Paris, Prince Jackson at death trial
Los Angeles (CNN) — Paris and Prince Jackson made their first appearances Tuesday in the wrongful death trial against their father’s last concert promoter.
AEG Live lawyers played short video clips from the depositions of Michael Jackson’s oldest children in court to counter testimony from their chef.
Kai Chase, who cooked for the singer and his three children in the last months of his life, had described what she said was Jackson’s physical deterioration just before his death.
Jackson was strong, healthy and active in April, but was so weak by June that Prince, then 12, had to help his father walk up stairs, Chase testified.
Chase also repeated the testimony she gave in the criminal trial of Dr. Conrad Murray about the day Jackson died.
Paris Jackson’s ‘cry for help’
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Who’s who in Jackson trial
Paris Jackson made headlines recently when she was rushed to the hospital after she reportedly cut one of her wrists. Jackson is the second child of famed singer Michael Jackson and Deborah Jeanne Rowe. Click through to see more of the Jackson family tree.
Katherine Jackson is the matriarch of the Jackson family. Here she attends the hand and footprint ceremony for son Michael at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in January 2012 in Los Angeles.
Joseph Walker “Joe” Jackson is the patriarch of the Jackson family. He’s pictured at a March 2011 press conference in Madrid, Spain.
Maureen Reillette “Rebbie” Jackson is Joe and Katherine’s oldest child. She scored a hit in the 1980s with the song “Centipede.” She has three children: Stacee, Yashi and Austin “Auggie” Brown. Here she attends the world premiere of “Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon” in London in November 2011.
Yashi Brown, Rebbie Jackson’s second child, is a poet and advocate on mental health issues.
Rebbie Jackson’s youngest, Austin “Auggie” Brown, is a musician. He’s pictured at a December 2012 benefit in Hollywood.
Sigmund Esco “Jackie” Jackson, center, is the second of Joe and Katherine’s children. He has two children with Enid Spann: Sigmund Esco “Siggy” Jackson Jr. and Brandi Jackson. Here he performs with brothers Tito, left, and Marlon Jackson in Los Angeles in July 2012.
Toriano Adaryll “Tito” Jackson, the third of the Jackson children, has three sons: Toriano Adaryll “Taj”Jackson Jr., Taryll Adren Jackson and Tito Joe “TJ” Jackson, who are members of the group 3T. Tito Jackson performs in Liverpool, England, in 2009.
Toriano Adaryll “Taj” Jackson Jr., Tito Jackson’s oldest son, is part of the group 3T. Here he performs in Cardiff, Wales, in October 2011.
Taryll Adren Jackson, Tito Jackson’s middle son, performs with his bothers in memory of his uncle, Michael, in 2011.
Tito Joe “TJ” Jackson performs in honor of his uncle, Michael.
Jermaine La Jaune Jackson is the fourth of Joe and Katherine’s children. He has seven children. With Hazel Gordy, Jackson had three children: Jermaine Lu Juane Jr., Autumn Joy and Jaimy. He had two children with Margaret Maldonado: Jeremy and Jourdynn. His two youngest children, Jaffar and Jermajesty, were born to Alejandra Oaziaza. He has no children with his current wife, Halima Rashid. Jackson and Rashid are pictured at the Royal Festival Hall in London in October 2010.
La Toya Yvonne Jackson, the fifth of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children, attends the world premiere of “Dancing In Jaffa” at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April. She is one of the film’s executive producers.
Marlon David Jackson was born a year before brother Michael Jackson. He has three children with Carol Parker: Valencia, Brittany and Marlon David Jr.
Pop superstar Michael Jackson, the most famous of Joe and Katherine’s children, had three kids. He fathered his first two, Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. and Paris Katherine Jackson, with Deborah Jeanne Rowe. His youngest, Prince Michael Joseph “Blanket” Jackson II, was born to an unidentified woman. The singer died in 2009.
Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. attends a baseball game in August 2012 during a visit to his late father’s hometown of Gary, Indiana.
Prince Michael Joseph “Blanket” Jackson attends the Las Vegas premiere of “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World” by Cirque du Soleil in December 2011. He is Michael Jackson’s youngest son.
