Katherine Jackson: Michael's mother, 82, was deposed for nine hours over three days by AEG Live lawyers. As the guardian of her son's three children, she is a plaintiff in the wrongful death lawsuit against the company that promoted Michael Jackson's comeback concerts.
Kenny Ortega: He was chosen by Michael Jackson and AEG Live to direct and choreograph the "This Is It" shows. Ortega, who choreographed for Jackson's "Dangerous" and "HIStory" tours, testified at Dr. Conrad Murray's criminal trial that "Jackson was frail" at a rehearsal days before his death.
Dr. Conrad Murray: He was Michael Jackson's personal physician in the two months before his death, giving him nightly infusions of the surgical anesthetic that the coroner ruled led to his death. Murray, who is appealing his involuntary manslaughter conviction, has sworn that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination and refused to testify in the civil trial. There is a chance that Murray will be brought into court from jail to testify outside the presence of the jury to allow the judge to determine if he would be ordered to testify.
Joe Jackson: Michael's father, 84, is on the witness list for the trial and may testify. The Jackson family patriarch, who lives in Las Vegas separately from his wife, has suffered several ministrokes in the last year, which some close to him say have affected him.
Prince Jackson: Michael's oldest son is considered a key witness in the Jacksons' case against AEG Live, since he is expected to testify about what his father told him about the concert promoter in the last days of his life. Prince, who turned 16 in February, is becoming more independent -- he now has a driver's license and jobs.
Paris Jackson: Michael's daughter, who turned 15 on April 3, is on the list of witnesses and was questioned by AEG Live lawyers for several hours on March 21 about her father's death. Paris is an outspoken teen who often posts messages to her 1 million-plus Twitter followers.
Blanket Jackson: Although AEG Live asked the judge to order Blanket, 11, to sit for a deposition, and he is one of the four plaintiffs suing them, Michael's youngest son will not be a witness in the trial. His doctor submitted a note to the court saying it would be "medically detrimental" to the child.
Randy Phillips: He's president of AEG Live, the concert promoter that contracted with Michael Jackson for his "This Is It" comeback shows set to start in London in July 2009. The Jackson lawsuit says Phillips supervised Dr. Conrad Murray's treatment of Jackson in the weeks before his death, making the company liable for damages. E-mails between Phillips and other executives showed they were worried about Jackson's missed rehearsals and sought Murray's help getting him ready.
Kevin Boyle: The Los Angeles personal injury lawyer is leading the Jackson team of at least six attorneys in the wrongful death suit against AEG Live. One of his notable cases was a large settlement with Boeing on behalf of two soldiers injured when their helicopter malfunctioned and crashed in Iraq.
Perry Sanders, Jr.: Katherine Jackson's personal lawyer is helping steer the Jackson matriarch through her relations with her son's estate, probate court and the wrongful death suit. He is also known for representing the family of Biggie Smalls in their suit against the city of Los Angeles over the rapper's death investigation.
Marvin Putnam: He's the lead lawyer for AEG Live, defending against the wrongful death suit. The primary focus of his legal practice is "media in defense of their First Amendment rights," according to his official biography.
Philip Anschutz: The billionaire owner of AEG, parent company of AEG Live, is on the Jacksons' witness list. He is the force behind the effort to build a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles to lure a National Football League team to the city. He recently pulled his company off the market after trying to sell it for $8 billion.
Tim Leiweke: He was recently fired as AEG's president as Philip Anschutz announced he was taking a more active role in the company. The Jackson lawyers say Leiweke's e-mail exchanges with executives under him concerning Michael Jackson's health are important evidence in their case.
Paul Gongaware: The AEG Live co-CEO worked closely with Michael Jackson as he prepared for his comeback concerts. He testified at Dr. Conrad Murray's criminal trial that he contacted the physician and negotiated his hiring at the request of Jackson. AEG lawyers say it was Jackson who chose, hired and supervised Murray. Gongaware knew Jackson well, having been tour manager for the singer in previous years.
John Branca: He's one of two executors of Michael Jackson's estate. Branca was Jackson's lawyer until about seven years before his death. He said Jackson rehired him just weeks before he died.
- NEW: The jury will resume deliberations Friday
- AEG Live's Marvin Putnam asked jurors to find Michael Jackson responsible for his death
- Family lawyer: "How dare they accept no responsibility and blame it all on Michael"
- The Jacksons are asking for $1 billion to $2 billion in damages from AEG Live
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Jurors began deliberations Thursday in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death trial, potentially bringing the contentious case to a close after five months of testimony and three days of closing arguments.
