{socialbuttons}
Murray Trial Day 17 October 25, 2011
Morning Session
Cherilyn Lee Testimony continued
Direct by Chernoff
Lee has reviewed her charts last evening. Lee says she’s not feeling well. Judge Pastor takes a break so that she can rest.
Lee has a PhD in nutrition and she’s a certified nutritionist and believes in holistic medicines.
Chernoff goes over her records. April 12 Michael wanted products for sleep but did not tell her what he wanted. April 19 she went to MJ’s house in the morning to prepare a smoothie and gave MJ B12. MJ said he had trouble sleeping and asked her to watch him sleep. He told Lee that he had a pattern of 2 to 3 hours sleep. MJ also asked about Diprivan (Propofol), Lee didn’t know what it is. MJ told her it’s the only medication that gets him to sleep right away. Lee says she doesn’t know if MJ had received Propofol in the past, he seemed to have familiarity with it. Lee talks about natural ways to sleep and sleep hygiene with MJ.
Before coming back that evening Lee searched Diprivan and called a doctor. Doctor told Lee what Diprivan is and it’s never used at home. Lee tells this to MJ. MJ says doctors had told him it was safe and he thought he would be safe he if he had someone at home to monitor him. Lee goes to her office and gets her PDR and shows the adverse effects to MJ. MJ tells her he had Diprivan for surgery and he had fallen asleep so easily. MJ says he needed rest to work.
Lee checks her records and corrects that MJ actually slept 3 hours (not 5 hours) according to her records. When MJ woke only sleeping 3 hours on April 19th he wasn’t happy. He said only thing that would help him sleep was Diprivan and asked Lee to help him find someone that would give it to him.
Lee didn’t see MJ after that.
June 21st she received a call from FM. FM called to say that MJ wanted to see her. Lee heard MJ in the background saying “tell her what's wrong with me, one half of my body is hot, one half is cold”. Lee told FM that someone needed to take MJ to hospital. Lee was in Florida when she got the call.
Lee mentioned the June 21st phone call to the police and said that it could be a central nervous system problem. Lee says this was one of the symptoms of Propofol she had mentioned to MJ. Lee says on July 2009 when she talked to the police, she didn’t know what medication MJ was taking.
In July 09, when she talked to the police, she didn't know what medication MJ was taking.
Walgren cross
Walgren goes over medical records of Lee. She kept detailed reports.
January 29 Lee saw the kids for colds.
February 1st she came back to give nutritional supplements. She did a medical checkup. MJ said he had vitiligo and lupus. Lee says Redbull cans were obvious. MJ went to sleep with light , music and movies on. MJ said when performing he would sweat a lot and people would have to mop the floors. Walgren shows the part that she has written MJ’s vital signs. MJ wanted to start a nutritional program so she planned to do lab work. She drew blood and MJ had small veins. She told MJ to stop drinking Red Bull.
February 2nd and 3rd she saw MJ. She kept documenting progress notes, her impressions, her recommendations and complaints if any.
February 16th Lee looked to MJ’s vitals and discussed lab results with MJ. The plan was MJ needed to discontinue Red Bull drinks. She took blood again to see the effects of the treatment. Lee says MJ had greatly improved and his results were normal.
March 9 Lee went over the lab results with MJ and again kept documented all of her findings, impressions, recommendations and complaints.
March 13 Lee was again documenting her findings.
March 16 MJ had no complaints and felt good. Plan was to continue with vitamins, Myers cocktails and nutritional supplements.
March 20th, March 24th, March 26th, March 31st Lee continues to see Michael and document everything.
April 12th MJ’s main complaint is that he needs products to sleep and he’s willing to try natural products.
April 19th MJ’s energy is good but he’s unable to sleep and the natural products don’t help him to sleep.
April 19 morning MJ requested Lee to observe him to sleep. MJ said he needed something that would “knock him out”. MJ asked for Diprivan. Lee never heard of Propofol before. She searched and made a phone call and found out it was used in hospitals for surgery. Lee told MJ that it was not safe to use at home. MJ assured her that it was safe and he “only needed a doctor to monitor him while he sleeps”. Lee brought back PDR from her office and showed it to MJ and explained him the side effects. PDR has several side effects. Some of them are dizziness, agitation, chills, trembling and memory loss.
Lee asked MJ “what if you forget your lines?”. MJ said “I would never forget my lines”. MJ again told her that doctors said it would be safe. Lee asked “I understand you want a good night’s sleep. You want to be “knocked out” but what if you don't wake up?”. MJ said “I'll be okay I only need someone to monitor me with the equipment while I sleep”.
Lee gets emotional and starts crying.
April 19 night MJ fell asleep at 12:15 AM and woke up around 3:15AM. He said he needed Dirpivan IV. Lee said it would be dangerous and MJ repeated he would be okay if a doctor monitored him. Lee says she was not willing to give MJ IV Propofol. She says it wasn’t used at home and it was not a sleep medication.
She never saw MJ again.
July 2009 Lee was interviewed by police. She said she told MJ “no one who cared or had your best interest at heart is going to give you this”.
