Michael Jackson’s son Prince is set to testify at his family’s trial against tour promoter AEG Live, reports said Tuesday, as relatives and fans marked the fourth anniversary of his death.
The 16-year-old, the eldest of the singer’s three children, could take the stand as early as Wednesday at the trial, in which the Jackson family is suing AEG Live for hiring the doctor convicted of killing him in 2009.
Lawyers at the Los Angeles trial, which started at the end of April, would not confirm media reports that the teenager would be the next witness, after a medical expert who has already testified for two days.
“Not today,” was all Jackson family lawyer Brian Panish would tell AFP Tuesday, when asked if Prince Jackson would be next to take the stand. A family spokesman also said she could not confirm the scheduled appearance.
CNN cited lawyers as saying the teenager would be the next witness after Dr. Gordon Matheson, a sports medicine professor who has testified since Monday. Prince Jackson will likely testify Wednesday, it reported.
Jackson died at his rented Holmby Hills mansion in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009 of an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol, administered by his personal doctor Conrad Murray to help him sleep.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 over the death of the 50-year-old self-styled King of Pop.
Jackson’s mother Katherine is suing AEG Live, alleging that they negligently hired and were responsible for Murray, a cardiologist, and should have known that he was unsuitable to care for the singer.
The current trial, and the 2009 court case, have aired details of Jackson’s long-time struggle with insomnia and abuse of a number of drugs, including propofol.
Fans of the singer gathered Tuesday at the Forest Lawn celebrity cemetery, just north of Los Angeles, where Jackson’s body is buried. Huge numbers of flowers were placed on his grave.
Jackson’s daughter Paris was also listed before the AEG trial as among witnesses due to be called. But it is now thought unlikely she will testify, after she was hospitalized earlier this month following a suicide attempt.