The 12 jurors spent two hours in the jury room Thursday afternoon before ending their day; they will return Friday morning for more deliberations.
Katherine Jackson's lawyer delivered his final arguments in the AEG Live trial Thursday morning, delivering his rebuttal to defense closing arguments.
AEG Live's Marvin Putnam had asked jurors to find Michael Jackson responsible for his death, not the company that promoted and produced his comeback concerts in 2009.
Jackson's mother and three children are suing AEG Live, contending the company was liable in the pop icon's drug overdose death because its executives negligently hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray.
"Plaintiffs want you to hold a concert promoter liable for Michael Jackson's overdose in his bedroom at night, behind locked doors on June 25, 2009," Putnam told jurors. "An overdose of the drug administered to Mr. Jackson by his longtime doctor -- Dr. Murray -- who he'd been seeing for years, a doctor he brought to Los Angeles from Las Vegas."
"How dare they come up here and accept no responsibility and blame it all on Michael," Jackson lawyer Brian Panish said in his rebuttal.
Panish suggested that Jackson's share of blame was 20%, "but the rest goes on AEG."
When the trial began five months ago, Putnam warned he would show "ugly stuff" and reveal Jackson's "deepest, darkest secret."
The revelations that jurors heard from 58 witnesses over 83 days of testimony spanning 21 weeks included details of Jackson's drug use and his shopping for a doctor to give him the surgical anesthetic propofol that he thought would give him sleep.
"He was nearly half a billion dollars in debt," Putnam argued Wednesday. "His mother's house was near foreclosure, we didn't know that then. What else do we know now? That Mr. Jackson spent decades shopping for doctors to give him the painkillers he wanted. Mr. Jackson made sure we didn't know that."
Panish, the lead Jackson lawyer, conceded in his closing Tuesday that the singer may have some fault for his own death, but said "it's about shared responsibility."
Jackson did use prescription painkillers and was warned that using propofol at home to sleep was risky, "but he never had a problem until Dr. Conrad Murray was working and until Conrad Murray negotiated with AEG Live," Panish argued.
Who's to blame for Michael Jackson's death?
The AEG Live lawyer argued Wednesday that Jackson should take the full blame. "The sad truth is Mr. Jackson's death was caused by his choices and it would have happened no matter what -- with or without AEG Live."
The Jackson lawyer urged jurors to award the family between $1 billion and $2 billion in damages for what he called AEG Live's share of liability in Jackson's death -- to replace what Jackson would have earned touring, had he lived, and for the personal suffering from the loss of a son and father.
Putnam told jurors Wednesday that was "an absurd number."
Katherine Jackson testified that she filed the wrongful death lawsuit three years ago against AEG Live "because I want to know what really happened to my son."
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's propofol overdose death.
The judge is allowing a television camera in court for the closing arguments and verdict.
Lawyer: Blame Jackson for his death, not AEG Live
Burden of "Poof"
Panish -- a former college football player who has a reputation for winning large damage awards -- appeared more aggressive in his rebuttal than in his initial closing arguments delivered Tuesday.
In what may become a much-repeated video highlight, Panish joked about how his AEG LIve counterpart had accused him of making up the estimate of $59 million that MIchael Jackson could have been expected to have given his mother and children in support had he lived.
"Poof! Poof! I just made it up!" Panish said dramatically as he pointed to Putnam, sitting at the AEG Live defense table. The line and gesture drew a laugh from some jurors.
Panish showed jurors that the figure was actually from a opinion provided by a financial expert that AEG Live hired to analyze the issue.
Putnam, in his closing Wednesday, referenced the expert's lower-end estimate of $21 million. The numbers could be important in guiding the jury if it decides to award damages to the Jacksons.
AEG Live's defense
Murray treated Michael Jackson and his children for minor illnesses while they lived in Las Vegas for three years, before the singer returned to Los Angeles to prepare for his "This Is It" comeback tour. It was Jackson -- not AEG Live executives -- who chose Murray to be his full-time doctor for his tour, the company's lawyers contend.
AEG Live Co-CEO Paul Gongaware negotiated to pay Murray $150,000 a month only because of Jackson's request to have his doctor with him as he performed 50 shows at London's O2 Arena, they argue.