Chenoff redirect
Chernoff asks if she gave interviews to the media before talking to the police. She says yes. Lee explains that one of her patients is a PR and arranged the interviews.
Chernoff asks about the June 21st call. She doesn’t’ remember the time she received the phone call. She was in hospital herself.
Amir Dan Rubin Testimony
Chernoff Direct
On June 25th he was chief operating executive at UCLA medical center. Rubin starts by explaining the layout of UCLA. On June 25th he got a call saying that there was a “person of interest” at the hospital, he didn’t initially knew it was MJ.
Rubin was outside the ER room and tried to secure the area for privacy and security. Rubin organized 3 conference rooms: one for the family, one for the police and one for other people. The third conference room was used for a meeting about a press release. There were people from AEG and UCLA. Jermaine Jackson was in the room as well. Rubin came and went from the room. Rubin saw CM in the conference room reading the press release and commenting that the cause of death was not known. CM looked distressed. Press release was given in the auditorium in the basement by Jermaine Jackson.
Walgren Cross
Walgren mentions Katherine Jackson was notified about the death of MJ by Richelle Cooper. Rubin told the police that he heard the “anguish of a mom hearing about losing her child and from a personal perspective it was not a good thing to hear”.
Randy Philips Testimony
Chernoff Direct
Phillips is the president and CEO of AEG Live. Prior to working with AEG he ran a record company. Phillips has been in the entertainment business for 30 years. He explains what AEG and AEG Live does, the venues they operate etc.
Phillips first met MJ in the mid 1990s. Phillips had brought LA Gear endorsement deal to John Branca and MJ.
Next time he saw MJ was in 2007. At the time he was CEO of AEG and Peter Lopez, MJ’s attorney, had contacted AEG for a tour. A meeting in Las Vegas had been arranged with MJ, Lopez and MJ’s manager.
Lunch Break
Murray Trial Day 17 October 25, 2011
Afternoon session
Randy Phillips testimony continued
Chernoff direct continued
AEG was contacted by Peter Lopez about MJ potentially going back on stage in 2007. RP was this would have been monumental achievement for AEG as MJ was the greatest star.
The meeting happened in Las Vegas with Lopez, another lawyer named Cross, Raymone Bain and her assistant. The meeting lasted 90 minutes. At that time MJ wasn’t ready to back to stage so Phillips didn’t pursue it any further.
August 2008 AEG got contacted by Tom Barrack fro Colony Capital who bought the note on Neverland. They met and talked about concerts. Phillips met with Tohme same week. Tohme said MJ wanted to restart his career, first do live shows and then put out new music.
Phillips met with MJ at September 2008. The plan was to do a residency show at the O2. Phillips calls only special artists can do that and it’s like “bringing the mountain to Muhammad”. MJ seemed motivated and receptive to the idea. Phillips had other meeting with MJ to talk about creative stuff.
Phillips met with MJ on Halloween (October 31st). MJ mentioned Phillips how he wanted to restart his career and how he was living like a vagabond. The meeting got emotional and both RP and MJ cried.
AEG contract was for 31 shows. MJ came up with that number as he wanted to do 10 more shows then prince. The contract was signed at MJ’s house on January 2009.
Chernoff tries to ask many questions about the contract but it’s sustained. Judge didn’t allow that line of questioning.
Press conference was on March and AEG advertised initially 10 shows. Chernoff tries to ask MJ being late to press conference etc but the judge doesn’t allow it.
After the announcement they did a presale and the demand was unbelieveable. Gongaware told Phillips to ask if MJ would do more shows. Phillips talked to Tohme and got a phone call from MJ after 20 minutes. MJ said he would do 50 shows maximum and had 2 conditions. He wanted a house outside London with 16 acres, horses, pastoral for his kids and he wanted Guinness book of world records to be present at the 50th show.
In March MJ told he wanted Ortega to be the director of the concerts. Ortega was hired and then auditions were done and additional personnel were hired in April. Rehearsals started in May.
MJ talked about a personal doctor in May. RP was away and heard it from Dileo, Gongaware and Whooley. They asked if Phillips can talk MJ out of hiring his own doctor. Phillips told MJ it would be expensive to bring a US doctor to London and asked if MJ would hire a doctor that’s based in London. MJ was firm and said he wanted his own physician. Gongaware negotiated with Murray.
There was a meeting at the first week of June. Dileo was worried about MJ not eating enough. CM said he’ll make sure that MJ ate properly and he’ll give MJ supplemental protein drinks. CM told them MJ’s health was good. Phillips say it is obvious to him that MJ trusted CM and they had close relationship. This was the first time Phillips met CM.
There was a concern raised by Ortega at the second week of June. Ortega felt like MJ wasn’t as engaged as he needed to be. The main concern was MJ’s focus and attending rehearsals.
Phillips says he wasn’t sure what Ortega meant by tough love and pulling the plug. Phillips say no one was contemplating pulling the plug and there was no concern that the show would be cancelled, they would have been postponed. After Ortega’s email Dileo called and asked Phillips to arrange a meeting. Phillips called CM to arrange the meeting.
