Day 4 of the AEG trial: The family was worried about Michael Jackson

Thursday saw the fourth session of the AEG trial, and Orlando Martinez was called to the witness stand again.

Martinez testified that he had heard from Katherine, Michael’s mother, that the family tried to intervene and prevent Michael from taking medication. According to Katherine, the family believed that Michael had become addicted to painkillers. Katherine, however, said that Michael had prevented any interference on their part by claiming he was not addicted. Katherine had also mentioned that once, Jannet—Michael’s younger sister—had tried to arrange an addiction-recovery gathering for Michael in Neverland, though Michael did not attend. Martinez first questioned Katherine on the day Michael died, at the hospital, but six months later he decided to go back to the grieving mother and investigate the family’s meetings that had been held beforehand in order to come up with solutions regarding Michael’s dependence on prescription drugs. That was when Katherine spoke about the family’s repeated efforts to solve Michael’s problem.

Katherine Jackson told Martinez that she had been informed that Michael was taking medication, and that she did not know the names or types of those drugs. But in her view, her son was taking them because of severe back pain, and she suspected he might have become addicted to them. Katherine also said she had never seen Michael take medication, but she had talked with him about it.

During the 2005 trial, Michael also suffered from severe back pain.

When Martinez asked whether Michael had been suffering from a chronic illness, Katherine said her son had insomnia and spent most of his time suffering from back pain. Katherine also said that this back pain was the result of an incident that had happened to her years earlier while performing on stage.

Katherine Jackson had last spoken to her by phone at Carol Wood, Halmby Hills, about a week and a half before Michael’s death.

Martinez brought these statements up during his Q&A with the company’s lawyer. He also said that Katherine Jackson had informed him that she had met Dr. Murray for the first time on the day Michael died at the hospital, and that she had no prior history of knowing him.

He said he had interviewed Prince, Michael’s eldest child, who was 12 years old. But the notes the police officer had prepared based on Prince’s statements could not be used in court because their conversation had not been recorded on cassette tape.

Yesterday, Rebbie Jackson was present in court alongside her mother. As you read earlier, the judge allows only one person to accompany Katherine.

On the same day, more photos of Michael’s home were shown to the jury.

On the day of the King of Pop’s death, Michael Jackson’s personal room on the second floor of the home in Carol Wood was very messy and untidy. Curtains were drawn, and in the summer season the fireplace was on. According to Martinez, the most noticeable thing in Michael’s room was clothes. A mobile clothing rack was filled with clothes hanging from its hooks. More clothes were scattered across the floor throughout the room, and clothes were also spread out on a wrinkled and untidy bedspread on the bed. On the writing desk, there was a pile of DVDs and papers. In one corner of the room, books were stacked on top of each other. On the floor of the hallway that ran from the bedroom to the large wardrobe and the bathroom, a pile of clothes could be seen. Inside the closet: a globe (a spherical model of the Earth’s geographic map), several shopping bags, a mannequin wearing a red coat with black-colored decorations, and cardboard boxes filled with clothes.

Throughout the bathroom, paper was scattered, and another cardboard box filled with many clothes was placed inside the bathroom. Several bags and towels were spread out there as well. Inside the marble-and-enamel bathtub, more towels were piled up, and nearby, decorative glass bottles filled with liquid were kept.

The only person allowed to enter this room was Michael. When food or water was brought to Michael, it had to be placed outside the room on the floor, and the cook or Michael’s staff were not allowed to enter.

On the day Michael died, Martinez went from the hospital back home. Michael’s children had returned there too. When Martinez arrived home, he saw Randy, Michael’s brother, next to his three children. He observed three cars in the home’s parking lot, one of which was Conrad Murray’s BMW. Murray, who had fled the hospital, was not answering his phone. Martinez found Murray’s behavior suspicious, seized his vehicle, and transferred it to the police station.

Martinez testified: “If this was an emergency or a natural death, then why was Murray refusing to talk to us? Why did he leave the hospital even though he was asked to stay? Why didn’t he go home to get his car?”

Police tracked Murray’s mobile phone and found that he had gone from Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Two days after Michael’s death, he finally surrendered to the police.

Source: eMJey.com / CNN & AP & NBC