"He told them 'We're bringing this doctor,' " Putnam said. "This was a choice Mr. Jackson made. He was a grown man."
AEG Live executives tried to talk Jackson out of taking an American doctor with him on tour, suggesting he could save money by using a physician in London, Putnam said.
"But Mr. Jackson was undeterred," he said. "Ultimately, it was his money, his doctor, his choice. He certainly wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer."
There was no need to check Murray's background because he was a licensed, successful doctor who was known to Jackson, Putnam said. "All AEG Live knew was Dr. Murray was Mr. Jackson's longtime doctor."
A key argument in the Jackson case is that AEG Live was negligent by not ordering a financial background check of Murray, which would have revealed he was in a dire financial situation and not successful. His desperation to keep his lucrative job led Murray to violate his Hippocratic Oath to do no harm by using the dangerous propofol infusions to put Jackson to sleep each night for two months, Jackson lawyers argue.
AEG Live executives had no way of knowing Murray was treating Jackson's insomnia with propofol in the privacy of his bedroom, their lawyers contend. Jackson was a secretive addict, adept at keeping family, friends and other doctors in the dark about his medical treatments, they argue.
But two doctors testified that they told Gongaware about Jackson's abuse of painkillers and his insomnia during tours in the 1990s, when the AEG Live executive served as tour manager. Jackson lawyers argue Gongaware, who was the top producer on the new tour, should have known that Jackson could suffer the same problems in 2009.
The deterioration of Jackson's health over the two months he was being treated by Murray was a red flag that there was a problem, but AEG Live executives negligently ignored the warning, Jackson lawyers argue. By June 19, he was frail, suffering chills, unable to do his trademark dances and paranoid, according to testimony.
"Everyone believed at the time that a 50-year-old man, who hadn't performed in a decade was tired, out of shape and very nervous," Putnam argued Wednesday. "That's what they believed at the time and it makes sense."
AEG Live would avoid a negative verdict if it is able to convince at least four of the 12 jurors that it did not hire Murray. It is the first of 16 questions on the jury verdict form. If jurors answer it with a "no" -- that AEG Live did not hire the doctor -- they would end their deliberations and the trial.
An AEG Live lawyer e-mailed an employment contract to Murray on the morning of June 24, 2009. Murray signed it and faxed it back to the company that day. But the signature lines for AEG Live's CEO and for Michael Jackson were never signed since Jackson died the next day.
But Panish, the lead Jackson lawyer, told jurors Tuesday that all the elements of an oral contract -- "just as valid as a written contract" -- were in place when Jackson died.
Murray had been treating Jackson for two months and the written contract stated that his start day was May 1, 2009. A series of e-mail exchanges involving Murray and AEG Live executives and lawyers support this argument, Panish said.
A look at the life of Michael Jackson
Blame and damages
If the jury concludes AEG Live has liability, it would have to decide how much the company should pay in economic and personal damages to Jackson's mother and children. They can use estimates of Jackson's "lost earnings capacity" -- the amount of money he could reasonably be expected to have earned if he had lived -- to guide them.
AEG Live expert Eric Briggs testified it was "speculative" that Jackson would have even completed another tour because of his drug use, damaged reputation and history of failed projects. He suggested the star may never have earned another dime.
Putnam's closing argument about damages must overcome the impression left on jurors Tuesday, when Panish played a video montage of Jackson performances.
"That is, I think, the best evidence of if Michael Jackson could have sold tickets -- not what Mr. Briggs would tell you," Panish told jurors.
Panish suggested jurors pick a number between $900 million and $1.6 billion for economic damages. They should add on another $290 million for non-economic damages -- or personal damages, he said.
Putnam argued that the number, if the jury finds AEG Live liable, should be closer to $21 million, the amount of money AEG Live's expert calculated Jackson would have given his mother and three children over the next 16 years. He couldn't have given them more because he had a $400 million debt that was getting deeper, he said.
"If Mr. Jackson had lived, it's hard to see how he would ever have dug himself out of that whole," Putnam said.
The last question on the verdict form asks jurors to assign a percentage that they believe represents Michael Jackson's share of blame in his death. The total damages owed by AEG Live would be reduced by that percentage.
While AEG Live lawyers did not suggest a percentage, Panish suggested jurors reduce the damage award by 20% to reflect Jackson's share of blame.
