Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52 – July 19 2013

Jacksons vs AEG - Day 52 – July 19 2013 – Summary

Katherine Jackson Testimony


Jackson direct

She states her full name: Katherine Esther Jackson. She said her date of birth is May 4, 1930, which makes her 83 years old. She said she's a little hard time hearing. Mrs. Jackson said this is the first time she's testified in court and she is a little nervous. (ABC7)

Panish: Did you get a lot of sleep last night?
Mrs. Jackson: No (ABC7)

Mrs. Jackson testified she's a private person, she's always in the background of her children. (ABC7) "I leave the spotlight for my children," she said. (AP) "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. "They are not true," she said. "He's not here to speak for himself."(ABC7) "A lot of the things that have been said are not the truth," Katherine Jackson said. "He's not here to speak for himself" (AP) Panish asked if she was here to speak on his behalf. "I will do my best," she answered. (ABC7) “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. (LAtimes) "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." (NYDailyNews)

"I want to know what really happened to my son and that's why I am here," Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7)

Panish: How does he make you feel that they said they were going to say you son was a bad person?
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. (ABC7)

"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.” (People)

Katherine Jackson She was born in Alabama. Her father’s name was Prince and she described his singing talents. Mrs. Jackson explained that when MJ named his son Prince, it wasn’t a King of Pop reference. It was a family name. (AP) 

Mrs. Jackson said MJ named his son Prince because of her family. "He loved my father," she said.
Panish: When you learned MJ was going to name his son Prince, were you happy?
Mrs. Jackson: Very! (ABC7)

Mrs. Jackson testified the musical talent came from her grandfather on her mother's side, Columbus Brown. She said her mother would open the windows and his song rang over the valley. "My father taught us to play the guitar," Mrs. Jackson said. Her sister played the cello. "We always had music around the house." 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." Mrs. Jackson said Michael loved all children, especially those who had something wrong with them: orphans, hospitals for disable children. Michael would spend the day with Make a Wish foundation. (ABC7)

Mrs. Jackson married Joseph Jackson when she was 19 and he was 21. They lived in Gary, Indiana. 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. She raised 9 children: Rebbie , Jackie, Tito , Jermaine, LaToya, Marlon, Michael, Randy and Janet. 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. 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 She took a job, between Randy and Janet, since there was a 5 year gap. She was a clerk at Sears and Roebuck. (ABC7)

Panish: Did you always have a lot of money?
Mrs. Jackson: No, not at all
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. (ABC7)

"I had to live payday to payday," Mrs. Jackson explained. "The money was scarce, we had to eat." She said they didn't want to go on welfare. "We picked vegetables, fruits, keep in the freezer and that's how we survived." 
Panish: Are you a good cook?
Mrs. Jackson: The kids think so
"I know how to prepare a potato every way you can think of," Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7)

She said she enjoyed having a large family and lived in a cul de sac near little league field. Jackie and Tito played baseball. Michael would spend his money with candy and cookie, Mrs. Jackson said. He would set up a store to sell them. (ABC7) 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. 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. She said Michael Jackson would save money to buy candy at the Little League field. But he didn't eat it all. Instead, she said Michael Jackson would the candy and play “Store Man,” a game in which he was merchant. (AP)

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.” (LATimes) She described moving the family to Gary Ind. after marrying Joe Jackson. They moved into a home on Jackson street, a coincidence. She also described the family’s hardscrabble years as they struggled to scrape by. “I picked vegetables, I canned food,” Mrs. Jackson said. She said every year she’d buy ¼ or ½ a cow for food. “That’s how we would survive.” (AP)

"I was always close to God," Mrs. Jackson said. "II raised my children the best I can with spiritual guidance." She was raised Baptist, then became Lutheran and wasn't satisfied with that. When old enough to understand started searching. "I searched and found the true religion: Jehovah Witness," Mrs. Jackson testified. Jevohah's witnesses don't celebrate birthdays or other dates. They celebrate one day, that's Jesus last supper. 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.(ABC7)

Picture of Katherine Jackson during her high school years. "Oh my God, that's me," a shy Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7)

Michael was born Aug 29, 1958. As to this photo: "It shows my sweet little boy to me," Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7) 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.” (LATimes)