Steven Randall “Randy” Jackson is the second youngest of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children. He has four children: Steveanna, Genevieve, Donte and Steven Randall Jr. Alejandra Oaziaza is the mother of the latter three. She later married and had two children with Randy’s brother Jermaine.
Genevieve Jackson, pictured in November 2011, is Randy Jackson’s second child.
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is the youngest of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children. The pop star has no children. She was briefly married to singer James DeBarge before secretly marrying dancer Rene Elizondo in 1991. The couple divorced in 2000, and she married businessman Wissam Al Mana in 2012. She’s pictured performing at the Sydney Opera House in 2011 in Australia.
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Photos: All in the Jackson family
The death in 2009 of superstar Michael Jackson, who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50, sent shockwaves around the world.
The Jackson 5 perform on a TV show circa 1969. From left, Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Jermaine Jackson.
Michael Jackson quickly became the stand out star of the Jackson 5. Here he performs onstage circa 1970.
Michael Jackson poses during a portrait session in Los Angeles in 1971.
Michael Jackson performs with The Jacksons in New Orleans on October 3, 1979.
Jackson achieved superstardom with his solo career in the 1980s. Here Jackson is shown on stage in Kansas in 1983.
Michael Jackson performs on stage circa 1990.
Jackson broke a world record during the Bad tour in 1988 when 504,000 people attending seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in London.
Jackson perfoms in concert circa 1991 in New York City.
Known for his dance moves, Jackson is seen here jumping in the air while performing during the Dangerous tour in 1992.
Michael Jackson performs in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Jackson performs with his brothers.
Jackson performs during the Bad tour at Wembley Stadium in London.
Jackson performs during the taping of “American Bandstand’s 50th: A Celebration” in 2002.
Michael Jackson earned the Legend Award during the MTV Video Music Awards in Tokyo in 2006.
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Photos: Michael Jackson, King of Pop
But her most dramatic words were about how Michael Jackson’s death affected his children — Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson, for whom she now cooks at their grandmother’s home.
“They talk about their father a lot,” Chase said. “It’s just something that they’ll never get over — the love and how much they miss their father.”
Jackson’s mother and three children are suing AEG Live, contending the concert promoter was liable in his death because it negligently hired, retained or supervised Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Murray told police he used the surgical anesthetic propofol to treat Jackson’s insomnia. The coroner ruled propofol killed him.
AEG Live lawyers argue Jackson chose and supervised Murray, and their executives had no way of knowing the doctor was using the dangerous treatment.
Watch: Anderson Cooper interviews Conrad Murray
Paris testifies
The day Paris Jackson attempted suicide, AEG Live lawyers told reporters they couldn’t promise not to use the 15-year-old’s testimony in their defense. Since Paris is one of the plaintiffs, they were able to compel the teen to sit for two days of questioning in March.
Jackson lawyers, however, told the judge Tuesday that Paris is unavailable to appear in person since she is still being treated in a hospital. AEG Live is able to use the video recording of her deposition, which they began doing Tuesday afternoon.
The first clip shown to jurors was an answer to a question by AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam about former Jackson nanny Grace Rwaramba, who was fired two months before Jackson’s death.
“My dad didn’t like her, so he tried to, like, keep her away from us,” Paris said. “So he sent her on errands a lot.”
Her father was reluctant to fire Rwaramba because “he felt bad because she didn’t really have a lot of money,” she testified.
“He said she was sneaky and she wasn’t an honest person and she lied a lot,” Paris said.
Paris related an incident that happened when she was “really young.” She prefaced the story by saying it was “real creepy” and “this is going to freak you out.”
The nanny would sneak into a doctor’s hotel room and “he’d wake up and she’d be in his bed,” Paris said. “So, yeah, it’s kind of creepy.” It was unclear whose bed Paris was referring to since it was an isolated clip played without context.
Putnam asked her why her father didn’t just make the nanny stay away. “He sent her to India to get some stuff,” Paris said. “She kept coming back.”
The AEG Live defense team apparently played the video to counter Chase’s testimony about Rwaramba, who is expected to be a key Jackson witness later in the trial.
Chase, in testimony Wednesday, suggested that Paris’ account of Rwaramba was influenced by her feeling of abandonment caused by the nanny’s departure from her life just before her father’s death.
“The children felt abandoned,” Chase said. “They weren’t happy.”
