Jurors being picked for Jackson suit against promoter

Legal wrangling

Michael Jackson's teenage son lands US TV show

The wrongful death trial on Katherine Jackson's civil lawsuit was put off until after Murray's 2011 criminal trial was over, and legal wrangling also delayed a scheduled September start.

Lawyers have notably argued over what should and should not be admitted in evidence in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Judge Yvette Palazuelos has granted an AEG demand for testimony about the child molestation charges to be heard - which Katherine Jackson says is irrelevant - claiming it could explain the star's stress and medical woes.

But she has notably refused to allow testimony about the parentage of Jackson's three children, or a bizarre incident in which his mother was allegedly kidnapped by family members and taken to Arizona last year.

Murray may be called from prison to give a deposition, but only with the jury out of the courtroom. And he may invoke his Fifth Amendment right to decline to testify in case it might incriminate him further.

But even before the trial proper gets under way, Murray was expected to speak in an interview with CNN, scheduled to be aired on Tuesday, details of which were not immediately available beforehand.

AEG says it was not responsible for hiring and supervising Murray, who treated Jackson with propofol and other drugs to tackle his insomnia as he rehearsed in Los Angeles.

"He was chosen by Michael Jackson, to be there at Michael Jackson's behest, to be Michael Jackson's doctor alone. This was only being done because Michael Jackson asked for it," AEG lawyer Marvin Putman told CNN.

"Michael Jackson was the only person who could get rid of him."

According to celebrity news website TMZ, Jackson's mother and his three children - Prince, 16, Paris, 14 and 11-year-old Blanket - want more than $40 billion from AEG for loss of future earnings and other damages.

AEG claims the figure is "preposterous" because Jackson's career was in a downward spiral following the child molestation allegations, as well as self-imposed exile in the Middle East, TMZ reported.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 04/03/2013 page10)