work.
So, according to the affidavit, Dr. Murray injected the singer with an anti-anxiety drug. But 3:00 a.m., however, Jackson was still awake. So Murray told police he tried another drug, a sedative. That didn't work either.
(voice-over): Murray told investigators, at 10:40 a. m., he gave the pop legend 25 milligrams of propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic, finally putting Jackson to sleep. But soon after, all hell broke loose.
To describe the scene firsthand.
ALBERTO ALVAREZ, FORMER JACKSON BODYGUARD: Alberto Alvarez.
LEMON: District attorney Walgren turned to one of the first men to rush into Jackson's bedroom.
A. ALVAREZ: He was laying on his back with his hands extended out. I observed that his eyes were slightly open -- or were open and his mouth was open.
LEMON: Alvarez said Murray was frantic and vague about Jackson's condition.
A. ALVAREZ: I asked Dr. Conrad Murray, what happened? And he said he had a reaction. He had a bad reaction.
LEMON: In the midst of the chaos, Alvarez spotted Jackson's children in the doorway.
A. ALVAREZ: And they were right behind me. And Paris screamed out, daddy. Dr. Conrad Murray said, hurry. Don't let them see their dad like this.
MORET: We heard about Paris breaking down, very powerful visual.
LEMON: Jim Moret is chief correspondent for "Inside Edition. "
MORET: From the perspective of a juror and as a parent, can you imagine seeing your own father lying there, most likely dead, with his eyes wide open?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a gentlemen here that needs help and he's not breathing. He's not breathing. He's not breathing and we need to -- and we're trying to pump him, but he's not. . .
911 OPERATOR: OK. OK.
LEMON: Finally, at 12:22 p. m. , Alvarez called 911. As they waited for an ambulance, Murray asked Alvarez for more help.
A. ALVAREZ: He reached over and grabbed a handful of vials. And then he reached out to me and said, here, put these in a bag.
LEMON: When paramedics arrived, Murray withheld critical information.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did Dr. Murray ever mention to you having administered propofol to Michael Jackson?
RICHARD SENNEFF, PARAMEDIC: He never mentioned the word propofol.
LEMON: Not mentioning propofol, not keeping medical records, throwing vials in bags, the prosecution was painting a picture of a doctor with plenty to hide.
By day six, DA Walgren would also make clear that Murray may have been.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
LEMON: Distracted.
NICOLE ALVAREZ, WITNESS: My name is Nicole Alvarez.
MICHELLE BELLA, WITNESS: Michelle Bella.
SADE ANDING, WITNESS: Sade.
LEMON: Three women described as Murray's girlfriend. One, Nicole Alvarez, had a son with Murray and even once met his famous patient.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how did it come about that you got to meet Michael Jackson?
N. ALVAREZ: I'm still trying to figure that out myself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that? What is confusing about it?
N. ALVAREZ: Because it's Michael Jackson.
SMITH: It makes it sound like this is part of his game. Hey, I'm going to take you over to meet Michael Jackson. It made him sound like a cad. Instead of having his eyes on his patient, he's got his eyes on all these women that you see, all these beautiful women.
LEMON: On the day of Jackson's death, records show that Murray talked to all three women. In fact, prosecutors say he was on the phone for 47 minutes during the exact time he should have been carefully monitoring his patient. A patient to whom Murray supplied a deadly stockpile of drugs.
WALGREN: Two bottles of Lorazepam. Lydocain bottle.
LEMON: And on day seven, D.A. Walgren added into evidence each vial and bottle found at Jackson's house. One after another.
WALGREN: Removing the contents. Was previously impeached (ph) individually.
To take a patient with Valium, Lorazepam and Propofol and to leave them unattended in that state is medical abandonment.
LEMON: Jackson was officially pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m., June 25, 2009. A direct result, said prosecutors, of mistakes, delays and recklessness by Dr. Conrad Murray.
When we come back, Conrad Murray speaks for himself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALGREN: He did not act as a medical professional.
LEMON: For over a week, Dr. Conrad Murray listened as district attorney David Walgren portrayed him as reckless.
WALGREN: Conrad Murray abandoned Michael when he needed help.
LEMON: Then, on day nine, for the first time, jurors heard Murray's own voice and his version of events in a police interview recorded just days after Jackson's death.