“This was the mother they knew,” Chase said of Rwaramba. “She was there when they were born.”
Rwaramba is back in her life in recent weeks following Paris’ hospitalization, she said.
“She’s turned to her grandmother,” Chase said. “She’s turned to Grace and her biological mother, Debbie Rowe.”
Paris’ ‘Daddy days’
“Being Daddy’s little girl, she was devastated, devastated and lost,” said Chase, who was with Paris every day until her attempted suicide on June 4, 2013. “She’s looking, for there was so much love between her and her father. She’s lost. She’s searching. She’s sad.”
The “entire household” is worried about how Paris is dealing with the loss of her father four years ago, Chase said.
“Every girl needs their father,” she said. “I would be devastated, too, if that happened to me.”
Paris “breaks down, she cries,” Chase said. “She talks about him.”
“She’s trying to find herself, trying to find who she is and it’s taking a lot of love and understanding to keep her together,” she said.
Chase told jurors about a very happy day for Paris — her 11th birthday party in April 2009. Her father told the children they could eat whatever they wanted, which was a rare treat for them. Cheese pizza, hot wings and banana splits were on the menu, she said.
The dining room was decorated with Michael Jackson posters and album covers, while his music was played “because this is what she wanted for her 11th birthday,” Chase testified. “She was just ecstatic.”
“Just when you thought that was enough, he took his children to the backyard for a Cirque du Soleil-type performance for her,” she said. Men on stilts, a woman inside a big balloon and circus acts “brought tears to my eyes … It was the most beautiful expression of love I’ve ever seen.”
“Paris hasn’t had a birthday party since,” Chase said. “She doesn’t want one.”
Paris “remembers the Daddy days and her birthday,” she said.
See also: Judge overseeing Jackson trial orders investigation into Paris Jackson incident
Prince’s testimony
Prince Jackson, 16, also made a brief video appearance in Tuesday’s court session. AEG Live lawyers played a short clip from his deposition to counter Chase’s testimony that Jackson was so weak at one point in June that his son, then 12, had to help him walk up stairs.
“Was there ever a time that he came home from rehearsals so tired that you had to help him upstairs?” Putnam asked Prince.
“I wouldn’t be able to, but no,” Prince answered.
Chase testified about Prince’s relationship with his father and the devastation his death caused.
“Prince has always been, even at 12, the little man — daddy’s little man,” she said. “He wanted his father to be very proud of him, which Michael was.”
The teen has “the weight of the world is on his shoulders, the eldest, big brother and father figure to his siblings,” Chase testified. “It’s a lot for him, growing, liking girls. He wishes his father was here to give him advice. It’s devastating to him.”
Blanket’s ‘dance moves like his father’
Blanket, who was 7 when his father died, is now 11 and a fifth-grade graduate of his home school. “l keep thinking he’s older because he’s so smart,” Chase said.
“As the littlest, he has his older siblings to protect him, but I still think the youngest child will be the most affected,” she testified. “Being the baby, it’s a lot of remembering what daddy did, and it’s constant nonstop talking of him and his father’s relationship together.”
Like Prince and Paris, Blanket is “feeling a little lost as well,” Chase said.
He has to dress up each day, even though he is taught by a tutor at the family’s Calabasas, California, home. But he can wear what he wants on Fridays — which usually is a T-shirt from the Cirque du Soleil “Immortal” show based on his father’s music, Chase said. “He wears it constantly.”
“He does dance moves like his father,” she testified.
Gallery: Michael Jackson, King of Pop
My ‘junior clients’
Michael Jackson hired Chase as his family’s chef without meeting her — based on the recommendation of Prince, Paris and Blanket, she testified.
She first met with her “junior clients” in the kitchen of the rented Los Angeles mansion where they were living while Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts.
The interview involved a discussion of “everything from food to video games,” she said. “They wanted to make sure I knew healthy food.”
“‘We eat healthy,” Chase said the children told her. “We don’t eat any beef or pork. Daddy likes apricots, we like fruit and Blanket likes mangoes.”
“It just felt like this was a place I needed to be,” Chase said. “It was a beautiful beginning.”
Dining with Daddy
Meals were “their time to bond,” Chase said. “This was his time with them privately.”