Michael was always sensitive and loving, Mrs. Jackson said. One day, when his brother was sick, Michael was holding his hand and cried.(ABC7) 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. (LATimes)

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". 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. MJ would be dancing to the squeaking noise. "He was dancing and sucking in bottles," Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7) 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.” (LATimes)

The children loved the Temptations and imitated them all the time, Mrs. Jackson said. Panish asked if they had television in the house. Mrs. Jackson: We had an old TV, TV would break, had a TV man take it away and sometimes didn't have money to get it back. (ABC7)
The children would sing and dance, she said. "We always had music in the house." They were very young, they danced and sang. Michael was 5 years old, they went on to contests at school, then professional. 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. Michael won every contest. When the other kids knew the Jacksons were coming they were Oh my God!, Mrs. Jackson said. Originally, the name was Jackson Brothers Five, but the name was too long, so they cut it short to Jackson 5. Mrs. Jackson: Michael was 5 and the sang Climb Every Mountain. He started singing, my father and I cried like a baby. (ABC7) 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.” (LATimes)

Panish: How did that make you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: I cried (ABC7)

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. (LATimes) Jackson 5 lost a contest once to a boy who lived next door and won that year. The boys rehearsed at the house. "We saved money to buy amplifiers," Mrs. Jackson said. Mrs. Jackson said she made the suits. She said they were called "Homemade suits" (the jury laughed). (ABC7) 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. (LATimes)

Mrs. Jackson: When Gladys Knight and Temptations would ask for us to be on stage with them and they got paid that way. They signed with Motown in 1968. The boys moved first to California, Katherine came four months later. "I had always wanted to live in California," Mrs. Jackson explained, since Gary, Indiana was so cold and snowed. Jackson 5 started making records when they signed with Motown. The first 4 singles became number one records, Mrs. Jackson recalled. 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. "They'd come and stay all day and sometimes they stayed so late I had to drive them home," Mrs. Jackson remembered. Panish showed video of their early life in Gary, Indiana, dancing at 5, Motown, audition, ABC song, TV show, Motown 25. (ABC7) 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. (LATimes)

Panish: As mother, when you saw MJ perform like that, how did you feel? 
Mrs. Jackson: I felt very proud (ABC7)

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. 
Panish: Were you nervous about it?
Mrs. Jackson: I was a little bit, but he did well (ABC7)

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. Michael didn't like dogs, Mrs. Jackson said. She recalls one day of a dog bite and Michael been afraid ever since. Despite that, Michael got a chocolate Labrador for the children, named Kenya. They had a turkey, a parrot, ferrets, mice, cats. (ABC7) Katherine Jackson also related why her son disliked dogs. She said it was because one badly bit his brother Randy when they were children. 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. (AP)

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. 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. "My son was not lazy," Mrs. Jackson said. "That is the biggest lie around." (ABC7) 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." (AP) Panish asked Katherine Jackson whether her son sat around and watched TV. No, she said. “My son is not lazy,” Katherine Jackson said. “You don’t get to be the biggest” _ she paused for several seconds _ “by being lazy.” She told the jury that her son liked art and that some of his drawings had been sold. She mentioned his songwriting as well. (AP)

Katherine Jackson said her grandson Prince is a better student than Michael was, though. Panish played a clip from “The Wiz.” (AP). 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. Jurors were highly entertained at this point. Some smiled, some pursed their lips as if they were trying not to smile. Katherine said Michael and Quincy Jones got along very well, worked together in various projects: Thriller, Bad, Off the Wall.(ABC7)

Panish then asked her about MJ’s practice of writing notes. He “wrote notes to himself all the time,” she said. Michael Jackson would write notes about how many records he wanted to sell from each album. She said his notes would come true. (AP)

Panish: When Michael was 21, did he write down what his goals were?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes, Michael wrote notes to himself (ABC7)

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. He wanted to be known as MJ, not little Michael or little Jackson, Mrs. Jackson explained. (ABC7)

Panish showed video of the first time MJ did the Moonwalk (Billie Jean song). Jurors smiled. He used to practice all the time, Mrs. 
Jackson said. He has a room over the garage where he danced two hours straight without stopping. 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. (ABC7)

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. Panish asked whether success got to her son’s head. “No,” she replied. “Michael was the most humble person around.” She discussed her son remodeling Hayvenhurst for her, and taking family photos and blowing them up to hang in his dance rehearsal space. 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. (AP)

