After a bitterly fought five-month trial, a negligence lawsuit by Michael Jackson's mother against his concert promoter is in the hands of a jury after a final plea by a Jackson lawyer to punish the company he portrayed as a heartless, money-making machine.
In his argument Thursday, attorney Brian Panish, who represents Katherine Jackson, urged the six women and six men on the jury to find that defendant AEG Live LLC and Jackson shared responsibility for hiring Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician whose treatments killed the superstar. Earlier this week, a lawyer for AEG Live suggested the promoter was pressured by Jackson to hire Murray as his personal physician, and was deceived when Jackson and Murray hid the fact that the singer was receiving nightly doses of the anesthetic propofol in his bedroom. The drug is intended for use during operations at hospitals.
Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter after giving Jackson an overdose of propofol as a sleep aid as Jackson fought chronic insomnia. Murray is in prison.