Chase — a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Culinary Academy in Paris — would set the table with a different theme for each lunch, featuring recipes from different countries, so the children would learn something while eating.
“One day we would have east Indian food,” she said. “We would discuss what part of India we were eating from.”
The children looked forward to “comfort food Saturdays” — which might include fried chicken — to break up the monotony of healthy eating, she said.
Michael Jackson was “very much into Mexican” and his favorite meal was vegan tacos, she said. The Jackson lawyers showed jurors a photo of the dish Tuesday.
April: ‘A good feeling of love’
Music echoing through the Carolwood Drive mansion was a mix of Disney, Rolling Stones, David Bowie and classical, Chase said. Fireplaces stayed burning despite the warm temperatures outside. “It was a good feeling,” Chase testified.
Animals roaming through the home included a chocolate lab named Kenya, cats Katie and Thriller, a rabbit and a talking bird who would “whistle when pretty girls go by,” Chase said.
Prince had a pet rat he carried around, while Paris would host tea parties in her backyard doll house for the animals. The dog would jump in the pool with the kids when they swam on Saturdays, Chase said.
The children would “run to him like lighting” when their father came home from a rehearsal,” she said. “They would hang on him. It would bring tears to my eyes.”
Jackson would play games with the children and read to them at the end of the day, she said. “His personality with his children was warm and loving.”
Jackson was “a disciplinarian when it was needed,” she said. The children had to be in bed at a certain time and school started on schedule.
Gallery: All in the Jackson family
Snail Farming
Jackson made sure school work was “interactive” for his children, including one science project for Paris that involved a night time hunt for snails, Chase said.
“So far we have a daddy snail, but we don’t have a mommy and a baby snail,” Paris told Chase one evening. That triggered a snail hunt around the mansion grounds, she said.
“I didn’t know how he would feel about his daughter and me out snail hunting at night,” she said, “but he was fine.”
Jackson joined them in constructing a snail farm in glass vases on the kitchen counter.
‘Box of Happiness’
After working for Jackson in March and April, Chase was suddenly dismissed in May because of what Jackson’s assistant told her was “a change of management.” She was not allowed to say good bye to the children, she said.
The assistant called her back a month later and asked her to return to the job, which she did. But this time, her paychecks would be cut by AEG Live, she was told.
Paris greeted her return with a gift. It was a shoe box filled with stuffed animals and coloring books she called a “Box of Happiness.”
Paris learned “giving” from her father, she said.
“She’d go get clothing maybe she wasn’t wearing anymore and she would cut them to make them into little skirts and hand sew them,” Chase said.
“I’m making these little skirts that I’m going to put in a box and ship overseas to others that aren’t as privileged,” she said Paris told her.
Empty pantry, declined credit
The happy home she left in April was changed when she returned in June, Chase said. It was three weeks before Jackson died there.
“The kitchen pantry was bare, and the only things in the refrigerator were Coca-Colas, Red Bull and Starbuck’s coffee drinks, which I know Mr. Jackson was not drinking,” the chef said.
When Chase went to the grocery store to stock up the Jackson credit card was declined, she said.
Jackson himself “looked very different,” she said. “He appeared very weak. He looked thinner, undernourished.”
The “obvious difference” in Jackson from April to June “concerned me greatly,” Chase said.
“He came to me and pulled me to the side and said ‘Where have you gone? I had no idea you left. I need you to keep me healthy. I’m working hard. They’re killing me,’” she testified.
“He told me ‘I need you to keep me healthy. I don’t know why you left. I need you to keep me and my children healthy.’ I looked at him with great concern,” she said. “When he said that … I thought he was being overworked. He was over rehearsed.”
Jackson was excited that she would again be feeding him, she said.
“I knew I had to get this man as healthy as a possible, but I did not know why he was deteriorating,” she said.
Another change she witnessed in June was the presence of Dr. Conrad Murray. He paid some visits in April, but he was there almost every day in June, she said. The doctor would bring empty oxygen tanks from Jackson’s upstairs bedroom each morning.
“I was concerned,” Chase testified. “I had no idea what they were used for. I didn’t ask, but it was strange.”
The world would later learn that Murray was using oxygen when he administered propofol each night to put Jackson to sleep.