MJ continued to live with Mrs. Jackson until her was 30. "When he became 18, he wanted to buy me a house," she testified. But by that time houses had gone up to millions of dollars, so he decided to rebuild the house. "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. He then got all the pictures and put them on the wall instead of wallpaper. He said 'here's your surprise,' she said. Panish showed video of the room. "He gave this to me," Mrs. Jackson said. Even the ceiling has pictures. "Everything is covered." (ABC7)

She recounted a couple incidents in which her son Michael disguised himself and she didn’t realize it was him. 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. He also wore a disguise when they went out to speak to people about being Jehovah’s Witnesses, Katherine Jackson said. 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. Panish: “Did he get the door slammed in his face?”
Katherine Jackson: “Lots of times. They never knew who it was.” (AP)

Panish: Did MJ like music videos?
Mrs. Jackson: Oh yes. They were like short movies, Thriller. He invited me down while doing movie "Ghost." 
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!' (ABC7)

Michael was involved in the Jehovah Witness for a while, did "filed service." He had to disguise himself, wore a fat suit.(ABC7)

In 1988, Michael purchased Neverland. Panish showed video of it, the animals, roller coast, poem written by Michael, movie theater. "He finally got a candy store," Mrs. Jackson said. Mrs. Jackson said Michael made the ranch available to people. He opened it to disable children, would invite classes of children. In the movie theater, Katherine said they had special chair for sick children who couldn't seat in regular seats. (ABC7) After this, Panish showed a clip of Neverland Ranch, complete with music that played at the property. The video showed the rides, zoo. It also featured the candy stand. Mrs. Jackson said that her son finally had his candy stand, an allusion to his childhood game. The Neverland video also showed the train station, which Michael Jackson named Katherine in honor of his mother. (AP)

Panish: Did it have a train station?
Katherine: Yes
P: What is it called?
Mrs. J.: Katherine (ABC7)

Katherine said the children loved Neverland. They were homeschooled. The kids would go to Chuck & Cheese and other kids would ask do you have animals? They would say elephant, giraffes, Mrs. Jackson recalled. One lady once told Grace 'don't they have great imaginations,' she said. (ABC7) Mrs. Jackson said her grandchildren loved Neverland. Strangers didn’t believe them when they said they had giraffes and elephants as pets. (AP)

The questioning then turned to darker issues, with Panish asking Mrs. Jackson about her son’s pain and medical conditions. She mentioned that Michael Jackson’s scalp had been burned, he had back pain. She also mentioned his Vitiligo. She said her son trusted his doctors and mentioned Dr. Allan Metzger was one of his primary care physicians. (AP)

Mrs. Jackson said Michael had been burned, badly burned, and was in a lot of pain. He had a balloon under the scalp. Mrs. Jackson: He took that money from Pepsi settlement and donated it to the children's burn center. 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. He didn't talk much about his insomnia, Mrs. Jackson said. He couldn't sleep at all at night when he was at home. (ABC7)

Panish: Did you ever see Michael abuse drugs or medications?
Mrs. Jackson: No, I never saw 
Mrs. Jackson: I know he was taking pain medications. Many times I went to his room unannounced and I never saw him that way. (ABC7)

Panish asked whether she ever saw her son abuse medications. She said she didn’t, but she heard about it from her other children. 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. 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. “When we went out there, Michael was fine,” Katherine Jackson said. She said she could never prove that he had a problem. 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. (AP)

She said she tried an intervention because she heard from the other kids but didn't think he was abusing drugs. The other children told her it would mean much more if she went. "When we got there, Michael was fine," Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7) 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. (AP) She went to MJ's Las Vegas home and talked to him about drug abuse. Michael said "Mom, I'm okay, I'm okay." Mrs. Jackson: Sometimes a mother is the last to know... and sometimes you are embarrassed. (ABC7) She said she also heard from her other children thatMichael 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. (AP)

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. It wasn’t actually their anniversary, she said. “I think Janet just named it that so we could have a party,” she said. She said she didn’t notice that her son was especially thin, but added that he was wearing a jacket at the party. (AP) Katherine Jackson's 60th anniversary in May 2009. 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. (ABC7) "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. (Reuters)

"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." (ABC7)

