Assistant Recounts 'Chaos' Day of Jackson's Death
Day Two in the Michael Jackson death trial: His personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray is accused of involuntary manslaughter, and several witnesses were called to the stand to testify. Michael Williams, Jackson's personal assistant, revealed details about the "chaos" and frantic moments the day Jackson died.
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Jackson's personal assistant for two years, Williams testified that he received an urgent call from Murray at approximately 12:13 p.m. on June 25, 2009, who simply told him that Jackson had a "bad reaction" -- but he was never told to call 911. According to Williams, Murray said, "Get somebody up here immediately" and agreed that the doctor sounded "incredibly stressed." Williams later loaded Jackson's kids into an SUV to follow the ambulance that carried their father to the emergency room.
After Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical center, Williams said Murray asked that someone be sent back to the house to retrieve some "cream," saying, "There's some cream in Michael's room or house that he wouldn't want the world to know about." Williams declined to give Murray the keys or drive him back to the house and said that he fibbed to Murray that police had taken his keys, and ordered that security lock down Jackson's house and not let anyone in. Williams added that Murray then said he was hungry and wanted a ride to get some food.
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Earlier in the day, Kathy Jorrie, the attorney who drafted Murray's contract for AEG, the company promoting Jackson's series of U.K. concerts, took the stand to reveal details of the physician's $150,000-a-month contract. Jorrie testified that she drafted the contract 10 days before Jackson's death and Murray called her two times, asking for a number of revisions. She said Murray did not want to be required to refund any portion of his monthly salary if the pop star changed his mind or canceled the tour, and he repeatedly said that Jackson was "perfectly healthy" and in "excellent condition."
Jorrie also revealed Murray's requests for a CPR machine and a second physician, recalling that Murray said, "He will be putting on an extraordinary performance. Because of that, given his age and the strenuous performance he was putting on, he needed to be sure if something went wrong, he [would have] a CPR machine."
AEG Live executive Paul Gongaware also took the stand and testified that he was keeping an eye out for any drug use by Jackson, and that the initial $5 million-per-year salary requested by Murray was "quite unusual" and "way too high."
Conrad Murray is accused of involuntary manslaughter, with the prosecution arguing that he gave Jackson a lethal dose of the powerful sedative propofol. The defense will argue that Jackson was a drug addict who self-medicated himself.