‘A loud crash’
The Jackson lawsuit alleges that AEG Live executives, including CEO Randy Phillips and Co-CEO Paul Gongaware, pressured Murray to have Jackson at more rehearsals. They cite a meeting they believe was held at Jackson’s home around the second week of June as evidence.
Jackson, wearing a surgical mask and covered by several layers of clothing, appeared “scared and frightened” as he walked down his stairs to join Phillips, Gongaware, Dr. Murray and his manager Frank Dileo for the meeting in his parlor, Chase said.
“I immediately heard a loud crash,” she testified. A “very, very expensive vase” sitting next to Jackson’s chair was smashed.
Jackson “seemed very firm with them,” she said. The judge would not let her tell jurors what she heard him saying to the AEG Live executives. But there were “loud voices” and everyone was talking over each other,” she said.
Jackson left the meeting, followed by Dr. Murray, who seemed “very upset,” she said.
“I can’t take this s–t,” Murray said, according to Chase.
When she saw Jackson later, he seemed to have “the weight of the world on his shoulders,” she said. He was “concerned, frightened and scared; a lot of those emotions.”
Watch: Michael Jackson’s attorney talks about the singer’s health
The day he died
Chase has publicly recounted several times the events at the house the day Michael Jackson died, including in interviews and testimony in Murray’s criminal trial. She described it again Tuesday for jurors in the civil trial.
Murray “was panicked” as he screamed for Chase to call Prince and the security guard to go upstairs to help him.
“Hurry Dr. Murray needs you,” she said she told Prince, who was playing in the den. “There may be something wrong with your father.”
She returned to her lunch preparations, failing to alert the security guard in the shack near the kitchen door. Murray never asked her to call 911 for an ambulance.
Chase realized there was a grave problem when the housekeepers began crying “Mr. Jackson may be dead,” she said. “You could feel the energy in the house was changing.”
Prince screamed “Daddy” and Paris screamed a “blood curdling, out of her mind ‘Daddy!’”
“I grabbed them and held their hands and said ‘Let’s pray. Father God, please let nothing be wrong with this man.’”
Paramedics were soon running up the the stairs. Head of security Alberto Alvarez asked Chase to leave the house. “He’ll be fine,” Alvarez told her.
Paris tried to reach her father as paramedics and Dr. Murray worked to resuscitate him up the stairs, she said.
“We were literally pulling her by her ankles down the stairs as she was trying to go back up, screaming ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!’”
Chase did not see the Jackson children until she was allowed to visit with them weeks later, she said. Katherine Jackson hired her as her family chef last July at the request of Prince, Paris and Blanket.
Watch: Michael Jackson from 2001-2009
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Paris Jackson made headlines recently when she was rushed to the hospital after she reportedly cut one of her wrists. Jackson is the second child of famed singer Michael Jackson and Deborah Jeanne Rowe. Click through to see more of the Jackson family tree.
Katherine Jackson is the matriarch of the Jackson family. Here she attends the hand and footprint ceremony for son Michael at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in January 2012 in Los Angeles.
Joseph Walker “Joe” Jackson is the patriarch of the Jackson family. He’s pictured at a March 2011 press conference in Madrid, Spain.
Maureen Reillette “Rebbie” Jackson is Joe and Katherine’s oldest child. She scored a hit in the 1980s with the song “Centipede.” She has three children: Stacee, Yashi and Austin “Auggie” Brown. Here she attends the world premiere of “Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon” in London in November 2011.
Yashi Brown, Rebbie Jackson’s second child, is a poet and advocate on mental health issues. 
Rebbie Jackson’s youngest, Austin “Auggie” Brown, is a musician. He’s pictured at a December 2012 benefit in Hollywood. 
Sigmund Esco “Jackie” Jackson, center, is the second of Joe and Katherine’s children. He has two children with Enid Spann: Sigmund Esco “Siggy” Jackson Jr. and Brandi Jackson. Here he performs with brothers Tito, left, and Marlon Jackson in Los Angeles in July 2012.
Toriano Adaryll “Tito” Jackson, the third of the Jackson children, has three sons: Toriano Adaryll “Taj”Jackson Jr., Taryll Adren Jackson and Tito Joe “TJ” Jackson, who are members of the group 3T. Tito Jackson performs in Liverpool, England, in 2009.