CONRAD MURRAY, CONVICTED OF JACKSON'S DEATH: Conrad Robert Murray.
LEMON: It was Jackson, Murray said, who told him all about Propofol and insisted he used it to ease Jackson's crippling insomnia.
MURRAY: He knew that was the only thing that worked for him. I constantly cautioned him.
LEMON: Cautioned him and claims Murray tried to wean him from the drug. Still, Jackson pressed for Propofol on the day he died.
MURRAY: He said, "I can't function if I don't sleep. " So I agreed that I would switch over to the Propofol.
LEMON: Then, Murray said, he sat at Jackson's side.
MURRAY: I monitored him. Saw his oxygen saturation, heart rate and everything looked stable. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. Then I came back to his bedside, and I was stunned when he wasn't breathing.
MORET: Dr. Murray not only admitted that he gave Michael Jackson Propofol in the hours before Michael Jackson died, but he said, sure, I've been giving this to him for weeks. Every night for 60 days. So Conrad Murray's statement was critical, because it gave the police and the prosecutor everything they needed to charge him with a crime.
LEMON: To finish his case, prosecutor David Walgren turned to Conrad Murray's colleagues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.
LEMON: Three doctors, three specialties, one conclusion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An extreme deviation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A far deviation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Egregious violations from the standard of care.
LEMON: Dr. Steven Shaffer, who literally wrote the book on Propofol, counted 17 egregious violations by Murray, any of which could result in death.
DR. STEVEN SHAFFER, WITNESS: The lack of the basic emergency airway equipment. The lack of.
LEMON: It was four days on the stand that left jurors fascinated and Murray shaken.
Finally, after 16 days and 33 witnesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people are prepared and would ask to rest at this time.
LEMON: It was Conrad Murray's turn to convince a jury.
SMITH: All the defense has to do is show reasonable doubt. So if they show you one alternative that's plausible to you, then, essentially, Dr. Murray could be acquitted.
LEMON: Leader defense attorney Ed Chernoff had laid out that alternative days before in his opening statement.
ED CHERNOFF, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: When Dr. Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self-administered a dose of Propofol that, with the Lorazepam, created a perfect storm in his body that killed him instantly.
LEMON: Now, to build his case, Chernoff turned to Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who cared for Jackson in the months before his death. CHERILYN LEE, NURSE PRACTITIONER: He said I had a lot of difficulty sleeping.
LEMON: Jackson pressed her to give him Propofol, a drug she had never heard of.
LEE: He said, Doctors have told me that it's safe. I just need to be monitored.
I told him, well, let's just try the nutritional IV one more time. We'll try it again.
LEMON: But Lee's remedy didn't work for Jackson.
LEE: Well, he wasn't very happy that he didn't sleep longer.
CHERNOFF: Was he upset with you?
LEE: He was a tad bit upset. He wanted to sleep longer, and he said the nutritional components were not working.
CHERNOFF: He was complaining when he got up? Is that right?
LEE: He said, "This is going to mess up my performance from today. The only thing that's going to help me is Diprivan. "
LEMON: Finally, Chernoff turned to his own experts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I specialize in addiction medicine.
LEMON: Dr. Robert Waldman reviewed records from Jackson's dermatologist. In the months before his death, Jackson got frequent treatments and lots of painkillers.
DR. ROBERT WALDMAN: I believe there was evidence that he was probably addicted to the opioids.
LEMON: For the Jackson family, they were hard words to hear.
MORET: And they sat in that courtroom and listened to testimony that their son and brother was a drug addict. And often, they had to leave. But they were always there the next day.
LEMON: The addiction, the insomnia, the desperation were so great, said Dr. Paul White, that Jackson swallowed powerful pills by the handful.
DR. PAUL WHITE: It would be my guess that Mr. Jackson may have well taken three or four pills at a couple of different times.
LEMON: Then White, a renowned anesthesiologist, demonstrated how he thought Murray administered Propofol.
WHITE: You would inject very slowly. That's what Dr. Murray said he did. So it's certainly a very safe way to do it.
LEMON: Murray, he says, gave Jackson 25 milligrams of Propofol. Soon after, Jackson, himself, administered the final dose.
CHERNOFF: Do you think it was a self-injection? Propofol?
WHITE: In my opinion, yes.