Poem Michael wrote to his mother.
Panish: How did that make you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: It made me cry for one thing... I felt very loved.
"Mother, My Guardian Angel" -- by Michael Jackson
Panish: When you received that, how did it make you feel?
Mrs. Jackson: I cried (ABC7)

He then asked whether she was financially dependent on her son. “Michael took care of me, my every need, my every want,” she said. “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. (AP)

Panish: Did he give you gifts?
Mrs Jackson: All the time. He gave me everything, the necessities of life, gifts, cars, jewelry, mobile homes (ABC7)
Panish: Did he give you money?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes, cash. Michael never wrote checks (ABC7)

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.” Katherine Jackson looked pained as she described her son as humble. Panish asked if she was OK. She said yes. (AP)

As to how she's affect by the loss of love, support: Mrs. Jackson: No one knows until it happened to someone. 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. "When a mother loses a child," Mrs. Jackson said crying "that's the worse than can happen to a person." Mrs. Jackson said she lost the best thing ever as she wiped out tears. (ABC7)

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. (LATimes)

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. 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. It was then that Panish asked Mrs. Jackson about whether her son could perform the 50 scheduled “This Is It” shows. Katherine Jackson: “He couldn’t do every other night like AEG wanted him to do at first.” 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. (AP) She said she heard about the This Is It tour through Grace Rwamba. 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.” 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. (ABC7) 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.. (AP)

Panish asked whether Katherine Jackson ever visited the Carrolwood Drive mansion. She said yes, and she went into his bedroom. “Every time I went there, I went into his bedroom,” she said. She said she and her nephew Trent would watch movies with Michael Jackson in his bedroom at the Carrolwood mansion. (AP)

Michael’s then doctor, Conrad Murray was “pacing the floor,” in the hospital, and Katherine testified she had never seen him before. (Radar) 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. 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. "Later on I got a call to go to the hospital, I thought he was just sick," Mrs. Jackson said. Mrs. Jackson said she saw many people who worked with Michael at the hospital, like Frank DiLeo. Dr. Murray was pacing back and forth. Mrs. Jackson: Nobody wanted to tell me, I was seating and waiting, I guess they were back debating. "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. (ABC7) 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 (AP) 

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.” (LATimes)

Mrs. Jackson didn't see the children until later. "I was crying so hard," she said. "Paris was saying 'dad I want to do with you (crying), I can't live without you' that's what she kept saying." Mrs. Jackson: They were there hugging and saying 'Daddy, I love you!' "I never went down to the morgue, never wanted to see Michael like that," Mrs. Jackson testified, crying. When they left, Paris said 'grandma, where are we going?' Mrs. Jackson told her 'you are going home with grandma.' (ABC7) 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.'" (AP)
Panish asked about the adjustment without their father. She said the two boys I can say fine. Paris is having the hardest time. 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. Paris' whole room is a collage of picture just like MJ had, Mrs. Jackson said. 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. Prince is affected by not spending time with his father, Mrs. Jackson said. Paris took MJ's pajama top, didn't want anyone to wash it. She sat it on her bed. Panish asked how Paris is affected. "Oh My God! She wanted to go where daddy was," Mrs. Jackson said. Blanket doesn't want to cut his hair. Daddy loved his hair, so he doesn't want to cut it. (ABC7) 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. (Radar) 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." (NBC)

“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. (LATimes)

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. Katherine Jackson: “He’s 11 but he’s going to cut it sooner or later,” she said. (AP)

"Michael was one of the best fathers," Mrs. Jackson said. "You'd be surprised what a good father he was." Mrs. Jackson said MJ's writing changed, he was more loving and meaningful, he wrote from his heart more. "Words could not describe the love for his children," Mrs. Jackson described. (ABC7)

Panish: Mrs. Jackson, do you miss your son?
Mrs. Jackson: Words can't explain (ABC7)

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.” (Radar)


AEG cross

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. (NBC)

Putnam asked if Katherine saw all the exhibits that were going to bed shown in court today. She said yes. (ABC7)

Putnam: You initiated this lawsuit against AEG Live?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes (ABC7)

She doesn't remember when it was filed, brought it on her behalf and the children. It was her choice to bring this lawsuit. She never talked to MJ's children about it, discussed with her children after, but not with Joe. (ABC7) He asked Mrs. Jackson about dates of the suit, Conrad Murray trial. She didn't recall them. (AP)

