AG Court Session 13: Murray’s $5 Million Request for Caring for Michael Jackson

In the 13th session of the court held on Friday, 45 minutes of recorded video from the testimony of a tour director hired by the company was played for the jury. In the video, the director testified that Conrad Murray requested a legal salary of $5 million from the company to care for Michael Jackson. The witness described Murray’s unreasonable request as a red flag for the company. Marty Hoom, who spent 25 to 30 years of his life as a tour manager or director, described Murray’s request as shocking and illogical. He said that Murray eventually agreed to a monthly salary of $150,000.

AEG initially chose Hoom as its witness. He was supposed to appear in court in exchange for receiving $500 for each hour to testify under oath. But the company changed its decision and removed Hoom from its list of witnesses. However, yesterday, Catherine Jackson’s family attorney, in a rare move, showed the court a video recorded of Hoom’s sworn testimony in front of the lawyers of both sides. Brian Panish said he brought this video to ensure the jury heard his voice, even if the company didn’t intend to subpoena him.

Another important thing Hoom said in the video was his surprise at having a personal doctor on tour. He said that over the years he had never seen a personal doctor accompany a tour. He did accept that the Rolling Stones had a doctor accompanying their tours, but he hadn’t worked with them.

The rest of the video moved on to discuss working relationships.

The key question Panish asked Hoom was whether Dr. Murray would prioritize the company’s interests more or his patient’s health (Michael) for his own benefit. Hoom replied that he didn’t think it was appropriate to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.

Panish asked him whether company people talking to the doctor in the absence of the patient would be considered unethical. Hoom said he didn’t know whether this was ethically acceptable, but in any case, in this situation it was the responsibility of Dr. Murray to reject the request for a conversation. Hoom pointed out that he had never seen a private conversation between company people and a doctor, but over the years, when a stage manager got sick, his instinct told him to go to their doctor and ask whether that person could go on stage. He also explained that before the tour, the company had to ask its assigned doctor about Michael’s health status and his ability to perform concerts.

Another thing Hoom said was that he had never seen a tour company pay the salary of an artist’s program manager. Panish said he would present documents in the coming days to prove that Michael’s program manager’s salary was being paid by the company, creating a conflict of interest.

Catherine Jackson’s lawyers claim that hiring Frank Dileo was forced on Michael by the company. In the three months leading up to his death, Michael changed two tour managers. In late March, he hired Leonard Rowe—one of his father’s friends—to replace Teme Teme. Teme Teme was the person who arranged the tour contract with the company. Catherine Jackson’s lawyers claim the company wasn’t willing to cooperate with Rowe and therefore imposed Dileo on Michael. Dileo was hired in May. Catherine’s lawyers hope that by reviewing the emails exchanged between Dileo and the company, they can uncover this secret.

Brian Panish, Catherine Jackson’s attorney, was supposed to bring David Brown, a specialist doctor for propofol, to the stand today, but he backed out. In court, he said he had concluded that the witness’s statements would not add anything new to the case’s knowledge. Because of this change in plans, the jury got a four-hour lunch break.

Source: eMJey.com / LA Times & CNN & AP