LEMON: And then, it all rested with the jury. One charge, one man dead, and another man's freedom in the balance.
SMITH: The tension in this case is at a fever pitch. What's on the line in all this? Dr. Murray could go to jail for four years if he's found guilty. On the prosecution side and especially for the Jackson family, it's will Michael Jackson get justice? You know, will there be someone held accountable for what happened to this man?
BLITZER: And we're following the breaking news this hour. A verdict in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury in the above encountered action, find the defendant, Conrad Robert Murray, guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter.
LEMON: Coming up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel that you did everything you could?
LEMON: Claims that the promoters behind Michael Jackson's tour were responsible for Murray's negligence.
PHILLIPS: Is there a camera I can look into to tell the public? Not yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): The death of Michael Jackson is on trial again. This time in a civil court. The jury heard opening statements in late April. His mother and his children filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging AEG lied. The promoter of Michael's This Is It trial hired Dr. Murray and was responsible for his criminal actions.
Kevin Boyle is the attorney for Katherine Jackson.
BOYLE: The AEG dependants were negligent in hiring, retaining or supervising Dr. Conrad Murray and that that ultimately led to the death of Michael Jackson.
LEMON: AEG live claims that Dr. Murray was working for Jackson and was not employed by the company.
Marvin Putnam is a defense attorney for AEG Live.
PUTNAM: I can't quite understand how they are making the claim and making getting Conrad Murray as our own statement. Two days after Michael's passing he said, I was hired by Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson -- I had worked for Michael Jackson for years.
LEMON: The Jackson family claims AEG Live instructed Murray, quote, not to look out for Jackson's best interests but rather to do whatever medical procedures were calculated to get Jackson to perform. Their so-called smoking gun is an e-mail from AEG Live co-CEO Paul Gongaware (ph) sent to the show director. The Jacksons believe the e-mail proves AEG employed Murray.
HOSTIN: It really is a smoking gun. It's probably one of the most important piece of evidence that Michael Jackson's attorneys have that AEG supervised, directed, forced, employed Dr. Conrad Murray to provide Michael Jackson drugs so that he could perform.
LEMON: In a taped deposition played for the jury Gongaware was confronted with the e-mail he sent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It says, we want to remind him that it is AEG, not MJ who is paying his salary. We want him to understand what is expected of him. Did you write that e-mail?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't recall.
DUKE: He came across as suffering some sort of executive amnesia, if you will.
HOSTIN: The Jackson family in looking at that e-mail believed that AEG made it clear to Dr. Murray that he was supposed to make sure that Michael Jackson performed no matter what.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold for applause. Hold for applause. Slow umbrella, fade out.
LEMON: Show director Kenny Ortega e-mailed Gongaware 11 days before Michael's death with concerns about the singer's health. An emotional Ortega read his e-mails to the jury. There are strong signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behavior. I think the very best thing we can do is get a top psychiatrist to evaluate him ASAP.
DUKE: At the end of Ortega's several days of testimony, the jury actually applauded. I have never seen that in a trial before.
LEMON: This picture of a frail Michael Jackson taken less than a week before his death was introduced into evidence. Kenny Ortega described Michael's deteriorating health as they prepared for the concerts.
DUKE: The insight that he gave into what was happening with Michael in his last weeks' was incredible. About his deterioration, about how he couldn't remember his lyrics to his songs, about how he wasn't getting the dances and about the conversations with the AEG Live executives about what to do about Michael. It was very revealing and key in this trial.
LEMON: Jackson's attorney called a sleep expert, Dr. Charles Sizeler to explain his rapid decline in health. He testified that the 60 nights of propofol infusions Conrad Murray admitted to giving the star rived him of REM sleep, the deep sleep needed for the brain to restore itself.
DUKE: Michael Jackson likely went 60 nights, 60 days, two months without getting any real sleep.
LEMON: AEG attorneys argued Michael Jackson was a drug addict who sought out doctors who would feed his addiction like Conrad Murray.
DUKE: They brought out a long parade of doctors who had given Michael painkillers or had used propofol on Michael Jackson.
LEMON: The defense used the deposition of Randy Jackson, Michael's brother to argue not only was he addicted to drugs but he would have resisted any efforts to an intervention.
