Defense Rests In Michael Jackson Wrongful Death Trial
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — AEG Live's defense rested its case Wednesday in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial, now in its 21st week.
Attorneys for the concert promoting giant closed with video testimony from Jackson's long-time personal physician, Dr. Allan Metzger, who discussed how the late singer attempted to get medication to treat his insomnia.
"Michael would seek out avenues of sleep helpers, and that's another aspect of the secrecy. I never knew what he was doing at the times when he wasn't in L.A.," Dr. Metzger said in a video deposition played for jurors.
"Probably he did things in L.A. that I don't know or Dr. Kline doesn't know," he said, referring to Jackson's former plastic surgeon, Arnold Kline, who also treated the late star for several years.
Attorneys for AEG are trying to convince the jury Michael Jackson sought out doctors for prescription medications without letting each doctor know what the others were prescribing.
At one point in the video, AEG lead attorney Marvin Putnmam named several doctors that Michael Jackson had seen over the years who Dr. Metzger had never heard of.
"I told you he was a doctor shopper," he said.
Attorneys for AEG argue Jackson maintained secrecy surrounding his medical care, including the treatment Dr. Conrad Murray was providing inside Jackson's bedroom when the pop star died from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol in 2009.
Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, claims the concert promoter negligently hired the singer's final physician and should be held liable for her son's death. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 after administering a fatal dose of anesthetic in the singer's bedroom.
AEG says it cannot be held responsible for what was going on behind the bedroom doors between Jackson and Murray.
It is now the Jackson family's attorneys chance to bring rebuttal witnesses.
Closing arguments are expected to begin next week in the case that began last April.
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