Putnam only had a few minutes, and he asked Katherine Jackson about who she consulted with before filing her lawsuit.
She said she didn't consult with her children before filing the case.
Putnam: "This was your descision alone?" "Yes," Mrs. Jackson replied.
Katherine Jackson said she didn't discuss it with her grandchildren either. Or Joe Jackson, _ she told jurors he doesn't live with her. (AP)

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. (AP)

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. "My family is famous, I was always on the background," Mrs. Jackson explained. Putnam asked her if she gave interviews to Dateline, 20/20, Oprah (after my son died). She said yes . "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. (ABC7)

"I wanted to find out, I think I owe it to my son to find out what really happened to him," Mrs. Jackson said. "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." 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. Mrs. Jackson: It hurts to seat here in court and hear how sick my son was and no one was trying to help him. (ABC7) 

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." "This week I had to listen how broke his was, he didn't take a dime home," Mrs. Jackson said. "Why he didn't take a dime home? Because he was giving it to charity." (ABC7)

Putnam asked her about things that were said in the case that weren't true. She cited the Gongaware "lazy" email. Putnam asked whether Mrs. Jackson said heard Gongaware's explanation that her son didn't like to rehearse. She said no. Katherine Jackson said she closed her ears to some things said during the trial, including Gongaware's explanation of his "lazy" remark. 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.(AP)

Putnam said Gongaware explained lazy was because her son was late for rehearsal. “He was not lazy," Mrs. Jackson said. "Mr. Jackson was sick, he couldn't rehearse." 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 (ABC7) 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." (AFP)

Putnam then asked: But the witnesses called were by your attorney, right? Mrs. Jackson responded yes.
Putnam asked about Dr. Murray: "My son needed another doctor, a real doctor," Mrs. Jackson said. Mrs. Jackson: The doctor was for his children but I didn't know who he was. Later I heard it was Dr. Murray. (ABC7) "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." (AFP)

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." (Reuters)

"I want the truth on what happened," Katherine testified. 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.' Putnam asked if this was sent by someone who is not a party to this lawsuit, sent to AEG Live. 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. "My son is dead, so anything about him said that is bad, it hurts," Mrs. Jackson explained. (ABC7) "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. (AFP)

Putnam: It was very hard hearing all the bad things said about your son for the past 40 years?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes (ABC7)

Putnam questioned the fact that Mrs. Jackson's attorneys didn't deny the fact that her son had problems with drugs. "My son was on prescription drugs, that doesn't make it true about other drugs they said he was on," Mrs. Jackson said. (ABC7)

Putnam asked if she sued Kenny Ortega as well. She said she doesn't' remember, there was a list of people in the suit. The attorneys stipulated that Mrs. Jackson dropped the lawsuit against Kenny Ortega. Then there was lunch break. (ABC7)

Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson about suing Kenny Ortega. He asked her whether she was informed when he was dismissed from the case. She looked down and said she forgot whether she had been informed. Putnam asked other questions about Ortega, and Panish objected. Panish noted that they'd addressed the issue when Ortega was on the stand.
The judge sustained the objection. (AP)

"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. (CNN)

Putnam: Bringing lawsuit, hadn't spoken with grandchildren or children before filing the suit?
Mrs. Jackson: Yes (ABC7)

Putnam asked if it was before or after the criminal trial of Dr. Murray. She said she did not remember. Mrs. Jackson was at the criminal trial almost every day. (ABC7)

Putnam: Is it fair to say the criminal trial didn't play in this lawsuit?
Panish: Objection, attorney/client privilege. (ABC7)

Putnam: Is there anything you thought about other than the discussion with your attorneys that you consider in deciding to bring lawsuit?
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. (ABC7)

Putnam asked if she provided any documents to her attorneys to give to them (defendants)?
Panish: Objection -- attorney-client privilege (ABC7)

Mrs. Jackson said "yes." Putnam understood she was answering yes to him. "I'm not saying yes for you," she responded. Everyone laughed. 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. (ABC7) 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. (AP) Mrs. Jackson testified for about 10 mins before judge recessing for the weekend. The judge conferred with Mrs. Jackson after she had difficulty answering several questions from Putnam. (AP)