Toriano Adaryll “Taj” Jackson Jr., Tito Jackson’s oldest son, is part of the group 3T. Here he performs in Cardiff, Wales, in October 2011. 
Taryll Adren Jackson, Tito Jackson’s middle son, performs with his bothers in memory of his uncle, Michael, in 2011.
Tito Joe “TJ” Jackson performs in honor of his uncle, Michael.
Jermaine La Jaune Jackson is the fourth of Joe and Katherine’s children. He has seven children. With Hazel Gordy, Jackson had three children: Jermaine Lu Juane Jr., Autumn Joy and Jaimy. He had two children with Margaret Maldonado: Jeremy and Jourdynn. His two youngest children, Jaffar and Jermajesty, were born to Alejandra Oaziaza. He has no children with his current wife, Halima Rashid. Jackson and Rashid are pictured at the Royal Festival Hall in London in October 2010.
La Toya Yvonne Jackson, the fifth of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children, attends the world premiere of “Dancing In Jaffa” at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April. She is one of the film’s executive producers.
Marlon David Jackson was born a year before brother Michael Jackson. He has three children with Carol Parker: Valencia, Brittany and Marlon David Jr.
Pop superstar Michael Jackson, the most famous of Joe and Katherine’s children, had three kids. He fathered his first two, Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. and Paris Katherine Jackson, with Deborah Jeanne Rowe. His youngest, Prince Michael Joseph “Blanket” Jackson II, was born to an unidentified woman. The singer died in 2009.
Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. attends a baseball game in August 2012 during a visit to his late father’s hometown of Gary, Indiana.
Prince Michael Joseph “Blanket” Jackson attends the Las Vegas premiere of “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World” by Cirque du Soleil in December 2011. He is Michael Jackson’s youngest son.
Steven Randall “Randy” Jackson is the second youngest of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children. He has four children: Steveanna, Genevieve, Donte and Steven Randall Jr. Alejandra Oaziaza is the mother of the latter three. She later married and had two children with Randy’s brother Jermaine.
Genevieve Jackson, pictured in November 2011, is Randy Jackson’s second child.
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is the youngest of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children. The pop star has no children. She was briefly married to singer James DeBarge before secretly marrying dancer Rene Elizondo in 1991. The couple divorced in 2000, and she married businessman Wissam Al Mana in 2012. She’s pictured performing at the Sydney Opera House in 2011 in Australia.
The death in 2009 of superstar Michael Jackson, who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50, sent shockwaves around the world. 
The Jackson 5 perform on a TV show circa 1969. From left, Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Jermaine Jackson.
Michael Jackson quickly became the stand out star of the Jackson 5. Here he performs onstage circa 1970. 
Michael Jackson poses during a portrait session in Los Angeles in 1971.
Michael Jackson performs with The Jacksons in New Orleans on October 3, 1979.
Jackson achieved superstardom with his solo career in the 1980s. Here Jackson is shown on stage in Kansas in 1983.
Michael Jackson performs on stage circa 1990.
Jackson broke a world record during the Bad tour in 1988 when 504,000 people attending seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in London.
Jackson perfoms in concert circa 1991 in New York City. 
Known for his dance moves, Jackson is seen here jumping in the air while performing during the Dangerous tour in 1992.
Michael Jackson performs in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Jackson performs with his brothers.
Jackson performs during the Bad tour at Wembley Stadium in London.
Jackson performs during the taping of “American Bandstand’s 50th: A Celebration” in 2002.
Michael Jackson earned the Legend Award during the MTV Video Music Awards in Tokyo in 2006.
Nearly 40 years after his disappearance, former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, pictured circa 1955, remains among America’s most famous missing persons. Authorities have been searching for the once powerful union boss since he vanished in 1975.
Hoffa slumps in a chair at the Teamsters union office. He was one of the most powerful union leaders in America until being forced out of the organized labor movement. He went to prison in 1967 for jury tampering and fraud before being pardoned four years later. 
Hoffa appears at the Teamsters union convention in 1957, the year he first became union president.
Hoffa, center, stands with other officials at the Teamsters convention, where he made a successful bid for control of the union in 1957.
Hoffa testifies at a Senate Rackets Committee hearing in 1958.
Hoffa on the phone at an airport in 1959.