During one conversation Phillips mentioned CM that MJ was seeing Klein. Phillips mentioned this because at one production meeting MJ wasn’t as focused as he usually was (Phillips say MJ was generally laser focused). Phillips asked MAW if MJ was okay and MAW had told him he just came back from Klein.
June 20th meeting. MJ, CM, Phillips and Ortega were present. Ortega started by saying MJ needed to focus and show more engagement. MJ told Ortega that he was ready and “you build the house and I’ll put the door and paint”.
Phillips went to rehearsals on June 23rd and 24th.
June 25th Phillips got a call from Dileo around 10:30 – 11:00AM. Dileo told him MJ was having difficulty breathing and told him to go to Carolwood. It took Phillips 15 minutes to arrive to Carolwood. When he arrived paramedics were leaving the house so Phillips followed them to the hospital. Dileo joined him at hospital. Phillips saw CM at the hospital. CM was in severe distress and Phillips doesn’t remember what CM said.
mid afternoon break
Walgren cross
Phillips says he learned in May 2009 that MJ had a personal doctor. Phillips say he had no knowledge of what CM was doing as treatment to MJ.
Phillips says it never got to the point that they considered to pull the plug on TII concerts.
Phillips says he mentioned that MJ was seeing Klein in the meeting at the first week of June. Phillips says CM either knew or said that he would check into it.
Phillips again asked about TII concerts. Phillips says MJ was motivated and that he’s a genius. Phillips again tells how the concerts were increased to 50 shows. After the presales demand Gongaware asked him to talk to Michael. Phillips called Tohme and MJ called him within 20 minutes. MJ said he’ll do 50 shows but wanted Guinness Book of World records to document it and he wanted an estate for his kids. Phillips says that MJ was a phenomenal father.
Walgren goes over the meetings. The meeting in first week of June was about MJ not eating enough and CM said he’ll take care of it. MJ had great trust in CM. 19th June meeting was about missing rehearsals. CM was very reassuring and told Ortega to take care of the show and CM was the doctor and he would take care of MJ’s health.
After being told what time paramedics was leaving the house, Phillips says he might be mistaken about the time he got the phone call about MJ on June 25th.
Phillips says he attended rehearsals on June 23rd and June 24th. Last time he saw MJ was on June 24th. Phillips says he had Goosebumps while watching MJ. MJ walked to his car with Phillips. "He put his hands on my shoulders as we were walking out and he said to me, 'You got me here, now I'm ready. I can take it from here.' And that's the last I saw him," said Phillips.
Chernoff redirect
Phillips said he never felt that MJ was not able to do the shows. Phillips says the reason the initial shows were pushed back had nothing to do with MJ’s health. Phillips says during the meeting they were always reassured by CM.
Chernoff talks about cancellation of the shows. Phillips says AEG had a contractual obligation to MJ and they (MJ and AEG) would have to mutually agree on cancelling the tour. Chernoff asks if contractually MJ was responsible for the production cost, Phillips says yes. Chernoff tries to ask more about the contract such as insurance but they are sustained.
Chernoff asks what Ortega meant by tough love, pulling the plug. Phillips says he doesn’t know and that he’s not in Kenny’s mind.
Chernoff asks why he mentioned Klein to CM. Phillips say at one meeting MJ was distracted and when he asked MAW if MJ was okay, MAW said he just came from Klein. Another time it was mentioned MJ couldn’t; come to a meeting because he had been at Klein.
Micahel Hansen Testimony
Flanagan Direct
Hansen works at Pacific Toxicology. They got samples from the coroner’s office and did tests for total Lorazepam (the drug and metabolite) for the defense.
Flanagan tries to ask questions but they can’t be answered because it’s beyond knowledge of Hansen. There are a lot of objections. Flanagan has no further questions
Walgren Cross
Walgren asks how long Hansen knew Flanagan. Hansen says since 2009 and his firm worked with Flanagan’s firm for decades.
Walgren asks about the stomach contents test. They looked for total Lorazepam (free drug and the metabolite) because it’s their standard procedure. They found it was 634ng/ml. In their analysis they did not differentiate between the drug and the metabolite. It was later sent to another lab in Pennsylvania to determine the free Lorazepam. The results were 84 ng/ml. It equals to 0.006 mg which is 1/333 of a 2mg tablet.
Walgren asks if Dr. Shafer contacted the lab asking about their methodology for the drug testing. They didn’t respond and notified Flanagan. Ms Brazil called the lab to get the procedures and said if they don’t respond she would have to get the court involved. Only after this they provided their procedures to the prosecution.
Walgren says they got a corrected version of toxicology results and defense’s copy didn’t have correction. Walgren asks why but Hansen doesn’t know the reason.
Flanagan redirect
Flanagan says the quantity found by the coroner is 0.008 mg but their lab found 0.006mg and asks the reasons. Hansen says it could be due to the timing of the testing and degradation or it could be due to methods used.