DUKE: AEG Live said, if the family can't help him, if the family can't stop him, how could we, his concert promoters, ever be expected to do that? I think that was one of their strongest witnesses.
LEMON: Michael Jackson's two oldest children, Prince and Paris, were on the list to testify until --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of pop icon Michael Jackson was rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles.
LEMON: In the midst of the trial, near tragedy. Michael Jackson's daughter Paris was rushed to the hospital in June after cutting her wrists in an apparent suicide attempt. Paris received medical attention and would no longer testify. However, jurors would still hear about her struggle through her mother and Michael Jackson's ex- wife, Debbie Rowe.
DUKE: It was hinted at with her brother's testimony, her grandmother's testimony but it was directly said when Debbie Rowe, her mother, testified. She said, I almost lost my daughter. She tried to kill herself. That dramatic moment it was clear the jurors knew that one of the results of Michael Jackson's death was the extreme sadness of his now 15-year-old daughter and her attempt to take her life.
LEMON: Prince, Michael's son, did go on to take the stand. He told jurors that his father would often cry after talking to AEG Live executives and the pop icon feared for his life leading up to the concerts.
HOSTIN: It was very clear that Prince felt that Michael Jackson felt really pushed to the brink by AEG executives. He didn't trust them. He didn't like them. And he heard his own father say while sobbing they're trying to kill me.
LEMON: Another powerful witness, the matriarch of the Jackson clan, Katherine Jackson.
DUKE: Katherine Jackson said she was there to speak up for her son. She says he's not here to talk for himself. I'm here for that. So through Katherine Jackson, we were hearing Michael Jackson.
LEMON: Michael's mother has been in court every day. HOSTIN: Katherine Jackson is in her 80s. She is a grieving mother and it's clear that it was a bit contentious.
LEMON: When she got her chance to go head to head with the defense, she took it.
DUKE: She argued with the AEG Live lawyer, confronted him and there were moments when as her lawyer said, she tried to deal with it in a Christian-like manner but sometimes she failed.
LEMON: Through those closest to him, jurors were able to see a side of Michael Jackson hidden from the rest of the world.
DUKE: His mother, Katherine Jackson, his son Prince and former wife Debbie Rowe, they all provided emotional testimony, insights into Michael's personality, his life, his fears. That was, I think, testimony that really captured the jury's attention.
LEMON: Amidst the personal testimony, the jury saw intimate family photos and home video. Jurors saw Michael Jackson grow from a young boy. To one of the most celebrated entertainers of our time performing songs like the Jackson 5's "I want you back."
And finally to a father himself.
PRINCE MICHAEL JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S SON: Hi, my name is Prince Michael Jackson I'm daddy's baby and I love my daddy.
PARIS JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S DAUGHTER: I'm Paris.
LEMON: Now that closing arguments have finished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. He's addicted to drugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they don't want to answer the questions.
LEMON: The jury now has the burden of deciding a case with more than a billion dollars at stake. Will they decide AEG Live shares the blame with Conrad Murray or will they absolve the company of any responsibility?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was perfect.
LEMON: AEG Live's president and CEO Randy Phillips maintains the company's innocence.
For those people who say that AEG is ultimately responsible for Michael Jackson's death, how do you respond?
PHILLIPS: I'm sad. It makes me sad that it evolves to that. AEG, all we did, we're just promoters. We put up a lot of money. You know, sometimes there aren't villains, there's just unfortunate circumstances and accidents. And I'm not sure there is a real identifiable villain in this whole process. You know, I feel bad because I think it damages or muddies Michael's memory.
LEMON: Do you feel that you did everything that you could, everything aboveboard, everything right, handled it properly?
PHILLIPS: Absolutely I feel 100 percent that what happened, you know, was a terrible accident. Had it not happened. But whatever happened, OK, had it not in Michael survived I think we would have created entertainment history with these shows and he would have reclaimed what he would like to say is his throne as the king of pop. That's what think -- I believe.
LEMON: Katherine Jackson claims the trial has never been about money.
DUKE: It was Katherine Jackson's decision to file this lawsuit. Almost three years ago. She was asked during her testimony why and she said, I want to know what happened to my son. It is a search for the truth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back. After months of tense testimony, the latest legal showdown surrounding Michael Jackson's death is nearing a close. At stake, more than a billion dollars. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the Jackson trial.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching.
