AP/JOEL RYAN
LOS ANGELES–Michael Jackson’s family tried several times to carry out “interventions” on the singer to help him fight drug addiction, but he denied having a problem, a trial heard Thursday.
The late King of Pop’s mother Katherine Jackson told police a few months after his June 2009 death about the attempts to convince her son to do something about his drug abuse, a detective said.
The 50-year-old singer died from an overdose of the powerful sedative and anaesthetic propofol, administered by Murray to help the “Thriller” legend deal with chronic insomnia.
Detective Orlando Martinez, citing an interview with the Jackson family matriarch in September 2009, told the court: “Mrs Jackson said the family tried to help him but he would have nothing to do with it.”
“She had asked Michael if he was taking any drugs, and he denied it,” he said on the fourth day of a wrongful death trial in Los Angeles pitting Katherine Jackson against tour promoter AEG Live.
Jackson’s mother accuses AEG of negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray — who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 over her son’s death — and ignoring signs the singer was deeply unwell, in their pursuit of profits.
AEG claims Murray was hired by Jackson, who it says had had been using propofol to help his chronic insomnia since the 1990s, as well as abusing painkillers for decades.
At the time of his death, Jackson was rehearsing for a series of 50 shows in London, organized with AEG, in an attempt to revive his career and ease his financial woes.
In opening statements Monday, Jackson’s lawyer Brian Panish accused AEG of sacrificing the troubled star in a “ruthless” pursuit of profit in the months before his death.
But Anschutz Entertainment Group lawyer Marvin Putnam argued that the mega pop star had hidden the evidence of his addiction and health woes from everyone, including his family and the concert promoters.
Putman also said Jackson was some $400 million in debt when he approached AEG in 2008 with the idea of putting on the London shows, which were to be followed by a global tour and a possible Las Vegas residency.