And, We Wait for Another Jury To Decide

The closing arguments in the AEG Live trial were completed last week and the case has now been presented to the jury. The jury has had to endure 5 long months of testimony in a trial whose main purpose is supposedly to determine who hired Conrad Murray, the man, now felon, who is responsible for the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson.

No verdict in this trial can change the fact that Conrad Murray egregiously violated 17 tenets of the proper care of his patient. The AEG Live trial made this more than clear. Murray improperly treated his “desperate to sleep” patient’s severe insomnia by poisoning him for two months with a drug, propofol, that he had no training to administer and without the proper equipment while doing so. He administered the drug, walked away from his patient to talk on the phone with his stripper girlfriend, failed to call emergency services to assist while covering up his crime and lied to hospital emergency staff about what he had done. Murray’s only patient died in his negligent care. Murray, scheduled to be released from jail at the end of October, has not appropriately paid for his crime. Katherine Jackson declined to seek restitution from Murray so he is now free to profit from his crime in books and on the tabloid talk show circuit.

Testimony at this trial made it clear that Michael Jackson, the victim, was on trial for the third time. The judge presided over a circus that seemed to allow any and all line of questioning that laid bare the privacy of Michael Jackson for public consumption.

IF AEG wins, it means they didn’t hire or supervise Murray and bear no responsibility for his medical incompetence which led directly to Jackson’s death.

IF Katherine Jackson wins, it means AEG hired and supervised Murray who was then caught in a corporate conflict of loyalty which bred the incompetence that led to Jackson’s death

In either case, the jury heard witness testimony about Michael Jackson’s behavior over the years relative to his use of prescription medication — including brave attempts to separate from them for good. Some of these witnesses spoke from first-hand knowledge because they were doctors who treated Jackson and others spoke from close perspective like Debbie Rowe.

This trial did help Michael’s legacy in some respect. It shed much light on the fact that he was an excellent father. Not one witness disputed that or said to the contrary. It showed him to be a very spiritual person. When one of the doctors was asked what they talked about, he said the Bible. Nearly every one of the witnesses spoke very highly of Michael, even the doctors who felt he was over-medicating. They all loved him dearly. It has made him very human and has, perhaps, taken the focus off the previous negative perceptions. Most of the reporting had a certain amount of understanding and stuck to the facts. Anthony McCartney of AP, Alan Duke of CNN, and ABC LA local were generally fair and factual in their reporting. There were some that reverted to old negatives, but surprisingly few. We never knew before this trial how much pain Michael was in and hopefully there is a better understanding of what he endured. Thinking of the jury – before the trial and after – they probably have a hugely different opinion of Michael. That he was someone who had to live and cope with pain, someone who people loved dearly, an extremely generous and caring person, and a father figure to many. We sincerely hope that the public will hear about this and will listen.

For those who hoped that the “truth” would be discovered in this trial in total, that does not appear to be the case. There were too many important witnesses that either became “unavailable” or were not called to testify because what they had to offer did not promote the agenda of either side in this case. The trial was as notable for who was not called to testify as for who was called to testify. Most witnesses were HIGHLY paid “experts” who were used to promote a certain agenda in the case. A civil trial is all, after all, about money…seeking to be paid vs. trying not to pay. AEG’s strategy of “blaming the victim” is very ugly. Assigning blame to Michael by the plaintiffs is an also an ugly concession in order to try to win the case.

In the end, it is up to the jury to decide. Whatever the verdict, all of this testimony is on the record to be discussed, written about and spun every which way. It will be grist for the narrow-focused minds who see the world in black/white, and who perpetually grasp at simple answers for everything such as, “Michael Jackson was a grown man, elected to take drugs, and died as a result.” Period. End of story … for them.

There is really no winner here…only losers…Michael Jackson and his children.