An office for Teamsters union local chapters that Hoffa set up. 
Hoffa eats with union leader Joseph Curran, left, in 1959.
Hoffa holds a Teamsters rally at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1960.
Hoffa leads supporters at a Teamsters convention in 1959. 
The Teamsters boss appears on the cover of Life magazine on May 18, 1959. The headline reads, “A National Threat: Hoffa’s Teamsters; Part 1: Sources of a Union’s Uncurbed Power.”
Hoffa, pictured circa 1960, was a powerful labor leader at a time when unions wielded a great deal of sway over elections and were notoriously tied to organized crime.
From left, “Meet the Press” moderator Ned Brooks, Lawrence K. Spivak and Hoffa appear at an NBC studio. 
Hoffa and his son, James Phillip, enter a federal courtroom in July 1964. His son is the current president of the Teamsters.
Hoffa, second row, center, leaves court after being found guilty of jury tampering in 1964.
Hoffa at the Pittsburgh airport in 1971 on his way back to federal prison after being let out to visit his ailing wife. He was released from prison later that year on the condition he not resume union activity before 1980.
Hoffa poses for a picture on July 24, 1975, less than a week before his disappearance. He was 62 at the time.
A Bloomfield Township, Michigan, police officer stands beside Hoffa’s car after the former labor leader’s disappearance in July 1975. Hoffa was last seen at a restaurant in suburban Detroit on July 30, 1975.
Police sweep a field in Waterford Township, Michigan, in search of Hoffa’s body in July 1975. 
Demolition workers tear down a horse barn for the FBI in 2006 in a search for Hoffa’s remains in Milford, Michigan. 
FBI agents search a field for Hoffa’s remains on Monday, June 17, in Oakland Township, Michigan, outside Detroit. Alleged mobster Tony Zerilli tipped off the police, and a source close to the case said the information provided was “highly credible.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is a popular but polarizing figure who has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade. Click through to see some highlights of his career.
Putin serves as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the City Council in St. Petersburg from 1991 to 1994. Before becoming involved in politics, he served in the KGB, a Soviet-era spy agency, as an intelligence officer.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, shakes hands with Putin during a farewell ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 31, 1999. Putin rose quickly through the political ranks, becoming the second democratically elected president of the Russian Federation in 2000.
President-elect Putin watches the tactical exercises of Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Barentsevo Sea on April 6, 2000. He has been at the helm during a decade of Russian economic growth fueled by natural resources of gas and oil.
A Russian cadet snaps a picture with Putin in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, 2007, during an annual celebration of the end of World War II. Putin has pushed to modernize Russia’s military.
Putin attends an inauguration ceremony for president-elect Dmitry Medvedev at Moscow’s Kremlin on May 7, 2008. Putin was constitutionally obliged to stand down as president but stayed close to power, becoming prime minister.
Putin vacations outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia in 2009. Over the years he has earned a reputation as a “strongman,” declaring a crackdown on Chechen militants a priority in his first presidential term. 
President Barack Obama meets Prime Minister Putin at his home in Novo Ogaryovo, near Moscow, on July 7, 2009. Putin said Russia was pinning its hopes on Obama to revive ties with the United States.
A worker takes down a giant elections poster bearing a portrait of Putin on October 13, 2009, in Moscow. Putin’s party tightened its grip on Russian politics with a sweeping victory in local elections, officials said, as the opposition alleged widespread fraud.
Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin ski together in Krasnaya Polyana, near the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia, on January 3, 2010.
Putin takes part in a judo training session at a sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. The Russian leader holds a black belt in judo.
Putin receives a medical consultation during his visit to the Smolensk Regional Hospital on August 25, 2011. Putin said he hurt his shoulder during morning judo practice.
Putin speaks to supporters at a Moscow rally on February 23, 2012. He won the presidential election in March, with just under 65% of the vote. Former President Medvedev became his prime minister.
A topless protester shouts at Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, during their visit to the Hanover Industrial Fair in central Germany on April 8, 2013. Human rights groups say civil liberties and democratic freedoms have suffered during Putin’s rule.
Putin addresses the media during his visit to Hanover on April 8, 2013. 
Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, ended their nearly 30-year marriage, the state-run news agency reported on June 6.
