'I was a scapegoat': Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray defends himself and brands star's family 'bottom dwellers' in bizarre prison cell interview
- Family seeking payout for promoter's alleged hiring of Dr Conrad Murray
- Doctor is serving four-year prison sentence for manslaughter
- Company to deny liability, claiming he was responsible for his own death
- 'I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,' he protested
- Claimed he has 'a beautiful, blessed relationship' with Jackson's children
Michael Jackson's personal physician branded the star's family 'bottom dwellers' and said he was a made a scapegoat for his death in a bizarre prison cell interview in which he burst into song.
Dr Conrad Murray's unexpected rendition of Nat King Cole's The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot came as Michael Jackson’s mother and children begin a legal battle for a staggering £26.5billion in a case that could shed new light on his death.
The family claim the promoter AEG Live, which was behind his planned UK comeback shows, was negligent in its alleged hiring and supervision of Dr Conrad Murray.
Murray who is serving a four-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter over the 50-year-old star’s death, gave a lengthy interview to CNN in which he discussed the star's death, their friendship, his court case and his relationship with the singer's children.
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Trial: The family of Michael Jackson (left) are seeking £26.5 billion in compensation from his last concert promoter AEG Live for the alleged negligent hiring and supervision of Dr Conrad Murray (right)
Compensation: Prince Jackson (left) Blanket Jackson (centre) and Paris Jackson (right), pictured in 2011, want the record payout from AEG Live for its alleged negligent hiring and supervision of Dr Conrad Murray
He did not give evidence at his own trial in 2011, but he is on the witness list in the case that was scheduled to begin with jury selection in Los Angeles yesterday, raising the prospect that he may be called from prison to testify.
When asked if he would, he said: 'If I testify, I will testify very honestly,' he told CNN.
'It is a sad thing when I look at what's going on in television because Michael would be absolutely upset, he would be so unhappy with what is happening. Michael said to me 'I no longer want to be a bank for my family .All we see is the continuation of that.'
As he began singing he said that he and Jackson both 'experienced pain.'
Jackson’s daughter Paris, 14, is also expected give evidence about his death, and his son Prince Michael, 16, about a conversation he allegedly had with his father about the concert promoter.
Murray claimed he has 'a beautiful, blessed relationship—an extremely good one' with Jackson's children.
Hearing: Michael Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson leaves the sentencing hearing of Dr Conrad Murray
'Prince Jr., Paris and Blanket are like my own kids,' he said. 'They are my children. I love those children. I worry about them.'
He made a barbed comment towards the rest of the late pop star's family saying 'I am pretty sure there are a number of bottom dwellers right now who are sucking up for anything they can, but I do hope the children will not fall victim of that.'
In the rest of the interview with CNN, he continued to protest his innonence saying 'I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.'
At times his lawyer Valerie Wass stopped Murray from saying more that might relate to his criminal case, which she is appealing.
Lawyers acting for Paris, Prince Michael, their brother Blanket, 10, and their grandmother Katherine, 82, contend that pressure from AEG led to Jackson’s death from an overdose of surgical anaesthetic in June 2009, two weeks before his This Is It concerts were to begin at the O2 Arena in London.
Manslaughter: Jackson's personal doctor Dr Conrad Murray is serving a four-year prison sentence after being found guilty of manslaughter in 2011
Friends: Michael Jackson with his chimp, Bubbles
Ruling: Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled in February that the Jackson family lawyers had shown enough evidence to warrant a trial
After a judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to warrant a jury trial, the family’s lawyer Kevin Boyle said: ‘The truth about what happened to Michael, which AEG has tried to keep hidden from the public since the day Michael died, is finally emerging.
‘We look forward to the trial where the rest of the story will come to light.’
The family are demanding £6.6billion for loss of future earnings by Jackson, and nearly £20billion in other damages.
AEG, which denies any liability for the star’s death, says the huge figure is based on speculation and that Jackson’s career was on a downward spiral.
Legal analysts say the billions being claimed are unlikely to be awarded and are a legal tactic to get publicity for the case.
A senior AEG lawyer said the company would argue at the civil trial, which is expected to last two to three months, that Jackson’s addiction to prescription drugs made him responsible for his own death.
The company is also likely to bring up Jackson’s ‘shopping’ for doctors to prescribe him drugs, as well as his acquittal on child molestation charges.
In a TV documentary to be broadcast on Friday, AEG lawyer Marvin Putnam says: ‘I don’t know how you can’t look to Mr Jackson’s responsibility. He was a grown man.
‘Mr Jackson is a person who was known to doctor-shop. He was known to be someone who would tell one doctor one thing and another doctor something else.’
He said Jackson’s 2005 child molestation trial was relevant because it ‘resulted in an incredible increase in his drug intake’.
‘We’re talking about Michael Jackson,’ adds Mr Putnam. ‘This is a man who would show up in pyjamas.
‘This is a man who would go to public events with a monkey named Bubbles.’
At Murray’s trial it emerged that the doctor was paid £100,000 a month to help Jackson get enough rest to perform at the O2.
But AEG will argue that Murray was hired by Jackson, not the promoter.
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